School Library and Museum Collaboration

Museums and schools should be natural partners. So, when I began working at a high school library three-and-a-half years ago, one of the first things I did was seek out an institution willing to try something a little different. My goals were mainly twofold:

• Promote hands-on learning and STEAM / Makerspace education in my town, while showing students the value of collaboration 
• Promote museum educational programs and outreach

Students check out the 3D printer that will
be used to build drone parts. It was acquired thanks
to a museum education grant that included our school.

I was willing to work with any type of museum, with the hope that this project will expand and perhaps involve multiple museums in the future. In July 2014, I met with a like-minded science museum director in my area to discuss ideas about a potential collaboration. This winter, our partnership and year-and-a-half of planning is resulting in a project launch with my high school teens. I have described our project on Donor's Choose as follows:


Our first collaborative project is to design and build a drone. The project will help students gather and evaluate information. It will support innovation, creativity and critical thinking. With the help of the librarian, administration, teachers, and museum staff, it will allow students to become comfortable with collaboration and communicating with experts. Students will work within a budget, create an engineering project plan, build a drone kit and modify the drone with CAD and a 3D printer, create a documentary about the experience, design a web site, write articles for the school paper and other media outlets outside of our walls and deliver presentations about our work.

This project is open to all students and will cater to varied interests and abilities.

Students will engage in authentic learning, picking up skills that will serve them in a 21st century world. Furthermore, the project will boost our sense of community due to its large-scale collaborative nature. We hope that this will serve as a model for other non-formal learning opportunities. [Donor's Choose, 2016]

In my original planning document I state the following: 

Students are invited to learn in an environment that distinguishes itself from the traditional classroom experience - to explore, to be creative and to discover new ways of thinking. We aim to make our school a model for community learning that brings informational and cultural tools from around the world into our educational space.

We see collaboration as an important part of our learning experience. Collaboration gives us more ways to access information. It enables us to rely on group diversity to accomplish tasks. It gives us multiple perspectives for more efficiently solving problems. Collaboration can help us grow ideas, stretch our minds, and garner new tools for information seeking behaviors.

• We aim to make learning fun and to connect it to the real world.
• We aim to help students adapt to different ways of communication, exploration, inquiry, and evaluation of information using diverse low and high tech tools.
• We aim to help students understand that you learn for a lifetime.
• We aim to show students that success relates to caring about something, getting involved, and following through with an idea from inception to completion. [GHS/McAuliffe Shepard Partnership, 2015]

 ...In fact, these points are what libraries are all about in the 21st century:

We most effectively reach our audience to convey these concepts and provide these opportunities through collaboration. I believe that such school and museum partnerships should be the model for the 21st century to the benefit of both institutions.

Libraries, Innovation, and Our 21st Century Role

Many years ago, I began serving as a judge at the New Hampshire State competition for the Young Inventors Program. It is a wonderful program that encourages inventiveness in young people in grades K-8. It is a perfect place for a curious librarian/archivist to spend some time.

Designed for the classroom and aimed at encouraging K-8 students to "think outside of the box," the Young Inventors Program is structured and developed to encourage all students to participate, including those who may not "fit the mold" for traditional sciences.

Finding a new calling: encouraging inventiveness

This year, I decided to sponsor an award. A Library and Information Services award seemed like a much needed focus area for encouraging invention.

• First, as libraries across the country build and promote Makerspaces, and with a major project to retrofit my own library for such a space, I want young inventors to dream of going to the library to build,
• Second, as a school librarian, I am also immersed in ideas for STEM initiatives. How can the library be part of the backbone for moving science, technology, engineering and math forward in our schools and across the country? I have been working hard with the science and math teachers at my school to make our library a center to support their needs. All libraries need to jump into the STEM discussions.
• Furthermore, last summer, I was deemed an honorary science and math person by my colleagues at AP Academy. Teachers at this Advanced Placement camp were playing a game of Trivial Pursuit. Those in the Sciences were on one team and those in the Liberal Arts were on the other. I asked where I should go, "Well, as the librarian in the room, you are the one person who could legitimately play on either side!" - We need to cultivate that attitude in our profession. Librarians need to step into a room and say, "Yes, I am a science person too. I support the readers and writers, but I also support and understand the inventors." 

Putting aside the fact that I have come to realize that I would have made a good botanist, (I spend much of my free time in the garden when there is not snow on the ground and there is that obvious classification thing...) in my childhood, I was never on a path for science. My sister was on that path. She became a doctor. She spent her time catching butterflies, while I spent my time writing and drawing. This idea that I am a science-minded person too is new to me (despite my masters degree in library SCIENCE.) What if someone encouraged me to go out and draw the things I saw in nature or to write about the insects in the garden? I was a very good biology student and an excellent math student, but I never put two and two together. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but there was another path to take that never crossed my mind. For someone who prides herself on taking the road less traveled most of the time, it is significant to realize that I missed this path entirely....Almost. I want to prevent other kids like my young self from missing the path too.

