The Lessons of Collaboration: Public Libraries and Public Broadcasting

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)  and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have partnered to promote community collaborations among their constituencies with the aim of "cultivating the art of partnership."

Twenty projects involving libraries, museums, and public television and radio broadcasters were funded between 2005 and 2006, which are profiled in a new publication, "Partnership for a Nation of Learners: Joining Forces, Creating Value." (Here's LJ's report on a couple of projects featuring academic libraries.)

The power of partnership
"This publication…spotlights exemplary community partnerships across the country and shares ‘how-to’ information on successful collaborations, noted IMLS director Anne-Imelda Radice. "In these challenging economic times, partnerships are more valuable than ever."

Project partners learned valuable lessons about how to fit a project mission to a community need, the importance of thoughtful planning, and familiarizing themselves with differing organizational cultures.

Issues facing Hispanic communities
KCRB,  the Sonoma County Library (SCL), and the Sonoma County Museum, CA, collaborated to produce Tengo La Voz ("I Have the Voice"), a multipronged effort to engage Hispanic teens and young adults, whose exploding population is dealing with teen pregnancy and gang involvement.

Target groups were invited to participate in activities that "define and celebrate their culture." SCL hosted a weeklong writing workshop, a bilingual book series, and gang-prevention workshops. Surveys revealed that the anti-gang message did get through; 90 percent of attendees said they learned about things they could do that don’t involve gangs.

One particular challenge was finding students to participate, as teens faced transportation challenges and peer pressure.

Iowa is another place where the Latino population is growing rapidly. Iowa Public Television, the State Library of Iowa, and the Iowa Department of Education Iowa teamed up to improve reading skills among Hispanic parents so they could foster reading within their families.

Library staffers paired with child development specialists to conduct family book clubs, with help from a translator, if necessary. For each visit, participants received a free bilingual book. Partners also set up an adult literacy web page.

While some counties had problems with recruitment, because of fear or scheduling issues, eight communities out of the initial 14 have committed to a third year of the program.

Philadelphia addresses crime
The Free Library of Philadelphia (FLP) hosted multifaceted effort to combat rising crime rates. Children ages 6 to 18 were the target of a variety of programs and media efforts developed by House of UMOJA, FLP, University of Pennsylvania’s WXPN-FM, and the Atwater Kent Museum.

The partners created a handbook of peace-themed programs for FLP’s after-school LEAP program staff and offered ten training workshops for staff and teen assistants to present at community day camps, summer schools, and churches.

Collecting signed peace pledges from teens proved to be difficult. After the team switched to spoken pledges and stickers, it had more success (pledges grew from 3000 to 50,000). Partners learned that they needed more part-time help than anticipated, and that smaller organizations needed assistance.

Fostering a healthy life
The Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences, West Virginia Public Broadcasting, and the Kanawha County Public Library (KCPL), Charleston, WV, worked together to address childhood obesity.

"Beginning a Healthy Life" targeted children ages 2–8, parents, and teachers. Partners collaborated to conduct two training sessions for Head Start teachers and parents, focused on the Sesame Street Healthy Habits curriculum. KCPL developed story kits, enhanced its collection, sponsored or conducted 439 health-related programs, and incorporated the theme into its 2007 summer reading club, "Readers in Motion." A total of 15,073 people attended the library programs.

The main challenge was the cost of the program, but the IMLS grant gave the project credibility and helped the partners win additional funding.