The Marriage of School Libraries & Public Libraries

I have often been surprised by how many people are not public library users. It is even more shocking when people have graduated from college without library skills. How did they do that?
I was a librarian at an elementary school for 9 years before coming to Arlington High. I was fortunate to have the public library bookmobile come to my school every other week. When the students left school for the day, the bookmobile was waiting for them. The majority of my students had a public library card because I could order one for each student as needed. The students supplemented their school library check outs with different items on the bookmobile. It was a huge success!
At Arlington we ordered public library cards for all the ELL students (400+) and taught them how to use the Rossetta Stone program on the public library website. To use the program the students needed the barcode from their library card, a school email address and they created a username and password. My hope was they would return home and show the whole family how to do this at their local library. Students here at Arlington use the Rhondo, Rice and downtown branches.
Now we're promoting the district databases and giving the students the password sheet to use outside the building, always suggesting the public library down the street.
It has been my policy to promote the public library with my students and staff. It's essential to finding just the right resources for lessons that are exciting and to model to students the pathways to information gathering.