The Value of Libraries for Inventors

Here I am in my 40s, sitting in the audience at the Young Inventors conference waiting for my turn to present. The young inventors in the audience were told this about my award: "The ArchivesInfo Library and Information Services Award recognizes an invention that can support the day-to-day work of libraries." But, as I anticipated, they didn't realize the full impact of what this means, nor did their parents. They were not just creating an invention to support literacy. They were creating something to support themselves. Why libraries at an invention conference? What do libraries have to do with invention? I had a whole speech ready to go about how libraries have always provided books, but they are so much more. Yada, yada, yada...

For judging, students were invited to tag their projects so that specialty judges like myself would be sure to come view what they've created. Since this the first year this award was offered, I saw just three inventions that students said they designed specifically for libraries. Two of my library specific inventors designed bookmarks. They were nice but they did not scream library for the 21st century to me. Wandering among rooms, I stopped at the invention of Caitlin Connelly, a 4th grader from Sanbornton Central School. Caitlin's "Double Desk" was not designed specifically for library use. She dreamed of it for a classroom setting, but her incorporation of a white board and a tablet, which could be locked into the desk and released with a code so students could take it home with teacher (or librarian) permission, was perfect. I pictured a long desk in my library's own newly minted makerspace built on Caitlin's model. "I need this," I thought.  

The audience at the NH State Young Inventors Program

There were many specialty awards being given out. The award ceremeny went on for 45 minutes until I heard my name to give out my award. "I can't make these poor people sit here and listen to my speech about how great libraries are. They are tired. I am tired. They won't listen. They don't care. They just want to hear if their kids got award. How does this effect THEM?" So, I shuffled my papers and thought about the inventor who gave out an award and his story about inventing since he was very young. And, I thought about little Caitlin Connelly. I walked across the stage to give Caitlin a $75 gift certificate to Makershed and said something like this:

"I will make this short. This award goes to the invention that best helps libraries.  Libraries are hubs of innovation that supply space and materials for you to learn and to create. We want to create better spaces for you." I went on to explain how the invention that I picked would be perfect in my own school's makerspace; that Caitlin's table was perfect for helping people to be creative and inventive. I said that I hoped Caitlin would let me use her idea so that my students could have a great space for making their own discoveries.

Planting a seed

If anyone in the audience was not a library goer, they were probably now considering, "I can go to the library and find things like Caitlin's table to help me with my inventions?" Libraries are for the scientists too?

Cool.

As librarians struggling within our own walls, within our own budgets, we often have difficulty looking out. As we move forward and re-mold and re-define our roles in contemporary society, we need to be better promoters of our own worth. We need to be on the cutting edge and to toot our own horns. Often. My role at the Invention Convention is one example of how to get on board with what our patrons need today and how I was able to advertise that message. 

How are you advertising the message that libraries are for everyone? How are you changing with the times? How are you planting the message in the minds of your community? Right now, think of three things that you can do to change the conversation about your role in the community so that it fits a new audience.

***

Thank you Academy of Applied Science. I had a great time and am honored to be part of your team.

***

I want to add that this week past, for the second year in a row, the House Budget Committee has proposed cutting all funding to IMLS. It is very important for librarians to speak up now; to show off our value and tie our images to the future and not the past. Write your Congressman today!

Empowering Innovation: Building Community and the Intriguing Follett Challenge

As with an community archives, our school's Special Collections represent who we are. The records of our past show our growth, embody our civic pride, and help lead us to a better future. These historical materials within a school setting serve another valuable purpose. They can be part of a strong program to "Empower Innovation," helping to weave together what may seem like disparate subjects to our young people. Furthermore, when we think of our archives as a part of a whole system of information -- learning, communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, facts, multiple perspectives, history, contemporary ideas -- we expand our purpose and can better explain the importance of our work as archivists, librarians, and cultural heritage professionals.

Introduction to the Follett Challenge

The school where I serve as "Information Specialist" is currently entered in the Follett Challenge. [I'll admit right up front that one reason I thought to write about "Empowering Innovation" this weekend is because Goffstown High is seeking support for its innovative library programming and I would like more votes to help us win the Challenge. BUT that is not my only angle here so please keep reading!]

