The Two Solitudes

1
The Two Solitudes

• Academic and Public Libraries

2
Who We Are

• Chancellor Paterson Library,
• Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON
• 7,600 full and part-time enrolment
• New Medical School new campus at Orillia
• Thunder Bay Public Library
• 2 Main Branches, 2 neighbourhood branches
• City of 117,000, formerly two smaller cities
  Port Arthur and Fort William merged in 1970

3
High Schools

• Declining enrolment
• Public system declining Catholic system
  remaining steady or increasing
• Public High schools closing or merging one
  mega-school planned but not yet a reality

4
The Challenge

• High School teachers sending their students to
  the university library exclusively, unaware of
  the many useful e-resources of the Public Library
• University Library dealing with an influx of
  students requiring much more help and
  shortchanging their own students

5
The Fixor Pick up the Phone and Call the
Public Library

• Collaborate to plan outreach to the teachers at
  local high schools to
• Explain the services/policies/access of both
  library systems via presentation, brochure,
  website, etc.
• Teach the teacher and the students about access
  from home (important for rural students).

6
The Original Plan

• Design and develop presentation/package/website.
• Present at staff meetings to reach as many
  teachers as possiblehow?
• A colleague knew a teacher in the school this
  led to a meeting with the Program Head at the
  school board

7
Butthe best laid planscan sometimes go awry!

• We presented to the Program Head and she was
  ready to book us into a school dept. head
  meeting. Unfortunately, before we had our chance,
  a presenter came into such a meeting and instead
  of his allotted 15 minutes took 45 minutes. So,
  outside guests were not booked after this
  incident!

8
Plan B

• Go into specific classes (Gr. 12 English) that
  would most benefit from learning about the access
  and resources of both libraries.
• Give the teachers a package detailing the
  e-resources/access from home/contact information
  for both libraries.

9
Is It Working?

• Too soon to tell but
• Positive comments from teachers.
• March 2006 2 high schools visited with a total
  of 140 students
• October 2006 invited back to same 2 high
  schoolsmaybe they really, really like us?

10
Whats Next?

• Add Catholic high schools to the program since
  they each have around 1200 students, and are
  still sending students to the university library

11
Benefits

• Promotion for both Lakehead and TBPL.
• Familiarize high school students/teachers with
  info. lit concepts research skills, database
  searching, etc.
• Meeting Strategic Plan goal (TBPL).
• Better use of staff time at LU Library h/s
  students are at least familiar with the basics of
  searching.

12
Benefits, contd

• Increase for TBPL in visits to high schools.
• Increase in high school students obtaining public
  library cards.
• High School students learn about academic
  atmosphere/environment and Lakehead promotes its
  programs too.

13
Where do I begin? (Public Librarians)

• Contact the university library and ask for a
  tour for your (public library) staff to find out
  about their services/resources/programs.
• Contact the Instruction or Information Literacy
  Librarian and set up a meeting to discuss
  possible collaboration.

14
Where do I begin? (Academic Librarians)

• Check out the Public Librarys website and see
  what e-resources are available.
• If you are inundated with inquiries from high
  schools about instruction sessions, ask the
  teachers if they are aware of the e-resources of
  the Public Library and have a contact
  name/number/email ready to give them.

15
Where do we both (academic and public librarians)
begin??

• Make the first call!
• Set up a meeting to devise a strategy/plan/outreac
  h program that will benefit both libraries.
• Follow through! Go to where your audience is
  high school staff meetings, dept. head meetings,
  or in the classroom, if necessary.

16
Contact Us

• Sylvia Renaud, Thunder Bay Public Library,
  srenaud_at_tbpl.ca
• Janice Mutz, Chancellor Paterson Library,
  Lakehead University, jmutz_at_lakeheadu.ca