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Library cards help California children lead successful lives.

The Student Success Cards for All program gives students access to books and online resources from their local public library, free of charge, through partnerships between libraries and local school districts.

This guide will provide best practices to help you establish a Student Success Card program in your library.

Please reach out to the State Library team at studentsuccess@library.ca.gov with any questions.

Your Library and a Student Success Card

Before starting a partnership with your local school district, consider the different card types and coordinate with your public library ream on the program.

Library Card Models to Consider

There are three models of Student Success Card to consider. Please review these models to determine which type of Student Success card would work best for your community.

Full Card

A full library card gives students access to all online and in-library resources.

• Full access to online resources such as databases, eBooks, and online tutoring.
• Full access to in-library resources such as books, programs, and computer/Internet access.

Starter Card

A starter library card allows students limited borrowing access and/or access to online resources.

• Limited access to online resources such as databases, eBooks, and online tutoring.
• Limited number of books allowed for check out.

Digital Card

A digital library card allows students to access the library’s electronic resources but does not allow them to borrow any physical materials. Digital library cards can be upgraded to full access cards with permission from a parent/guardian

• Full access to online resources such as databases, eBooks, and online tutoring.
• Access to eBooks is at the discretion of the library.
• Cannot checkout physical materials.
• Can be upgraded in person at the library by a parent/guardian.

	Online resources	In-library materials	Computer use
Full Card	Full access	Full access	Full access
Starter Card	Full access or limited access	Limited number of books allowed for checkout	Full access or limited access
Digital Card	Full access	No checkouts allowed unless card is upgraded by a parent/guardian	No computer access unless card is upgraded by a parent/guardian

Involving Staff

Each Student Success Card program partnership will be structured differently depending on the needs of the community and the library. Below are considerations to discuss with your library team before meeting with school officials.

Define your vision of a successful collaboration. What would need to happen to make this a reality?

Gather data to determine how many young people in your community have library cards. Look at census data and compare that to how many children there are in your service area. Quantify the percentage of youth with cards and develop the story of how many more students you can help. Ed-Data is an excellent source of education data for California cities and counties.

Your local schools or libraries may want to start off simply and issue cards to students manually and may not want to commit to sharing Student ID numbers with the library. Your team may want to keep an open mind about ways to expand this simple start to the program to allow for more meaningful opportunities. You may want to start simply and plan to evolve.

• Find examples of school/library partnership models in areas closest to you and review the specifics of what some of these collaborations look like.
• If you know your library prefers to use a Student ID number as the Student Success Card (because of the costs for printing library cards, for instance), refer to an example of a library/school partnership that uses this model successfully.
• Review the case studies described in the Next Steps section of the webpage. These illustrate various types of Student Success partnerships.

Consider whether you have existing policies which might need to be modified:

• Do you have fines for children’s materials?
• If the school is willing to share their Student ID (or other data) with you, are you willing to share the barcodes with them so that the teachers will have them for their students?
• Will you need a new patron type for importing data into your system?
• Refer to the helpful resources below. The documentation includes example policies that have been developed which could be modified for your use.

Identifying Benefits for Local Stakeholders

It is worthwhile to think about what benefits your library can bring to a partnership with your local school(s). Brainstorming before you have your initial conversation with the school will help you focus in on what is important. The benefits should resonate with students and families, school staff and administrators, as well as with elected officials. Below are some examples:

Students and families

• Library access for students is valued by parents.
• Libraries provide access to reliable online resources to improve literacy and build important critical thinking skills.
• Libraries offer online homework help.
• Libraries help prevent summer learning loss.
• Libraries offer an additional collection of print and electronic books than a school alone offers.

School administrators, teachers, and staff

• Libraries’ missions align with the schools’ educational goals and missions and can help to advance those objectives.
• Library resources supplement a school’s own resources.
• Libraries help bridge student achievement and success outside of the school.

Elected officials, community leaders, and the general public

• Libraries offer educational resources that are a key factor in an individual’s economic advancement and quality of life.
• Library access through Student Success cards contribute to and are an essential component of the academic success of the community.
• Libraries may already have partnerships with organizations that advance student achievement and can benefit from greater access provided by the Student Success card.  Organizations that share common goals with your library (e.g., Campaign for Grade Level Reading) can be seen as a part of the solution aligned with local efforts to boost literacy or educational achievement.

