CLASP - Connecting Libraries and Schools Program
CLASP, the Connecting Libraries and Schools Program, is a library-school partnership that links schools serving students in kindergarten through 8th grade and the three New York City public library systems. CLASP expands the long tradition of services for children and young adults offered by Brooklyn Public Library, The New York Public Library and Queens Borough Public Library. The basic program of CLASP services includes:
As a result of new funding, CLASP is now available in all New York community school districts serving all K-8 students. The Mission of CLASP Reading is the fundamental building block of learning in our society. A child who cannot read is at a serious disadvantage. Despite the efforts and concerns of educators nationwide, acquiring basic literacy skills remains the single most critical problem among our schoolchildren. Our schools cannot bear the full burden for developing reading skills in young people. Meeting this challenge requires the cooperation of parents, caregivers, teachers, community groups . . . and libraries. CLASP, the Connecting Libraries and Schools Program, provides a coordinated program of activities to bring children and books together, to focus on family reading and to foster a literate community environment. The Connecting Libraries and Schools Program is a program of New York City's public libraries designed to make reading and books an integral part of the lives of the city's schoolchildren. It accomplishes this through a series of programs which create new links among teachers, school and public librarians, and parents to encourage children to read and make the fullest possible use of their neighborhood libraries from an early age. One of the great strengths of CLASP is its community base, making partners of our city's local public schools and branch libraries. CLASP has three broad programmatic goals:
These goals are met through a complementary array of programs and services which include: library card registration for children and families; workshops for teachers, school librarians, and parents; guidelines for greater integration of literacy training and library resources in school and family activities; and afterschool, weekend, and summer programs to promote reading and public library use. One of the keys to the success of CLASP is its emphasis on people not just programs. CLASP activities foster working relationships and lines of communication which bring together the whole range of adults who are involved in the educational life of our children. CLASP is a program of the three library systems serving New York City: The New York Public Library, the Queens Borough Public Library, and the Brooklyn Public Library. The libraries work in collaboration with the New York City Board of Education and its local school districts. CLASP activities are geared specifically to elementary and intermediate school students (kindergarten through 8th grade) in the New York area. Within each district, all appropriate levels of personnel are involved, including teachers, school librarians, principals, and district superintendents. To reach a CLASP Librarian serving grades K - 6, contact Margaret Tice, Coordinator of Children's Services, The New York Public Library, 455 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016 E-mail mtice@nypl.org or call (212) 340 - 0906. To reach a CLASP Librarian serving grades 7 - 12, contact Sandra Payne, Coordinator of Young Adult Services, The New York Public Library, 455 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016. E-mail spayne@nypl.org or call (212) 340- 0907. With funding from a private grant, CLASP began as a pilot project in 1991 in three community school districts. Since 1994, through the initiative of the New York City Council, funding for CLASP has been included in the budgets of the three public library systems. This has allowed CLASP to expand into additional districts each year. CLASP is a comprehensive, collaborative program which creates a community environment to support reading and learning at school and in the home. It seeks to reach children at the early stages of their intellectual development and expands the long tradition of services for children and young adults offered by the libraries. The basic unit of structure is the community school district and its surrounding branch libraries. This neighborhood orientation ensures that CLASP projects will be appropriate for and responsive to the particular needs of the local community they serve. To ensure a smooth coordination of efforts, a member of the community school district office serves as the liaison with local public library staff. In order to evaluate and review project activities, CLASP seeks input from school librarians, public librarians, teachers, principals, school district staff, community representatives, and parents. CLASP is administered by small teams of librarians with experience in bringing library services to children and teenagers. These librarians receive special training in the skills needed to systematically link library branches with local schools. CLASP generates a wide array of programming at the local level. The specific types and content of programs often vary from one district to the next, to reflect the needs of a particular community. Nonetheless, all are designed to help create a full environment for literacy and reading by engaging school personnel and parents as well as students. The following is a list of typical activities: Library card registration encourages thousands of schoolchildren, their siblings, and parents to become library users. At every workshop, project, or event, during Open School Nights and in-school class visits, CLASP project staff register parents and children for library cards. This outreach is producing a whole new constituency of readers. Class visits conducted by CLASP staff are regularly presented at schools and at local branch libraries. Librarians give students information about the library and excite them about books. These visits also dispel the notion that the Library might be a strange or intimidating place. Students know they can see a familiar and friendly face