Partnering with Purpose: A Guide to Strategic Partnership Development for Libraries and Other Organizations

(Paperback)

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Description

This book teaches librarians how to maximize their library's resources, gain access to more resources in the community, promote services, and reach new segments of the population through partnerships - with businesses, with schools, with other non-profit organizations. Drawing on their experiences in developing successful partnerships with a variety of organizations, the authors show how to go about creating productive and mutually beneficial community partnerships. They also explain how to avoid some of the common partnership pitfalls along the way. Based on what has become widely known as the WRL model, the guide begins with the rationale for partnerships and the organizational library structures needed; and then shows how and with whom to form partnerships, how to handle challenges that may arise, how to meet partners, and how to create and maintain mechanisms for tracking and evaluating partnerships. The authors use the analogy of courtship to clarify the various phases of partnership development: glances, dating, engagement, and marriage. Brimming with samples and reproducible forms, this practical hands-on guide contains everything the librarian needs to get started on the partnership path.

Reviews

[E]ssential reading for anybody contemplating partnering with other agencies. It's well-presented, proven, practical, and thorough advice, delivered by people who have made it work, time and again, to the betterment of the library, its partners, and the community they serve.-Ex Libris
Given the dearth of publications dedicated to addressing the partnership process, this is a sound resource for any library considering partnering with businesses, community organizations, and schools as a way to increase engagement with the community.-Booklist/Professional Reading
Using the analogy of courtship, Janet L. Crowther and Barry Trout explain the steps to a succesful partnership--from "glances" and "dates" to "engagements" and "marriage"--in Partnering with Purpose: A Guide to Strategic Partnership Development for Libraries.-American Libraries
"Essential reading for anybody contemplating partnering with other agencies. It's well-presented, proven, practical, and thorough advice, delivered by people who have made it work, time and again, to the betterment of the library, its partners, and the community they serve."-Ex Libris
"Given the dearth of publications dedicated to addressing the partnership process, this is a sound resource for any library considering partnering with businesses, community organizations, and schools as a way to increase engagement with the community."-Booklist/Professional Reading
"Using the analogy of courtship, Janet L. Crowther and Barry Trout explain the steps to a succesful partnership--from "glances" and "dates" to "engagements" and "marriage"--in Partnering with Purpose: A Guide to Strategic Partnership Development for Libraries."-American Libraries
"[E]ssential reading for anybody contemplating partnering with other agencies. It's well-presented, proven, practical, and thorough advice, delivered by people who have made it work, time and again, to the betterment of the library, its partners, and the community they serve."-Ex Libris

Author Bio

JANET L. CROWTHER is Director of Community Partnership Development, Williamsburg Regional Library. BARRY TROTT is Senior Adult Services Director, Williamsburg Regional Library, Virginia.