Public library staff members are excellent messengers for the value of a Student Success Card program. Your library will be better positioned for success when your team has an understanding of:

• The library’s position and value within the educational landscape.
• The benefits of having a Student Success card.
• The growing and developing nature of the partnership between the school and the library. 

Sharing Student Information

To issue library cards, your library may have to ask for student information from the school district. This part of the program can be achieved if the library and the school district have agreements and understandings in place.

Familiarizing yourself with how the school district treats student information can be helpful as you start a conversation about a potential partnership. Schools adhere to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and may have questions about how this collaborative project will treat student information. Here are some things to consider:

• Be prepared to explain why the information you are requesting is needed and how you plan on using it.
• Have an MOU ready to share with the district (refer to the example MOUs at the end of this Guide).
• Have a list of successful Student Success models with contact information available.
• Have a clear plan of how you will protect the student information.
• Learn more about FERPA, visit the U.S. Department of Education FERPA webpage.
• Sometimes, despite a library’s best efforts, the school still does not feel comfortable sharing student data.  It may take multiple conversations over a period of time.  If a school district is reluctant, start small, develop a low-risk collaboration, and build from there.

Helpful Resources

• MOU From Oakland Public Library
• Opt-Out Form from Santa Clara County Library District

Preparing for Partnership

After you have researched student success cards, you will want to engage library staff in more detail about the project. Library staff can have valuable insights and experiences that will better inform steps later in the process.

Partnership Basics

Successful partnerships leverage the skills and resources of multiple organizations to serve patrons in innovative and efficient ways. We recommend that you review the materials on California Libraries Learn (CALL), the continuing education and professional development resource for California’s libraries. The materials on partnerships will help you plan a partnership with your school district for this project.

Planning for a Sustained Partnership

As you are building your partnership with the school district, think about how to maintain that partnership. The Sustaining Partnerships (forthcoming) portion of the Student Success Cards for All section of the State Library’s website provides more information, but at the outset some important things to consider include: 

• How frequently will you update your student success cards? How will the school district provide new students or help you identify students no longer enrolled at the school? Your partnership may require you to consider how you and your partners can both maintain the amount of work required to make the program run smoothly.
• How will the school evaluate program success? What can the library do to assist with that effort?
• How will the library evaluate program success? What can the school do to assist with that effort? 
• Plan for regular check-ins between the school district and library. What is the frequency of these meetings?
• If you plan on issuing physical cards, what are the costs of doing so? Is there funding for those cards and who will cover the costs? Is a digital card a necessity? Come into the partnership discussion prepared to answer questions about the costs of the program and ready to collectively decide where those costs will be paid from. 

Advice from Libraries that have Student Success Partnerships

Find someone in the school system to be on your side from the beginning. If you have someone in the school system who is rooting for and talking about this project it will help. Make the connection as soon as possible because they will help you make other connections that are vital to the project continuing.

Alameda County Free Libraries

Secure budget funding for the project.

Folsom Public Library

Do it! But be patient with the process; it will take a while.

Lincoln Public Library

Consider using the school registration as a vehicle for getting parents to sign on. It’s a natural time and place for them to approve their child’s participation. Talk to your school as soon as possible with an understanding that they may not be able to implement it until the next school year.

Los Gatos Library

Be prepared for it to take longer than you expect. Be prepared to be flexible with regard to partnering with the schools. I would also suggest starting small although we did not.

Palo Alto City Library

Be flexible and work with what school districts are willing to provide.

Peninsula Library

Find current initiatives, goals, projects within schools, your jurisdiction, and other agencies that fit naturally with this project. The more you can utilize other entities the less stress on your resources. Also easier to build on current successful projects and easier to get funding and support for projects that have built in support and positive momentum.  Be patient—this type of change and new program has multiple steps between agencies—may take longer than anticipated.

Richmond Public Library

Start building the relationship building at any level or area that you can.  Ideally communicating with the teachers helps to know what their current challenges are.  I used a little bit of Design Thinking to interview the English teachers at Lincoln High School.  It was very revealing for me to learn that the English teachers prioritized their top challenge that many of the students they worked with are reading three years or more below grade level.

