Apr
22
Jan
05
Look up Library Resources in Destiny Quest with the New, Free, Mobile App
Now you will be able to login with your Destiny username and access all the features Destiny has to offer!
The URL for Good Spirit is http://library.gssd.ca
Jan
02
Prairies North – a magazine for all schools
Does your school library subscribe to Prairies North magazine? If not, why not, I ask!
Prairies North is an excellent source of local Saskatchewan content covering the fields of history, geography, culture, and biology. It is published right here in GSSD in Norquay. Click here for subscription information. Here is a little background information from their webpage:
Nov
30
Introducing Library PressDisplay
Library PressDisplay is the latest addition to the online databases provided by the Ministry of Education through the work of the Multitype Library Database Licensing Project (MDLP) group. It provides access to 1,700 international newspapers from 92 countries (including Canada) in 48 languages on the same day they are published. It provides 14 to 60 days archives plus a text to speech function. Therefore, you can access the Leader-Post or Globe and Mail, for example, the same day it is published and access the archives within the next couple of weeks. After that the back issues are available on the Gale or ProQuest databases. All bases are covered. I can see great benefits for our EAL learners, too. One assignment I heard about using Library PressDisplay had students researching the plight of the polar bear and the coverage being given with respect to global warming around the globe.
Important to Note: Because this database is available through a paid subscription, it can only be accessed from a school or public library. If you wish to access it at home, go through the Parkland Regional Library E-Services page.
Oct
05
Resources for EAL
If you have not added a good picture dictionary to your library collection, then now is the time. Here are a couple of key resources school libraries should have to support our English as an additional language learners.
Adelson-Goldstein, Jayme, & Norma Shapiro. Oxford Picture Dictionary: Monolingual. Canadian ed. Don Mills: Oxford University Press Canada, 1999.
Bliss, Bill, & Molkinsky, Steven. Word By Word Basic Picture Dictionary – International, 2nd ed. London: Pearson ESL, 2006. Second Canadian Edition
If you would like to add some additional resources such as the accompanying workbooks, I would be happy to assist further.
Sep
14
GSSD Wikispaces Site
This blog site is an important way for me to communicate with you. The advantage is that you can access the information in an organized fashion at a later date. I will endeavour to post pertinent parts of the library newsletters throughout the year.
Our wikispaces site, http://gssdlibraries.wikispaces.com/ , is the place where we can collaborate and share information. Here are the latest additions to the wiki:
a) On the Destiny Support page instructions have been posted on how to create and to use temporary records for signing out materials that circulate so seldomly that it is not worth your time to catalogue them at the outset. An example could be magazine issues. With a temporary record you assign a temporary barcode to an item when a student brings it up to the circulation desk. With a few quick entries in the fields, you have created a record that will be erased once the material is returned. I hope we can demonstrate this at our next library inservice (likely January).
b) On the Fiction Genre Subjects page is a listing of different fiction subject headings that I would like to see standardized in GSSD. This list has been devised following our discussion in January. Please add the appropriate headings to your records when cataloguing. They don’t always come with records we import. Starting tomorrow I will be introducing these headings to classes when I do my Willow booktalks in grades 4 -9. Feel free to add other headings that you feel are useful.
c) On the Cataloguing Information page, we are going to start a list of Cataloguing Tips. Please feel free to add to this list when you spot an error cropping up in records. It will serve as reminders to us when we are cataloguing and help us to standardize our records.
d) This is not a new addition, but a reminder to add to our Collection Mapping page the titles of books you have recently purchased that fit the new curricula and would recommend to others. If we can populate that page, it will gain us some ground for our January inservice.
Sep
06
Dystopian and Post-apocalyptic Fiction
I was fortunate to have Tamzen Kulyk as a facilitator at one of the STF short courses I took this summer. Our group ended up in a discussion about the appeal of dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction for our young adult readers. I was very pleased to see that she has added a post to her blog this morning on this topic. She has some suggestions to try in your library to meet the needs of interested readers. Her blog is called From My Shelf to Yours.
