One easy way school and public libraries can join forces is by hosting author talks and panels for student audiences. When budgets are combined, high-profile, popular authors can often build more engaging programming, which can benefit student audiences of all ages.
YALSA’s Teen Read Week 2015 is October 18-24; this year’s theme: Get Away @ your library. Here at DC Public Library, we have a sizable budget to book author events during this week, but attracting student audiences is a complicated task. One way we have tried to attract higher student participation is by partnering with our neighborhood school librarians, weeks in advance, to book a class or two to attend our programs both during and after school.
Our kickoff event in early October was a conversation with authors Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, who read from their novel All American Boys, “an unforgettable new novel…, two teens—one black, one white—grapple with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their school, their community, and, ultimately, the country bitterly divided by racial tension.” The topic was a current one—race relations among teen communities.
It wasn’t hard to attract a social studies teacher from a nearby charter middle school to bring about 18 students to participate in the discussion. The event was at 6 p.m. on a Wednesday, but the students came with lots of questions to participate in a lively discussion! Afterwards, the teacher purchased a copy of the book for each of his students.
On October 20, a similar high profile author panel occurred at one of our local branches, but this time during the school day. Among the authors featured were recently published Kat Spears (Sway); renowned graphic novelist and adaptor Gareth Hinds (Macbeth); Robin Talley (Lies We Tell Ourselves); and Ellen Oh (King). The topic of the panel was how the authors build setting and characters through their writing. There was time for students to submit questions to the panel, and a representative from a local bookstore was present so that students may purchase copies of the author’s work.
Our librarians were nervous scheduling this panel on a Tuesday at 1 p.m., but after some networking with librarians at nearby middle and high schools, a total of 70 students were scheduled to participate!
Neither of these events could not have been possible without the budgets and connections of our public library and the relationships with neighborhood schools who provide the student audiences.
Collaboration on author events is not only for Teen Read Week. This summer our highest prize for our “Super Readers” (ages 6 to 12) was to attend a special luncheon with five local authors, yet another example of the ability of public libraries to attract authors and schools (who helped us with summer reading sign ups) providing the audiences to attend. Without the collaboration between public and school librarians, these events could never occur.
Locations of these author programs are not limited to public libraries. In the past, we’ve also brought in authors to specific schools with the help of savvy school librarians, who can assist with author fees.
So what are you waiting for? Contact your public or school librarian today and brainstorm how to combine your resources to attract engaging and popular authors for your student patrons!
Anne Ledford is School Liaison at DC Public Library District and a member of the AASL/ALSC/YALSA Interdivisional Committee on School-Public Library Cooperation.