Dr. Betsy Diamant-Cohen - Childrens Services: Partnerships for Success

Partnerships for Success

Edited by Betsy Diamant-Cohen, D.C.D.

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
CHICAGO 2010

Dr. Betsy Diainant-Cohen recalls a Rutgers library school professor lamenting the lack of professional articles written by practicing librarians and urging students to write and share experiences and practical knowledge. This encouraged Betsy to write books and articles for librarians based on her work in public and school libraries, museums, a web design firm, and a film archive. Her first article (on partnerships!) was published in 2003. A talented presenter, Betsy conducts workshops around the country, serves on Baltimores Reach Out and Read board and on a variety of Public Library Association committees, and is currently the early childhood specialist at Baltimores Port Discovery Museum. In addition, Betsy developed the popular Mother Goose on the Loose early literacy program, was selected as a 2004 Library Journal Mover and Shaker, and is a past president of the Maryland Library Associations Childrens Services Division.

While extensive effort has gone into ensuring the reliability of information appearing in this book, the publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, on the accuracy or reliability of the information, and does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in this publication.

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Childrens services : partnerships for success / edited by Betsy Diamant-Cohen.

p. cm. (ALA public library handbook series)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8389-1044-3 (alk. paper)

1. Childrens librarieseUnited States. 2. Childrens librariesCanada. 3. Library outreach programsCase studies. 4. Libraries and schoolsCase studies. 5. Libraries and communityCase studies. 6. Reading promotionCase studies. 7. Literacy programs Case studies. I. Diamant-Cohen, Betsy.

Z718.2.U6C48 2010

027.6250973dc22

2009045788

Copyright 2010 by Betsy Diamant-Cohen. All rights reserved except those which may be granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8389-1044-3

Printed in the United States of America
14 13 12 11 10 5 4 3 2 1

Book design by Casey Bayer

ALA Public Library Handbook Series

Public Libraries Going Green, by Kathryn Miller

Thank you to ALA Editions and Stephanie zvirin for asking me to edit this book on collaborative partnerships, which proved a glorious opportunity to publicize successful public library partnerships involving childrens services while connecting and reconnecting with wonderful people doing amazing things. Thank you to my public and school librarian partners in New Jersey and to the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Ellen Riordan, Selma Levi, and Dr. Carla Hayden, for providing so many exciting collaboration opportunities.

My friendship with Dina Sherman began through a shared passion for publicizing the value of museum-library partnerships. I thank all librarians and museum personnel who participated in our panel presentations at conferences held by the American Library Association, the Association for Library Service to Children, the Association of Childrens Museums, the American Association of Museums, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, the International Museum Theatre Alliance, the Hands On! Europe Playing to Learn Annual Conference, and the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums.

Although I cant acknowledge each collaborative partner, every successful partnership encouraged the formation of another one; some wonderful partners have been Kit Bloom, Anne Caldern, Maureen Farley, Rosa Hernandez, Harriet Lynn, Nora Moynihan, Danielle Nekimken, Carole Schlein, Cherie Stellacio, Dorothy Valakos, Regina Wade, Cynthia Webber, and the staff at Port Discovery Childrens Museum in Baltimore.

Working with every one of the contributing authors has been a pleasure; I thank all of them for sharing their experiences. Fran Glushakow-Gould has been an invaluable assistant, and I received excellent technical assistance from Susan Brandt, Celia Yitzhak, Yoella Diamant-Cohen, and Alon Diamant-Cohen. Thank you to everyone who freely gave tips about finding good collaborative models. And thanks to Stuart, for our own special collaborative partnership.

From the start of my library career, I have been involved in partnerships. When a childs abduction became a topic of concern in the community, my library was asked to address it in some way. I remembered seeing a puppet show on the danger of strangers at the Cambridge, Massachusetts, public library while I was still an undergraduate at college. After a phone call to the Cambridge library, a copy of the script was mailed to me. I revised the script to suit our community, and we partnered with local police to create a stranger safety program for children.

My next partnership was in Metuchen, New Jersey, where the library partnered with the public elementary schools to present a townwide poetry festival. The school media specialists and I wrote a grant that provided funding for the entire festival. The poets Eve Merriam and John Ciardi gave a public reading of their poetry in the local movie theater and at the public library. Special creative writing classes run by a local theater inspired children to write their own poetry. Teachers and school media specialists helped children choose a favorite poem and memorize it. Through schoolwide competitions, each class selected representatives to present their memorized or self-written poem. Original poems by schoolchildren were placed on display in the public library and space was reserved for the final event. As the childrens librarian, I organized the event, created the fliers, sent out the press releases, provided the refreshments, and acted as the MC. It was a wonderful experience.

Coming from a large library with multiple childrens librarians to a small-town library where I was the entire childrens department made partnership a necessity. A group of childrens librarians from central New Jersey partnered together to provide multiperson skits, puppet shows, and shadow-box theater in our various small libraries. By sharing personnel, we were able to visit schools in all of our towns and offer a scintillating skit to encourage children to join the Summer Reading Club. It certainly was more fun than visiting schools alone, and it made a greater impact on the children.

My first job with the Enoch Pratt Free Library was as manager of the Exploration Center, a public library inside of Baltimores Port Discovery Childrens Museum. Although I was an employee of the public library, my physical site was inside the museum. Because of this unique setup, groups coming to the library for preschool storytime were able to hear funny stories about body parts, to visit a museum exhibit on the body and climb through a mouth or nose, and then to return to the library for a final body-themed story and finger play. The ability to take storytime attendees into museum exhibits for free as part of each library program enabled us to enrich the typical storytime experience. Moreover, museum visitors who lived anywhere in the state of Maryland were encouraged to browse through the collection of books on topics relating to each museum exhibit, to borrow them with their library cards, and to return them to their local libraries. This enabled them to extend their museum visit beyond the physical walls of the museum. As the State Library Resource Center, Pratt both distributed and collected library books from around the state, so the museum was added to its delivery route, which made this all possible.