Jun
06
Ebooks
I am convinced that Ebooks will be a game changer in our school libraries. Ebooks are the next new and exciting development for our readers. Our school libraries have an important role to play in providing Ebooks for students. This year, several schools have initiated Ebook projects. These projects fall into the following three categories:
1) Cataloguing the Multitype Library Database Licensing Project list of Ebooks
We are in the process of cataloguing the Ebooks provided by the Ministry of Education so that these records can be searched by within our library catalogues and accessed right from the record with one click of the mouse. A listing of available records to download will be appearing on our wiki shortly. Thanks to Melville Comp. for taking the lead with this project.
2) Adding e-books to our Destiny Library Management software from Follett using their Titlewave system.
Titlewave, the book and resource vending department of Follett Software Company, has more than 95 000 Ebooks available to purchase including picture books, all levels of fiction, nonfiction, professional development and reference materials. Costs normally range from $10 for a fiction title to $40 for some nonfiction titles. Upon purchasing the resource, a MARC record can be downloaded. The record contains a local note in the 590 tag enabling users to use a keyword search to locate the Ebooks. Users have the choice of reading the item online or downloading it and using an offline reader. Reading Ebooks online allows students to view the Ebook without checking it out. It is similar to browsing through a physical book in the library. The Ebook is in use by a patron, but is not checked out. Checking out an Ebook online allows students to keep the book for a period of time and read it on any computer that meets the system requirements. The Offline Reader downloads the Ebook file from the Follett Ebook server to the local computer. This process checks the Ebook out to the user. During this time, the Ebook is not available to anyone else to read online or download, and it can only be viewed on the machine to which it was downloaded.
Added special features: With the Ebooks, students can take and save their notes, highlight text, change the font size and make use of the text to speech features when they are logged-in to the system. Please note, these features are dependent upon the agreements signed with the publishers of each item.
3) Purchasing Kindles/Kobos and downloading books.
Three schools, Yorkton Regional, Dr. Brass, and Kamsack Comprehensive, have tried the new Kindle or Kobo technology and have purchased the devices and downloaded books. All three schools had the view that these devices may help to meet special reading needs in a discreet manner. As one teacher-librarian described it, despite efforts on teaching students to choose the just right book to suit their independent reading level, students continued to choose books that looked the most like the other books chosen by peers. Another told the story of how a senior student was motivated to read some of the trendy novels, but struggled with the reading level. In this case, the text to speech feature would be very beneficial. It should be noted, however, that there were difficulties in the rural areas initializing the devices and downloading the books. Complications involving bandwidthfor downloading and lack of Canadian rights to popular titles occured.
May
18
Curriculum Resources from EDONLINE
Lists of resources selected by the Ministry of Education for the curriculum can be found at:
https://www.edonline.sk.ca/webapps/moe-curriculum-BBLEARN/index.jsp?lang=en
Once the site has finished loading, choose the curriculum you want and then click on the Resources tab on the far right. The core resources for English Language Arts grades 1 – 5 can be found here.
May
18
Accessing Information: cataloguing guidelines for Manitoba and Saskatchewan School Library Personnel
The long-awaited document which standardizes the cataloguing rules for Saskatchewan school libraries has been published by the Ministry of Education and posted to their website at: http://www.education.gov.sk.ca/policy It is the third document on the list: Accessing Information…. The Ministry calls it a “green” document meaning that they will NOT be printing copies. Each of us has to print off the 93 page document on our own or view it online. Instructions for printing the document double-sided can be found in the May 18th newsletter.
May
18
ROVER
Computer servers for ROVER, Recommended Online Video Education Resources, have been installed in our schools. Head over to http://rover.edonline.sk.ca to check out over 600 video offerings for Saskatchewan schools from the Ministry of Education. Searches can be performed with Saskatchewan curricula standards. Videos on ROVER are not downloaded as they are with Discovery Streaming; however, the quality of the streaming is quite good as the video is housed locally.
Technical difficulties are temporary. Please do not give up.
About half of the schools are unable to access ROVER at this time due to technical difficulties. Tech Service is working with the Ministry and CommunityNet to rectify the problems. Librarians, please update your ROVER status on our wiki page http://gssdlibraries.wikispaces.com/ROVER so that we can continue to have a snapshot of where ROVER is functioning.
A refresher for logging into the wiki:
1) Login by clicking the Sign In button on the upper right.
2) Insert the username and password you created before our January inservice.
3) Once logged in, click the edit button on the task bar of the wiki page.
4) Add your school to the Working or Not Working list.
6) Click SAVE.