Uniondale Library Media Centers' Online Insights

Staff Development Day, January 30, 2012

2012-01-27T14:24:00.013-05:00

1. Presentation by Carl Vitevitch
2. Common Core--Links to Library Learning
3. Resources:
Library Curriculum Mapping
Crosswalk of the Common Core Standards and AASL
Standards for the 21st Century Learner Lesson Plan Database
Standards-Based Vision
School Librarians and the Common Core
Information Fluency Continuum
Information Fluency and the Common Core Standards
LISMA's Common Core Standards links

Department Meeting, January 18, 2012

2012-01-17T09:14:00.005-05:00

1. Staff Development Day, January 30, 2012
--Visit by C. Vitevitch to share info about Follett Destiny changes
--Common Core lesson planning
Bring two lessons that you want to re-work in support of Common Core standards
2. Budget update
3. Global Village at Uniondale Public Library, Sunday, January 24, 2 pm
4. Websites of Note
NYC's Information Fluency Continuum and Integration with Common Core Standards
NYLA Calls Upon SED to include Information Literacy in Curriculum for Common Core Standards
Helpful Common Core Sites for the Librarian
School Librarians and the Common Core Standards

Joint Meeting with Uniondale Public Library

2011-12-23T11:41:00.004-05:00

Uniondale Public Library via kwout

We held our annual joint meeting with the Uniondale Public Library librarians on December 21. We appreciate the librarians' gracious hospitality and the opportunity to share information about programs and initiatives. A sampling of these is listed below.

1. The public library is investigating the possibility of adding VMWare to two of its computer workstations--one for elementary students, and one for secondary--to allow student patrons who visit the library to log onto their files and access programs stored on the Uniondale School District network.

2. The winter reading club sponsored by the library is in full swing. With a theme of monster trucks, students who participate will have the chance to be part of a raffle that awards the lucky winner with a visit to the Monster Jam Truck Show.

3. The public librarians shared information about other reading programs including Together We Read for grades 1-5 and Bilingual Adventures for students in grades K-3.

4. Global Village will be held on January 22. California Avenue Chorus and the high school jazz band will be among the special groups featured.

5. Spanish-speaking parents are invited for conversation in English and Spanish a few times a month.

6. A book discussion group in Spanish is planned.

7. School librarians were asked to remind students and their parents/guardians of the museum pass program which allows reservations for free museum visits.

8. Library card registration can take place online. Once the process is complete, residents have to show identification with an address in person at the library. Work-in-district library registration also can take place online. Proof of employment and one additional identification item must be shown.

9. The Young Adult Services division is planning a LI Empowerment Academy--6 week program to motivate teens, expose them to the arts, provide practice in conflict resolution, offer a book discussion, boost self-esteem. Participants will share what they learn with their peers.

10. Outreach to the middle and high schools will be increased this year through visits to classes cooperatively arranged through the librarians and Gear Up.

11. The library is facilitating reading on mobile devices by implementing a "try before you buy" program. Residents can use varied devices in the library and have the support of a designated staff member who will assist.

The school librarians will continue to promote the use of the public library by publicizing programs with their students. The school librarians discussed how the introduction of common core standards is impacting collection development as well as teaching and research strategies. We all look forward to future collaboration as our partnership continues to flourish.

Libraries and Loaded eBook Readers

2011-11-15T21:10:00.002-05:00

I know we've all had questions about this issue, so here is the answer from the LibraryLaw Blog.

Why Kids Can't Search

2011-11-06T21:51:00.001-05:00

Clive Thompson on Why Kids Can't Search | Magazine via kwout

QR Codes--a Test Drive

2011-10-11T20:18:00.012-04:00

QR Codes
This post was created thanks to the QR Code Generator.

How can students use iPads?

Here are some of my favorite links concerning iPads:

OK, so how can this be used with students? And what's the value?

Expand upon learning, point of view, perspective. For instance, I just read an amazing book, State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. The story itself was compelling, but what made it especially rich was the sub-text, the underpinnings of the story. One theme deals with the ethics of medical research. Another has the reader question whether anyone's life has more value than another's. A student could be asked to take a position and share a succinct opinion based on research, and link that opinion to sources found on the Internet.

I recently went to the Museum of Modern Art and the entire exhibit (Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects) was extended through the use of QR codes. Each display was accompanied by a strange little icon. A quick scan of that icon on a smart phone offered additional insight into a particular display.

The Daring Librarian has an example of a scavenger hunt embellished through the use of QR codes:

thedaringlibrarian - QR_Code_Quest via kwout

Department Meeting, September 21, 2011

2011-09-16T15:57:00.006-04:00

1. Welcome back!
2. Elementary Social Studies Digital Resources
3. Summer reading program
4. Follett
5. Common Core Standards
6. Online Databases
7. Staff Development for November
8. Websites of Note:

Children's Books Forever via kwout

Welcome to Open Library (Open Library) via kwout

Open Library is an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published

Oprah's Book List for Kids

2011-06-17T21:54:00.001-04:00

Kids' Reading List - Oprah.com via kwout

Audiobook Community

2011-06-03T09:28:00.004-04:00

Sync: YA Listening - Audiobook Community via kwout

Your place to share YA audiobook recommendations, get YA audiobook news, and find special offers, giveaways, and goodies.

Books Should Be Free

2011-05-26T09:00:00.001-04:00

Free Audio Books - Download an audio book in mp3 or iPod format today! via kwout

Free audiobooks in the public domain, available to download in mp3, iTunes or iPod format!

Department Meeting, May 18, 2011

2011-05-17T16:03:00.004-04:00

1. Visual Thesaurus training
Access: log onto your eChalk account. Click on My Account/Applications. From this point, you can log on without entering a username and password.
http://uniondale.visualthesaurus.com/

2. Summer Reading incentive baskets and flyers ready for pick-up.

3. Articles sent:
Cyberbullying, LUCY, a New Path to Diversity, The Role of School Librarians inPromoting the Use of Educational Technologies, What's New in Math Oriented Picture Books, Signs of a Welcoming Library, Tween Girls Want Chick Lit, Too, Primary Civil War Resources

Librarian 2.0

Department Meeting, March 16, 2011

2011-03-07T14:45:00.011-05:00

1. Purchase orders due by April 1
2. 2011-2012 budget update
3. Requests for staff development--let me know if you have any special needs or requests so I can plan. Feedback indicated that some of you would like to deliver staff development. If so, share with me particulars of what you are willing to do.
4. LITE Bytes article--showcase an aspect of this year's library program.
5. Summer reading--Consensus was to do the baskets once again.
6. Self-evaluation tool follow-up--Pick one area of the self-evaluation tool that you would like to improve and make plans for that to happen.
7. Multimedia report--In the Y drive, there's a folder in Librarians/District called Multimedia Reports. Inside that folder, you'll see a document called Multimedia Report Ingredients. Use that as your template. Rename the file and save it to the folder I created within the Multimedia Reports folder named for your building. Save a few pictures of students that show them engaged in the library.
Websites of Note:

2011 Reading Challenges Top Shelf via kwout

Consider participating in this reading incentive!

Information Fluency
Teacher Librarian Ning
Information Fluency Continuum
Information Fluency Benchmarks and Assessments

At a Glance Comic Tutorials inspired tutorial posters on Neverending Search. Animations courtesy of
GoAnimate– http://goanimate.com/character_creator/cc2

Library Routines Wiki with note and highlight courtesy of Awesome Highlighter

Department Meeting, February 16, 2011

2011-02-11T11:00:00.009-05:00

1. Netbook use procedures
2. Wiki Project from LRMS Library
3. Document Camera
4. School Library Media Program Evaluations
5. Videoconference sharing
6. Follett eShelf

Must read!
"Going Out of Print", District Administration, February 2011. http://www.districtadministration.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=2684

Assessing information literacy skills for students in grades 3, 6, 9, and 12:
Trails

TRAILS: Tool for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills via kwout

Department Meeting, January 19, 2011

2011-01-14T15:39:00.011-05:00

1. Staff Development Day, January 31, 2011
Videoconferencing at BOCES all day unless you're an eChalk site manager in which case please attend site manager training in room 309 at the high school from 12:30-3:00.
2. Collection development presentation to PTA Council Curriculum Committee
3. State Education Department School Library Media Program Evaluation
4. Kindles in the high school library
5. Global Village at Uniondale Public Library, Sunday, January 23, 2 pm
6. Library websites

Of note:
School Libraries Cultivate Digital Literacy

Together We Can: Collaborating to Meet the Needs of High Risk Students

Joint Meeting with Uniondale Public Librarians, December 15, 2010

2010-12-10T14:51:00.004-05:00

Welcome to our annual meeting of Uniondale school and public librarians!

