Partnering With Purpose

Learn how to maximize your library's resources, gain access to more resources in your community, promote services, and reach new segments of the population through partnerships--with businesses, with schools, with other nonprofit organizations. Drawing on their experiences in developing successful partnerships with a variety of organizations, these authors show you 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; it then shows you 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 you need to get started on the partnership path.

JANET L. CROWTHER is Director of Community Partnership Development, Williamsburg Regional Library.

BARRY TROTT is Senior Adult Services Director, Williamsburg Regional Library, Virginia.