Win-win: When school libraries partner with local organizations, everybody benefits

Riggs, Michelle


Jacobson, L. (2015, December). Win-win: when school libraries partner with local organizations, everybody benefits. School Library Journal, 61(12), 60+. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A436437268/PROF?u=pott50179&sid=PROF&xid=f19f1cae


Jacobson provides several specific examples of successful community partnerships with school libraries. He points out that relationships should be collaborative, with all parties involved participating in discussions, planning, and brainstorming. In addition, relationships should ideally be reciprocal, with the community organization receiving something in return, whether a simple thank you note, a social media post, or the opportunity for involvement with school activities. Jacobson also states that volunteers and partnerships in no way replace school librarians; instead, they offer librarians the valuable asset of more time to spend be with their patrons.

I found several of the ideas for community collaboration to be thought-provoking and worth exploring for my own school library. We are located in an area with very active animal advocacy, so the idea of bringing in therapy dogs made me think about ways that could benefit my population. We also have a wide variety of nonprofit organizations run by families in our district, which are an untapped resource for volunteers and collaboration. Prior to this class, I did not do much in the way of connection development, so this article was valuable in getting the gears turning.

"Let's Do It!' - A New Approach to Collection Development

Anna Fenerty

Citation

Loertscher, D. V., & Koechlin, C. (2016). Collection Development and Collaborative Connection Development: Or, Curation2. Teacher Librarian, 43(4), 52–53.

Summary

The authors, Loertscher and Koechlin, discuss the progress of implementing Learning Commons in the school libraries and offer a list of tools and templates to help the librarians make the transitions. In 2015, the authors conducted a survey of 900 teacher librarians, which showed some progress in connection developments since most schools were shifting from exclusively traditional book and database collections by adding online resources. On the other hand, shifting from one-way library websites to participatory virtual spaces was still in the very beginning stages in most of the schools surveyed. The authors suggest approaching collection development with a new attitude; WE, librarians, teachers, and students have a collective responsibility “to curate the very best educational resources” together. All need to pitch in at the building, district, state, and national level to develop connections to community resources and OERs that benefit everyone involved.

Evaluation

A relevant and inspiring article that shows the current state of digital collections and trends in school libraries. The authors offer “hands-on” advice, tools, and templates to help school librarians transition into a leadership role to “mentor collaborative curation” of connections and participatory resources instead of building collections of “owned” resources that are constricted by individual and finicky budgets. Everyone can benefit from connected participatory collections. So, “Let’s do it!”

The public library as a meeting-place in a multicultural and digital context

This paper was written in the early 2000s, as people’s ideas of the function of the public library was beginning to change. The traditional role of the library is one of research and a collection of books. However, the community is starting to use the public library as a meeting place and a source of multicultural exchange. The public library now offers several services of interest to new immigrants to ease the transition to the United States. Furthermore, the library is a direct link to the immigrant community to their newly chosen community.

This article is a good explanation of how libraries function more broadly within the community. With its “low-intensive” spaces, the library allows multiple groups and organizations to meet and gradual introduce themselves to their new community. Moreover, the increased collection of electronic resources has allowed both digital and physical communities to connect. The modern library functions more as a bridge between people.

Ragnar Audunson, (2005) "The public library as a meeting‐place in a multicultural and digital context: The necessity of low‐intensive meeting‐places", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 61 Issue: 3, pp.429-441, https:// doi.org/10.1108/00220410510598562

Not your garden-variety library: planting a seed library yields community connections

Rivera, Destiny 

Landgraf, G. (2015, January 5). Not your garden-variety library: planting a seed library yields community connections. American Libraries. Retrieved from https://americanlibrariesmagazine. org/2015/01/05/not-your-garden-variety-library/

This article discusses seed libraries, refugee communities and Omaha Public Library’s (and the City of Omaha’s) commitment to help link refugees to farm and seed.  They understand that having access to land and seed helps new arrived refugees feel settled and gives them a sense of place.