Topics to cover:

1. Summer reading programs and incentives
2. Collaborations
3. Visits

Joyce Valenza's response

2010-11-29T18:03:00.004-05:00

A perfect response to an ill-advised position:

What librarians make. A response to Dr. Bernstein and an homage to Taylor Mali « NeverEndingSearch via kwout

And more food for thought:

Rethinking the Library to Improve Information Literacy | Edutopia via kwout

Antiquated or Essential, That is the Question

2010-11-24T10:59:00.004-05:00

I read with dismay Marc Bernstein’s recommendations regarding steps our schools should take in these trying budgetary times (Newsday, November 23, 2010). His comments suggesting that having a professional librarian in our high schools and a minimum number of books is antiquated shows a lack of understanding of the pivotal role school library professionals play in our schools. In fact, I believe that schools at all levels should have libraries that boast an extensive variety of resources and reading materials as well as a professional librarian whose responsibilities are so varied that any compiled list doesn’t do justice to the reality of the myriad professional activities that fill the librarian’s day.

Professional librarians across all levels support classroom initiatives to increase student achievement by providing to students a rich, varied and challenging collection of resources. Instruction delivered by school librarians promotes literacy, critical thinking, and develops ways in which research process activities may be utilized to foster intellectual growth and greater success with assessments. Certainly the number of resources a library holds is not as critical as the backbone of instruction that bolsters the use of these materials.

Professional school librarians develop an understanding of the curriculum and collaborate with teachers to ascertain what our young people need to know. They evaluate and select books and resources that are most appropriate to their assignments and interests. Librarians teach students the strategies they need in order to use these materials most effectively. Librarians entice students to take a break from their everyday activities to delve into the world of literature by carefully selecting and promoting titles that appeal to varied interests and reading abilities. Librarians teach students and teachers how to integrate technology to best advantage to invigorate teaching and learning. Librarians prepare students to take advantage of the complex libraries they will encounter in post-secondary educational settings.

In an environment where 21st century skills are touted, we must recognize that a student’s academic achievement extends beyond the classrooms into libraries, that equity of access is every student’s right, and learning how to be an effective library user translates into gaining the skills to be truly information literate and taking one’s place on the path to lifelong learning. Districts should be encouraged to nurture a program that places the library at center stage in a child’s educational journey. Budgetary support for our libraries and the professionals who run them must continue even in challenging economic times.

Staff Development Day, November 2, 2010

2010-10-29T09:21:00.013-04:00

Welcome! What are we doing today?

Suggested steps for using multimedia resources for curriculum development and reporting:

1. Retrieve the Multimedia Reports document from the Y drive and save it to your own folder with a different name.
2. Make your word list to feature highlights from your program.
3. Decide which statistics you will use from Follett and sketch out how this will look in your final product.
3. Create a Wordle or Tagxedo (see description below).
4. If you haven't already done so, create a Glogster account and make a poster to use in your report.
5. Go to your Animoto account and create your movie.

If time permits, other web 2.0 sites to visit and consider:

1. Embedit.in.com shows documents on your website. It allows you to upload documents to their site and use a player to read the document even if you don't have the software.

2. Scribblar
Online interactive whiteboard for those of you who don't have one.
Link to the url rather than embed.
Give everyone moderator privileges.
Free collaborative tool.

3. Docsteach.org
From National Archives
3000 documents, images and maps
Search by era, drill down by skill
Creates url
Can e-mail activity results to teachers

4. Hippocampus.org
Comprehensive
Can be complete online course
Course and textbook tab--video and text
Can set up classes

5. History Pin
http://www.historypin.com/
Connect history to people
Photo database connected to Google maps
Upload old photos; can add stories

Set up classroom gmail account
Some teachers find it to be an issue when students need to put in their email address when entering a site. This is often more of a problem when working with elementary children. However, Gmail has an interesting way around this.
Set up a gmail account for your school or class. Your students can use the email to enter the sites.
2. To do this, just add a + sign and the students first name (or classroom number or any other name shortcut that indicates which student is using this) after your gmail address. (your address+student1@gmail.com)
An example of this: techsummit@gmail.com
Then Johnny can use: techsummit+johnny@gmail.com
techsummit+keri@gmail.com

The children can’t send or receive email. If someone uses techsummit+keri@gmail.com to send a message to Keri, it will end up in the techsummit email box, where the teacher can moderate.

Note: When setting up a school-use gmail account for yourself, remember that students (and possibly parents) will see and use your email name, so choose wisely! Avoid account usernames that would be inappropriate.
http://mail.google.com
Student Naming Suggestions
Use first name followed by last initial
Use initials only
Use 1st 3 letters of the first name and first three of the last name

6. Kwout
Embed section of website; includes original url at bottom

7. Sweet Search
Search engine for students
Collection of educational websites similar to Nettrekker which you all should be using!
Gives you option to look at results from Google
Can put search widget on home page

8. Scratch and Scratch Ed
http://scratch.mit.edu/
http://scratch.media.mit.edu/
Graphical programming language

9. BBC Dimensions
http://howbigreally.com/
Compare the size of disaster to any zip code. Amazing perspective!

10. Tagxedo
http://www.tagxedo.com/
Wordle with shapes.
Can save as jpeg

11. Timetoast
http://www.timetoast.com/
Create and share timelines
Plug in dates, pictures and descriptions

12. Wetoku
http://www.wetoku.com/
Broadcasting site
Can embed onto blog or wiki
Stream live or pre-record

Others:
Collage http://www.vuvox.com/
Cute pdf http://www.cutepdf.com/
PDF my url http://pdfmyurl.com/
Stories in flight http://www.storiesinflight.com/flickrpoet/index.php

Create flipcharts on ActivInspire. Learn new tools and tips.

ActivTips
http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/professional-development/activtips/

Flipchart Fundamentals
http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/professional-development/flipchart-fundamentals.aspx

Writing Effective Lesson Plans
http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en-us/professional-development/best-practice/lesson-plans/

Department Meeting, October 20, 2010

2010-10-12T09:22:00.012-04:00

AGENDA

1. Follett Destiny--update your home pages

2. PowerSchool--report card update

3. Staff Development Day, November 2, 8:00-3:00
Using Multimedia Resources for Curriculum Development and Reporting
ActivInspire, Glogster, Web 2.0 Tools
Please take and save photos to use for report.

4. Budget—Status and Preparations
Consider any equipment or extraordinary needs for budget development.

5. Department Meeting with Public Librarians—12/15/2010

6. Common Core Standards--See Library Y folder

Websites of Note:
Museum in a Box http://museumbox.e2bn.org/

Timelines
Timetoast http://www.timetoast.com/
Capzles http://www.capzles.com/

Presentations
Prezi http://www.prezi.com
Edmodo http://www.edmodo.com

Center for Digital Literacy

2010-09-30T15:41:00.003-04:00

Visit the Center for Digital Literacy for an ebook that shares lessons designed to implement AASL's Standards for the 21st century learner.

Center for Digital Literacy via kwout

Department Meeting, September 15, 2010

2010-09-14T09:08:00.008-04:00

1. eChalk Lesson Planner update
2. Summer reading program
3. Budget Information
6. Inservice Classes
7. Videoconferencing
8. Online Databases
9. Staff Development for November
10. Google Stories: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu5-ya0eNjA
From in-district: http://lightspeed/SafeVideos/Video.aspx?id=fu5-ya0eNjA
11. Websites, articles of note:
Ten Tips to Get Your Year Started Right
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/printissue/currentissue/886351-427/what_every_new_media_specialist.html.csp

Search for Creative Commons images: http://compfight.com/

Dotty Dots http://dotty-dots.appspot.com/
The Best Online Learning Games http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2010/09/12/the-best-online-learning-games-2010/
The Best Music Websites for Learning English http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/01/30/the-best-music-websites-for-learning-english/

Searchy Pants: Safe Internet Surfing for Kids

Searchy Pants - Safe Internet Search for homes & schools via kwout

Wordquest http://pbskids.org/wordquest/index.php#/team

Staff Development Day, September 2, 2010

2010-07-27T11:03:00.027-04:00

Staff Development Day
September 2, 2010

1. Welcome back!

2. Introductions

3. Department meetings, 2010-2011
All meetings will be held on Wednesday afternoons after school in the high school library, unless otherwise indicated.

