PORT TOWNSEND — A three-way collaboration between the city, the Port Townsend School District and the city library was formalized Wednesday with the hope of creating better-prepared students and a stronger community.
“This agreement brings two of the community’s learning organizations to leverage each other’s strengths,” said Port Townsend Library director Theresa Percy.
“This collaboration is the first step in building better library services for everyone.”
Sharing of resources
The impetus for the agreement is financial, with all parties looking for ways to share resources.
“This compensates for a lack of funding and plugs a hole that exists in the schools,” said Port Townsend Mayor Michelle Sandoval.
“As a result, we will have smarter kids who can get into college more easily and will develop the skills to use library resources.”
The school system does not have a full-time librarian on staff. The three school libraries are operated by aides.
The agreement will streamline book access, allowing students to interact with the library’s catalog offerings and have books delivered to the schools overnight.
The school district and the library will work together to share current collections, and the agreement will change future purchasing habits.
“There are certain books that need to be in each collection, but we can have volumes in the public library that can help students with specific research,” Percy said.
“If someone is doing a research project about the pyramids, they can get started at their school library and then come in here for a more detailed view.”
Students often use the Internet, which Percy said can become “an information dump that isn’t always useful.”
Reading skills
The library and schools also are pursuing working together on the development of reading skills, she said.
The Port Townsend schools have purchased nonfiction titles to suit each reading level — 16 in all — and the library has purchased fiction for each level.
The books are displayed at both the Grant Street Elementary School and the library, sorted into boxes that are accessible to students.
This program began late in the 2009-2010 school year, and other such programs are now in development.
The efforts will be shepherded by the Library Collaboration Committee, which contains representatives from the school district and the libraries and will meet regularly.
Plans will be developed with the help of consultant Kris Mayer, whose $5,000 fee will be split between the city and the library.
“We are all struggling with decreased financial resources,” said Gene Laes, the Port Townsend School District interim superintendent.
“When you can partner with another entity, it strengthens everyone.”
For whole community
Laes said the agreement leads to “a lifelong learning structure for the community, rather than something that only extends from kindergarten to 12th grade.”
Laes said he had experience with a similar collaboration during his first superintendant position, with the Queets-Clearwater School District more than 30 years ago.
“There was a satellite library in a small building that actually moved into the school library’s space,” he said.
“We had to work out some issues. People from the community couldn’t come into the school at any time and we had to separate collections that were not appropriate for younger kids,” Laes said.
“But the results were positive. A lot of community members saw what we were doing in the schools and became more supportive.
“We even got a few of them to volunteer.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
