Bring the school libraries, public libraries together to build educational bridges!
The public library is the preschoolers’ first door to learning. Students then go to kindergarten to start a learning career that will not end until adulthood. The gap between the public library and public school libraries need to be closed. Informing the public library of the school system’s curriculum could help prepare these preschoolers and start a relationship that will last a lifetime. This will build a relationship for the public library and school library, which will result in sharing much needed materials needed between both facilities.
Public libraries are open year round; school libraries are open from August-June. This gives the public library a chance to bridge the gap in the summer when the school system has had to stop. With summer reading and additional curriculum programs, the students can continue to grow and learn. The public library has grade appropriate programs to make sure the student is on the course in which he or she needs to continue. Having these two libraries communicate will fill the summer gap as well as the gap for much needed materials during the school year. Having these two libraries communicate means more grade appropriate programs could be implemented during the school year as well. The Battle of the Books program is the perfect example why these two libraries should be communicating. Each school has a least six participants and each of them have to read 18 books. No one school is going to have at least six copies of 18 books.
Duties as a Library Liaison:
Be the communication center for the two libraries so they can work together.
Have the two libraries identify which school needs most improvement or which has the highest ESL, below grade readers and underserved populations. This data will create programs to benefit the school.
Educating new teachers on the resources that each library has to offer to them as new educators. Most educators begin their career with no resources of their own.
Organizing a way to educate parents about the resources both libraries have to offer their children and to them as well. This is needed as the curriculum has changed over the years.
Promote each library’s programs that are being offered.
Coordinate community events to inform our community of the partnership built between both library programs. Pull in community support to help fund much needed materials and programs.
Become the line of communication between two institutions that need to work together.
These two institutions started together and in the past have always worked with each other. The school library was born from the public library. The school library is an extension of the public library. The 19th Century began the rise of the school library and was intertwined with the rise of the public library. Modern time has given us the world and all of its knowledge with the World Wide Web. Having all this knowledge at our fingertips even in our homes there is still a need for the public library and the school library. The Public Library is the preschoolers’ first door to learning. The School library is the second door of learning. There is something special about being involved in reading programs and learning teams with one’s peers. Learning has always been hands on and reading a real book is hands on learning. Bringing these two libraries together would build bridges that could not be broken. The bridges built in education only grow stronger as their knowledge grows stronger.
Submitted by: Rose Torres, Rose’s Story Time at Books A Million