Working with Different Types of Partners

Informal learning institutions

“It’s very important to the art museum that they attract more local families and teens, so they have actually sent their education department to our different branches to do programs with families and then they have paid for the transportation… to take those families from the individual branches to the art museum for a field trip.”

— Director of Youth & Family Engagement at an urban midwestern library

Libraries are centers for informal learning, so other informal learning institutions—museums, science centers, archives, botanical gardens, and more—make natural partners. These organizations often share a library’s mission to empower the public through knowledge and learning.

Adler Planetarium and Chicago Public Library

Staff at Chicago Public Library worked closely with an outreach and education specialist at Adler Planetarium to develop extensive space-related programming for youth—including summer reading, field trips to the planetarium, and telescopes at the library. Planetarium staff trained CPL staff and teens to use telescopes and evaluated CPL branches to determine which were best situated for stargazing. The planetarium held “Scopes in the City” programs at several library branches.

Learn more: Twiggs, K., Freitag, C., & Nichols, M. (2016). Partner with a local museum to reach more teens! [YALSA members webinar].

Opportunities

Similar programs and goals: Since informal learning institutions often share similar missions, the programs they develop and the goals they set are often similar as well, making collaboration easier.
Outreach staff: For smaller initiatives, possibly ones that can be pilot cases for larger collaborations, most of these institutions will have someone who focuses on outreach or even specifically on youth outreach—look for words like “education” or “public programs” in job titles or department names to help identify the right person to approach.
New audiences: Larger informal learning institutions are less likely to need or want the library to bring programming to their space, since they have probably developed their own programming, but may value the opportunity to reach new audiences through the library’s programming and marketing, or by distributing free or discount passes through the library.

Challenges

Similar restraints: Informal learning institutions and libraries frequently face similar staff, space, and budget restrictions, but they’ve also found creative ways to work around those challenges.
Management approval: Establishing an official long-term partnership with an informal learning institution will probably need to involve the higher levels of management from both organizations.

Individuals, businesses, and community groups

“The library is considered not only a foundation to the community, but a good community supporter. We say, “How can the library partner with you?” And it brings them in and they want to work here, and they want to work with teens, and they want to give back… We’re getting a lot of community people who want to come in. They want to help, and they want to see our teens succeed.”

— Head of Youth Services at a southern urban library

Private individuals, local businesses, and community groups that are not oriented towards youth or social services are rich but often untapped assets for a library’s teen services. These types of partnerships are some of the most valuable for providing professional expertise in a variety of areas that teens might be interested in, thus extending the capacity of the library’s youth services without requiring extensive staff training or new hires.

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Opportunities

Materials and equipment: Businesses can easily contribute by providing access to equipment that the library doesn’t own, demoing or loaning products like gaming consoles or 3D printers. They can donate craft materials, prizes, or even snacks — for instance, a game store could donate prizes for video game tournaments, and a cinema or grocery store could donate popcorn for movie night.
Community groups: Reach out to community groups like Rotary as well as topical organizations or businesses (astronomy clubs, humanities councils, art studios, etc.) to find individuals who would be willing to volunteer their time to work with youth.
Parents and family members: Parents and family members of teens who are regular library users already know something about what the library does and what you have to offer teens. They can be valuable resources, either as volunteers themselves or as connections to businesses or community groups.
Exchanging expertise: Library staff can provide expertise that the partnering group doesn’t have, and vice versa. For instance, a community MakerSpace can help repair a library’s broken 3D printer, while the library staff can help Makers with grant writing.

Challenges

Corporate policy: Be flexible; a business may have policies that prevent them from participating in your plan, but they may be able to help out another way.1 Don’t be afraid to think big — a business may be more willing to sponsor a bigger project that makes an impression, even if it costs more. If you’re interested in a partnership with a chain or corporation, start by talking to a manager or assistant manager at the local store, not the company headquarters.
Inexperience with teens: The individual you’re working with may not have experience working with youth. Your skills in that area can be one of the contributions you make to the partnership. A rural western library worker says of working with a retired electrical engineer on a regular robotics program: “He kind of shies away from managing the kids and trying to keep their focus, but he does have the technical know-how. So, between both of us, we’re able to keep the kids somewhat engaged.”

Youth-serving organizations

“We’ve partnered with a nonprofit organization… and they’re local and their focus is to get everyone coding… We’re both really excited. He loves libraries, and wanted to get technology and his organization doesn’t really have a building. They just teach, but they don’t have a site. So libraries are always good for space. So we were able to come together for a Computer Science Education Week.”

— Teen Educator/Librarian at an urban northeastern library

Organizations like the Boys and Girls Club of America, the Boy Scouts of America, the Girl Scouts, 4-H, and YMCA and YWCA are well known, but there may be many smaller groups in your community who have programs focused on youth. Government entities may also fall under this category—for instance, many employment services departments have programs for youth.

