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Join Library JournalSchool Library Journal, and school and public leaders from across the country for a three-week long virtual event on school district and public library partnerships.

Live Interactive Sessions: Wednesdays: October 14, 21, and 28, from 2-4 PM ET.

In this virtual event, we will explore the many benefits of the school and public alliance to drive equitable access to information, improve community outcomes, and achieve learning goals, with an emphasis on digital partnerships and how library collaborations have evolved in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. You’ll learn from the experts how to find partnerships, develop a plan of action, and enact your plan over three weeks through live keynote sessions, an interactive online classroom environment, and live Office Hours with an expert in the field.

The course will follow the continuum of collaboration, from informal partnerships to fully-integrated services, and will take a deep dive into impact and benefits to ensure that you walk away with the tools you need to make the most of your partnership.

Certificate of Completion Provided

Part 1: Wednesday, October 14, 2020, 2-4 pm ET

Session 1 | 2:00-2:45 pm ET

Getting Started With Your School and Public Library Collaboration  
In this session, you’ll learn how to get your school and public library collaboration up and running. From connecting with a partner to deciding on a plan, to enacting it, you’ll learn what you need to know from a librarian who has done it with success. This session will also touch on how to approach funding, achieve buy-in from stakeholders, and optimize your partnership in response to COVID-19.

Speaker:
Katie Cerqua, Youth and Family Services Manager, Virginia Beach Public Library
Intermission | 2:45-3:00 pm ET

Session 2 | 3:00-3:45 pm ET

Equity-Based School and Public Library Partnerships
Learn how a successful partnership helped bring increased equity to the community in this session with Diana Lopez of the Marin City Library. You’ll hear how the Marin County Free Library came together with Bayside Martin Luther King, Jr. Academy to advocate for its youth, increasing access and engagement, and reimagining their school library and its role in student’s lives.

Speaker:
Diana Lopez, Manager, Marin City Library, Marin County (CA), LJ Mover and Shaker 2019

Part 2: Wednesday, October 21, 2020, 2-4 pm ET

Session 1 | 2:00-3:00 pm ET

OFFICE HOURS 
Join Bridget Quinn-Carey, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hartford Library, in this live q+a session, where you’ll get to share your specific questions, concerns, and ideas for collaboration and get real-time feedback and guidance.
Intermission | 3:00-3:15 pm ET
Session 2: 3:15-4:00 pm ET
Get Connected: How Public Library and School Partnerships Increase 24/7 Access to Books
A Session with Presenting Sponsor, OverDrive

Whether students are at home or in the classroom, it’s critical that they have 24/7 access to a wide assortment of age-appropriate reading options – especially as districts explore remote learning solutions for the 2020 school year and beyond. How can public libraries and schools work together to meet this need? Find out in an eye-opening presentation featuring the Fresno County Public Library and OverDrive. You’ll learn the simple steps to activate public library and school partnerships and how these partnerships provide students access to additional instructional and independent reading titles that can help slow the summer slide and overcome remote learning challenges – all without requiring a library card. You’ll also learn about how you can leverage these partnerships to foster the next generation of loyal public library users, increase circulation of juvenile & young adult titles and gain data-driven insights into how students are using the library’s digital collection.

Be sure to stick around for a raffle at the end of the presentation!

Speaker:
Kevin Coon, Account Executive, OverDrive & Thomas Wood, Librarian, Fresno County Public Library

Part 3 – Wednesday, October 28, 2020, 2-4 pm ET

Session 1 | 2:00-3:00 pm ET

Running a School and Public Partnership At Scale
Learn how public and school libraries can collaborate to create robust, dynamic partnerships at scale. You’ll hear how Brian Bannon, Merryl and James Tisch Director at The New York Public Library, and Melissa Jacobs, Director of Library Services for NYC Public Schools, come together on initiatives like MyLibraryNYC to increase access to materials and services for student library users.

Speakers: 
PART 1 (2:00-2:30): Brian Bannon, Merryl and James Tisch Director, NYPL
PART 2 (2:30-3:00): Melissa Jacobs, Director of Library Services, NYCDOE
Intermission | 3:00-3:15 pm ET

Session 2 | 3:15-4:15 pm ET

Closing Keynote: Big Partnerships Start Small
In this session, you’ll learn how the small things that school and public libraries do in partnership with one another can open the door to larger, meaningful initiatives. You’ll hear from Cicely Lewis and Jan Wilson from Gwinnett Public Schools, along with Donald Giacomini from Gwinnett Public Library, on how their organizations have worked together to promote each other’s work, provide professional development opportunities for each other’s staff base, and ensure that communication occurs on a regular basis, and find out how those small connections created the expectations and the space for the amazing Read Woke Initiative to ignite the library and school community.

Speakers:
Cicely Lewis
, Media Specialist at Gwinnett County Public Schools (GA)
Donald Giacomini, Youth Services Specialist, Gwinnett Public Library (GA)
Jan Wilson, Coordination of Media Instruction, Gwinnett County Public Schools (GA)

Also Available On-Demand!

Can’t make a live session? All sessions will be available to you “on-demand” following the initial broadcast.

If you have any questions, email us at ljevents@mediasourceinc.com.

If you are a service provider or publisher and would like to sponsor the event, please contact Advertising Director Roy Futterman.

Group rates are available