Librarians as Community Partners: An Outreach Handbook

by Carol Smallwood

Including 66 focused snapshots of outreach in action, this resource reflects the creative solutions of librarians searching for new and innovative ways to build programs that meet customer needs while expanding the library’s scope into the community. This contributed volume includes A huge array of program options for partnering with other community groups Outreach in action through writing essays, poetry, and fiction Event planning for library anniversaries, book festivals, science projects, and student athletesWith a wide range of contributors, this book will give you a multifaceted approach for reaching out within your community.

Genres: Professional Development, Nonfiction, Library Science, Reference, Textbooks

204 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Tina Grove · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some examples of outreach ideas but nothing too unique. I feel it's a bit mislabeled as a "handbook" it's more just a collection of ideas with tips, not really a handbook for how to implement or even decide on partnerships. Each profile was independently written so they do not follow consistent formatting or have the same sections but overall good for giving you ideas.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Professional development/nonfiction. A compilation of various projects completed by academic, school and public libraries. Really good ideas in here:

* License to Learn contest (p. 46-47) takes library card drive a step further, with schools earning "Honor Roll" status by inviting lib. staff to school events, linking to library on school website, displaying lib. materials, and participating in at least one library card drive. HR schools are rewarded with certificates, names are displayed on posters inside the library, and school boards are notified of schools' achievements.

* Library shows on public-access TV (p. 85) - on a smaller scale, how about getting high school TV production class to do a few shows on site?

* Find schools and orgs that provide services to pregnant/parenting teens and work with them (p. 52)

* Books that shape our lives (p. 95): solicit input from community, post their fave childhood books to bulletin board/display. (some responses even shared by principal over school PA system)

* Storytime outreach (SPL - p. 155) Used Target $2500 grand to give free picture books to 100 children in subsidized daycare (ARC service area). Storytimes conducted in spanish and english with parents attending [M. Keys:]

Other Early Lit grants: CSL, Barb. Bush Foundation, Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, Nat'l Inst. for Literacy.

* Favorite teachers host summer story hours (guest reader storytime) (p. 60). 6-8 teachers volunteer to read 30-40 min./week; coordinate with school media teacher to recruit from emails of all school district employees (early spring); participants receive some kind of thank you gift such as handmade card, small giftcard. Some ST's followed by activity/craft, but not always.

* Artist in residence (p. 172) bookbinding, puppetry, paper-making. Grants for this as well.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a book that I read cover-to-cover, but one which was subdivided into many chapters containing case studies of specific types of outreach, ex. Seniors, correctional facilities, book festivals, etc. Definitely worthy of thumbing through when looking for ideas on programs, however it's not a step-by-step guide. Case studies can spark some ideas though, and since this book is very current you can probably reach all the contributors. The book doesn't include contact information, but as you have the name and library chances are you could reach them to discuss their experiences.

[CTEP]

For April’s Book Club, I read Librarians as Community Partners: An Outreach Handbook. This collection of essays written by real-live, glasses-wearing, finger-shushing, librarians is perfect for CTEP nerds of all kinds. Although my current site is not a library, I work with librarians to promote Emerge Community Development’s services frequently. Many community and social service centers in North Minneapolis are greatly underutilized, except for public libraries. The diverse communities in North flock to the free computers, books, CDs, DVDs, and classes at libraries. It is an amazing resource!

I really liked this particular collection of essays, although a little outdated, because it covers a wide range of outreach issues: research, seniors, youth, previous offenders, media, literacy, education, diversity, and community collaboration. I won’t bore this particular book review with my usual ramblings of serving ex-offenders at Emerge. The essay of the book that I enjoyed the most was about, gasp, a homework club for English Language Learners! Haha, not my usual Book Club topic, folks. Licia Slimon, a librarian in Pennsylvania, outlines her motivation to create a homework club for New Americans. The library served many families from Gambia, Sudan, Bosnia, and Afghanistan, and the librarians struggled to reach these individuals facing language barriers. This has been a common problem for instructors and the ELL students from Somalia at Emerge and the Brian Coyle Center. We have been trying to map out an adult homework hub for some time now instead of relying solely on library programs like those at Sumner Library in North Minneapolis.

I would recommend this book to any nerdy CTEPer, not solely the public library geekers out there. Although I did not agree with all of the essays, some were over simplified, and others would never apply to the diverse and urban communities we serve, it was definitely a worth while read.

[Genesee Rickel]

Lots of great program ideas and examples of community partnerships! I loved the "lessons learned" sections.

[Hava · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting way to arrange a book - it seemed like there were a lot of disparate ideas from a large variety of libraries on how to tackle a large variety of problems. If you're looking for specific ideas, this may not be the book for you, but if you're just wanting to read through case studies of other people's work to see if anything looks interesting, then this is just the ticket.

Not worth buying for my personal shelf, but worth reading through.

[Hannah Jo Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short essays about outreach activities that librarians have tried in a variety of settings is inspiring and helpful. I like the fact that the authors were comfortable with stating what worked, what didn't, and whether they would try the same activities again. I admire the ingenuity of these librarians and their tenacity.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really, I just skimmed this one, trying to find relevant passages for a paper I'm writing. However, this book has some fantastic suggestions for a library that wants to take the next step when it comes to outreach. School and community visits are great, but this book gives examples and suggestions for how to go beyond the visits and make the library part of the community.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

The one suggestion I was keen on was "One Community One Story" project.. getting the City and other entities behind reading the same book and scheduling events and panels around the subject matter of the book..

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

good, short case studies from a wide range of projects

[Liz De Coster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Handbook is a bit of a misnomer - the selections were more summaries of outreach work than guides. Covers a pretty good breadth of program types and targeted groups.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

helps you identify and court community leaders, organizations and non-profits; how to identify and avoid people who are toxic to the decision-making process or who are likely to thwart a plan.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

skimmed this. lots of practical ideas.