September 15, 2010

October 20, 2010

November 2, 2010 (Staff Development Day)

December 15, 2010—joint meeting with the public librarians

January 19, 2011

February 16, 2011

March 16, 2011

April 27, 2011

May 18, 2011

June 23, 2011 (Thursday, 12:30)

4. Meeting Agendas and Minutes and between meeting info on blog: http://uniondalelmc.blogspot.com/

5. PowerSchool Gradebook, Report cards for elementary schools

Demonstrates understanding of library curriculum
Participates in library lessons and activities
Uses library materials with care and returns them on time
Displays appropriate behavior

6. eChalk Lesson Planner

7. Annual Report—laying the groundwork
http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/the-unquiet-library-multimedia-annual-report-2009-10/

8. Linking New Programs to Library Skills and Genres

9. ActivInspire 1.4 tools

10. iPad demonstration

11. Digital Book Trailers

Digital Booktalk via kwout

12. Inspire your students to read!

“This book’s gonna be a good book!” - Reading-Inspired Video via kwout

13. Staff development resources: http://workbench.wikispaces.com/

14. This Book is Overdue by Marilyn Johnson

Finally, why the library is critical:
http://www.nyssba.org/index.php?src=news&submenu=on_board&srctype=detail&category=On%20Board%20Online%20August%209%202010&refno=1443

Library Projects

2010-06-22T13:45:00.001-04:00

http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/sep03/terry_spear.shtml

In the Library with the Lead Pipe Blog

2010-06-19T09:28:00.001-04:00

Six librarians from various library types share reflections about professional library work with the hope that doing so will improve library communities. Check it out:

http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/

Information Fluency

2010-06-09T14:37:00.001-04:00

This site is devoted to efforts to facilitate information fluency, "...the ability to find, evaluate and use digital information effectively, efficiently and ethically." It includes many helpful resources and tutorials that have an audio feature.

information fluency via kwout

Library Blogs

2010-06-08T14:32:00.001-04:00

Library Blogs with a Voice Worth Hearing:

Will Manley's Will Unwound

The Unquiet Library

Wired Librarian

Top Shelf

Information Literacy Weblog

Stephen's Lighthouse

Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog

Cathy Nelson's Professional Thoughts

Booklist Online

2010-06-04T15:04:00.002-04:00

I really like this site: http://www.booklistonline.com/. I've been on their online subscription list for a while but haven't had the time to take a good look which I did today. It's worth perusing. Award-winners are conveniently listed on one of the site's frames.

Department Meeting, May 19, 2010

2010-05-17T11:40:00.011-04:00

1. Database selections
Please review current purchases and give me feedback for changes.
2. Periodicals updates--send Delores updated lists.
3. Summer reading partnership--We created a succinct bookmark announcing the summer reading partnership. This will be given to you for distribution along with the flyers. Books for incentive baskets have been purchased and will be assembled for you to display.
4. Replacement book monies--Hand in replacement book monies to Mr. Flanagan who will adjust budget lines accordingly.
5. Overdrive
"OverDrive Media Console is a free application designed to use the OverDrive titles available for download at many public library and retail websites. Built with the user in mind, OverDrive Media Console makes downloading easy and convenient. It offers a variety of playback and title navigation options including multiple playspeeds, bookmarking, and a 'resume from most recently played point' button. For those who prefer to take their content 'to go,' OverDrive Media Console has built-in Transfer and Burn Wizards, allowing users to transfer OverDrive titles to portable devices and burn to CD in just a few clicks. OverDrive Media Console is an all-in-one solution for enjoying OverDrive titles."
Should we consider? Feedback, please.
6. Summer positions--High school library position is open.
7. Summer Technology Institute--Look for listings in My Learning Plan.
8. Our final meeting for the school year will be on Wednesday, June 23 at 12:30.

9. Library M files have been moved to the Librarians folder in the Y drive.
10. Websites of note:
21st Century Information fluency

21st Century Information Fluency Home via kwout

Department Meeting--April 21, 2010

2010-04-14T10:17:00.013-04:00

1. Summer Reading Program
LITE Bytes articles due. Please save them to the Summer Reading, 2010 folder in Library M.
Incentive discussion

2. Digital Storytelling presentation (book trailers)--Cara C.

2. Library card applications available online: http://uniondalelibrary.org

3. Online databases--recommendations

4. Budget re-cap

5. End-of-year meeting, Wednesday, June 23, 2010

6. Summer Technology Institute survey--Please complete!

Handouts: Character of Characters Bibliography; Telling the Story---Digitally; Why Do People Read?
Available Online: Empowering Students for Life: Research Skills in the Age of Testing by Carolyn Foote

Department Meeting, March 17, 2010

2010-02-12T14:04:00.011-05:00

1. Purchase orders due by April 9.
2. Requests for staff development for back-to-school--Submit suggestions to me by the next department meeting.
3. Follett Destiny update--Destiny 9.5 will be installed over spring break.
4. Ana Ritter, Google Search presentation
Fresh from her participation at a one-day academy for administrators sponsored by Google, Ana shared with us hidden features of Google searches including alerts, translate, Scholar, Squared, and News Timeline. Most of these are available through a search on Google for Google Labs.
5. Shared: Financial Literacy resources article

Check out:

Youth Media Awards Winners: http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2010/january2010/ymawrap2010.cfm

Summers_March_April2010.pdf via kwout

Doug Johnson has an interesting blog entry on social vs. educational networking:

Don't confuse social networking with educational networking - Home - Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog via kwout

Curriculum Correlations from Gale provides a search tool that helps visitors select Gale titles connected to New York State curriculum standards.

Gale Schools - Curriculum Correlations - Home via kwout

Department Meeting, January 20, 2010

2010-01-19T10:46:00.004-05:00

1. Follett Destiny
The catalog now has the capability of listing Lexile levels for books. To use this feature, go to the catalog and, without logging in, you will see the Reading Programs upside down book picture and a pull-down menu. Select Lexile and your level and search.

Any day now the catalog will be upgraded to 9.5.

2. Staff Development, February 1, 2010
8-11 a.m. Google Earth UHS 211
12:30-3 p.m. Nettrekker UHS 309

3. LITE Bytes articles

4. Public Library card drive

Websites of note:
StoryCorps http://www.storycorps.org/
Oral history projects

For those of us who have been in the library field a while, this is for us:

http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/columns/wills-world/retiring-golden-years

Nudging Toward Inquiry http://www.schoollibrarymonthly.com/articles/fontichiaro2009.v26n1p17.html

Student Inquiry and Web 2.0 http://www.schoollibrarymonthly.com/articles/Berger2010.v26n5p14.html

Article in School Library Monthly, 12/09, "The Teacher's Take on the School Library Program" is worth reading. Actually, this and other articles in this issue are worth perusing.

American School Board Journal has a compelling article about the future of libraries.

School Library Resources for ELL's

2010-01-12T16:19:00.002-05:00

Colorín Colorado :: 10 Ways to Support ELLs in the School Library via kwout

Department Meeting, 12/16/09

2009-12-18T08:50:00.002-05:00

We met with the public librarians for our annual get-together and discussed the following:

1. All staff members in the Uniondale School District are entitled to work-in-district library cards. Depending on the patron's home library, these may offer additional borrowing privileges.

2. An online registration form for library cards for residents will be available in January. When that happens, we will publicize through e-mail. Elementary students without cards will receive forms from building librarians. Recommendation: invite representatives from the library to attend school functions where parents will be present in order to distribute library card registration forms.

3. Visits to the schools by public librarians are always welcome! YA visits included a program on databases, and it was suggested that this be extended to the elementary schools as well.

4. The library provides online homework help through tutor.com.

5. The annual Global Village is scheduled for January 24, 2010. Black History Month will feature a program by a jazz player, and visitors to the library will be treated to an exhibit of murals on the African Diaspora.

6. The library's Kwanzaa program was highlighted in VOYA.

7. School libraries will publicize the winter reading club, Driven to Read. Lots of enticing prizes will inspire students to participate, including entry into the Monster Jam World Finals.

Library Blog, and Library Nourishment

2009-12-06T12:42:00.003-05:00

Library Blog:
David Lee King, Social Web, Emerging Trends, Libraries

New York Times library story:
Stoking the Furnace, and a Love for Books

Librarian in Black Blog

2009-11-24T22:29:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Mary for sharing this blog:

Librarian in Black Blog – Sarah Houghton-Jan via kwout

I especially appreciated the post,

IL2009: Information Overload is the Devil

where she supports the premise that we are "...far more adept in generating information than we are in managing it." (Jonathan B. Spira) Check out her 10 tips for managing information overload.

Classic Recap

2009-11-01T20:29:00.004-05:00

Nancy R. happened upon an article that introduces readers to a website that captures the essence of literary classics and entices students to read one. Check out the article, "A Novel Approach" http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2009/10/31/a_novel_approach_to_getting_kids_into_classics/
and then visit the site:

60 Second Recap via kwout

Department Meeting, October 21, 2009

2009-10-20T18:37:00.007-04:00

AGENDA
October 21, 2009

1. Follett Destiny—update and issues
2. PowerSchool
Problems syncing with Follett. Inconsistencies. Will follow up with techservices. Forward examples of new admits not syncing.

3. Staff Development options, November 3, 2009, 8:00-3:00

a. ActivInspire software

b. Digital storytelling--with high school ELA and Social Studies teachers; most appropriate for secondary librarians and/or those who didn't take this staff development previously

c. NSLS workshops--evaluating library programs and creating personal learning networks (two separate sessions on location at BOCES)

Decision:
Two will start with digital storytelling and then go to BOCES.
Everyone else will start with ActivInspire. Some will go to BOCES in the afternoon.
Remaining will continue work on ActivInspire.

4. Budget—Status and Preparations
Consider any equipment or extraordinary needs for budget development.

5. Department Meeting with Public Librarians—12/18/2009

6. National Geographic books for distribution and sharing
Books were selected for collections.

7. Other--Kidpix? Any other solution for elementary art program? Will investigate.
Will invite Promethean trainer to conduct a session with our group.

