In terms of outreach between public librarians and teachers, I found some very basic tips in an article I would like to draw attention to, “Connect with Success: A Few Tips for Public Library-School Cooperation”. The article was written by Ed Sullivan, who worked with New York Public Library’s Connecting Libraries and Schools Project which, amongst other goals, promoted workshops designed to improve communication between public libraries and educators.
- Initiate contact with the school librarians. If there is not one, contact the principal if it’s an elementary school, and the head of the English department if it’s a secondary school. If it’s Catholic school, contact the diocese who is in charge of administration.
- If efforts to get the teachers to the library fail, bring the library to the teacher. (See my previous posting for more ideas on this issue.)
- Feed them! I cannot tell you how many times I have seen this mentioned in the literature. The offer of food seems to go along way in terms of the success of outreach between public libraries and teachers!!
(Adapted from Sullivan, 2001)
If you wish to read the article in its entirety:
Journal of Youth Services in Libraries 14 no3 14 Spr 2001
No comments:
Post a Comment