when they visit the library on their own. Workshops for parents and caregivers recognize the crucial role the home environment plays in helping children to become better readers. CLASP staff offer tips on reading aloud, how to select books for various age levels, and play activities which can help develop reading skills. Many immigrants are delighted to know that public libraries also offer free adult literacy instruction and programs in English for Speakers of Other Languages. Workshops with teachers provide a forum for exchanging ideas, information, and programming techniques. Ways in which the library's collections and services can support and enhance classroom activities are emphasized. Teachers are provided with recommended titles for children and young adults. With Assignment Alert forms, teachers can give branch librarians advance notice of class projects so that appropriate materials can be on hand for student use in the libraries. Summer reading programs help children maintain and increase the reading skills they acquire during the school year. Summer reading lists, developed jointly by public librarians and school librarians, are widely publicized in schools and neighborhoods. Advance planning and close school-library coordination ensure that branch libraries will have multiple copies of recommended books on hand. Branch libraries also offer an array of summer programs for students and parents. Programs for school librarians keep CLASP and other public library staff in contact with their professional colleagues at the school. CLASP is not a replacement for an on-site school librarian. In fact, experience has shown that CLASP is most successful in schools with a strong school library program. Through CLASP, school librarians are able to strengthen and expand their own activities, while providing invaluable guidance to CLASP staff. Free after-school and weekend programs in branch libraries feature storytelling, reading aloud, drama, and other educational and recreational activities for young people. Often these are designed to complement school projects and curriculum. In addition, branch libraries provide constructive and positive ways to spend leisure time. Introduction to new library technologies provides students, parents, and educators with the skills needed to access modern library resources. This will ensure that students are able to effectively use computerized public access catalogs, CD-ROM databases, the Internet, and other technologies as they become available in libraries. Enhanced book collections focus on the needs and interests of new and potential users targeted by CLASP. Emphasis is placed on materials which support school curriculum, bilingual books which reflect the cultural makeup of the community, and multiple copies of assigned or core texts. Appropriate magazine subscriptions, videotapes, or CD-ROM databases that assist schoolchildren are also made available in the branch libraries. Projects with community organizations provide further opportunities for CLASP to be a part of neighborhood life in general. Information about the library and library cards is distributed at community events and celebrations. Working with social service organizations, CLASP staff reach children and parents who might not be reached through usual school channels, such as youth at risk and mothers living in shelters. Collaborative projects are designed by library and school staff. As librarians and educators continue to work together, they develop new ideas for activities that will further their common goals. Implementation of these new ideas keeps CLASP a growing, dynamic program. CLASP . . . Opening Wide the Door Since its inception in 1991, CLASP has dramatically altered the way New York City's branch libraries work with the schools and surrounding community. Parents, teachers, and children who had never set foot in their local public libraries have been transformed into avid readers and regular users. Through the programs and techniques CLASP has developed, the library door has been opened wide, providing tools for learning, understanding, enjoyment, progress providing hope for the future of all of New York City's children. Annotated Bibliography of Articles About CLASP "NYPL and Public Schools Forge New Ties to Solve Old Problems," School Library Journal (November 1990): 12. One year of planning to develop formal working relationship between schools and NYPL begins with $485,000 grant from DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund. "New York Public Library Receives Grant for Library-School
Initiative," Public Libraries (March/April 1992): 71. Del Vecchio, Stephen. "Connecting Libraries and Schools with CLASP," Wilson Library Bulletin (September 1993): 38-40. CLASP, half-way through its three year pilot phase, reports success with Summer reading lists, Open School Night outreach and Parents and Libraries program. Schaffner, Judith. "Yo! I Stumped the Librarian!" School Library Journal (August 1995): 42. Middle school librarian describes excitement generated by CLASP activity. Todd, Katherine. "Vernetzte Zusammenarbeit zwischen Öffentlichen Bibliotheken und Schulen. Fallbeispiel USA: das CLASP Projekt der New York Public Library," in Öffentliche Bibliothek und Schule - neue Formen der Partnerschaft, Gütersloh: Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung, 1995. Transcript of presentation at Bertelsmann Foundation expert hearing, September 5 and 6, 1994. Simmons, Jeff. "Library Program gets an A," New York Daily News (April 14, 1996): 34. City Council funds are sought to expand CLASP to five more NYC school districts. For more information about CLASP For grades K - 6, contact Margaret Tice, Coordinator of Children's Services, The New York Public Library, 455 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016 E-mail mtice@nypl.org or call (212) 340 - 0906. For grades 7 - 8, contact Sandra Payne, Coordinator of Young Adult Services, The New York Public Library, 455 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016. E-mail spayne@nypl.org or call (212) 340 - 0907. See also these two special New York Public Library web sites for children and teens: Teen Link On - Lion For Kids |
