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Georgia: Schools partner with public libraries to make best use of limited resources

By: Chloé Morrison
(Contact)

Included in this article

Galya Brewer

As possible funding cuts threaten the budgets of Georgia school systems, partnering schools and public libraries makes best use of limited resources to instill in students a love of learning and reading, officials said.

Gov. Sonny Perdue has called for a 2 percent reduction in k-12 education spending to help deal with the state’s $1.6 billion deficit. Local educators are waiting to see how the state school board with deal with the request, but they are planning to cut costs.

Administrators said last week they will trim as much as possible without slighting students’ education or cutting staff. One of the first extras to go: field trips.

“Due to the total cost involved including fuel, drivers and maintenance, field trips will be very few without outside funding,” said Elaine Womack, spokeswoman for Walker County schools.

Schools and libraries have partnered for years, but the funding crunch will make library resources more valuable than ever as they take the place of some activities schools cannot afford to offer.

“Libraries work closely with schools to have available selected reading and research materials so that students may access them on their own,” Ms. Womack said.

And teachers and professionals with the Cherokee Regional Library — which serves Walker and Dade counties — work together to plan events for students, from story time with prekindergarten classes to library lock-ins for teens.

Programs and partnering

Dade County teachers and library officials met last week to discuss possible programs and ways to work together.

One program already in place is Friday story time for pre-k students from Dade County Elementary School, said Gayla Brewer, community development librarian with the Cherokee Regional Library.

Children will visit different countries by reading about them, Ms. Brewer said. Students will be issued pretend passports to add to the fun, and they will see items, such as clothing, from each of the countries they “visit,” she said.

For older students there are other approaches.

On Sept. 5, students in grades nine through 12 may take part in a lock-in at the library. The Friday schedule will range from crafts to karaoke, and computer games to a library scavenger hunt. The games are fun and educational, Ms. Brewer said, and further the goal of teaching that reading and learning can be exciting.

“Since we are going to limit the teen lock-in to grades 9 through 12, we are going to plan something for the tweens,” Ms. Brewer said.

Officials with the Chickamauga library have created a teen/’tween advisory board, which Ms. Brewer hopes to do in Dade County. The advisory board works to give library officials ideas for events or activities.

The children’s librarian last year spent a day with students at Gilbert Elementary in Walker County discussing children’s literature, said Kelly Massey, media specialist for the school.

She said being able to access the library’s materials is important.

“They are great to lend me resources from their library for the blind,” she said. “They ship books on cassette free of charge.”

Another tool in Chickamauga to promote reading and school spirit, students will get to pick a high school team — either Gordon Lee or Ridgeland — and keep track on a mock scoreboard with each book they read, said Karen Trusty, children’s specialist at the Chickamauga library.

She said students who read the most and move fastest down the field will get earn an opportunity to be an honorary ball boy or cheerleader for their favorite team.

passing on the power

Ms. Brewer said, like schools, libraries promote a love of learning that will last a lifetime.

“I remember when my mother and my daddy would take me and my older brother to the library,” she said. “I just fell in love with it at an early age.”

Now she finds joy in passing along to a younger generation the power of reading, learning and discovery.

“We want to broaden their knowledge, broaden their educational experience,” Ms. Brewer said.

To partner with schools lets students know that the library is there to help them, and that library resources are there even when school is out, officials said.

The goal is to get students interested in learning and reading, so they will keep that interest as adults.

“Life-long learning is our goal,” Ms. Brewer said.

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