End of 2014

It's been wild few months in the library!

Research
So far this year, we have seen implementation and launch of a one-search tool for all of our databases (new ground and impressive!), a brief training for employees during a faculty/staff meeting, and new faculty and student collection requests. Student requests included the Maze Runner series, Gillian Flynn novels, and the new Mortal Instruments book.

Technology in the Library
Technology equipment is flying off the shelves; we saw over 660 laptop checkouts over the course of October alone, all of them reused faculty notebooks. The overwhelming need for laptops on a daily basis is something the school as a whole is looking at from the perspective of technology. Over the course of October and November over 200 library materials circulated, including non-fiction and fiction, but not including textbooks, which are day-use only reserve materials.

The Johnson Family Library now has its own Instagram! Check out pictures here.

Additions to the Collection
We've received two great donations: 20 fundamental financial books from a generous alum and at least 100 of wonderful art books featuring detailed high-quality illustrations.

Utilizing a wonderful article in November's issue of School Library Journal, "Books That Help" by Erin E. Moulton, we have added a long list of realistic teen fiction and mental health books. Highlights include Ellen Hopkins' Perfect, George Harrar's Not as Crazy as I Seem and Amy McNamara's Lovely, Dark and Deep.

Recent additions can be seen on our LibraryThing by clicking here.

On the Move
We are very sorry to see our Library Coordinator move on to education administration at the university level, and we're searching for our next Library Coordinator. Information on the position can be found at www.sagehillschool.org/jobs.

Summer 2013: Lots of new things to be excited about!

Inventory

The Library conducted an inventory of the entire collection this summer. Out of our collection of 15,000+ print resources, we were missing roughly 100 books. We reviewed these missing materials and decided to replace the ones with medium to high usage. The Library will make an effort to remind our students to check out their books in the following school year.

Collection Development

We’ve added some new Young Adult and popular bestselling fiction books to our collection. These new titles will be on display for the first semester in the lower library. If you’re interested in reading something new, please visit the lower library and check out a book! Some popular additions include: The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer, The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, and We are All Completely Besides Ourselves by Joy Karen Fowler.

New databases, new periodicals

The Library has subscribed to some new EBSCO databases, including Academic Search Premier, Consumer Health Complete, Literary Reference Center, and a bunch more. We are planning on integrating all of our resources—print and digital—into a unifying searchable index. This means that our students and faculty will no longer need to hunt down links to a database they want to use. The Library has also subscribed to some new magazines, including Cooks Illustrated, Harvard Business Review, and Yoga. Swing through the lower library and browse our newly updated periodicals!

More mobile shelving units

Our plan to move the entire fiction collection downstairs continues this summer as the Library received approval for adding four new mobile shelving units. The next step in the phase is to continue moving through the alphabet. We expect three-quarters of our fiction collection to be house downstairs by the end of the year.

Kindles and requests for eBooks

The Library purchased two new Kindles for student and faculty use. We are currently building a small collection of books in the curriculum. The Library plans to use these Kindles to meet resource requests on-the-spot. This means that if you have a request that is in the Amazon marketplace, we can purchase it on-the-spot and lend you a Kindle.

State of the Library: March/April 2013

Commemorative Month Displays

SHS Library celebrates Edith Wharton

The last few weeks the library displayed curated collections of books and educational flyers to celebrate the following commemorative months, all celebrated in March and April: Poetry Month, Women’s History Month, Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, and Jazz Appreciation Month.

Poetry Contest

The Library is renewing a partnership with the English Department to host the annual Poetry Contest. Entries are submitted in many forms, including sonnets and haiku, and a panel that includes staff and faculty will select winners in May.

History Day Projects

The Ninth Graders finished up their History Day projects in the last few weeks as well, scrambling to get the last few research pieces included in their presentations. Many student requests were filled, further honing the library collection to support Sage Hill’s unique curriculum.

Wellness: Internet Responsibility Seminar

The Director of Library and Technology repeated the Internet Responsibility Seminar from last year this year for Ninth Graders in their Wellness classes. The presentation and discussion scenarios were adapted to keep up with the times, including newly introduced social media tools and mobile device practices. Next year, topics in the seminar may be hosted on our new Learning Management System, Canvas.

Collection Management

Various tasks have been undertaken to maintain the library’s collection of digital and physical resources. Many of our physical magazines and newspapers, such as The New York Times and Vanity Fair have been placed on the library ipad available for check out for our community. Specialized stickers meant to catch attention have been placed on our biographies and best sellers otherwise hidden in the collection. Overdue emails have been sent periodically and paper bills are being prepared in anticipation of the Annual Inventory in May.