Opportunities

Your partner’s events and activities: Many organizations have regularly scheduled activities with the same group of youth. You may be able to integrate library programming into an existing meeting agenda, either as a one-time event or on a continuing basis.
Your events and activities: A regular newsletter or email with information about upcoming programs can be a good way to maintain relationships with youth-serving partners when you’re not actively working together. A library worker at an urban western library also includes information about any scholarships, job or volunteer opportunities, or contests relevant to youth, reinforcing the library’s position as a valuable community resource.

Challenges

Unfamiliar audiences: If the organization is bringing a new set of patrons into your library, make sure your staff are prepared and equipped to serve them appropriately. This is particularly important if the teens have special abilities or needs, or are in a vulnerable situation. Professional development and training can help staff gain the skills and understanding they need to serve an unfamiliar group of patrons.
Vulnerable teens: Organizations that work with vulnerable teens may have policies in place to protect them and their privacy, and you may need to adjust your programs or procedures accordingly. Discuss this with your partner during the planning stage so you won’t be surprised by a policy mid-project.
Turnover: Organizations that work with teens in particularly difficult situations may have a turnover rate that is higher than normal. To avoid “starting over” with each new employee, try to get more than one person at the other organization invested and involved in your partnership.

Schools

“We have to go looking for the information, and most of the time when we do go looking for the information, there are district employees, or teachers, or librarians that will work with us. But we have to do a lot of digging to make that happen, and that once again comes down to the resources at our disposal and also the staff time it takes to make those in-roads.”

— Youth Services Specialist at a rural western library

Almost all of a community’s youth can be found in local schools at some point. Reaching teens through their schools can get them more involved with the library before the steep drop-off in participation that many librarians have reported with older teens. Partnerships with schools also build bridges between a teen’s formal and informal learning spaces—an important element of connected learning. Partnering with schools is particularly challenging for most of the librarians and library workers we spoke to. Very few reported having any collaborative relationship at all with their local schools, let alone a thriving partnership.

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Charlotte Mecklenburg Library & the Northwest School For the Arts

The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library partnered with the Northwest School of the Arts’s library, incorporating tutoring, homework help, and video games in an afterschool program. The public library provided the board games and video game equipment, which the school library lacked. The partnership allowed the library to reach new audiences, and provided a beneficial service to the school’s students.

Opportunities

Afterschool programs: Libraries can offer their space to afterschool programs, or conduct their own. Conducting afterschool programs on the school campus itself can help libraries reach underserved youth who might not be able to travel to the library building.

“We really appreciate those partnerships because it allows us to go into the schools, but it also allows us to reach those students that are underserved. Most likely, if they are at an afterschool program, their parents might not have as much opportunity to get to the library. So their students won’t have as much opportunity to take advantage of those summer reading programs or those story times, or the programs we offer at the libraries. So being able to take those technologies and take those fun things and expose those kids to them, I think really helps and it also let the schools know what we are able to offer them a legitimate and valuable service as well.”— Youth Services Specialist at a rural western library

Topical resources: Libraries can provide resources and information literacy programs for students, particularly when the school’s library is under-equipped. Themed presentations or online resources on evergreen subjects like health or history may be valuable to teachers, and library staff can help students learn to use library resources and equipment for science fairs or special projects. Schools with special focuses—technology, or the arts—may also be receptive to specialized, relevant programming.
Community service opportunities: Many schools require students to perform community service. Libraries can offer service opportunities, but can also facilitate connections between students and other community organizations in need of volunteers.
Bolster services by combining forces: Partnering with a school or school library can help you provide better services and resources to teens who are underserved, marginalized, at-risk, or otherwise disadvantaged. For instance, one library in Virginia allowed rotating portions of their audiobook collection to be housed at a school for the benefit of blind students.

Challenges

No time for extras: Teachers and school librarians are notoriously busy. Along with their full daily schedules, their curricula are also “busy”—full of requirements and necessary lessons, activities, and tests. They may not have classroom time to spare for library-related activities. To justify the time and effort required for a library and school to work together, you should be to able present a very clear benefit.
The library shouldn’t feel like school: One of the strengths of the public library as an informal learning space is that it’s not school. As an urban western library worker put it, “School comes with a lot of negative feelings oftentimes, and this is a much more open-ended space of imagination and freedom.” A library-school partnership shouldn’t make teens feel like they are spending even more time in school.
Yearly schedules conflict: “It’s all about the timing,” says Tasha Squires. Teachers and school librarians are particularly busy around the end of the school year, just as public librarians approach a flurry of summer learning activities. Squires recommends discussing potential partnerships around the beginning of the school year, which may be stressful but is a time when “people tend to be fresh and optimistic.”
Daily schedules conflict: Even in the day-to-day, youth librarians tend to have “opposite” schedules from teachers and school librarians—they are most busy when youth are not in school. This can make communication challenging, so be patient yet persistent, and be flexible with your schedule to make occasional meetings possible if you can.

Making Plans Together

Ending a Partnership