Course Overview: 

Are you considering a collaboration between your school and public library to maximize your impact on your community? 

Are you part of an existing collaboration and wondering how to expand? 

In this course, we will explore the many benefits of the school and public alliance to drive equitable access to information, improve community outcomes, and achieve learning goals, with an emphasis on digital partnerships and how library collaborations have evolved in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. You’ll learn from the experts how to find partnerships, develop a plan of action, and enact your plan over three weeks through live keynote sessions, an interactive online classroom environment, and live Office Hours with an expert in the field.

The course will follow the continuum of collaboration, from informal partnerships to fully-integrated services, and will take a deep dive into impact and benefits to ensure that you walk away with the tools you need to make the most of your partnership.

In addition, you’ll have immediate access to our Resilient Together Self-Guided Curriculum—a series of webinars from Library Journal and School Library Journal contributors along with rich, supporting materials in the form of readings, activities, and videos—to explore at your own pace. Get access to the Self-Guided Curriculum today and join the live guest speaker sessions and workshop starting October 14.

When you attend this interactive course, you’ll come away with: 

• A blueprint for how to establish or expand your school-public partnership

• Key tools and resources you need to help you along the way

• An understanding of the partnering process, including making the case to stakeholders and dealing with budgetary concerns 

This course features live guest speakers in interactive sessions with Q&A as well as self-guided materials, readings, and discussion topics in an online classroom environment to support you in your journey.

Online course features:

• Real-time guest speakers and conversation via live webcast (with recordings available afterward)

• Instructor-led online event features personalized interaction over three weeks

• Live Office Hours mid-program to help you sort out your individual challenges

• Ongoing group conversation via discussion forums

• Discussion guides, articles, and other resources shared in the online classroom

• Access all course content for six months after the event ends

Who should take this course:

This course is excellent for public and school library leaders, school administrators, city/civic officials and literacy leaders.

Certificate of Completion Provided
9 PD credits available

Discounted group rates available

Have a team attend and increase your impact!

Please contact us at libraryjournal@edmaker.co to learn more about our discounted rates.

Also Available On-Demand!

Can’t make a live session? All sessions will be available to you “on-demand” following the initial broadcast.

Part 1: Wednesday, October 14, 2020, 2:00 - 4:45 PM ET

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45 pm ET

Getting Started With Your School and Public Library Collaboration  
In this session, you’ll learn how to get your school and public library collaboration up and running. From connecting with a partner to deciding on a plan, to enacting it, you’ll learn what you need to know from a librarian who has done it with success. This session will also touch on how to approach funding, achieve buy-in from stakeholders, and optimize your partnership in response to COVID-19.

Speakers:
Katie Cerqua, Youth and Family Services Manager, Virginia Beach Public Library
Kelly Miller, Virginia Beach City Public Schools Coordinator of K-12 Library Services

Intermission | 2:45-3:00 pm ET
 

Session 2 | 3:00-3:45 pm ET

Equity-Based School and Public Library Partnerships
Learn how a successful partnership helped bring increased equity to the community in this session with Diana Lopez of the Marin City Library. You’ll hear how the Marin County Free Library came together with Bayside Martin Luther King, Jr. Academy to advocate for its youth, increasing access and engagement, and reimagining their school library and its role in student’s lives.

Speakers:
Diana Lopez, Manager, Marin City Library, Marin County (CA), LJ Mover and Shaker 2019
David Finnane, Principal, Bayside Martin Luther King, Jr. Academy (CA)

Session 3 | 4:00-4:45 pm ET

Coming Together to Tackle the Digital Divide
There has always been a digital divide for library users, but now more than ever is the time to address this complex issue. This session will explore how libraries can take on the digital divide, including increasing access to tools, tech support, hot spots, and more, leveraging school and public partnerships to increase their impact on their communities.

Speaker:
Kevin King, Head of Community Engagement, Kalamazoo Public Library (MI)
Jarrod Wilson, Head of Technical Services, Kalamazoo Public Library (MI)
 

Intermission | 3:45-4:00 pm ET
 

Part 2: Wednesday, October 21, 2020, 2:00 - 4:00 PM ET

OFFICE HOURS | 2:00-3:00 pm ET
Join Bridget Quinn-Carey, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hartford Library and Kelli Shimabukuro, Chief, Programs and Outreach at Enoch Pratt Free Library & Maryland State Library Resource Center, in this live q+a session, where you’ll get to share your specific questions, concerns, and ideas for collaboration and get real-time feedback and guidance.

