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.

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.

State of the Library: September

Space Renovation

                Summer saw a great many positive changes to the library as the school sought to support a change of tone in the lower library that would accommodate student use of the space as a social environment and changing priorities in education toward collaboration and independent learning. Isolated single-seating desk space was all but eliminated in the downstairs space, and outdated stationary desktop computers were replaced with a set of new laptops available for student check-out in the library space. Upstairs, new desktop computers replace the old and offer robust computing in the quiet study areas for students that prefer isolation. Comfortable seating in the reading area by the magazine stands was added and a small table with mobile seating was also added for impromptu meetings. The biggest investment was an acoustic renovation to render the huge stone, wall, and high-ceiling area welcoming to many small groups all talking at once. Panels with high-end sound dampening material were installed on two walls and all along the ceiling, making an incredible difference when the library is full of conversation. We’re already seeing a difference with the amount of school-oriented study work and comfortable conversation in the different spaces created in the lower library by areas of furniture and equipment.

Database Accessibility

                All of the school’s subscribed database links have been moved to virtualclass.sagehillschool.org, where students go to access their class and course information. The hope is this will make it even easier for students to utilize library resources, recommended links, and help information.

Collection Management

                The annual inventory was completed in the middle of the summer slightly ahead of schedule, and the library is already processing replacements for the books lost and damaged over the course of the year. To reflect the available technology in the school, the library is removing outdated media formats (audio tapes, VHS tapes) and sorting the remaining media (CDs, DVDs) for easier browsing. Further collection expansion will be temporarily halted for a month or two while we wait for additional shelving to arrive.

Plans for the Future

                The library has received a generous donation to reupholster all the existing armchairs from last year, and those will arrive within the week to offer more comfortable reading seating upstairs and downstairs. In addition, small side tables will be added and there are discussions to acquire a handful of mobile reading and browsing devices (such as iPads or potentially other ereading devices) for check-out and student use before the year is out. These plans are still in the works.

After the survey on the use of eBooks at school last year, the library has been watching the leading available ebook and audiobook providers in the hopes that their pricing plans will change to reflect the times and a small independent school environment. A plan is in place to launch the most flexible and viable of the available services when the school is this year.