Collaboration empowers everyone in different ways: in the school setting it brings partnerships with colleagues and relevance to the cycle of ongoing instructional improvement; in a regional setting it provides an understanding of the various facets that make up an exemplary library media program along with the challenges of the classroom. The Onondaga-Cortland-Madison Board of Cooperative Educational Services (OCM BOCES) School Library System (SLS) is a state and district funded consortium of 24 districts, 117 schools, and 64,000+ students. SLS envisioned that student assessment data could be a powerful tool for librarians to use to leverage their program in addressing student learning needs. BOCES' goal was to develop a pilot program that came to be known as Partners in Achievement: Library and Students (PALS), Improving Student Achievement through Data Use for Library Media Specialists service. The focus of PALS was to glean student achievement data from state assessments to inform and enhance library collections and collaborations with classroom teachers and to plan units of instruction to address identified student learning needs. This article describes Justin Ashworth's experience as he began his quest to answer the question of how to improve student learning within his building and district. This quest also led to the expansion of his role as school librarian to include that of a building instructional data leader. A list of suggested readings is provided.