State of the Library: January/February

JSTOR Database

Library Orientations: English

Ninth Graders visited the library with their English classes this month. After watching a video on how to search for resources at home, Ninth Graders explored the library and then gave each other group tours.

Library Orientations: History

Ninth Graders worked on their research topics with their History classes this month as well, learning how to use the library’s online resources and databases. Using student demonstrations on the screen, students created search queries and researched individual topics in the library databases.

eBooks

Overdrive has recently upgraded their website to provide clearer navigation. Kindle books available for borrowing from the Sage Hill School Overdrive site are easily managed by Amazon account! eBook usage is steadily rising, largely due to faculty use.

State of the Library: December

Bretford Mobile Shelves (from their website)

Space Update

                Mobile shelves have arrived downstairs and were promptly assembled. About half of the fiction section is being moved downstairs and has already seen an increase in usage, undoubtedly from browsing and visibility. In the next year, the library will look at moving the entirety of fiction downstairs for usage and logistical reasons.

eBook Update

                The library has enlisted the largest eBook service in schools to provide Sage Hill with an eLibrary. OverDrive is now fully operational, and a private beta was introduced to the faculty over the break. It will be rolled out to the students over the month of January. OverDrive provides ebooks and audiobooks in several formats for use on private devices as well as school-provided computers.

Technology in the Library

                One of the two iPads purchased at the end of last year for library use was stolen from the downstairs library on a busy service learning day. The remaining iPad is still available for community check out but is locked to a desk upstairs unless requested. The iPad’s ability to switch languages in settings has been used to write a paper and several of our print subscriptions are also available to read with its updated operating system. Laptop use in the library is slowly climbing every month.

State of the Library: October/November

Space Update

                We saw a big return in our summer investment in the library space. Acoustics are a hundred times better, best demonstrated during the administration of extended-time PSAT tests in the upper library October 17^th. The lower library was very busy after all the regular-time PSAT students were released, but our extended-time students enjoyed a much quieter environment than we have been able to offer before. The furniture in the lower library is also being well-used and well-loved, particularly the couches, newly-upholstered chairs, and the low table with chess and checkers games available. (Chess Club has been revived as a student activity, and so far it has fostered good-natured sportsmanship across grade lines and social circles amongst our students.)

eBook Update

                The library has enlisted the largest eBook service in schools to provide Sage Hill with an eLibrary. OverDrive is used in the entire Orange County Public Library system as well as in our own Newport Beach Public Library, and it allows community members to check out eBooks the library purchases on popular consumer devices such as iPads, Nooks, Kindles, Macs and PCs.

The eCollection is very young and small, but we hope to continue investing in it as we do the physical collection, which will probably hit a “ceiling” of around 20,000 to 25,000 books in the next ten years judging from growth and physical space limits. We currently have a collection of around 16,000 that is still in robust use.

iPads in the Library

                Two iPads have been purchased for in-library use and were briefly on loan to the Admission Department for Open House. We’re currently calibrating the iPads, purchasing protective covers, and working out ways to keep them available within the library space, perhaps with a tether or a sign-out process. They should become available by the end of the month or the beginning of November.