Websites of Note:

ALA AASL Best Web sites for Teaching and Learning Award via kwout

Free online tutoring:

HippoCampus http://www.hippocampus.org/

CliffsNotes http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA

FactMonster http://www.factmonster.com/

Interesting article on social networking through the library automation system--Follett Destiny is featured: http://www.mmischools.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=14806

If you're interested in any of these articles, let me know:

The Library Media Specialist's Role in Teaching Online Safety (Library Media Connection, August/Sept 2009)

Literature Circles in Library Class (Library Media Connection, August/Sept 2009)

Have We Lost Our Way? Examining the Purpose of Libraries in a Post-Literate Society

Actually, the magazine is chock-full of interesting articles. Let me know if you want to borrow it or if you want me to photocopy anything for you. The October 2009 issue also has articles of interest, particularly one about local museums, delivery and design of instruction, wikis and action research, supporting reading instruction, graphic novels, personal response systems.

Off the Shelf, Onto the Laptop

2009-10-15T19:24:00.001-04:00

Check out the article in today's New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/books/15libraries.html

Curling Up with Hybrid Books

2009-10-01T22:30:00.001-04:00

What do you think of this development?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/books/01book.html?scp=1&sq=hybrid%20books&st=cse

Department Meeting, September 16, 2009

2009-09-16T09:57:00.004-04:00

1. Follett issues
2. PowerSchool
3. Interactive whiteboards--ActivInspire tutorial http://www.prometheanlearning.com/
4. Summer reading program follow-up
5. Finance Manager--budget information
6. Lesson plans
7. Staff development--survey
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dFR4Vk5SeUxFdnpYNVlKNmhzRVA0WEE6MA....
8. Videoconferencing
9. Websites of note

America’s Story from America’s Library takes the primary source materials from the Library of Congress and creates an interactive story with activities
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/

Listening skills using the Animal Sounds Library from SeaWorld/Busch Gardens.
http://seaworld.org/animal-info/sound-library/index.htm

DigiTales—The Art of Telling Digital Stories--resources for creating digital stories in the classroom.
http://www.digitales.us/

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art virtual tour. http://www.carlemuseum.org/

Homework Helper from Time for Kids
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/kids/hh/rr

Welcome Back, September 3, 2009

2009-09-01T19:28:00.004-04:00

1. Today we'll learn how to navigate PowerSchool to extract information we need:

a. usernames and passwords
b. addresses
c. other fields as needed

2. Follett Destiny 9.0/SIF update

3. ActivInspire, the replacement program for ActivStudio Professional

Lexile Book Lists

2009-08-27T14:21:00.002-04:00

Find a Book with Lexile via kwout

"
Create book lists by Lexile level.

Reading Lists for Animal Lovers

2009-08-18T11:03:00.000-04:00

United Animal Nations : Programs : Humane Education Ambassador Readers : Suggested Reading List via kwout

Stop Watch Tool

2009-08-03T14:05:00.000-04:00

Great tool for keeping track of precious seconds--or minutes.
"

Online Stopwatch via kwout

2009-08-03T13:48:00.001-04:00

Food for thought about our libraries and our practice.

"

13 Point Checklist updated - Home - Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog via kwout

Libraries for a Post-Literate Society

2009-07-17T14:29:00.002-04:00

Check out this Doug Johnson article in Multimedia & Internet @ Schools: http://www.mmischools.com/Newsletters/MmisXtra.aspx?NewsletterID=744#1. Doug Johnson defines a post-literate society as one in which people can read but who "...choose to meet their primary information and recreational needs through audio, video, graphics, and gaming. Print for the postliterate is relegated to brief personal messages, short informational needs, and other functional, highly pragmatic uses..."

Twitter and FriendFeed

2009-07-01T08:42:00.003-04:00

If you're like me, you might find all the interest in Twitter a bit baffling. Check out this article in Library Journal for a librarian's perspective.

The Future of Books and Reading

2009-06-24T13:02:00.003-04:00

Check out this panel discussion on the future of books and reading: http://www.futureofeducation.com/forum/topics/panel-discussion-on-the-future.

PDF Booklet Creator

2009-05-27T20:35:00.000-04:00

BookletCreator - create a booklet from any PDF document via kwout

Department Meeting, May 20, 2009

2009-05-18T22:28:00.004-04:00

We had a productive meeting:
1. We finalized database selections. Cara will look at Soundzabound to see if we should add to it.
2. We agreed to update our periodicals lists and send them to Delores.
3. I will arrange to have the summer reading partnership flyers translated.
4. We will follow up when mailed overdue notices are returned to us.
5. We picked up the summer reading baskets and will put them on display to entice summer reading participants.
6. We confirmed our training session for Discovery Education (June 1, 8:30-10:30, BOCES, 1 Merrick Ave.)
7. We will distribute UPL censorship exhibit literature.
8. Our final meeting for the school year will be on June 25, location TBA.

Newer Professional Books!

2009-04-21T10:20:00.001-04:00

Today's School Library

2009-04-17T10:29:00.003-04:00

A movie is definitely worth 1,000+ words:
http://henrico.k12.va.us/hcpstv/vv_library.html

Learning4Life from AASL

NPR Library Blog

2009-04-08T12:03:00.001-04:00

NPR has a library blog. Check it out:

"

NPR: As A Matter Of Fact via kwout

An interesting take on creativity and copyright in today's world

2009-04-07T12:49:00.003-04:00

Larry Lessig says the law is strangling creativity Video on TED.com via kwout

Library of Congress is on You Tube!

2009-04-07T12:05:00.002-04:00

YouTube - LibraryOfCongress's Channel via kwout

If you see any videos you would like to make available to your students, submit the url to me and I'll post it on the SafeVideos site.

Department Meeting, March 18, 2009

2009-03-17T13:29:00.006-04:00

1. Summer Reading update—Public Library Partnership and In-District Program

2. Poetry Contest and Film Festival at the Uniondale Public Library
Deadline—March 20

3. NovelNY Databases--Grolier and ProQuest added as of 4/1

Go to http://novelnewyork.org/pressroom.php for a listing of the changes.

4. Professional/National Geographic Books

5. Curriki http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Main/SummerofContent
From the website: Do you have an instructional unit or course you’re proud of that you’d like to publish and get paid for? Interested in earning money this summer to develop a new unit that will be shared with a global audience? For our Summer of Content initiative, Curriki is soliciting elementary and middle school content in ELA, math, science, and social studies. Apply by April 15th, 2009.

6. Taking it Global--Participate in a community of global educators.
http://www.tigweb.org/tiged
From the website: TIGed provides rich, interactive learning experiences designed to improve students' global citizenship, critical thinking, and leadership skills, bringing the world to students and preparing students for the world! You can access existing projects, create a safe, interactive, virtual classroom, access online learning activities and resources.

7. Websites of note:
The Unquiet Library Blog http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com/
The Unquiet Library Wiki http://theunquietlibrary.wikispaces.com/
Google Apps in the Classroom http://www.google.com/a/edu/
HotChalk http://www.hotchalk.com/
Joyce Valenza Workshop http://joycevalenzaworkshop.wikispaces.com/
Speaking avatar http://www.voki.com/

New Professional Books!

2009-03-13T14:51:00.007-04:00

AASL has new website

2009-03-03T20:43:00.002-05:00

AASL has a new website. Check out the details at
http://www.mmischools.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=14378

and visit the site at http://www.aasl.org.

Department Meeting, February 25, 2009

2009-02-22T10:33:00.007-05:00

1. New students and Follett. Is the sync working correctly?

2. I was relieved to see that there is a stay in the ruling concerning lead in books published prior to 1985. Check out http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2009/January2009/leadlawstayed.cfm for details. We would have an awful lot of weeding to do if this law is applied to libraries!

3. Summer Reading

I would like to update the list of recommended authors to include in our summer reading newsletter. Take a look at the one from last year (posted http://district.uniondaleschools.org/www/uniondaleschools/site/hosting/uniondalenyorg/Summer_Reading/summer%20reading%202008.pdf) and e-mail me your suggestions.

4. Carousel of Careers

We'll complete our project. Anyone interested in showcasing an online presentation? We could run it on a laptop without being present. Let's brainstorm ideas.

5. NSLS is moving to 1 Merrick Ave.

6. Discussion:
Heroes and Villains--What happens when a hero becomes a villain and we have titles about the individual prior to his/her unfortunate transformation? Read this article: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6632974.html

Websites of Note:

Flowgram h ttp://www.flowgram.com
findingdulcinea.com http://www.findingdulcinea.com

Sweet Search http://www.sweetsearch.com
School Library Media Activities Blog http://blog.schoollibrarymedia.com/

Articles:
Learning with Wikis and Blogs
http://ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/feb09/vol66/num05/Learning_with_Blogs_and_Wikis.aspx
Dewey Decimal Sudoko http://www.schoollibrarymedia.com/articles/Montgomery2007v23n10.html
Impact as a 21st Century Library Media Specialist
http://www.schoollibrarymedia.com/articles/Creighton2008v24n7.html
What Are They Reading for Fun? http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6636538.html
That's Infotainment http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6632973.html
This article suggests software to create video tutorials. We can do this with Promethean software. If anyone is interested in learning how to do this, let me know. (Flowgram, website listed above, is another way to do this).

