September ’21 – P3 (Propagating Promising Practices) Completes

PPL and its partners (World Ed, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles public libraries) successfully completed P3 – a three-year Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) national leadership grant-funded project – leading nine public libraries in the nationwide pilot project on innovative education and workforce development practices for adults. The goal of P3 was to position public libraries as effective and welcoming hubs for lifelong learning, digital inclusion, and economic empowerment and expand technology-enabled practices to support adults in building their literacy, English language, and workforce skills and knowledge. The three-year project unfolded in two phases. In phase 1 (2018 – 2020), Providence, Chicago and Los Angeles Public Libraries committed to implementing and growing one of the three practices (Learning Lounges, Learning Circles, Mobile Learning) that was new to their library system. In phase 2, (2020-2021), six pilot libraries were trained and supported in implementing one of the three practices. These libraries were: DC Public Library; Riverside County Public Library, CA; St. Luis Obispo Library, CA; St. Louis Library, MO; Prince William Library, VA, and Fuller Library, NH.

Despite barriers presented by the pandemic, the P3 project showed that public libraries have vast unmet potential to increase the educational and workforce development opportunities for adults who want to develop their academic and work readiness skills and yielded several lessons about technology-enabled learning in libraries. These lessons cut across practices, guiding us to prepare adults with the foundational digital skills that will enable them to engage successfully, not only with the practices, but with a range of life and work-based tasks. The P3 project is fully documented on the P3 website and includes an overview, lessons learned, reflections from partner and participating libraries, as well as a tool kit and resources for libraries that are interested in implementing these practices.