In Resilient Together: Building School and Public Library Partnerships, our online course starting October 13, you’ll explore the many benefits of the school and public alliance to drive equitable access to information, improve community outcomes, and achieve learning goals.

The speaker program runs on October 13, 20, and 27, 2:00-4:00PM ET (on-demand recordings available) with an ongoing workshop over three weeks.

Over three weeks, you’ll learn how to:

• Create a blueprint for how to establish or expand your school-public partnership
• Use key tools and resources you need to help you along the way
• Move through the partnering process, including making the case to stakeholders and dealing with budgetary concerns

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.

Certificate of Completion Provided

Register early and save!

For group discounts, email [email protected].

Certificate of Completion Provided

15 Professional Development credits available

Week 1: Wednesday, October 13, 2021, 2:00-4:15PM ET

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45PM EST
Building Relationships as a Foundation for School and Public Partnerships
As in any good relationship, communication and collaboration are key foundations for building a lasting, mutually beneficial library partnership. In this session, you’ll learn how a school and public library have built and sustained their partnership through communication and connection on both a big picture and day-to-day planning level. You’ll learn best practices for handling operations and come away with ideas you can apply to your burgeoning or more established partnership.
Speaker: To be announced soon

Intermission | 2:45-3:00 pm EST

Session 2 | 3:00-3:45PM EST
Case Study: Lessons From a Long Term Library Partnership
In this session, you’ll hear from a pair of libraries who have been partnering for over ten years on a variety of projects and community initiatives. They’ll share how they began and how they’ve evolved over the last decade to address their community’s most pressing needs, including gaps in internet service, access to materials and other resources, and using physical space in creative ways to support each other.
Speaker:
Janet Wile, Supervisor Library Services, Central Unified, CA 

Session 3 | 3:45-4:15PM EST
Getting Started with Strategic Partnership Planning
Learn the fundamentals of strategic planning in this session with [insert speaker]. You’ll learn the fundamentals of strategic planning, find out how you can plan on your own if you’re pre-partnership, and how to plan collaboratively if you’ve already found your partner. You’ll learn how to approach planning in a way that prioritizes mutual goals and results in real action.
Speakers:
John Chrastka, Executive Director, EveryLibrary
Carolyn Foote, Technolibrarian, Westlake High School, Austin (TX), District Librarian, Eanes ISD (TX) 

Week 2: Wednesday, October 20, 2021, 2:00-4:15PM ET

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45PM ET
Equity-Based School and Public Library Partnerships
Learn how a successful partnership helped bring increased equity to the community in this session. You’ll hear how a public library and a school came together 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) 

Intermission | 2:45-3:00 pm EST

Session 2 | 3:00-3:45PM EST
Addressing Learning Gaps, Supporting Students, and Beyond
As our communities recover from Covid, library partnerships can serve as integral support systems for students and families. This session will explore how library partnerships are stepping up to help students deal with learning gaps, manage trauma, and return to their schools and libraries in the wake of the pandemic. You’ll also learn about how partnerships are managing differing schedules and timelines, and how they’re dealing with evergreen issues such as continuing broadband access and technological support.
Speaker:
Kelvin Watson, Executive Director, Las Vegas Clark County Library District (NV)

Session 3 | 3:45-4:15PM EST
Sponsored Session from OverDrive

Week 3: Wednesday, October 27, 2021, 2:00-4:00PM ET

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45PM ET
Partnerships To Support School Staff
Not all partnerships focus on library patrons and students. In this session, you’ll hear about nontraditional partnership approaches that shift the focus onto supporting school staff and teachers in order to make a difference in students’ lives.
Speaker:
Amy Mikel, Director of Customer Experience, Brooklyn Public Library (NY)

Intermission | 2:45-3:00PM EST

Session 2 | 3:00-3:15PM ET
Sponsored Session from OverDrive

Session 3 | 3:15-4:00PM ET
Navigating Agreements and Contracts: A Panel Discussion
In this nuts and bolts session, you’ll learn everything you need to know about managing agreements and contracts in your school and public partnership. You’ll hear from a panel of presenters on their top tips for organizing library card distribution, managing database and resource-sharing, and more.
Speaker:
Kathy Zappitello, Executive Director, Conneaut Public Library (OH) and others

Additional speakers to be announced soon!

Certificate of Completion Provided
9 PD credits available

Group rates available

Have a team attend and increase your impact!

Please contact us at [email protected] 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.