Lighting Up Community Collaborations Through Academic Libraries

Abstract

The Big Orange STEM Saturday (BOSS) at the University of Tennessee (UT) Libraries is an innovative and interactive educational program. This program focuses on creating pathways to college for underrepresented high school students by introducing them to the possibilities of careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). At its core, BOSS is a highly collaborative event that relies heavily on developing strong partnerships and collaborations between the UT Libraries, local high schools, and programs for underrepresented high school students. This chapter presents a case study of the BOSS program with both the natural and intentional partnerships that the UT Libraries developed and sought over the last eight years. It also showcases recommended practices for developing community partnerships and questions for other academic libraries and librarians to ask themselves when considering community partnerships and collaborations.