PORT TOWNSEND — The city public library and the Port Townsend School District are combining some resources to improve service and save money, said the Port Townsend Library director.
“The schools have faced a lot of challenges recently,” said the library’s director, Theresa Percy, on Thursday. “There is only one librarian in the system.
“By leveraging these services between the schools and the libraries, we can provide the students and the community with the resources it needs.”
With this in mind, the library staff assembled the Port Townsend Collaborative Library Project, creating a seven-member task force to develop a plan to combine resources.
The first stage, research and preparation, is now complete. The second stage, to forge an immediate partnership for collection development, is now beginning.
“There are certain books that need to be in each collection, but we can have volumes in the public library that can help students with specific research,” Percy said.
“If someone is doing a research project about the pyramids, they can get started at their school library and then come in here for a more detailed view.”
Students often use the Internet, which Percy said can become “an information dump that isn’t always useful.”
The library and schools also are pursuing working together on the development of reading skills, she said.
The Port Townsend schools have purchased nonfiction titles to suit each reading level — 16 in all — and the library has purchased fiction for each level.
The books are displayed at both Grant Street School and the library, sorted into boxes that are accessible to students.
The summer reading program, to commence at the end of the current school year, is another example of work between the two agencies.
“When kids are learning to read, you can’t stop for the summer,” said Youth Services Librarian Jean-Marie Tarascio. “It’s important to keep the momentum going.”
The “Just Right For You” summer reading session, open to children entering kindergarten and first grade, will take place from 10:30 to noon every Thursday from July 1 to Aug. 27 at the main library branch, 1220 Lawrence St.
Percy thinks that a collaboration between the library and the Port Townsend School District is natural in a city with considerable public support for the library. In 2008, residents approved a levy lid lift for the city of Port Townsend that benefited the city’s public library.
And Tarascio, who calls the library “the soul of the community,” said it provides a cradle-to-grave benefit for everyone who lives here.
“We provide something for every age group,” she said.
________
Jefferson County reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.