Department Meeting, January 21, 2009

2009-01-20T10:57:00.006-05:00

Today we're going to create our contribution to the Collage of Careers event that is scheduled to take place on May 19. Be sure to bring any materials with you that you want to use. We have a collection of words for our "wordle", courtesy of Grand Avenue's fifth graders.

A reminder that the deadline is approaching for the winter edition of LITE Bytes. Please send your contributions to me or post them yourselves on the litebytes wiki (http://litebytes.wikispaces.com/). If you decide to post your article, let me know so I can prepare it for viewing.

Elementary librarians may be interested in Lookybook, a web 2.0 tool for sharing favorite picture books.

K-12 Instructional Media Center has links to websites to help students with their research and teachers with their professional development.

If you haven't looked at the Library of Congress website lately, take a look at the Learning Page, replete with resources for teachers.

Take some time to look through the National Plan for Implementation of Standards for the 21st-Century Learner and Guidelines for the School Library Media Program, courtesy of AASL. Acronymed L4L (Learning for Life), this implementation plan was created to support states, school systems, and individual schools preparing to implement the Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. Forthcoming there will be guidelines for the school library media program.

Do you know about commoncraft, a free site for online video tutorials? I just watched one about RSS feeds and it cleared up any remaining confusion that lingered. Definitely worth a peek.

Leapfish is a new search engine with innovative features. Not quite the same as searchme (did you try it yet) but pretty powerful.

Follett Destiny

2009-01-07T12:28:00.009-05:00

Mary and I are at a Follett Destiny user group meeting and we are learning!

We just made a change you might like. On the first screen of the catalog, students can search for Award Winners. In the field next to Search Award Winner, select New York. Then, place your cursor in the search box and hit enter. Voila! You will see the list of award winning titles your library holds, and I know you will be impressed.

You can also search for literary prize-winning titles. In the Search Award Winner field, scroll to the second choice, Literary Prizes, and in the bottom box, either leave it as "all" or select the prize you want to locate. Once again place your cursor in the search box, and hit the enter key.

We also made two discoveries. Well, actually one discovery and one reminder. Check out Library Bytes (no relation to our own LITE Bytes) and 23 Things.

Did you know you could add subjects to your Visual Search? Take a look at the high school library catalog, select Visual Search, and click on Famous People and then Barack Obama. If you're interested in learning how to do this, let Mary or me know. Alternatively, when you're logged on, you can go to help and do a search for Visual Search.

One more tip. When you're in help, you can do a search for "Quick" and you'll get a list of all the tipsheets that are available.

Department Meeting, December 17, 2008

2008-12-17T21:25:00.015-05:00

It was great hosting the public librarians today. Their programming initiatives are impressive! I'm looking forward to attending the Global Village celebration on January 25 at 2:00 when there will be a performance by Smith Street students, the high school jazz band, and the ribbon cutting ceremony for the much anticipated new computer center. April is the library's film festival, and we'll be sure to invite our tv studio students to enter their efforts! March and April features a major poetry event which always is greeted with enthusiasm. The public librarians report that our students are active junior Friends of the Library members. Students of all ages take advantage of the varied programs. Book discussion groups and other activities thrive! A new service is tutor.com and Live Librarian, both of which extend library service to users 24/7. Teaching our students the value of being active library users and actually learning about the role of a trustee is a potential collaborative project that will be explored with Nancy Froehlich and Trina Reed. We also discussed the success the summer reading partnership initiative enjoyed, and we look forward to even more participation this summer!

We showed Shelfari, an online site to share suggestions for new books to read.

The librarians were most interested in learning how we use interactive whiteboards in the district, so we had a bit of show and tell. Adele and Gail prepared movies and flipcharts to demonstrate some examples of content and techniques.

We navigated over to searchme, a visual search engine. It's even more versatile than I thought! Check out the homework helper stack. Black History Month is coming in January--check out this stack as well. Kind of reminds me of flowgram--but that robust site is for another day.

Cool site

2008-11-29T21:51:00.004-05:00

Have your students select a topic and do a side-by-side comparison of results in Google and Yahoo.
Scroll to the bottom of the page for a geography challenge:

Department Meeting, November 19, 2008

2008-11-17T14:00:00.022-05:00

A bold move:

I am no longer going to print the agenda. Please refer to this blog. Minutes will be integrated seamlessly so we will have a record of our discussion and any decisions made.

1.The images to the left and above are brought to you courtesy of Wordle, http://www.wordle.net/.
The first one above simply connects to one of my del.icio.us accounts and arranges the tags I use for my bookmarks. I created the second one by typing words that resonate with me when I consider libraries. This would be a great exercise to do with your students during a brainstorming activity. A bonus is the flexibility to use color and randomize the way the words appear. Have fun, and be sure to share!

2. Good news about SIF--and Follett. The program is working. New student names should automatically populate the fields every 10 seconds or so. Let me know right away if this isn't the case. A new upgrade for Follett has been released, but we are holding off on the download until we're certain that the latest one is working without a hitch. Feedback, please.

3. We are scheduled to meet with the public librarians on Wednesday, December 17. We will meet in the high school library. Thank you to everyone for volunteering to bring refreshments. The public librarians are very interested in seeing how we use the boards, so Gail, Adele and Paulette volunteered to showcase their work.

4. Sharing--Lawrence Road Middle School website. Paula took us on a tour of the Lawrence Road Library website which is a comprehensive, extremely impressive 24/7 learning station.

5. LITE Bytes articles--Let's plan to publish a mid-year newsletter centered around the theme on helping our students succeed. Please volunteer to write an article. Everyone agreed to submit an article by mid-January. I will set up the wiki so you can compose right to the site. If you prefer, e-mail it to me or save it in Library M. Articles so far: eChalk blogging (Dolores), Promethean/video (Gail), ALA standards (Deirdre), collection development (Nancy F.).

6. Database update--Usernames and passwords for Grolier and Book Flix have been received and are available in Library M. Please confirm they are both working properly before I update the username and password lists. Lists will be updated by the beginning of next week.

7. Purchase orders/budget info--Due to the economic crisis, we will not be increasing any of our codes. Anticipate that capital outlay expenses will be placed on hold. You may prepare a wish list of such items, but be prepared to sacrifice them. I again encourage you to prepare your purchase orders for this year and encumber your funds. There currently is a freeze on equipment, furniture, and supplies, except in cases when the items are critically needed for instruction and student use.

8. Collage of Careers--Let's plan to put together our tri-fold boards at our January meeting. Our focus is on resources that support career investigations. Nancy F. is targeting librarianship. Artistic talent and vision will make this extra-special, so start thinking!

9. Websites of Note--Educational Games http://www.ramogames.com/
Library songs http://northside.woodfordschools.org/Media_Center/library_songs.htm
Curriki http://curriki.org/ Since I last told you about this site, it has enjoyed significant enhancements.
AASL Awards http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslawards/aaslawards.cfm Most of these are collaborative in nature. Go for it!
AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslproftools/learningstandards/standards.cfm
Henrico County's Today's Library says it all http://henrico.k12.va.us/hcpstv/vv_library.html
Tech Museum Online http://www.thetech.org/
Teachscape free professional development modules http://www.teachscape.com/html/ts/nps/subscribe_to_our_email_newsletter.html Click on Module of the Month to subscribe, or select from the list for one that interests you.
Write like an Egyptian at the Egyptian Gallery of the University of Pennsylvanie Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology: http://www.fi.edu/learn/tut/index.html
Great ideas for using Google Docs http://www.google.com/educators/p_docs.html

Handouts: In the interest of saving paper, I am limiting what I am copying for you. Wherever possible, I will suggest online links and offer to copy articles for you if you're interested.

Blogging in the Library, Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award

If you're interested, let me know if you want a copy of "Mysteries of Ancient Egypt" from Multimedia & Internet@Schools (November issue). It includes links to Ancient Egypt clip art: http://www.kingtutone.com/clipart, http://www.phillpmartin.info/clipart/egypt.htm, http://www.webweaver.nu/clipart/egyptian.shtml, http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/index.htm

Stumbling Blocks

2008-11-07T09:06:00.001-05:00

Interesting article about filters and web 2.0 tools in schools:
http://www.edutopia.org/web-2.0-tools-filtering-firewalls

Department Meeting, October 22, 2008

2008-10-23T11:16:00.004-04:00

1. Follett Destiny—update and issues
The upgrade to 8.5 pushed the defaults onto the program so specific items have to be upgraded. I fixed the default browse subjects capability and removed fines from all patrons. As far as the patrons are concerned, the system did not remove those who are no longer in the district. New patrons were added with grade levels 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. without a 0 appended to the beginning. Students who should not be in the system have a 0 in front of their grade—06, 07, etc. When you have a chance, look at the database and run a list by these grade levels. You can ask your assistants to delete those who should no longer be included. The purpose of this would be to clean up the database; however, it is not an urgent task.

