Advocacy, Outreach and Collaboration
Individual Paper/Presentation
Janet Damon, MLIS, EdS
Library Services Specialist
Denver Public Schools
Leslie Williams
Senior Librarian
Denver Public Library, Pauline Robinson Branch Library
Taliah Abdullah
Library Manager
Arapahoe Library District
This presentation will explore ways that school libraries, public libraries, and community organizations can partner to create a dynamic village around books and literacy development for families. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a widely respected test of students’ knowledge and skills that offer long-term snapshots of student outcomes. Colorado’s most recent NAEP scores show that less than 40% of fourth-grade students are proficient in reading and related skills.
Our projects include a four-tier approach to engaging and transforming the literacy experience for our youngest learners. We believe that families, educators, and community organizations can partner to create a truly empowering learning experience that is carried from the classroom and school library, to the home, and to the neighborhood library.
Discover concrete ways to:
- Align school and district initiatives like Family Outreach, Summer Reading, Community Book Clubs, and Family Literacy Nights with public library programming and citywide initiatives
- Identify community organizations as partners to create a village of support for parents, students, and families
- Engage in feedback and listening sessions with families to guide programming
- Create intersections between artists, writers, performers, and cultural archivists in the community as teaching partners
- Use social media to promote a vibrant, culturally responsive campaign promoting diverse readers, authors, and book collections
Using the entire toolkit or just a few strategies will help you create the critical village of support that is needed engage, support, and empower families and students of color.