Partnering for Stronger Programming:
A Toolkit for Libraries
Why work with a partner? Because together, we make a greater impact!
Consider the big-picture goals of library programming — helping to create communities that are connected, knowledgeable, creative, civically engaged, healthy, economically vital, welcoming, joyful and caring (or all of the above!). How can libraries reach these goals and add value to their work through partnerships?
Partnering for Stronger Programming: A Toolkit for Libraries provides five tools for library workers with actionable steps to help partnerships grow sustainably, meet goals, expand organizational capacity, thoughtfully engage with partner audiences, and more. The five different tools can be used individually or in combination.
Tool 1: Determining Goals: Why Do We Work Together?
Tool 2: What Work Can We Do Together?
Tool 3: What Do We Each Bring to the Table?
Tool 4: How Do We Work Together?
Tool 5: What Does a Successful Partnership Look Like?
Training Videos
Testimonials
Are you a library worker who has used the toolkit? Please email your comments and feedback to publicprograms@ala.org.
I used the toolkit with my staff to take a pause and to be intentional about taking an inventory of our partners and our working relationships with them. With the help of the toolkit, we were able to determine the effectiveness of these relationships and begin to focus on the new partnerships that we want to form. This toolkit is one that we will continue to utilize periodically to ensure that we are operating as optimally as possible.
Toolkit Resource List
The following resources can be used to supplement the toolkit:
- The Public Library Association’s Project Outcome
- Florida’s K-12 Library Program Evaluation Tool
- Management Library’s Basic Guide to Program Evaluation
- Libraries Transforming Communities “Turning Outward” Guide
- Community Vision Exercise from the Massachusetts Library System
- S.O.A.R. (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results) Brainstorming from Massachusetts Library System
- Community Toolbox: Assessing Community Needs and Resources
- The Powerful Partnerships Resource Library’s Essential Tools
- Rural Health Info’s Rural Toolkit
- American Library Association’s Public Library & School Library Collaboration Toolkit
- Programming Librarian’s “5 Mistakes You Might be Making with Your Library Partnerships”
- Mary Davis Fournier and Sarah Ostman, “Ask, Listen, Empower: Grounding Your Work in Community Engagement”
- Community Toolbox: Creating and Maintaining Coalitions and Partnerships
- Let’s Move Library’s Cultivating the Relationship-Driven Library Toolkit
- WebJunction’s Communication and Partnerships Tools
- Association for Library Service to Children’s Connect With Community Partners Tool
- Chapter 11 from “Picking up STEAM” – “Leveraging Community Partnerships”
- Knology and ALA’s 7 Steps to Effective Community Engagement
- University of Denver’s Collaborative Librarianship Journal
- EBSCO’s Library Advocacy: Community Partnerships blog
- Programming Librarian’s “The Partnerships Made It Happen: Collaborative Library Program Success Stories”