2. Staff Development, November 4, 2008, 8:00-3:00, UHS LibraryTraining with the Promethean boards to create lessons enabling librarians to serve as a turn-key resource for teachers in their buildings. Time will also be devoted to exploring strategies to promote the use of district databases in research and instruction.

3. Budget—Status and Preparations
Proposals for capital expenditures always come first, so be prepared if there are upgrades to your library that you want to put forward.

4. Collage of Careers, May 19, 2009
We agreed that we would put together a display for the department, a K-12 look at resources that support career choices and investigations. Nancy F. is going to work on one that focuses on librarianship.

4, Online Databases update
Take advantage of the Book Flix trial that will be in effect until the middle of December. We hope that our subscription will have been activated by then.

5, Blogs
Dolores demonstrated her just-established Northern Parkway blog that she is going to use with fourth and fifth graders. I will also activate the capability for Lawrence Road and the high school. If anyone else is interested, let me know.

6. NSLS Scope and Sequence Project
We discussed the curriculum developed by Nassau School Library System and whether we should make adjustments to ours based on the work done there. It was felt that ours is more specific and that the standards that drive the NSLS document are the overarching ones that are inherent in ours. It was pointed out that NSLS may have used ours as a jumping off point.

7. I participated in a Bernie Dodge webinar where he discussed developing WebQuests that incorporate Web 2.0 tools. Other webinars that may be of interest to you can be found at the EdTechConnect website: http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/.

Websites of Note:AfterClass http://www.AfterClass.net
San Francisco Symphony www.sfskids.org/templates/home.asp?pageid=1
Modern Museum of Art for Children www.moma.org/destination/#
National Gallery of Art www.nga.gov/kids/zone/zone.htm
Science clips www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/
ALA Standards for the 21st Century Learner http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslproftools/learningstandards/standards.cfm
Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading? http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/books/27reading.html?_r=1&emc=eta1&oref=slogin
Blog worth following: http://disruptingclass.mhprofessional.com/apps/ab/
Lookybook http://www.lookybook.com

Handouts: Election Connections 2008, The Summer Olympics: A Catalyst for Learning About a Healthy Lifestyle, Fun with Windows Movie Maker, The LOC Connection: Hispanic-American/Native American Months, Bibliographies: Smiles and Laughter, Editor’s Choice Awards, Aren’t We All Teachers of Literacy?, Learning About Occupations, ISTE Media Award Application

What Reading Means

2008-09-26T07:44:00.005-04:00

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

2008-09-23T14:28:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-14T21:07:00.011-04:00

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/

June News

2008-06-11T14:56:00.008-04:00

It's hard to believe we safely can say it's the middle of June, but here we are with summer vacation within reach.

A few items of business:

1. Publicize the summer reading program. Post any photographs you take in Library M/Summer Reading/Photos. We would love to be the proud recipient of the grant again next year and a little publicity will help our cause.

2. When your TLC books come, catalog them with the TLC prefix and affix a label to the spine. Add Title I funding to the notes field. Call me so I can come to your school to stamp the books.

3. Databases update: Good-bye to World Book and Tumblebooks for the reasons we discussed. Hello to Scholastic Bookflix (elementary). We kept Grolier Online with New Book of Knowledge, Grolier Multimedia, Lands and Peoples for all schools; New Book of Popular Science and Nueva Enciclopedia for secondary schools. Good-bye to United States at War (high school). We have our own subscription now to TeachingBooks for all levels. Take advantage of it! I think it has great potential. Facts.com doesn't seem to be available but that's being checked.

4. For our annual lunch meeting to be held on Thursday, June 26 at 12:30, we're not going to Laguna Grill. Please re-mark your calendars. Instead, we're going to La Bella Vita, 2485 North Jerusalem Road, East Meadow. RSVP by June 19.

5. Check out LITE Bytes--it's almost done and ready for prime time. I'll be publicizing it in the next few days--as soon as I have the straggler articles :).

6. It's not too late to sign up for Summer Technology Institute classes. There's a lot of room in the morning session of Do You Google? and I hear that's an excellent course.

7. Some of you know that we're moving to Promethean boards and software. You can take a Summer Technology Institute course to familiarize yourself with this program, or you can learn on your own at http://www.prometheanlearning.com/ and register for one of the online courses offered at no charge.

8. A few gems from this month's CIT Response:

Seussville Storymaker
Literacy Center
Kathy Schrock--Shedding Light on Web 2.0--links to several worthwhile Web 2.0 tools
Teacher Tools: Forms and Letters--share with your teachers
Fusion: Training Resources
Make Your Own Comic Strips
iPaper--Display documents as embedded files in your web pages or wikis. You have to see it to know what I mean.

Department Meeting, May 21, 2008

2008-05-21T10:15:00.002-04:00

Thank you for meeting with me in this online environment. The

was indeed a huge success, but today I have to play major catch-up. To those of you who helped and contributed, I extend my deep appreciation. You know I couldn't have pulled it off without such a wonderful team! Thank you for all you do.

Items for action, discussion and consideration:

1. Online databases. Please carefully review our subscriptions with an eye to what recommendations you have. Is there anything you would like to add? Elementary librarians, give me your feedback on Bookflix. Is there still interest in adding Grolier's Animals? Secondary librarians--shall we continue Teen Health and Wellness? Add or drop anything? To all--what's your feeling about TeachingBooks? NSLS is not continuing the subscription, so we'd have to do it on our own. Please take advantage of any trials that you believe would be worthwhile. Even if we don't end up subscribing, in most instances the students could benefit from the access until the school year ends. http://www.nassauboces.org/nsls/template.htm

2. Overdue notices. Do your best to collect outstanding materials so they'll be available to our patrons next year.

3. Interactive whiteboard update. We are migrating to Promethean boards and will purchase the software for our existing boards. In the meantime, check out Promethean Planet and set up a free account.

4. Plans for Convocation 2008 are in the works. Tentatively, after the keynote address, teachers will report to their buildings for meetings and set-up activities. There will be only one day of work prior to the opening of school which will cut into our meeting time. We might be able to have our first meeting the following Wednesday, September 10, instead of waiting for the third. I'll keep you posted. Our first staff development day will be on Election Day which leads me to...

5. Staff development needs, 2008-09. What are they? Are there areas you would like to have addressed in our staff development time together? My recommendation would be to work together to become adept at using the new Promethean software. Please chime in with your suggestions. Remember to register for Summer Technology Institute classes if you're interested.

6. Periodicals, 2008-09. Delores is investigating whether the vendor will give us the list in time for your review before summer vacation. If so, please return it before you go.

7. Summer Reading update:

Flyers are at the printer.
I am placing a copy in the summer reading folder in Library M in case you want to print and display it with the basket in advance of distribution.
I have bookmarks that I am sending your way to use however you see fit to encourage participation.
We'd love to have pictures of the baskets with eager readers. Please take a few and place them in the Library M folder that I'm setting up for that purpose (in Summer Reading).

8. National Geographic books. I have about 20. Let me know if you're interested and I'll divide them up.

9. Character Education titles. We have significantly more money to spend on these books than I originally thought. Any suggestions for a purchase with more of a bite? Does anyone know of a collection of books, an encyclopedia for instance, that might fall into this category? We have $4,500 to spend for all eight schools.

10. LITE Bytes. Thank you to those of you who have contributed. Remember the June 1 deadline is approaching! If you need a memory refresher as to what article you're writing, let me know.

12. I'll be inter-officing some articles to you. In the meantime, this one is available online: "Are Textbooks Becoming Extinct?". Look for these--"Copyright in a Social World", "Summer Excursions", and "Storyboarding".

13. Date for Final Meeting: Thursday, June 26 at 12:30. Shish Kebob? Baci's? Weigh in with your selection--majority rules.

14. Conferences, workshops: I attended a few. Hall Davidson's Leadership Institute. NYSCATE. I'll post a separate entry with items of interest.

Boolify

2008-05-04T20:45:00.004-04:00

If you've ever been stumped by teaching Boolean searching, this web 2.0 tool is just for you! Visit http://www.boolify.org/index.php. Interactive whiteboard users especially will love this! Please share!

Department Meeting, April 30, 2008

2008-05-01T10:24:00.003-04:00

Thank you to Beverly Wolcott for providing the office space for us to meet.

1. Purchase orders—deadline today!

2. Replacement book monies--

Procedures for collecting lost book monies have been refined to ensure that libraries can apply these funds directly to the replacement of lost books. Please follow the procedures below:

a. Collect money for replacement books. Use the district receipt book to record transaction (to be distributed).
b. Bring money to Business Office. This money will be deposited to a revenue account. Complete form if required.
c. Order replacement books; acquire invoice. You may use any district-approved vendor. Suggestion was made to order books from Follett, but keep this order separate.
d. Business office will write a check for the purchase.
Other suggestions: print two copies of notice from Follett, give student one and keep the other in a binder. Turn in the money a few times a year, at intervals good for your school. If a book is located after the money has been turned into the business office, reimburse student only when more money is available in your library's fund.

