With widespread recognition that traditional education systems alone cannot meet today’s learning needs, libraries have emerged as powerful 21st-century education leaders. Public libraries bring significant assets to the education landscape to meet family learning needs, including:

• A flexible, nimble, and agile approach to responding to community needs
• Skill at building the community partnerships that are essential to successful family learning
• Deep community connections that keep them in touch with key players in the learning landscape
• A long history as champions of literacy in the broadest sense—reading, health, digital, and financial
• Open doors and open arms to anyone and everyone

This Leadership Brief explores the power of family learning to improve education outcomes and the progressive work of public libraries in carrying out intergenerational learning. It provides five action steps for libraries and community partners to broaden and deepen family learning success.