I have used MontanaLibrary2Go for both audiobooks and e-books. The instruction sheet I picked up at the public library is helpful in getting started. My only problem with checking out e-books is that I always have to wait for the books I really want to read. An email is sent letting a me know that a book I've requested is available.
A few of the elementary schools in Great Falls are dabbling with e-readers and ipads for students but are having a variety of issues with how best to use them. I think that most of them are allowing teachers to check out the e-readers for classroom use only. At my school we have a few e-books available on our computers but no e-readers.
The e-books on the computers at school have very handy features such audio capabilities and a dictionary are very useful with students with reading challenges. Students really are motivated to read using the books, but since our supply of them is very limited they soon tire of them. I don't think the school will be investing in e-readers any time soon but will continue to put a few e-books on our computers each year.
Here's a link to an interesting study on the benefits of E-readers:
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/jun12/vol69/num09/E-Readers@_Powering_Up_for_Engagement.aspx
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Monday, July 15, 2013
Automation Systems
The Great Falls schools have used the Alexandria system from COMPanion Corp for about seven years. Since then there has been no discussion about changing the system. It seems to work well and do what it needs to do for our school district. I don't anticipate any of us recommending a change or upgrade any time in the near future.
Alexandria is used for everything such as OPAC searches, cataloging, and circulation. The cataloging is done at the district level so I can't speak to how efficient it is, but I have gone into the system in my building to change the cataloging of an item and it's fairly easy.
The strengths of the system are that it is easy to use for searches and circulation. The schools are all linked so we can search for materials in all libraries throughout the district and we loan materials to one another. This saves a lot of time. Circulation is straightforward and pretty easy to guide someone like a substitute teacher through.
The weaknesses of the system for me are really its strengths. There is a vast amount about the system that I haven't discovered. I was thrown into the position without much training so it has been challenging to figure out all of its capabilities. The manual is a whopping three inches thick (so is the dust on the cover :)). I have tended to shout for help from another librarian rather than to delve into the manual. Maybe now that my endorsement classes are almost finished...
Alexandria can generate a huge array of reports, and one can make changes to any report to suit one's needs. Last year being my first in a new school, I generated collection evaluation reports and circulation figures to help me tackle weeding. I've used circulation reports to really understand my schools' reading preferences and to help me make teaching and ordering decisions. Many more are generated on a district level than are actually used in each individual school.
Two years ago I was the librarian at a small charter school in Salt Lake City. That school was completely independent and used Destiny system from Follett. Again being thrown in on my own, I found it very user-friendly. I had to do my own cataloging which was very easy to do. It was nice being linked to Follett Titlewave since that is a site I use a lot for materials consideration and purchasing.
It did not have all the report options of Alexandria, but for that independent library it was more than enough. I was able to run collection and circulation reports to help me maintain the library. I still miss how straightforward it was.
Alexandria is used for everything such as OPAC searches, cataloging, and circulation. The cataloging is done at the district level so I can't speak to how efficient it is, but I have gone into the system in my building to change the cataloging of an item and it's fairly easy.
The strengths of the system are that it is easy to use for searches and circulation. The schools are all linked so we can search for materials in all libraries throughout the district and we loan materials to one another. This saves a lot of time. Circulation is straightforward and pretty easy to guide someone like a substitute teacher through.
The weaknesses of the system for me are really its strengths. There is a vast amount about the system that I haven't discovered. I was thrown into the position without much training so it has been challenging to figure out all of its capabilities. The manual is a whopping three inches thick (so is the dust on the cover :)). I have tended to shout for help from another librarian rather than to delve into the manual. Maybe now that my endorsement classes are almost finished...
Alexandria can generate a huge array of reports, and one can make changes to any report to suit one's needs. Last year being my first in a new school, I generated collection evaluation reports and circulation figures to help me tackle weeding. I've used circulation reports to really understand my schools' reading preferences and to help me make teaching and ordering decisions. Many more are generated on a district level than are actually used in each individual school.
Two years ago I was the librarian at a small charter school in Salt Lake City. That school was completely independent and used Destiny system from Follett. Again being thrown in on my own, I found it very user-friendly. I had to do my own cataloging which was very easy to do. It was nice being linked to Follett Titlewave since that is a site I use a lot for materials consideration and purchasing.
It did not have all the report options of Alexandria, but for that independent library it was more than enough. I was able to run collection and circulation reports to help me maintain the library. I still miss how straightforward it was.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
School Website Contents
Five things I would want to put on a school library website:
1. OPAC
2. EBSCO databases and worldbookonline.com links
3. Contact information - phone numbers, email etc.
4. Library class and book return schedules
5. Library policies including class expectations, grading, checkouts, etc.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Sunday, July 7, 2013
RSS
It certainly seems Feedly is getting a lot of attention since Google Reader is no longer an option. It seems to be what many reviewers are recommending for fans of GR. Being a Mac and iPhone person I checked out Reeder which supports Feedly and others. It seems to be user-friendly and I saw few bad reviews. Since as the text says "resistance is futile" I'm going to begin using Feedly and Reeder for my own personal use and see how and if it might be useful at school.
Here's a link for some Reeder information:
http://lifehacker.com/reeder-for-iphone-adds-support-for-feedly-is-currently-645282397
Here's a link for some Reeder information:
http://lifehacker.com/reeder-for-iphone-adds-support-for-feedly-is-currently-645282397
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Blogs
I have little or no experience with blogs and blogging other than reading a few blogs from time to time. This is all very new to this veteran educator, but I am excited to explore the possibilities for myself and my students.
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