3. Summer Reading baskets were distributed. The baskets were assembled beautifully by Kathy Balsamo, and support the summer reading theme of insects. K-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6, 7-8 baskets will be raffled to public library summer reading participants. I will prepare a flyer by June 1.The funds for the purchase of the books were generously provided by Molloy College and a First Books grant.

4. Online databases, 2008-2009 http://www.nassauboces.org/nsls/template.htm
Please review the list and take advantage of free trials. Give me recommendations for any changes by June 1. I attended a session at a recent conference (see earlier post) where Teaching Books was featured. I encourage you to incorporate it into any lesson/unit where the students are exploring a specific author and his/her works.
We also discussed Tumble Books vs. One More Story. One More Story is not available through BOCES, but I'll try to order it for the elementary school libraries for next year.

5. Websites of note: Seeing Reason Tool http://educate.intel.com/en/ThinkingTools/SeeingReason/TryTheTool
ALA Awards http://www.nassauboces.org/nsls/2008ala.htm
Information Literacy http://skil.stanford.edu/intro/research.html
Information Literacy to support reading and writing http://www.hitchams.suffolk.sch.uk/foundation/literacy/index.htm
21st Century Skills http://21stcenturyskills.org Podcasts on 21st century skills http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/collection.php?collection=492

6. Poetry Café
Thank you for participating. Boards can be dropped off in Beverly Wolcott's office this month.

7. LITE Bytes articles
By June 1, please:
Created Equal Bookshelf Grant Award--Smith Street
Summer Reading--California Avenue
Author/Illustrator and Community Reading Days--Northern Parkway
Dream Poems--Grand Avenue
Reading Book Club--Walnut Street
Webpage updates--Lawrence Road
Summer Technology Institute--Turtle Hook
Book Review Project--UHS
Remember the Children Day--UHS

I will set up a page for each story on the litebytes wiki so you can post your stories directly. Look for it early next week.

8. Book reviews
Students with usernames and passwords can post reviews directly to Destiny. These will need your approval before they go "live". The username is the student's student number (found on SASI). We're working on seeing if their SASI password can be imported.

Handouts: "You’re Not Bilingual, So What?", "Culturally Speaking: English Language Learners", "Old School Meet Library 2.0", "Teaching Effective and Inspiring Engaged Readers in the Library Media Center", "A Few New Things"

Blogging for You

2008-04-18T10:36:00.005-04:00

I attended a NASTech meeting yesterday in the library at Westbury High School. They have a room adjacent to the library with several computers, but the library itself only had a few locked down laptops for their OPAC stations. The school has implemented a very successful COW program that extends to the use of laptops in the libraries.

I was most interested in the presentation given by an elementary bilingual teacher about blogging in her second grade classroom. She chose this venue because it simulated journal writing and she believed she was helping to create an online community of readers and writers. Sure enough, connections were made with a school in New Zealand, and the students are now enthusiastic writers! She recomends using David Warlick's blogmeister because it's made for the classroom, but also check out 21 classes.

Avatars, anyone? Check out Voki and take your pick.

Computers in Libraries 2

2008-04-17T11:16:00.002-04:00

I was too ambitious to think that I would be able to share everything in one posting.

Highlights from other workshops:

Screencasting
The presenter for this workshop simply pressed "play" and walked away from the podium while the flash movie ran on the screen, introducing us to the concept of creating flash movies for tutorial purposes. He mentioned programs like Jing, with which we're familiar, as well as Camtasia (for a fee) and meebo. The advice he gave is to keep the screencasts short, and to find a good hosting service. He suggested blip.tv, YouTube (well, Teacher Tube would be better for us), freescreencast.com, screencastomatic. The entire presentation is available at http://screencasting.pbwiki.com.

Bookmapping
This presentation explored the use of interactive map technology to bring a geographical perspective to books. Sites that help make this possible include Google Earth, http://gutenkarte.org/, and Google Lit Trips.

Second Life
I'm still not convinced of the worth of creating a second life for libraries--don't we have enough to do with our first one!!!--but there are avid followers who create virtual worlds for all kinds of functions, including answering questions via an avatar at a reference desk. Visit http://secondlife.com and see what you think.

Teaching Books
I had a fresh look at this program and I have to confess I was much more impressed with it than I've been in the past. We still have access through Nassau BOCES. I recommend you take a look the next time you introduce a new author. There's a lot of highly usable, quality and original material that you could use.

Fish4Info is an example of an open source catalog. It's a great solution for libraries who have yet to automate. I definitely liked the "Amazon" feel to it which makes it intuitive for the novice.

Are you interested in a global project? Check out http://primarysource.org/.

I attended a workshop, Gaming Your Library, that emphasized Johnny Chung Lee's position that students have an organic information need that relates to their own lives. Students need someone to meet them where they are to take them where they need to go. Hence the idea of applying gaming strategies to the learning environment. Recommended title: Marc Prensky's Don't Bother Me, Mom, I'm Learning. I'm putting it on our next order.

Loved what I saw from the Cleveland Museum of Art's videoconferencing presentation. One was featured that combined art and wellness through a study of self-portraits. The question was asked: What do artists reveal? Lots of food for thought. Definitely check it out.

The librarian from the Frank Sinatra Performing Arts High School showed us how she had the students use a variety of online programs to create pathfinders on various topics. The collaborated in Google docs, shared and discussed on Wikispaces as they reflected on their sources through a Read/Write/Think 3-2-1 strategy: What did you discover? What did you find interesting? What is one question you still have? Peer editors completed a reflection: I read...I noticed...I wondered...The final rubric asked the students to contribute what they could teach others, what they still need to learn, what they need to get better at, and what they would like to see done differently.

At the copyright workshop, I was reminded of the "poor man's copyright" strategy. Mail your original work in a sealed envelope to yourself. Don't open it. If you want to do some reading on the subject, there's actually a graphic book called Bound by Law. With so much original work being posted online, it is incumbent upon the "poster" to make sure he or she has permission.

Computers in Libraries:

2008-04-09T11:18:00.005-04:00

The Computers in Libraries Conference with its corollary, Internet@Schools East in Washington, D.C. is in its 23rd year. Planned to coordinate with the marvel of cherry blossoms in bloom, this conference offered resources and ideas for us to implement with our home libraries. Some of the time, I have to confess, I proudly noted: we already do that in Uniondale! And we've gone even further down that particular path! Other times I was furiously taking notes, capturing as much as I could to bring back to all of you.

I'm going to share with you some of my favorite newly discovered gems, together with the name of the workshop I attended. Hope you find this useful!

RSS@Schools

Steven Cohen is a law librarian in Huntington who probably has the marketshare on RSS feeds. He has a daunting 900 or so and must have given up any semblance of a life to read even a little bit of each. In any case, why RSS? I know we've talked about the reasons to let RSS into our library lives--the ability to bring all our best-loved sites into one place precludes the annoyance of having to search for them--and remembering to do so! As librarians, posting feeds on our websites for students and teachers could be particularly helpful.

A few familiar and new gems, in no particular order:

For gathering your feeds--Google Reader http://reader.google.com/

Search library feeds--http://www.libworm.com/

Open archive for library and information science--E-Lis http://eprints.rclis.org/

Track bills, issues, members in Congress--Open Congress http://www.opencongress.org/

Voters database in Congress http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/

Monitor changes to webpages http://watchthatpage.com/

Create feed for a webpage http://page2rss.com/

Highlight quote on page and go directly to that passage--very cool and worth a try! CiteBite http://www.citebite.com/ I created an example for you here: http://pages.citebite.com/q4u0q6q1ewsx

A lot of databases have rss feeds, most notably EBSCO. Check them out.

Steven Cohen has a lot to say on his librarystuff.net blog.

Professional Journals

2008-04-01T15:35:00.006-04:00

As you know, one of my addictions is to professional journals where I am amazed by the gems of helpful hints, resources, and plain old good ideas that are shared. The April/May edition of LMC (Library Media Collection) is full of articles that 1) spur thinking or 2) confirm that we are on the right track. At our next meeting, I'll share some with you. Of special mention is Joyce Valenza's "A Few New Things" (not to us--we're doing so much!) and "'Old School Meet' School Library 2.0: Bump Your Media Program Into an Innovative Model for Teaching and Learning". Classroom Connect's April issue includes great ideas for livening up literature lessons and an assortment of other tips and treasures. It's available online at http://connectednewsletter.metapress.com/content/111m23380v2utvxu/fulltext.pdf.

I might have shared the article, "The Power of RSS" from Multimedia & Internet@Schools (January/February 2008) with you already. It's an easy-to-understand overview of RSS feeds and their use in the library setting. You have to set up an account to view it: http://www.mmischools.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=13387. I was especially intrigued by the idea of beginning a research dialogue with a student and setting him or her up with a mechanism to receive additional articles and resources as they become available.