San Jose Public Library

Be persistent. Keep calling the school district and working all your contacts. Highly consider eliminating fines if you will allow students to check out items on the student success card.  If waiving fines is not an option, allowing full access to online resources by using the current student ID number makes it easier for the school district and students.

Woodland Public Library

Contact and Next Steps

It is important to understand the perspectives of the school district teams that you will work with. Being clear about professional responsibilities, working through scheduling differences, and moving the project forward are all part of implementing a successful Student Success Card collaboration.

Initial Contact with Schools

Below are tips on how to begin contact with the schools:

• Look at school calendars and be strategic about the time of year when you reach out to schools. The beginning and end of school year are some of the busiest times for school staff and employees on a traditional schedule. Summer will include staff vacations. Consider reaching out at other times.
• Maintain an up-to-date list of contacts at each school and/or district. Contacts may include school administrators, school librarians, IT professionals, school board members and/or other school professionals.
• Attend relevant school meetings and events to both learn about the goals of the school system and to align yourself as a partner in reaching those goals.

Using a Student ID vs. Library Barcode

Incorporating the Student ID as part of the library card can create several benefits. Generally, it is easier for the student if they can use their Student ID number as a barcode, either for a new patron account or as an alternative barcode for a library card numbering system already in use by your library.

Some libraries use the Student ID as the barcode, which works well if school districts use one ID number for a student throughout their time within the district (for example, if a student stays within the same school district from grades K-12, they would have the same Student ID number throughout that time). Some libraries use the library barcode but track the student through a special patron code or through the student ID which is in a searchable field in the patron record. The tips below come from the “Stepping Up to the ConnectED Library Challenge: A Call to Action” report from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Benefits of using the Student ID

• Easy-to-remember number.
• No risk of lost cards.
• Provides continuity for students throughout their school life.
• Serves multiple purposes for students.
• Facilitates data sharing.
• Creates a strong connection between the library and school.

Benefits of using a library barcode

• If a student has a library card already, there is no need to change or create a new account.
• There is no need to create new cards and the barcodes fit within the established barcode pattern for your library.
• Maintains continuity among library users.
• The barcode number can stay with the student after they graduate.

When considering the best model, think about how your library barcodes are currently used with resources such as databases and how patrons authenticate to online resources.

Opt in or Opt Out?

Libraries that have participated in previous iterations of this project have recommended strongly that it is much more efficient for students to have them ‘opt out’ of receiving a library card if they do not want to participate in the program. School districts should offer the Student Success Card as a default benefit. Families that do not want to have that benefit extended to them can opt out of the process (see the form below) and still be allowed full choice when it comes to library services. Libraries who take this tactic report few complaints and greater use of their services from students.

Importing Student Data into Your Integrated Library System (ILS)

Libraries may choose to import the student data into their ILS. This could be done manually or through a script. Each library should also determine the best strategy for duplicate cards. With duplicate cards it is important to consider whether your Student Success Cards are going to be ‘extra’ cards or if they are going to be parallel to your normal library cards. If they are ‘extra’ cards, then you should not purge duplicates and should have a standard for rotating the cards every year.

Choosing Data Elements

When setting up Student Success Cards, some libraries ask for only a few pieces of information while other libraries ask for much more. The specific information you need will depend on your ILS and how you format your patron records. Below are common fields which libraries may request:

• Child’s Name: Last, First, Middle
• Mailing Address: Number, City, Zip
• Residence Address: Number, City, Zip
• Home Telephone
• Other Telephone
• Email Address
• Birthdate
• Parent/Guardian
• School Name
• Teacher
• Grade

Next Steps

Consider these tips when determining the next steps of your project:

• Determine what next steps would need to be taken after your initial meeting.
• Remember, this will be a series of conversations and will achieve greater success when the time is taken to build relationships between the library and the school. 
• Make sure that action items are clear to everyone. Make sure to leave knowing what deadlines each party has agreed to, what action items need to be taken, and who is the lead.
• Maintain a list of school contacts (as identified above).
• Be mindful about the school schedule.  It is often difficult to hear back during school vacations or during busy times of the year (for example, the beginning and end of the school year).
• Follow up in a timely manner.

Sample Flier

• Promotional Flier from Santa Ana