Ultimately, the students of the county will benefit through transparency and sharing of resources.  The three elementary schools in the district all qualify as Title One schools. Third and tenth grade Florida State Assessment scores indicate only 32% of students at each level score at or above a proficient level in English Language Arts.

This activity will allow us to link the resources available in our two major institutions that support and promote literacy in the county and make those resources available to all students in the district system. This step involves coordination and communication among many parties, including School Instructional Services, School Information Technology Services, County Library, Heartland Tech Services and the vendor Baker & Taylor tech services.

The three elementary schools in the district all qualify as Title One schools. Third and tenth grade Florida State Assessment scores indicate only 32% of students at each level score at or above a proficient level in English Language Arts.

With materials and resources that are housed and administered by both schools and library visible to all participants, the selection will be broader and more easily accessible.

Planning and implementation was jointly managed by the school district’s Coordinator of Instructional Technology and the county librarian.

Physical marketing: Flyers and info sheets were/are disseminated to K-12 DeSoto Public School Students

Digital marketing: Information was/is shared through social media platforms and on students' chromebooks.

Students across the county should benefit from additional high quality print resources being made available to them. The demographics of the county indicated a need to look beyond the home for children to be able to enjoy reading materials of their choice. With the high poverty and low test results, it seemed clear that resources must be made available to the students in print, as well as digital format. As we push to increase literacy, there will be a greater demand for print (as well as digital) reading materials. Grant funds were used to provide a significant increase in the print materials available to county students. These materials as well as essentially all print materials were available to borrow. Courier services connected schools and the county library. School media specialists, instructional services staff and county library personnel worked together to select appealing materials at all levels. Materials were ordered, processed and added to the existing collections. Planning was done in conjunction with school representatives. Implementation and management fell with library personnel. The addition of a significant number of fresh, new print materials to the collection indicated success in accomplishing this activity. These grant funded materials provided time to rearrange budget priorities as needed to meet student demand. Though there may not be funds for the level of purchase allowed by grant funds, some general funds will always be available for purchasing print materials.

All community members had an opportunity to benefit from the DeSoto Sharing Libraries, small take one, leave one libraries strategically placed around the county. Literacy improvement is a community effort that needs to be supported by all. From toddler to senior adult, every individual should have access to reading material. Low economic status and transportation difficulties make that an impossible dream for many of our residents at the present time.

In the spirit of Reading Across DeSoto, the DeSoto Sharing Libraries were placed around the county in locations where people had the least access to books. Community partners were sought to place these little libraries on their property and clean and maintain the collection in each. With community individuals and groups responsible for each of these mini libraries, the hope was that there will be further awareness, investment and determination in the community to change the current literacy situation.

Library staff recruited partners to establish and maintain the DeSoto Sharing Libraries.  The library manager collected statistics. Partner meetings were held twice a year to recognize outstanding efforts, identify additional locations and share best practices.

The number of mini libraries established and the number of books needed to maintain the collection were used to determine the results of this activity.

Sustainability should be quite possible.