Developing Partnerships to Provide Social Services

• Do you want to help ensure people are connected to the social service resources they want and need?
• Would you like to develop partnerships in the community to extend the library’s reach?
• Do you want to identify other organizations in your community, with whom the library can work together towards common goals?

The library is a hub of information and community. You know there are critical needs that exist – for housing, food, mental health services, and more, yet most libraries are not staffed or funded to provide social services to their community on their own. Partnering with outside organizations to provide these services makes a lot of sense. This course will help you identify, nurture and grow partnerships that will positively impact your community.

Course Description: This four-week course will include two 60-minute interactive online sessions:

• Wednesday, March 9th @noon Pacific Time
• Wednesday, March 23rd @noon Pacific Time

The online sessions will be recorded for those who cannot attend during the scheduled time.

In addition to the scheduled sessions, the instructors will provide resources and guidance that will help you build a foundational understanding of this important topic. During the course, you will participate in discussion forums, with an opportunity to share your experiences and questions, alongside others who are interested in discovering how-to develop partnerships for social services. Through assignments, you will apply the concepts to your own library and community.

Course Outline: When you log in to the Infopeople online learning site, you will see weekly modules with these topics:

• Week 1: Initiating Partnerships
  • Describe the elements of a good partnership
  • Identify partners with whom to connect
• Week 2: Recognizing the Strengths and Resources that Exist
  • Asset mapping
  • What does the library have to offer?
• Week 3: The Power and the Peril of Partnerships
  • Ways in which partnerships can be transformative
  • Common obstacles and challenges related to partnerships (and how they can be avoided or overcome)
• Week 4: Assessing the Impact of Partnerships for Social Services
  • Building in sustainable practices - for partnerships that are really great and that you want to keep going
  • Evaluating the impact of a partnership
  • How & when to sunset a partnership (and still maintain a good relationship)

Time Required: To complete this course, you can expect to spend 2 hours per week, for a total of eight course hours.

Who Should Take This Course: Library staff, volunteers, and administration who want to build or strengthen partnerships to help address social needs in their communities.

Online Learning Details and System Requirements may be found at: infopeople.org/training/online_learning_details.

Are you a member of ARSL? If so, you may be able to sign up for a free seat in this course. Limit is four free seats per course. Make your request here and if a free seat is available you will be notified.

Keywords: partnershps