State of the Library: October Edition

Welcome to the (slightly late) edition of the State of the Library, which reviews the month previous. It was a busy month for all of us with our wonderful Service Learning launch, Conferences, and grades, and I hope it went well for all of you.

Usage

In-house circulation is steady at just over 150 checkouts, but our database usage saw a big jump after Ninth Grade Library Orientations and the beginning of National History Day research, coming in several hundred over last month at 633 full-text articles retrieved in October. I’m pleased to see that our students found our new Opposing Viewpoints Database helpful, as statistics show a strong 75 retrievals (great for a new resource!).

Check the Wiki “About the Library” spot for more specifics on library resource usage.

In non-academic events, the Admission Office made great use of library facilities with a Parent Coffee and their (wildly successful) Open House.

New Additions

75 titles have been added to the collection, including popular fiction like the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, which is about to hit theatres at the end of the month. (I can’t help but admire a single-mom working as a teacher that found the time to write a best-selling children’s series, especially one that matured so well over the years it was written.) We have also added books on scholarships, service learning, and the English Department’s chosen short story collections: This I Believe I and II are available for checkout.

For a full list of the new additions last month, visit the wiki’s front page or click here.

Events

Last month I saw every ninth grader for the annual Ninth Grade Orientation. We tried a new twist this year to get students more involved in learning to use the library, and the activity included a lecture but also a worksheet that helped students choose a topic that interested them and practice searching and finding resources. The choice of topic rather than a closely guided scavenger hunt made this year’s orientation more engaging than ever before, and I hope to keep improving it! I would love any tips or recommendations you may have.

To see the resources used in Orientation, visit the Orientation page at the website.

In November I hope to get a few kids excited about National Novel Writing Month, headed by a non-profit organization that encourages writers to reach 50,000 words at the end of the month. The event encourages free writing and expression, and many students need to shut down that “inner editor.” I partnered with the teen services librarian, Mara Cota, of the Newport Beach Public Library, and there are “write-in” events being held at the Central Branch.

This is a busy month for our students with studying and college essays, however, so I don’t push this event too hard.

Recent Articles on Colleges, Education, Service and School Life

You may need to sign into the Electronic Library via Sage Community at sagehillschool.org in order to see the articles. Let me know if you have any difficulty doing so!

Click below for articles:

·         Bastedo, Michael N. and Nicholas A. Bowman. “US News & World Report College rankings: Modeling institutional effects on organizational reputation.”American Journal of Education 116.2 (2010): 163-183. JSTOR. Web.

·         Lazarus, David. “An education in learning via Web.” Los Angeles Times. Nov. 2010. Proquest. Web.

·         Greenberg, M., G. Greenberg, and L. Mazza. "Food Pantries, Poverty, and Social Justice." American Journal of Public Health  100.11 (2010): 2021-2022. Proquest. Web.

·         MacDonald, Christine.  "Worthy: Lock up absent parents; Prosecutor wants to punish those who skip kids' school conferences." Detroit News 20 Oct. 2010. Proquest. Web.