"The Follett Challenge showcases and rewards educators who are aligning their curriculum and approach in order to teach the skills needed in the 21^st century, and who are implementing a collaborative program with others in their school. In order to enter, applicants must demonstrate how the program is preparing students for the demands of the 21^st century and complete the entire online application, which includes a 3-5 minute video about the program."

The idea of the Challenge was intriguing to me as an Information Specialist, educator, consultant, archivist and writer. How does one encapsulate so many great things that are happening in a program using a short paper and video? How do we reach our greater community to "advertise" our work? How do we engage young people? How do we ask for help from the people with whom we have collaborated? The Follett Challenge has allowed me to explore that and more with my community.

Community and Incubating Innovation

Goffstown, New Hampshire is a relatively small town of about 17,000 people. In 1960, during the final years in the life of the town's previous high school, the town had about 7,000 people. [Note that I found the information from the census record and not from the Wikipedia article that came up first! Teaching good research skills is a vital part of our work!] Our current high school building opened in 1965 and grew to over 11,000 people by 1970. Reflected in our school archives are the faces of the 369 students from all grades during our 1964-1965 academic year as well as our graduating senior class of 270 in 2014.

Goffstown population 1960 according to NH Census records

What you see above was the STEM learning of 1965. We still see kids at work in the chem lab today, but we also see what we have below -- informal learning that ties to things done in the classroom. Hands-on work has spread beyond the science and tech wings. The picture below shows a student with library resources from our makerspace. (Of course, I always try to ensure that the library documents the innovation that we are empowering.)

By offering a competition that encourages schools to focus on four areas: critical thinking, communication, creativity, and collaboration, Follett has also given us an opportunity to empower our community. In preparing a ten page paper describing our work and in making a video, to explaining the contest to our students, we have shined a light on the critical work of libraries and what they can do for a whole community. It is a very intriguing concept and one in which I am proud to be a part.

The Role of Community Institutions

This competition offers a lesson for us all. Businesses of all types have the opportunity to support schools in their work by giving them a platform and encouraging them to use their voices to highlight our 21st century models for education. Large companies and local profitable businesses can help boost the communities where they are located by showing interest in the young people in the area. Furthermore, I would like to see more small cultural heritage institutions involved in promoting community innovation. In Goffstown, our public library is supporting us in our large challenge. Such institutions might also think about designing smaller local competitions for community innovators. Pulling behind innovation on a local level is a boon to our locality, but also to larger layers of communities and geographic regions. For example, if Goffstown wins the Follett Challenge, it will reflect well on New Hampshire in general.

Finally, a note to local librarians and archivists, whether or not you have a competition to use to describe your work, do put down your mission and goals on paper and then set out to do a long-range plan. Everyone should have a plan that describes where they have been to figure out where they are heading.

Please vote for Goffstown High School to help us reach our goals and shed light on what librarians and archivists can offer communities.

**This post does not represent the point of view of the Goffstown School District. These are my thoughts as an information professional. 

Partnership Ideas for Cultural Heritage Institutions

When I began preaching about collaboration fourteen years ago it was not the normal mode of operation for most cultural heritage institutions. Even today, many small historical societies and others do not realize the value or the necessity of finding institutional partners. A few reasons for collaborating are that such partnerships give you more resources for programs and exhibits, more opportunities for grants, more heads for creativity, more power for outreach, and more voices to garner support. I am lucky to have open-minded colleagues in the town in which I have settled. In the past three years, we have formed a network of committees and partnerships that have made the work of librarians and other cultural heritage professionals more visible and we are moving forward with some great projects that boost our own goals, each other, and our community.

Collaboration 1. School district librarians - high school, two elementary schools, middle school
meet monthly to discuss the state of the libraries; developed a district wide vision for libraries; discuss programming opportunities. Our most recent endeavors included discussing challenges we are having with our new book catalog / exchanging holiday gifts from students to students. [*see the bottom of this post for more information about our gift exchange.]

Collaboration 2. Town librarians- [public library initiative!] public librarians representing services for all ages (4 librarians in total) meet with librarians from public schools and local private college to specifically discuss ways we can collaborate. We have formed a collaboration for summer reading programs and continue to work on this. Most recently we discussed grant opportunities. From this meeting, librarians have launched separate meetings to boost individual goals. For example, as the high school librarian, I meet with the college librarians to discuss how they can assist with research instruction. They have visited our school to teach classes in this area. This helps with our mission to create college and career ready students, while helping the private Catholic college meet its mission of helping its community. [I do realize that I am very lucky to have such a school with which to collaborate!]

