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Every year, when we evaluate our library programs according to the Standards and Guidelines for Texas School Libraries, one of our lowest areas is typically Standard V – Connections to the Community. It takes a lot of planning and effort to reach out and bring the community into the school library, but if you invite them, they will come!

Case in point: Right before Spring Break, Margaret Beasley, librarian at Cannaday Elementary hosted a Library Expo. This evening event featuring the library attracted over 200 students, parents and siblings! Attendees were treated to demonstrations of technology that is used in the library, including a Promethean interactive white board lesson

and podcasts created by 3rd and 6th graders.

They were also given a hands-on lesson in the computer lab on how to access the library’s online resources from home.

This year’s event was so successful that Margaret is already making plans to do it again next year!

The benefits of a program like this are many. Not only does it make stakeholders aware of what their kids are doing when they come to the library and of the resources that are available, it increases the likelihood that those stakeholders will advocate to keep the library program, if there should ever be a possibility of letting it go.

What are you doing to get parents into your library?

This entry was posted on March 24, 2009 at 12:15 pm and is filed under School Libraries. Tagged: advocacy, community, standards, technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.