March Department Meeting

2008-03-25T12:47:00.009-04:00

At our meeting today, we discussed:

any questions and concerns that have arisen since we began to use Requisition Manager
Consensus--program working well, allows us to keep track of expenditures.
Concern expressed about time needed to use program. Expectation this will ease with increased familiarity. Anyone with problems should speak to me.
Poetry Cafe (indicate your plan at http://turtlehook.poetrycafe.sgizmo.com/) If you need any inspiration, check out Nikki Giovanni's poem in the March issue of American Libraries (copies distributed): "a Library is: a place to be free/to be in space/ to be in cave times..."
I would like every library to have a presence. So far, there are wonderful ideas coming forward.
Lost books
We brainstormed about how to handle lost books and lost book monies. Pending discussion with the business office, our procedure for student replacement of lost books will be:
a. encourage the student to locate and return lost book
b. ask the student to bring in a new copy of the same book
c. accept an alternate book--a new paperback for a lost paperback book and new hardcover for a lost hardcover book
d. The last choice will be payment for the book with cash. Receipts and records of transactions will be kept. All monies will be turned into each building's main office in January and June.
Follow-up question for business office: Will each school have a bookkeeper? When monies are turned in, is it possible to allocate them for replacement library books?
Summer Reading
Thanks to a donation that allowed us to puchase books from Borders, we're preparing baskets to be raffled in the fall to summer reading participants. The baskets are built around the theme of insects in keeping with the summer reading program theme for students in grades k-2, 3-5, as well as for middle school students. Totals: 5 k-1 baskets, 5 2-3 baskets, 5 4-5 baskets, 4 6 baskets, 8 7-8 baskets
New professional books
Librarians perused and borrowed new books from our professional collection. A complete list can be found at http://workbench.wikispaces.com/Professional+Books.
National Geographic books were distributed for each library.
TLC collection-- title recommendations
Please give me recommendations for additions to our TLC collections by April 16.
Remaining monies
Now is the time to close out our accounts. Please spend your remaining monies by the time we break for vacation.
National Geographic books were distributed.

As much as possible, I'll include links to articles rather than distribute hard copies.

Articles and websites of note:

"Meet Your New School Library Media Specialist"

"Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers"

"A Cyber Six-Pack for Educators"

"Addressing Adolescent Literacy"

A Gathering of Readers: An online celebration of indigenous chldren's reading and culture.

We have a new subscription to Information Searcher, a new newsletter put together by Pam Berger. If you're interested I have the most recent issue. The lead article is "Web 2.0 Strategies for Searching". There are also articles on world history resources, blogging in English language arts and election links for young people.

Connected Newsletter's February edition has as its main theme digital photography in the classroom.

Distributed: Nikki Giovanni's poem, "Storytelling in the Web 2.0 Era", "A Vision for Classroom Blogging"

Teaching and Learning Celebration

2008-03-10T15:50:00.008-04:00

Channel 13 did it again! I had heard about this wonderful conference, but this was the first year I was able to attend, thanks to Pearline Everett's good fortune to win two free passes and her kind generosity in responding to my strong-arming tactics by agreeing to allow me to have one of them. Thanks, Pearline!

I started the day with Will Richardson. Many of you are familiar with his work on blogs and wikis (TCHRS 371.33 RIC: UHS Library). Apparently he is also a wikispaces devotee. You can visit the site he created for the conference at http://willrichardson.wikispaces.com/. He believes that the ability--and prevalence--of publishing to the web is the single most transformative happening that has emerged from the technology revolution. The capability for all of us, most notably our students, to be participatory journalists is a heady and empowering change. Take a moment to visit his wiki and consider his timely message about connections.

Speaking of connections, one of the amazing things I learned at this conference is how the learning truly doesn't end because of the opportunities literally at our fingertips! Did you know that many universities now have free open courseware? For example, you can take a course of your dreams at MIT, Tufts, U. C. Berkeley and many other institutions here and across the globe.

On that note, Tim Magner, Director of the U. S. Department of Education, explored 21st educational trends and how learning is now location-independent. He introduced us to GELC (Global Education Learning Community) where educators can start or join projects and take advantage of resources. We were challenged to consider that while everything in our world has changed so markedly, why are schools still the same? As educators, we have to create our own transformational toolkit, work with our communities to prepare our students for the world that awaits them. This world features, in a very short list, collaboration, "loose" boundaries, the accessibility of information over a variety of platforms, and connectivity in more ways to more people than ever before possible or imagined.

I had a chance to stop by the Apple workshop on podcasting which also supported the concept and recurring theme of the celebration to create work for a global audience. We can facilitate this by giving our students a voice and the tools they need to make themselves heard. Myriad resources are available on the iPoddess site. Click on resources. (Reminder: the workbench wiki has extensive links to help you get started with podcasting.)

When Jane Goodall walked to the podium for the keynote address, the standing ovation she received was heartfelt and admiring of her lifetime devotion to her passionate interests. Her talk glossed over the work she has done up to now to focus on Roots and Shoots, a program that engages and inspires young people through global community service. She left us with this thought to ponder: "While we all need money to live, we don't need to live for money." She certainly has modeled her life after this mantra.

All this caused me to reflect (surprise :)) on what role librarians play in this evolution/revolution, and what should we be doing in Uniondale to ensure our students leave us, minimally, with the comfort level needed to navigate the new information landscape and, hopefully and with great effort, with the expertise in hand to ask the right questions and discover appropriate resources to lend clarity to whatever bewilders them. Certainly we can line our shelves with books to pique their curiosity and interest, to entertain and delight, but we are also uniquely positioned to infuse student learning with the skills necessary to be informationally literate in the broadest sense, to put into practice what David Warlick emphasized when he spoke of knowledge integration.

Summer Reading

2008-02-28T14:09:00.003-05:00

By popular demand, we once again will raffle new book baskets to elementary and middle school students who document their participation in the public library summer reading program. This year's theme is "Catch the Reading Bug" and "Metamorphosis". Visit http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/summer/ for additional information.

Please share your ideas for titles and non-book items that we should include in these baskets. Let me know if you have any books left from last year so I can plan purchases.

Requisition Manager

2008-02-28T13:46:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Jo-Ann Becker for her thorough presentation that taught us how to enter requisitions the 21st century way! From this point forward, librarians will enter their requisitions using the program. Let me know when one is pending, and I will review it for approval.

A few items to remember for long lists so you don't have to include every item in the description box:

1. For a long list of items such as a Follett book order, indicate in the description that the list will be submitted separately.

2. Indicate what the list will include--i.e. books, supplies, etc.

3. For those of you who order online, write "Open Purchase Order for titles to be submitted online". (This only holds true for book vendors who notoriously don't/can't fill an entire order, thereby allowing you to submit additional titles later).

4. After you complete the requisition and it is approved, there is a quick turn-around to convert it to a purchase order. The actual p.o. will be sent to your school's main office. All you need to do is check Requisition Manager, locate the purchase order number, and write it on each of the five copies of your list that you will be sending to the purchasing dept.

5. Whenever you are submitting a separate list of items to purchasing, make an additional copy for me and inter-office it.

If a vendor you would like to use is not on the list, you'll have to complete a special form. You can find it in Library M in a folder called Requisitions. Also in this folder is a set of instructions prepared by Barbara Spiritus.

Questions? Call me.

Library Department Meeting, Feb. 27, 2008

2008-02-07T14:45:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Paula Trapani's inspiring blog (http://lrmslibrary.blogspot.com), I am experimenting with this one to see if a blog could be used as our vehicle to share department meeting agendas and minutes. Please excuse its sparse nature as it is definitely under construction!

At our library department meeting on February 27 in the high school library, we will stray from usual business to be trained in Requisition Manager. Using this program will enable librarians to manage and input their own purchase orders that then will be routed to me for approval. We will meet at 2:00. Time permitting, we will address procedures for dealing with lost books, plans for our summer reading program (an exciting development--stay tuned!) and the Poetry Cafe. If there are topics you would like us to cover, please either e-mail me or add a comment to this blog.

Of interest: Teen Tech Week is March 2-8. Visit http://www.ala.org/teentechweek for ideas and resources.

You might want to consider signing up for one of the new inservice courses scheduled to begin in March! Do You Google?, The World of Wikis and Other Web 2.0 Tools, and Interactive Whiteboards at Work soon will be listed on My Learning Plan. Take advantage of these opportunities to become expert techno-magicians! (Speaking of Web 2.0, check out WikiMatrix for an unbelievable array of choices and possibilities).

Our monthly a list of Websites of Note listing is included here for your convenience. As always, at our meeting I will distribute articles that are not available online. Look for one on digital storytelling (I know that many of you are putting into action what we learned on Staff Development Day!) and one on classrooom blogging.

I also wanted to point out to you that I've purchased several professional books that may be of interest to you. Highlighted book titles are below:

Uniondale School Library Media Centers

2007-11-06T10:13:00.000-05:00

Vist the Uniondale School Library Media Centers Home Page!

Practice

2006-08-01T09:27:00.003-04:00

Practice makes perfect.

Test