Building Community Partnerships to Gain Resources

Have you ever considered tapping your community to build a bridge between it and the school library? A collaborative learning experience can benefit students and businesses or organizations. "Community partners gain enthusiastic volunteers, while students are able to engage in authentic educational experiences with the chance to affect their communities in positive ways" (Loria 2018). For successful experiences, strive to manage these points:

• Ensure your students are engaged in authentic work.
• Ensure the skills they are learning are building on what they learned in class.
• Start with small initiatives and projects.
• Establish a shared vision with the community partner.

Build a solid foundation of common understandings about the collaboration and goals for students. Get organized and do your homework before you start something that becomes unmanageable!

After School Enhancements

Priscilla Little describes the benefits of partnerships and the power of community resources, noting that after-school programs can boost not just academics but also student wellness. In 2011, a collaboration between Atlanta Memorial Hospital and New Attitudes Fitness Center created BLAST (Being a Lifelong Achiever Starts Today), specifically targeting student nutrition and lifestyle decisions. "Students are taught and mentored to help improve their lifestyle by making dietary changes and exercising properly and regularly. Students have access to a full array of health professionals and services at the center and can participate in a 10-week wellness program." This program gave students access to resources they normally did not have.

To make the connection between community and school effective, the following components should be established prior to the start of a program:

• A shared vision of the projected outcomes for students.

This vision should acknowledge the complementary roles of the school, community partners, and families.

• A diverse set of partners who can communicate with school staff.

Lines of communication should be outlined with all school personnel, including all stakeholders from the principal to custodial staff.

• Clear data-sharing processes and agreements.

Educational data should be shared between the community program liaisons and educators to track progress and identify areas of weakness. This data would be beneficial to community services and educators (Little 2014).

Public Library Partnerships

Lisa Peet identifies examples of successful public library partnerships, from getting students library cards to book deliveries to schools. These partnerships have created amazing opportunities for learners to access information and resources. For example, in 1989 an anonymous donation of $24 million was made to the Marion County, Indiana, college and high school libraries and the Indianapolis Public Library. In the resulting partnership, "county high schools began to link their catalogs to the public library's" (2018). Public library terminals were placed in school libraries, and this collaboration became Indianapolis's "Shared System." The idea of access to public library catalogs is common now in part because of the 1989 initiative. School library items are cataloged, barcoded, and are searchable in the IndyPL catalog. Students and educators may check availability at their own schools and 291 public, private, charter, and parochial schools, as well as two museums. Students may then request that materials be delivered to their particular schools. This level of collaboration was created with much communication among all parties involved. Benefits outweighed the cost and demonstrated the power of community partnerships.

For other tips on collaborating with community partners, such as creating a community resource map, consult Brandon O'Keefe's Edutopia article, "5 Steps to Better School/Community Collaboration" (https://www.edutopia.org/blog/school-community-collaboration-brendan-okeefe).

Public libraries are an inherently wonderful partner for connecting with other community institutions. A shared audience and common goals for providing access to quality resources may provide the initial impetus to getting connected. The American Library Association's Public Library and School Library Collaboration Toolkit includes five chapters of examples of successful collaborations. Of special note, Chapter Five includes templates and additional resources: http://www.ala.org/alsc/publications-resources/professional-tools/school-public-library-partnerships

Conclusion

Dwindling resource budgets and the need to maintain and increase access to quality resources becomes motivation for creative initiatives and shared access among community institutions. Seeking support through collaboration creates benefits for our libraries and our greater school communities. A wealth of information and resources are available to inspire and motivate you to initiate collaborative endeavors in your community. We like the resources from Tech Soup for Libraries at http://www.techsoupforlibraries.org.

Want to learn about community opportunities in more depth? Why not check out all the information found in School Library Connection online? In addition to articles on this topic, you can watch a video workshop; try "Building Common Ground: Community" by Rebecca Morris.

And, for additional reading, try this classic article: Poole, Carl N. "How Can Schools Use Community Resources?" Educational Leadership, (1975): 444-446. https://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el_197504_poole.pdf

Works Cited

Little, Priscilla. "School-Community Learning Partnerships: Essential to Expanded Learning Success." The Expanded Learning & Afterschool Project (2014). http://www.expandinglearning.org/expandingminds/article/school-community-learning-partnerships-essential-expanded-learning-success

Loria, Rommel. "A How-to Guide for Building School-Community Partnerships." Edweek (February 20, 2019). https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/03/23/a-how-to-guide-for-building-school-community-partnerships.html

Peet, Lisa. "Grade A Partnerships." Library Journal 143, no. 14 (September 2018): 19-23.