A Year in Partnerships

As a school librarian, I thrive on partnerships to expand my library and experiences for my students.  About five years ago, my school focused on and built a Global Education program that centers around four competencies: 1. Investigate the world with intellectual curiosity and cultural literacy; 2. Recognize and value diverse perspectives; 3. Communicate with agility and engage in respectful dialogue; and 4. Take responsible action that promotes peace and justice.  Partnerships help me fulfill these competencies in my library curriculum and programming, so each year, I try to find new partners while also building on my existing partnerships.  

In the fall, we continued our partnership with the New Orleans Public Library when our first grade visited a local branch to sing holiday carols and then participated in a storytime.  This helped my students learn more about public libraries while also bringing music and joy to the patrons of the Latter Branch.  

Last year, I began conversations with Laurel Assisted Living, so I was excited to have our first partnership events this year.  In the fall, my library-sponsored Oral History Club (made up of third and fourth grade students) went to the facility and interviewed ten of their residents and recorded their oral histories.  While the sound quality of many of the recordings made them unusable for our website, the experience was priceless as the students practiced their interview skills, learned about the history of our city and community, and made connections with the residents.  

In February, we returned for an intergenerational book club that focused on C.E. Winters’ Cut!: How Lotte Reiniger and a Pair of Scissors Revolutionized Animation.  I had been inspired by an article that I had read in an ALA journal and from the Programming Librarian.  Prior to the visit, our students had read the book, and I had delivered copies to the assisted living home so that the residents had either read it themselves or had it read to them.  When they got together, they discussed the book, answering questions such as: “How are Reiniger’s animations similar/different to the animations we see today?,” “What is your favorite animated film and why?,” and “Do you have a favorite story that you would like to see animated in this way?”  My students then helped the residents cut out silhouette images and placed them on popsicle sticks.  Some of them even acted out stories for the residents using their newly-crafted silhouette puppets.  In typical Book Club fashion, the afternoon ended with food and beverages.  Since Mardi Gras was only a couple of weeks away, everyone enjoyed king cake and sparkling water!

Partnerships do not happen overnight, and some take a long time to build and develop.  In the fall of 2024, I had begun talking to a professor and the Chair of the Xavier University History Department about building a partnership to apply for a Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources regional grant.  In July of 2025, we were awarded the grant, so we spent the next few months planning our project: Elevating Voices and Building Community with Primary Sources and Shared History. In a nutshell, my third grade students shared primary sources and analysis techniques that we use in the Library with Dr. Elizabeth Manley’s college students in her Women in International Contexts course.  After the sessions between the students, Dr. Manley, four of the Xavier students, and I attended the Louisiana Library Association where we presented on the project.  While it had taken a lot of work to build and carry out our grant programs, hearing about the project from the Xavier students’ point of view was so special and meaningful.  I was so proud of all of the students that participated.  They not only learned about primary sources, but they truly investigated the world, recognized and valued diverse perspectives, and learned to communicate with agility.  And now we are already talking about next year…!

Sacred Heart students visit the Xavier Archives in December, 2025.

What are some of your library partnerships?  How have partnerships enhanced your library?   

This post addresses ALSC competency 5.6: Communicates and collaborates in partnership with other agencies, institutions, and organizations serving children in the community to achieve common goals and overcome barriers created by socioeconomic circumstances, race, culture, privilege, language, gender, ability, religion, immigration status, commercialism, and other diversities.

Soline Holmes, Preschool/Lower School Librarian and Information Services Department Chair at Academy of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans, is writing this post on behalf of ALSC’s Public Awareness and Advocacy Committee. She can be reached at solineholmes@gmail.com.

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