I was looking at the American Library Association website and came across their Quotable Facts About America's Libraries. There were a few surprises there for me: I didn't realize that there are more public libraries than McDonald's in the US--and I see McDonald's everywhere. They are building a new McD's on the corner by my house, so I'm going to write to my city council and ask them where the new library will be going!

All kidding aside, this information was interesting and presented in a way that made me think about how libraries are used, who uses them, and what an economic benefit they are to society.

I wonder if we could write a similar document for our libraries: a Quotable Facts About SLCSD Libraries. If we did, what information should we include? What highlights would we want people to know about the services, resources, and supports we offer to students, teachers, and the community?

Give us all your ideas--wouldn't it be great to have to share with people who make decisions about our schools and libraries?

New Resources from EBSCO this year!

EBSCO has added or expanded several new resources and databases this year. Take a look at some of the new offerings and share them with your teachers and students!

History Reference Center: This site is great for US and World History classes and as a teacher reference.

The Science Reference Center is a high school reference, but contains many different experiments that could be used with students or suggested for science fair!

Hobbies and Crafts Center...it's easy to get lost in this one! You can share it with all your teachers, but especially your CTE, CTE Intro, and FACS teachers! (BTW...there is a holiday focus section with some great craft and food ideas!)

The Literary Reference Center is another high school reference that contains author background and criticism on many works our ELA teachers are using their classrooms.

The Magazine database has been expanded!

The Newspaper Source Plus database now has even more international newspapers--share this with your language teachers as well as your teachers doing current events!

The Poetry and Short Story Reference Center has full texts of poems and stories as well as criticism and author information--this is a high school resource.

For your debaters or ELA teachers working on argument writing (from the UCS), the Points of View Reference Center is a great resource. It presents current issues with an overview and a point/counter point.

And for your school in general, don't forget the Professional Development Collection database with over 500 high-quality journals. A great place to find articles to support PLCs, new teachers, or your own professional reading!

How do you use Pioneer Library in your library? What UEN.org resources are the most popular in your school? What are some of the ways you've been successful in sharing online resources with your teachers?

An Hour of Code...a Step Into the Future!

Hour of Code

More than 44 million people of all ages have learned an Hour of Code, a one-hour introductory course designed to demystify computer science and show that anybody can learn the basics. Participate this December 8-14 during Computer Science Education Week and help reach 100 million students by the end of 2014.

The Hour of Code is happening in December. This is a great opportunity to  introduce students to thinking through the process of coding in age-appropriate, interesting ways. The number of jobs in this field is growing, and the number of people ready to take those jobs isn't keeping up. What a great way to create interest in technology, learning, and thinking through your library!

The site provides all the information, videos you can share with your teachers and students--or over a student broadcast--posters, and step-by-step instructions. You don't have to know how to code to run a coding session. It's fun and engaging--and a perfect thing to support as the LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY TEACHER! 

Here are the instructions!

And, just a little intra-district competition: the SLCSD library with the most student participating during that week will win a Cordless Book Scanner with a USB Cradle!

Have you hosted an Hour of Code before? Tell us what went well. Interested in doing one? What questions do you have? Let's help each other put this together for our students!

Collecting Book Fees and Fines

This is never the best part of our job, but sometimes, books don't come back. One of the ongoing problems with this is collecting fees. Libraries are about checking out books and helping kids find those frigates than help them boldly go. How can we reduce the number of students who have fines and increase the sense of responsibility they have to their library and school community?

This article, "Policy Challenge: Consequences that Restrict Borrowing" talks about the problems inherent in being a lending institution. What do you think about the statements the author makes? Are any of her suggestions valid? What strategies have worked for you when it comes to increasing the number of classes or students returning books? 

Book Fairs at Your School

Book fairs are one way that we can bring books to students, share with families...and raise money for our libraries. But they are a bit complicated. What are some of the best strategies you have for running a book fair? What tips and tricks do you have for running a successful book fair? Who do you like to involve or work with? What do you do with volunteers? What questions do you have?

Sheryl's Birthday

Today is Sheryl's birthday!

Happy birthday to her!

May Blog Winners!

