{"id":27841,"date":"2022-09-24T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-24T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=27841"},"modified":"2025-04-09T11:52:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T15:52:59","slug":"back-to-school-with-school-corps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2022\/09\/back-to-school-with-school-corps\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to School with School Corps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"650\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MCL-SchCorps-01-650x650.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-27845\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MCL-SchCorps-01-650x650.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MCL-SchCorps-01-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MCL-SchCorps-01-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MCL-SchCorps-01-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MCL-SchCorps-01-500x500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MCL-SchCorps-01-90x90.jpg 90w, https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/MCL-SchCorps-01.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Multnomah County Library School Corps librarian Jackie Partch carries books outside a local elementary school. Image courtesy of blogger.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Got school outreach on your mind? You\u2019re not alone. For 25 years, the <a href=\"https:\/\/multcolib.org\/\">Multnomah County Library<\/a> School Corps team has helped students thrive in Oregon\u2019s most populous county.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Founded in 1997, School Corps began as a way to maintain the library\u2019s connection with youth. According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/multcolib.org\/school-corps\">library\u2019s website<\/a>, \u201cthe team has reached more than 83,000 students with 131,000 books, saving 8,700 hours of educator time.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">School Corps, which currently consists of a team of three staff, provides a menu of programs and services to K-12 schools. Many of these programs and services existed during its inception but have adapted with the times. Sample <a href=\"https:\/\/multcolib.org\/school-corps\">menu items<\/a> include:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/multcolib.org\/educators\/school-corps\/bucket-books\">Buckets of Books<\/a>: 24-30 books on a topic plus a teacher&#8217;s guide<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/multcolib.org\/assignment-alert\">Assignment alert<\/a>: discover a new booklist, collection, or list of websites<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/multcolib.org\/educators\/school-corps\/school-corps-presentations\">Presentations<\/a>: covering a multitude of topics and library resources<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In honor of School Corps\u2019 milestone and the start of a new school year, School Corps Librarians Tanya Belmont and Jackie Partch provide insight into the successful program.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For those wishing to forge stronger connections with local schools, whether you have one staff member or a whole team, Tanya and Jackie suggest the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Give schools a menu of options. <\/strong>This way they\u2019ll know the full range of services the library offers\u2013and those you don\u2019t!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>All you need is one person.<\/strong> One teacher\/administrator\/librarian can help spread the word to others\u2013including other schools.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Keep it patron-driven. <\/strong>Seek out an invitation rather than trying to force your way into schools. Listen to what schools are asking for.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Connections matter.<\/strong> When possible, a personal introduction from someone who already has a connection can go a long way. Cold emailing is also an option to get your foot in the door.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Prioritize.<\/strong> You can\u2019t be everywhere. Some services are for all schools and some are just for the schools that need them most.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether you\u2019re new to outreach or not, don\u2019t give up! Tanya shared a story about a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ala.org\/alsc\/awardsgrants\/bookmedia\/belpre\">Pura Belpr\u00e9 award<\/a> presentation she developed for School Corps that initially didn\u2019t get a lot of requests. This year, she can\u2019t keep up with demand! As one student said after one such presentation (which included playing Selena\u2019s music): \u201cThis was the best library day ever.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Congratulations, School Corps! Here\u2019s to 25 more years of the best library days ever!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This post addresses the following ALSC Core Competencies: <\/em><em>I. Commitment to Client Group, II. Reference and User Services, <\/em><em>III. Programming Skills<\/em><em>, and V. Outreach and Advocacy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This blog post was written on behalf of the School-Age Programs and Services Committee by Alec B. Chunn. Alec is a youth librarian at Multnomah County Library and a member of the School-Age Programs &amp; Services Committee.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Got school outreach on your mind? You\u2019re not alone. For 25 years, the Multnomah County Library School Corps team has helped students thrive in Oregon\u2019s most populous county.&nbsp; Founded in 1997, School Corps began as a way to maintain the library\u2019s connection with youth. According to the library\u2019s website, \u201cthe team has reached more than 83,000 students with 131,000 books, saving 8,700 hours of educator time.\u201d&nbsp; School Corps, which currently consists of a team of three staff, provides a menu of programs and services to K-12 schools. Many of these programs and services existed during its inception but have adapted with the times. Sample menu items include:&nbsp; In honor of School Corps\u2019 milestone and the start of a new school year, School Corps Librarians Tanya Belmont and Jackie Partch provide insight into the successful program.&nbsp; For those wishing to forge stronger connections with local schools, whether you have one staff&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[287,93,1611,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-school-age-programs-and-services-committee","category-outreach","category-outreach-and-advocacy","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27841\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}