Transforming Summer Programs at Your Library: Outreach and Outcomes in Action

by Natalie Cole, Virginia A. Walter

Overview

Changes in public libraries, the communities they serve, children's lives, and educational research all demonstrate that traditional summer reading programs need to be reimagined. Working groups of librarians, in partnership with the California Library Association and the California State Library, have done just that, creating and implementing outcomes- and outreach-based summer reading programs that speak directly to diverse and changing communities. Drawing on case studies from several different libraries, this book shows how other libraries can transform their own summer programs. Offering a vision of change in action, the authors

begin with an historical overview of summer programming in public libraries and a review of the research and conditions that have prompted recent changes in summer programs;

discuss the principles, strategies, and evaluation framework that California librarians have created to transform their institutions;

review a statewide campaign, Summer Matters, that is working to provide equitable summer learning opportunities for all children in California; and

take an in-depth look at Lunch at the Library, a public library summer meal project, which brings underserved families to the library while providing learning opportunities for children, volunteer opportunities for teens, and resources for adults.

Public library staff and educators will feel inspired and empowered by the positive examples put forth in this book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780838916285
Publisher:	American Library Association
Publication date:	12/13/2017
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Virginia A. Walter holds a BA in world literature, an MLIS from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD in public administration from the University of Southern California. Before joining the faculty in what is now the Information Studies Department at UCLA in 1990, she had worked for more than twenty years in public libraries, most recently as children’s services coordinator at Los Angeles Public Library. She retired in June 2008 with the rank of professor emerita. She is the author of two books for young people, nine monographs, and more than thirty-five articles in scholarly and professional journals.