Eleanor Howell-Shryock (she/they) is the Head Children’s Librarian, managing family and outreach services at Burlington Public Library in Burlington, Washington. They are the Chair Emeritus of the Washington Library Association’s Children and Young Adult Services Section. They are excited to highlight some of the unique challenges and opportunities of working in small and rural libraries for the ALSC blog.
School Outreach from Your Library Desk
| Guest Contributor
I am consistently in awe of the incredible student-serving initiatives that librarians develop. From onsite collections to in-school reading tutors, there is always something inspiring to discover. If you’re like me, you’ve likely thought to yourself, “How in the world could I make that work at my library?”
School partnerships and your capacity for out-of-building work are highly dependent on your library, your staffing model, and your partners. With limited time and staff for outreach programming, my team keeps an eye out for any opportunities to involve off-site patrons in on-site initiatives. These projects have been some of the most effective in efficiently utilizing staff time, reaching caregivers, and showcasing our outreach work to library stakeholders.
Expansive Programs
Libraries already excel at offering passive programs, competitions, and displays to engage patrons outside of scheduled programming hours. These projects, with a little planning, can be retooled to serve a more expansive audience.
Contests
Last winter, we held a sweater design contest. Children were invited to take a sweater template to decorate and return their completed submission.
Always in search of outreach activity ideas, I took our contest on the road. Crafting supplies in hand, I invited classrooms and after-school programs to design and complete a submission during our visit. The same could be accomplished by providing
the template to partners and having them complete designs without library staff present.
Not only did this allow me to speak about the library and our space, but it also dramatically increased participation. The sweaters made for a fantastic display that spread across the children’s area! Many children visited the library for the first time to find their design on the wall.
Interactive Displays
Displaying contest submissions isn’t the only way to include students in in-library displays! During March, our children’s area hosts a March Book Madness bracket. Each week, library visitors can vote on which titles should advance to the next week. In the library, we’ve used stickers and thrown paper into baskets to cast votes. Outside the library, I teamed up with school librarians to share the results with their students each week. They gave students a chance to vote and sent their totals to me to be added to the in-library count.
Expand your RSVP List
Stuffed animal sleepovers are always a blast! By inviting patrons to leave their beloved stuffed animals overnight, you can ignite the imagination of young ones by posing their animals all over the library (while strategically highlighting library services). Traditionally, families drop stuffies off at the library to start their evening of fun, but if you have school partners who are game to join in, you can easily have students drop their stuffies off at school.
Stuffies return home with some goodies and a printout featuring pictures of their adventures. This printout, almost guaranteed to be looked at by families, was a perfect showcase for more information about the library and an invitation to visit.
This can quickly become a big one! Just look at our over 100 stuffies!
A few tips for feasibility: Ask your partners to label stuffed animals with each student’s name and classroom information. Limit the event to certain grade bands. If you have more than one school participating, consider doing multiple events, one for each school. Allow yourself more time by extending the program’s duration. Stuffed animal spring break, anybody?
In Closing
Even if you’re beholden to a desk schedule that keeps you in the library, don’t hesitate to reach out to partners to see if any of your upcoming library programs might be of interest to their students. With your partners, you can brainstorm ways to include a wider audience. What programs are you offering in the library that can be modified and marketed to allow for easier off-site participation?
(All photos by Eleanor Howell-Shryock, ALSC Member)
Continue/Read Original Article Here: School Outreach from Your Library Desk – ALSC Blog
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