Our grand winner of a $50.00 iTunes educational app card is Amy!

Winners of an additional prize are:

EVERYONE!

Thank you to EVERYONE for your wonderful comments on the library blog this year. 


We love how we have all learned and laughed together and benefited from each other's thoughtful comments, valuable ideas, and insightful viewpoints.

Watch for your bonus prizes to arrive through district mail.

New State Library Core Standards

The Utah State Secondary (Grades 6-12) Library Core Standards have been under revision and have now been approved by the Utah State Board of Education for public comment. 

You can read through the new standards and also comment on the proposed standards.

Jean R.'s Birthday

 OH NO!

WE FORGOT JEAN R.'S BIRTHDAY!

Her birthday was April 27th.  We are so sorry!

So here is our belated birthday wish for our own wonderful Jean.

Gloria's Birthday

Today is Gloria's birthday.

Happy birthday to her!

Graphic Novels

 The discussion about genre shelving has spawned a new topic.  Jean B. asked the question----where does everyone shelve their graphic novels?

Do you keep them in 741?

Do shelve them with fiction?

Do you create an entirely separate special spot for them in your library so that students can find them easily?

What is working for you?  What are your suggestions?

The Salt Lake County Library system created call numbers YGN for young adult graphic novels and JGN for junior graphic novels.  What are your thoughts about special call numbers?

Linda R.'s Birthday

Today is Linda R.'s birthday!

Happy birthday to her!

Shelving by Genre

There is a trend in school (and some public libraries) to shelf books by genre rather than by Dewey numbers.  This is sometimes called the "bookstore model" because books are organized and arranged by topic or areas of interest.

With this model---in the area of fiction---all the mystery books are shelved together rather than shelved in Fiction by the author's last name.  All historical fiction is shelved together, all graphic novels, all fantasy, etc. 

How do you feel about this?

What can you see as the positive aspects of this trend?

What can you see as the negative aspects?

Getting All the Books Returned at the End of the Year

It's sometimes tough to get those last books returned at the end of the year.

When I was a librarian, popsicles were cheap.  I could buy a bag of 18 double popsicles for $.99.

I would put a note in the teachers' boxes and explain that if their entire class had their books returned by June 1st, I would give the class a popsicle prize.

I would also explain this to students as their class came to the library during the month of May.

The teachers had to break the popsicles in half---but with 18 in a bag, one bag was usually enough for each class.  I would stock up on the popsicles and put them in the freezer in the faculty room.  

What are some tips or tricks or ideas that have worked for you in getting those last straggling books returned?

Home Run Books

Isn't it a great feeling when you are sharing a book with students, and you look out at them---and they are hooked!  They are totally involved in the book you are sharing with them.  Their eyes are happy, they are engaged, and they are thoroughly enjoying every word.

Do you have a particular book that is a "home run" every time you share it with students?  ..

Bonus Winners!

We have 8 bonus blog winners!

We looked at the comments from the posting about Have You Seen My New Blue Socks and put the names of all who responded in a hat.  We drew out Pamela!  She has won a copy of Have You Seen My New Blue Socks and also, of course, a pair of new blue socks!

We looked at the comments from the posting about graphic novels and put all commenters' names in a hat.  We drew out Theresa, Tim, Jean B., and Karen!  They have each won a copy of the graphic novel, A Wrinkle in Time.

Finally, we looked at the comments from the posting about Chilly Milly Moo and put all commenters' names in a hat.  We drew out Joseph, Janice, and Jean R.  They have each won a copy of Chilly Milly Moo as well as a $5.00 gift certificate to Baskin Robbins (because the cow in the book squirts out ice cream when she is milked). :-)

Have You Seen My New Blue Socks and Chilly Milly Moo are also on the wiki for you to use if you would like.

Thank you to everyone for all of your contributions to the blog!

Newest Blog Winners

Congratulations to our blog winners for the month of April.

Winner of a $50.00 iTunes educational app card is:
Mary R!




Winners of 5 additional prizes are:
Susette
Theresa
Stephanie
Mary H.
Jean B.

Thank you all for your contributions to our blog!

