December 15, 2010

1. Which selection tools do you like best? Why?
The selection tools that I have become fond of include the LMC journal and the School Library Journal. I like the fact that it comes out on a frequent basis so it always includes new books. The other thing I like about the journals is that they include picks on technology that will be useful in the library. I also like how both journals let the reader know if the books are good selections or not. I borrowed the CCBC book from Jenny and I’ve had a great time looking through their picks and comparing what I have in my collection to their picks. I think I will purchase the CCBC books in the future.

2. How are you doing on your web page? It's due at our next class. Questions? Comments? Be ready to present it to your class.
I think my website is going alright. I started with nothing besides a generic page that was put on by our district tech person at the beginning of the year. Now I have five additional pages with a variety of information. I have had several students and teachers navigate the page to critique it for me, which has been beneficial. I have a bit more that I would like to do over the course of the next two weeks, but at times it has been frustrating because the CMS program doesn’t always allow me to do what I want to.

3. How are you doing on the Three-Year Plan? Questions?
So far I feel like I’ve collected a lot of data for my three-year plan. I’ve finished my teacher and student surveys. I’ve collected the information on the community and school. I’ve also used Titlewave to look at what areas my library is strong in and what areas it is weak in. One are area I will be focusing on are country books in the 900’s. I have several teachers who have students check out books for reports and they cannot be over 10 years old in copyright, so I want to weed that section and purchase new books. The teachers that use this section work on trimester so almost every 7th grade student uses this section some time during the school year. I will also be looking at adding DVD’s to my collection. The last section I haven’t figured out yet, but plan on doing that before the end of the week. Currently, I don’t think I have any questions regarding the project, but my guess is some will pop up as I'm working.

4. Describe 2 things that you would like to do to promote your library and its resources.
I’ve been thinking a great deal about how to promote the library and its resources and some of the ideas I have come up with include sending weekly e-mails to staff so they know what is available and what I can do. Almost like a tip of the week. I also have thought about taking an idea that Chris had a tweaking it a bit. I thought about having cookie days and using them randomly throughout the year. When a student or staff member checks out a book they get a bite-sized cookie. I figure that word will spread and students and staff that normally would not enter the library would come in just for the cookie. That would then be my opportunity to guide them to areas that may interest them and hopefully gain new patrons to my library. For Read Across America Week my district wants all of the libraries to participate, so I am thinking of coming up with some different games/quizzes that students can do during their homeroom time and if they turn them in to the library and they are correct I’ll put them in for a drawing. I’m not sure what the drawing will be for yet, but once again by having the students/staff drop off their game cards they would be entering the library, so it’s the opportunity to gain non-users and turn them in to users.

5. (Louis Questions): How has our class and this week's activities affected you in your professional life? Discuss two things that you've learned this week.
This week’s class has affected my professional life because I have learned about more selection tools that are out there for me to use. I think by seeing what my classmates liked and didn’t like was beneficial because I have developed new tools to use. Also, viewing others websites has been helpful. Just being able to see different formats is nice and gives me a better idea of how things can be done.