Decatur City Schools Partnership

Our partnership with DCS is multi-faceted.  Here’s what we offer as a public library and how we support and supplement Decatur City Schools Media Centers:

• Decatur Public Library (DPL) is a stop on the school system’s “Pony Express,” so we can send materials to and from school libraries.
• Each school’s media center/library has a school Decatur Public Library card. Teachers who need material that is unavailable in the school library can put in a request with their school librarian.  The school librarian will then submit the request to us, we check out the materials to the school library card, and send the materials to the school librarian via the Pony Express.   Teachers can request specific titles or give us a general request for a certain subject; the school cards have broader parameters than individual cards in terms of checkout limits and length.  To take advantage of this, teachers must submit their requests to the school librarian.
• 3rd Grade Field Trips provide students with an introduction and orientation to using the library. The field trip consists of three parts, so we break each class into smaller groups and then rotate them through. We take them on a complete tour of the library and introduce them to the departments and staff; our Youth Services Librarian shares details about our material collection for children, the various programs we offer, and the numerous resources; and using a projector, we walk them through our website, digital resources, and explain how to use the “card catalog” (online, of course) to locate a book and then find it in our collection.

For any questions regarding the public library or our partnership, please contact the Marketing & Outreach office.

Rhonda Bolan & Stephanie Cates

256 340-5780

stephrhonda@myDPL.org