It’s hard to believe but the calendar now says August which means school will soon be back in session. Students will begin to file back into classrooms ready to learn and read. While at first glance this might seem like a time that libraries lose some patronage because students aren’t free during the day, it’s a perfect opportunity to form a lasting bond with the schools and students in your local community. Libraries can help connect students with content and programs for both learning and enjoyment and increase the amount of library cards in your town at the same time.

Schedule presentations at local schools
Schools are always looking for ways to boost their reading scores so why not reach out and offer to help? You can do a short presentation in front of the whole school on all the benefits the library has to offer and go classroom to classroom signing students up for library cards.

Offer fall reading and literary criticism assistance
A major part of English and Language Arts class is helping students understand the meaning behind the classic books they’ll be reading. The library can offer one on one or group sessions where you find out the books they’re reading for class and then help students break down the subtext and meaning of these titles for term papers or classroom discussion.

Highlight the libraries digital titles for school use
OverDrive has a large collection of K-12 digital content available including all the classic books that schools are sure to have as a part of their curriculum. Providing these titles as eBooks assures the students can’t lose or damage their copies and also increases your library’s circulation.

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Promote your audiobook collection for struggling readers
For readers who may read below their grade level a major part of the issue may be that they aren’t retaining the information or they don’t understand words and the context they’re being used in. Students who listen to audiobooks can hear the sentence structure and context which helps improve retention and can improve their comprehension.

Curate collections for schools
You already can curate collections in OverDrive Marketplace so why not create collections specifically for the students you sign up for library cards? Ask the students the books they enjoy to read and then create a read alikes collection for those books and name the list for the school so they know these titles were picked for them!