Charleston County School District (CCSD) and Charleston County Public Library (CCPL) serve one of the most diverse and fast-growing areas in South Carolina. As the region continues to see rapid development, both organizations are adapting to meet the changing needs of their community.
What started as a simple effort to align their summer reading programs using Beanstack’s Tandem Connection functionality grew into a year-round partnership that strengthened school and library engagement. Streamlining services and improving communication made it easier for families to access resources and stay connected. The impact of this partnership speaks for itself—summer reading participation has steadily increased by 20% each year.
Addressing Key Challenges
When CCSD and CCPL teamed up, they set out to tackle some big challenges together.
- Unify (and simplify!) school and library summer reading programs
- Address diverse community needs across Charleston County’s mix of urban, suburban, and rural areas
- Increase accessibility to shared resources across schools and libraries
A Collaborative Approach to Summer Reading
For years, CCSD and CCPL operated their summer reading programs independently. However, in an effort to streamline the experience for families, the two institutions decided to merge their efforts under a single, cohesive initiative.
Thanks to Beanstack’s Tandem Connection, students no longer had to track their reading in multiple places. Now, they could log everything in one spot, making participation easier and more seamless. Plus, with automatic student registration at the school level, families didn’t have to worry about signing up—one less hurdle to getting involved.
Stronger communication was another big win for the partnership. CCSD and CCPL ensured families received clear, consistent information about summer reading programs by aligning their messaging and outreach. This streamlined approach helped boost participation and kept more students engaged throughout the county.
Beyond Summer: Year-Round Engagement
The success of the summer reading program set the stage for continued collaboration between Charleston County’s schools and libraries.
In 2020, the partners launched the “Limitless Learning” initiative, which provided every student in CCSD with a public library card. This expanded access to digital resources, made it easier for students to check out books, utilize research tools, and stay connected to reading. It was an especially critical resource during the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beyond summer reading, CCPL introduced programs like “100 Books Before Kindergarten” and “100 Books Before High School Graduation” to encourage a lifelong love of reading. By incorporating these initiatives into CCSD classrooms, students became familiar with the platform during the school year, increasing the likelihood that they would continue engaging with reading challenges throughout the summer.
Positive Outcomes of the Collaboration
The partnership between CCSD and CCPL has yielded significant, measurable results. In 2024, summer reading participation saw a major boost, with registration up by 15% and completion rates rising by 19%. These numbers show that more students signing up, but they’re also sticking with the program and staying engaged.
The impact of this collaboration isn’t just a one-time success. Over the past four years, CCPL has seen summer reading participation increase by an average of 20% each year, proving that the partnership is creating lasting, positive change.
Parents and caregivers have embraced the ease of tracking progress through the shared platform, especially in programs like “100 Books Before Kindergarten.” By making participation simple and accessible, CCSD and CCPL have helped encourage a love of reading year-round.
As Christy put it, “Anytime that you can have common language and common programs, it just makes it easier… Presenting a united program makes it so much easier for the community to jump on board.”
A Lasting Impact on Community Engagement
The partnership between Charleston County School District and Charleston County Public Library is a powerful example of what can be achieved when schools and libraries work together toward a common goal. By removing barriers to resources, increasing engagement, and creating a seamless reading experience for students and families, CCSD and CCPL have fostered a culture of literacy that spans their diverse region.
As other communities seek to strengthen literacy initiatives, Charleston County’s success serves as a blueprint for collaboration. Through careful planning and a commitment to shared goals, schools and libraries can replicate this model to create more accessible, engaging, and impactful reading programs for their readers.
Ready to strengthen the collaboration between your school and library using Beanstack’s Tandem Connection functionality? Get in touch with us to learn more!