Working in partnership in the community is a key component of the California Library Literacy Services. The California Law which established the program states that libraries shall “develop cooperative relationships with other local literacy service providers and participate in existing community adult literacy coalitions, in order to address the wide variety of literacy needs of the community and ensure an effective utilization of resources.”
Resources Focused on Partnerships
Moving from Collaboration to Partnership, Azusa City Library In 2016 the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded a Sparks! Ignition grant to the Azusa (California) City Library to explore how to use the tenets of Collective Impact thinking to move its community collaboration, Grassroots ESL (English as a Second Language), deeper into partnership. This white paper is a summary of that exploration and a report of the activities which moved the process forward, the issues encountered, and the lessons learned along the way. Although it was built around the library’s English as a Second Language program, the framework is relevant for adult literacy services in general.