Chilly Milly Moo

I recently saw a cute picture book called Chilly Milly Moo about a cow who is having trouble producing milk because she is too hot.  The farmer is annoyed with her and threatens dire consequences if she doesn't perk up and give some milk.

There is a big, cold storm that spreads across the dairy farm----and when the farmer milks the cow, Milly, she produces ice cream instead of milk!

Do you remember the days when our schools and libraries weren't air-conditioned?  I can remember it being over 90 degrees in my classroom and trying to teach important concepts to hot, sweaty students.  I can remember bringing in a box fan from home to try and cool my classroom---and it was so noisy that I practically had to yell in order to be heard.  I can remember doing inventory in the un-air-conditioned library at the beginning of June and being hot, cranky, and grimy.

What are your memories of too-warm schools and libraries?  

AND---what is your favorite flavor of ice cream?  (The book doesn't indicate what flavor of ice cream that Milly produced).  :-)

Graphic Novels

How do your students generally feel about graphic novels? 

Are they popular?

Do they circulate a lot in your libraries?  

Do you feel like you have enough of them?  

Do your students ever read the graphic novel ebooks?

I recently looked at a brand new book by Eve Bunting called Have You Seen My New Blue Socks?

It's about a little duck who has a new pair of socks that he is very proud of, but he has lost them!  He wanders among his friends and asks each of them if they have seen his new socks.

In the end, one of his buddies points out that Duck is WEARING his new blue socks.  

I hate it when I can't find something!  Like scissors.  Or scotch tape.  Or my keys.

What are some of the things in your library (or in your life) that get lost all the time?  

Speaking of Eve Bunting, she is 85 years old----and she is obviously still writing books!  She is originally from Ireland.  Do you have a favorite Eve Bunting book?

Jeanene's Birthday

Today is Jeanene's birthday!

Happy birthday to her!

Margo's Birthday

Today is Margo's birthday!

Happy birthday to her!

Lonnie's Birthday

Today is Lonnie's birthday!

Happy birthday to her!

March Winners!

Our big blog winner for the month of March and a winner of a $50.00 iTunes educational app card is:

Jill

Winners of 5 smaller prizes are:

Stephanie
Karen
Dawn Ann
Theresa
Mary R.

Thank you all for your contributions to our blog!

Fun Books!

We were able to obtain copies of a couple of the award honor books for 2014. 

We have a copy of Doll Bones, a Newbery Honor Book, and Journey, a Caldecott Honor Book.

We had blogged about both of these books in a posting on January 8th.  We went back and put the names of all who commented on these books into a hat and drew out:

Jeane B. who wins a copy of Bones 

Marilyn who wins a copy of Journey

Thank you to all who commented on the posting!

Spring Has Sprung

Spring is finally here!  

What are some of your favorite aspects of spring?  Budding tulips?  No more driving in the snow?  Longer days?  Basketball?

Pamela's Birthday

Today is Pamela's birthday!

Happy birthday to her!

Giving Away the End

When my kids were in high school, they used to laugh about a driver's ed teacher who loved to annoy the English teachers. During the time of year when classes were reading Of Mice and Men,  he would stick his head in classroom doors and yell, "George kills Lennie" and then scurry down the hall.

How do you feel about spoilers?  Do you try very hard to keep away from them?  Have you noticed that Goodreads encourages members to clearly indicate **spoiler** when they are writing reviews and that reviewers can hide the spoiler so that they won't ruin the book for others?  

Or do you not care about spoilers?  When you're about half way through a book, do you ever flip to the back and read the ending?

What about spoilers in movies?  Have you ever had a movie spoiled because someone told you the ending?  I'm glad that no one spoiled The Sixth Sense for me before I saw it---because I was totally surprised about the ending!  :-)

Janice's Birthday

Today is Janice's birthday!

Happy birthday to her!

Sarah's Birthday

Today is Sarah's birthday!

Happy birthday to her!

Dr. Seuss Activities

What are your Dr. Seuss plans for this week?

Newest Blog Winners

The blog winners for the month of February are:

Grand Prize Winner of a $50.00 iTunes Educational App Card is Susette!