Collaboration 3. Historical Society Curator, public library director, high school librarian - three colleagues meeting to discuss specific programming, with librarians also serving on Historical Society museum committee; historical society curator and public librarian attend weekly 50th anniversary committee meetings at high school when they can. I originally asked my colleagues to join me to help with the 50th anniversary celebration at my school. This collaboration has turned into working on a full-blown oral history project. We are beginning with a school related project and will use this project to launch a series of oral history events through the Historical Society. Yesterday, my two colleagues and I attended an oral history workshop together to boost our skills and further advance our planning for a spring event.

Collaboration is the way to go!

Collaboration 4. Science Museum and High School library - I reached out to larger museums outside of my town to see if there was potential for collaboration. A science museum in my state capitol responded that they were willing to help us explore potential programming partnerships. We are working to develop a "distance learning" facility in the high school library that will allow us to talk informally to science professionals around the world, but specifically to our partner museum. We may pursue a collaborative grant toward this end. We are exploring the possibility of building a satellite in our high school maker space with museum support. The museum is thinking of using this as a pilot project for other school partnerships.


I am always seeking more partnerships! It is virtually impossible to be successful as a cultural heritage institution in the 21st century without the help of our colleagues at other institutions. Sometimes, early on in developing relationships, it is difficult to convince others to join you. (For example, I reached out to five museums and four of them did not even respond to me.) Yet, the effort you make to find a willing partner is invaluable. As you can see, the partnerships in our town have snowballed. The community is recognizing our work, participating, and sometimes even eagerly awaiting new initiatives. I look forward to when our patrons begin to come up with ideas for collaborating with us. That is definitely on the horizon!


 _________________________________________________________

*Late in November, 2014 district librarians decided the two elementary schools would exchange book gifts and the middle school would give a book to the high school and vice-versa. With my prompting, my teenage students put their heads together to think of a book that the other school may not have or of which they may need extra copies. Since the high school has been operating a makerspace for some time and the middle school just started one, we decided to give the middle school a published pop up book with instructions how to make a mini-version 3D pop up book of their own.

Pinterest Revisited: Cultural Heritage Professionals Strutting Their Stuff

What does an archivist do aims to educate
about primary sources and the field of
archives management.

Since I first wrote about Pinterest over a year ago, the use of this unique tool has exploded in the cultural heritage field.  Pinterest is being used all of the ways that I suggested it might be useful: For collection sharing and collaboration; discovering the interests of your audience; sharing expertise; and generating dialogue. Pinterest has quickly become a favorite tool on social media and is being used in very innovative ways to promote cultural heritage and the businesses associated with it.

After my initial post, I wrote another one on "The Pinterest Experiment" and created the board "What does an archivist do?" A collaborative board with over 450 followers, the board has generated a lot of interest and discussion over the past year as I've tried to collaborate to "pin" information about my profession. My goal was to create a visually engaging introduction to the diverse field of archives. It was one of the first boards to try to find a way to share our profession using this new tool. I am now joined by many in the cultural heritage fields creating unique boards. This post highlights a few Pinterest efforts that I have found outstanding.

Rebecca Price of Chick History has recently created the board "The Historic Women of #STEM." It celebrates March as Women's History Month by highlighting a unique population. Her board taps into the month's theme, but also brings together a useful collection of biographies. For my own use, this collection will be a great resource for education.  I would love to see more boards like this that  highlight an aspect of information that can be used by educators.

Camille Breeze of Museum Textile Services has a fascinating collection of boards that reflect the field of textile conversation. One can learn about the history of textiles through subject focused boards that concentrate on such areas as "Historic Asian Textiles" or the "Historic Embroidery." Camille also includes a board dedicated to her company, allowing us to better appreciate her role in caring for this textile history.

The Museum of the White Mountains is a new institution that opened last month at Plymouth State University. Much to my delight, the museum has already begun using Pinterest to highlight its mission to preserve and promote the history, culture and environmental legacy of the White Mountain region. The set up of their board is thoughtful, providing insight into the "sense of place" offered by this unique, special place located in my state.

From the Library as Incubator
board, "Library Innovation"

The New England Museum Association has a rich collection of boards that highlights its members. Of special interest is their YEPs Resources board that aims to provide support to young and emerging museum professionals. The board offers advice for getting a job and growing a reputation in the field. It reflects the growing potential social media offers for thoughtful resources that can be applied to mentoring.

Always on the cutting edge of the library world, the Library as Incubator Project offers a collaborative board of library innovation. Fun, informative and diverse, the board brings together the best of the libraries. More of us should focus on the FUN and use new visual tools such as Pinterest to show how information is not only educational, but also entertaining and cutting edge.

This is just the tip of the iceberg! What boards do you like best? Please share your own comments and favorites.