Intermission | 3:00-3:15 pm ET
 

Sponsored Session 1 | 3:15-3:45 pm ET

Get Connected: How Public Library and School Partnerships Increase 24/7 Access to Books

Whether students are at home or in the classroom, it’s critical that they have 24/7 access to a wide assortment of age-appropriate reading options - especially as districts explore remote learning solutions for the 2020 school year and beyond. How can public libraries and schools work together to meet this need? Find out in an eye-opening presentation featuring the Fresno County Public Library and OverDrive. You’ll learn the simple steps to activate public library and school partnerships and how these partnerships provide students access to additional instructional and independent reading titles that can help slow the summer slide and overcome remote learning challenges - all without requiring a library card. You’ll also learn about how you can leverage these partnerships to foster the next generation of loyal public library users, increase circulation of juvenile & young adult titles and gain data-driven insights into how students are using the library’s digital collection. 

Be sure to stick around for a raffle at the end of the presentation!

Speakers:
Kevin Coon, Account Executive, OverDrive & Thomas Wood, Librarian, Fresno County Public Library

Sponsored Session 2 | 3:35-4:00 pm ET

How the San Jose Public Library is Increasing Access to Books with School Partnerships (sponsored by OverDrive)

Whether students are at home or in the classroom, it’s critical that they have 24/7 access to a wide assortment of age-appropriate reading options. How can public libraries and schools work together to meet this need and increase literacy and educational success? Find out in an eye-opening presentation featuring San Jose Public Library Division Manager Michelle Amores. You’ll learn the simple steps SJPL has taken to activate partnerships with 10 (and counting) area school districts, how these partnerships provide students access to additional instructional and independent reading titles that can help slow the summer slide and overcome remote learning challenges, and how these partnerships help foster the next generation of loyal public library users and increase circulation of juvenile & young adult titles.

Speaker:
Michelle Amores, Division Manager, San Jose Public Library

Part 3 - Wednesday, October 28, 2020, 2:00 - 4:30 PM ET

Session 1 | 2:00-3:00 pm ET

Running a School and Public Partnership At Scale
Learn how public and school libraries can collaborate to create robust, dynamic partnerships at scale. You’ll hear how Brian Bannon, Merryl and James Tisch Director at The New York Public Library, and Melissa Jacobs, Director of Library Services for NYC Public Schools, come together on initiatives like MyLibraryNYC to increase access to materials and services for student library users.

Speakers: 
PART 1 (2:00-2:30): Maggie Jacobs, Director of Educational Programs, The New York Public Library (NY)
PART 2 (2:30-3:00): Melissa Jacobs, Director of Library Services, NYCDOE
 

Intermission | 3:00-3:15 pm ET
 

Session 2 | 3:15-4:15 pm ET

Transformative Partnerships: How Starting Small Can Ignite Big Change
In this session, you’ll learn how the small things that school and public libraries do in partnership with one another can open the door to larger, meaningful initiatives. You’ll hear from Cicely Lewis and Jan Wilson from Gwinnett Public Schools, along with Donald Giacomini from Gwinnett Public Library, on how their organizations have worked together to promote each other’s work, provide professional development opportunities for each other's staff base, and ensure that communication occurs on a regular basis, and find out how those small connections created the expectations and the space for the amazing Read Woke Initiative to ignite the library and school community.

Speakers: 
Cicely Lewis, Media Specialist at Gwinnett County Public Schools (GA)
Donald Giacomini, Youth Services Specialist, Gwinnett Public Library (GA)
Jan Wilson, Coordination of Media Instruction, Gwinnett County Public Schools (GA)

Sponsored Session 3 | 4:15-4:30 

Prep Your Literacy Toolkit (sponsored by Thorndike Press)
Compared to standard print format, large print books
are proven to help with decoding, fluency, tracking, and comprehension. Hear from a librarian who has found success after embracing large print and partnering with teachers to bring large print books into the classroom. She has seen wider usage, noticeable
reading improvements, and happier readers!
Speaker:
Tasha Squires, Teacher Librarian, O’Neill Middle School (IL)

  If you are a service provider or publisher and would like to sponsor the event, please contact
Advertising Director Roy Futterman.