Winners of 5 smaller prizes are:
Janice
Margo
Jeanene P.
Karen
Linda H.

Thank you all for your comments on our blog!

Today is Theodor Seuss Geisel's birthday!

Happy birthday to him!

Jeanne K.'s Birthday

Today is Jeanne K.'s birthday!

Happy birthday to her!

World Book Online

Can you provide us with feedback about World Book Online?

As you know, we purchase the extra World Book databases each year, and we would love to hear about if/how/when you use them.

Can you let us know the following information?  We are concerned that the databases are not displaying properly, and we are trying to troubleshoot the problems we are having.

1. Please go to Pioneer Library via the Quicklinks on the district page.  Once in Pioneer, click on World Book Encyclopedia.  Can you please let us know if it says Welcome Salt Lake District at the very top---or if it says Welcome Utah Education Network?

2. While you are in World Book, look down at the bottom of the page.  You should be able to see links to the extra databases the we subscribe to.  They are Early Peoples, Inventions and Discoveries, Living Green, Dramatic Learning, Advanced, Hispanica Saber, etc.  Please let us know if you see those links.

3. Now leave Pioneer and go back to the district page.  Go back to Quicklinks.  This time, click on World Book Online.  Tell us what you see.  Do you see all of the extra databases?

4.  Do you or your classroom teachers use any of the extra databases?

Thanks for providing us with this information!

Be a Buddy

Jeanene sent this information about a song called Be a Buddy.

Dr. Jean has a cute song about bullies.  She is really great for early grade kids.

Here is a link to the newsletter that contains the lyrics to the song.   

You can also see the buddy song on YouTUBE.

UELMA and UCET Registrations

We will be awarding blog prizes at the end of February---as we do every month.

But we also have 2 bonus prizes to be awarded in February!

A couple of weeks ago, we posted something about UELMA and UCET and asked about past experiences with these conferences.  We put the names of the 12 commenters from that posting into a hat and drew out 2 names.  

Jill----You have won a registration to UELMA on March 13th.

Sarah----You have won a registration to UCET on April 3rd and 4th.  

You will need to get permission from your administrators to attend, and your administrators will also need to pay for your subs.

We love UELMA and UCET and look forward to seeing you there!

Mary R.'s Birthday

Today is Mary R.'s birthday!

Happy birthday to her!

John C.'s Birthday

Today is John C.'s birthday!

Happy birthday to him!

UELMA and UCET

 UELMA and UCET!  How great are they!!

What has been your past experiences with these conferences?

UELMA is coming up on March 13th.

UCET is April 3rd and 4th.

Susette's Birthday

Today is Susette's birthday!

Happy birthday to her!

Pikas

Joseph mentioned pikas in his comments about Groundhog Day.  I had never heard of pikas, and so I looked them up.

Do we really think that Margo's dog is trying to catch pikas?  They're just so cute!  And they eat flowers!

Could pikas really live by Ensign Elementary?

David Attenborough has some good information about pikas. (Sorry the title has the word damn in it.)   The video clip is 3 minutes long. Those little pikas work so hard! 

Ensign's mascot is the bald eagle.  Maybe they should change their mascot to be a pika!

Book Repair

Book repair!  Who has time for that!!  :-)  In your library, what do you do with books that need to be repaired?

Do you put them in a stack in your back office---with good intentions that you will someday repair them----and then they stay there for years?

If you have an assistant, is he/she ever able to help with repairs?

Do you simply withdraw the book from circulation?

Over and Over Again

In the movie, Groundhog Day, Bill Murray lives the same day over and over again.

If you had to watch the same movie over and over again---every single day---what movie would you like it to be?

Punxsutawney Phil

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday which means that we will be having 6 more weeks of winter. 

Are there groundhogs in Utah?

Would you rather have 6 more weeks of winter or an early spring?

Do you have an interesting groundhog fact that you would like to share with us?

New Blog Winners

The January blog winners are:

$50.00 iTunes Educational App Card
Tim

Winners of 5 smaller prizes:
Amy
Marilyn
Jean R.
Joseph
Mary R.

Congratulations and thank you to EVERYONE for your wonderful comments on our Connect Collaborate Share blog!