What Reading Means

What a poignant and true picture of what reading means to a young person--and what we carry with us as we grow up and older. http://citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=16743
Reaching back into my own reading history, I remember reading and re-reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for its fantasy and heroism, without a clue concerning its multi-layered allegorical meanings. What about you? What book moved you as a child?

Follett Destiny 8.5

Mary and I watched a webinar about Destiny 8.5 today. It has features that are enticing, such as the ability to create digital book reviews and upload files to attach to specific Marc records. The webinar is archived at http://www.FollettSoftware.com/Webinars.

Additional info on Destiny Library Manager 8.5 http://www.follettsoftware.comdestiny85/

Additional info on Destiny Quest http://www.FollettSoftware.com/LibraryResourceCenter

What's new in Destiny 8.5 FAQs http://www.follettsoftware.comdestiny85/

Also, if you want to add the 65 free ebooks to your collection (and there are varied and appealing titles included), go to the catalog, Add Titles, and click where you're invited to do so in the middle of the screen. You'll be contacted by Follett once you do so.

Department Meeting, September 17, 2008

It's the middle of the month and the flurry of school starting up again makes me feel we didn't miss a beat. The September issue of School Library Journal helps us get off to a strong start.

Be sure to take advantage of the excitement surrounding this year's Presidential election--the first African American presidential candidate and the first woman on the Republican ticket as a vice presidential nominee. School Library Journal has made our lives easier by publishing a helpful article full of links that will engage students as they research issues, positions and candidates: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6590042.html. Also, peruse "Getting Out the Vote" http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6590043.html.

Teen Read Week is in October: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6593562.html

This article about the connection between reading success and public libraries has parallels to school libraries: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6590044.html.

It's baseball season--and a great time to reflect on the role of African Americans in the greatest American pastime: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6590039.html.

An inspiring idea for online lesson plan development and sharing: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6590061.html

A boost to our TLC titles in the form of links to fight bullying: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6590062.html

Reading blogs is a great way to keep up-to-date and informed. Try these:

School Library Activities Monthly has a blog worth viewing: http://blog.schoollibrarymedia.com/

Another blog for librarians: http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/

AASL http://www.aasl.ala.org/aaslblog/

Resource Shelf http://www.resourceshelf.com/

There's really way too much here, but for those of you who are insatiable:
http://www.sldirectory.com/libsf/resf/current.html

Here's our agenda with minutes included:

1. Follett issues
Patron upload continues to be problematic. We're hopeful to have this resolved in the next few days. I appreciate your patience. The good news is the SIF agent will make the whole process seamless--and ongoing! The file will be updated every 15 seconds.
Cataloging books
Librarians reported problems with cataloging. One of the problems is that z sources aren't loading; I've reported that to technology. Another problem is that books are arriving without records. I will be in touch with our rep.
Destiny Quest
Consensus was to introduce this new interface after students have a handle on traditional searches.
Free ebooks--To learn more about Follett eBooks and how you can help build a bridge to the classroom, call 1-877-221-3506.
2. Picturing America Grant—http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/
We applied for this grant which comes with a collection of books and posters.
3. Interactive whiteboards—ActivStudio tutorial http://www.prometheanlearning.com/
Sign up to take this tutorial. It is straightforward and helpful. Atomic Learning has tutorials on the board as well.
4. Blogs--eChalk now has a blog feature. I will investigate opening it up for those interested.
5. Summer reading program follow-up--Once you receive names of the participants, make sure to raffle the books. I'd appreciate a photo that you can save to Library M in a folder I set up in Summer Reading for that purpose.
6. Finance Manager/budget information--You can retrieve budget info from your Requisition Manager account. If you have any trouble, let me know.
7. Lesson plans--Please save to your Library M folder, e-mail me, or use the online form.
8. Inservice courses--If you're interested in teaching a class, let me know. Some of the Teachers as Readers sections will have to be combined because of low enrollment.
9. Staff Development--Ideas for November were discussed. a)online databases vs. Google
b)Promethean ActiveStudio I will canvas you further once I have the go-ahead to meet with everyone as a group.
10. Videoconferencing--If you haven't introduced videoconferencing to your buildings, this year would be a good time. Take a look at the BOCES website http://www.nassauboces.org/dln/Videoconferencing/index.htm. Call me for a username and password if you want to look at the catalog. I need to assess whether we should purchase additional modules, so let me know of your interest asap.
11. Websites of note
Resources for school librarians http://www.sldirectory.com/
Go SLMS blog http://goslmsgo.blogspot.com/2008/04/digital-copyright-issues.html
Children’s Picture Book Database http://www.lib.muohio.edu/pictbks/
Eduscapes http://eduscapes.com/