RILINK is a cooperative effort of Rhode Island school librarians to provide services to their school communities. It started over 20 years ago as a way to share resources between school libraries through an interactive web-based network. Today RILINK is a network of more than 200 member school libraries. Our members include elementary, middle, and high schools. We serve public, private and charter schools in 34 districts plus the Family Literacy Center in Lincoln. The two districts that we do not serve are Providence and Woonsocket.
We are funded through membership dues of $1.50 per student, based on the enrollment figures reported by RIDE in October. Dues cover:
- Administrative Costs
- Fee to West Bay Collaborative, our fiscal manager
- Payroll (We have three staff members, all former school librarians)
- Subscriptions to Smore, Zoom, Network Solutions
- Technology Consultant
Members benefits:
- Participation in a statewide consortium of school libraries using Follett Destiny Library Manager. RILINK negotiates fees, troubleshoots, provides support and training, and assists with interlibrary loan.
- Subscriptions to LibGuidesCMS to build websites for research and curriculum resources (technical support, training, troubleshooting)
- Subscriptions to two databases; Exploring Nature Science Education and Proquest CultureGrams (technical support, training, troubleshooting) and negotiated discounts for other online subscriptions
- Liaise with the Office of Library & Information Services to support the statewide sharing of interlibrary loan materials
- Technical support, training, administration on relevant topics for school librarians, teachers, and staff
- Professional development including a Summer Conference
- Optional participation in a statewide consortium of school libraries using Sora, the OverDrive K12 product. Our shared collection provides participating members with access to over 12,000 ebooks, audiobooks, and digital magazines.
