Welcome Back!
WSWHE BOCES School Library System
Welcome Back from the SLS Staff!
This year, we plan to send out a newsletter every other Monday. The next newsletter will be sent on September 27th. We will be continuing with our Rock Star Librarian post once per month, but because we have so many new librarians and acting librarians, we would also like to feature them once per month as well.
One thing we would like to do in the newsletter this year is to feature pictures of what you are doing. If you have a unique book display, bulletin board, or student activity (no student faces please) you would like to share, please send them along with a description to Kerrie. We will feature them in a future newsletter. We can't wait to see what you're doing!
Finally, in order to get to know everyone a bit better and what your library situation is this year, would you please fill out the survey below? While Kerrie knows many of the librarians in the region already, it has been a few years since she has seen many of you and things quite possibly have changed since then, not to mention anyone she does not yet know. Thank you in advance for taking a few minutes to complete the survey. It will be very helpful!
This year is full of hope and promise. It might still look different from a "normal" year, but we know that you are all very resilient and resourceful and will make the best of this year no matter what it looks like. We are here to help you so please be sure to contact us if you need anything!
Kerrie, Karin, Amy, and Deb
Welcome New Librarians and Acting Librarians!
Argyle Central School - Roberta Doremus
Ballston Spa High School - Heather Byer (October)
Cambridge Elementary - Katie Bogardus
Granville Junior/Senior High School - Mary Bucciero
Granville Elementary School - Carrianne Arquette
Granville Mary J Tanner Elementary - Krista Cotich
Hadley-Luzerne Central - Siera Persons
Hudson Falls Primary/Intermediate - Heather Craner
Whitehall Elementary - VACANT
Whitehall Jr/Sr High - VACANT
Staff Changes
News You Need to Know
Library.fyi
- The new crow logo is to honor a Native American symbol of wisdom and knowledge.
- The font has been updated to give it a fresh look.
- Karin is putting the finishing touches on checking all links, so if you see anything amiss, let her know.
- The use of the shopping cart Menu in the spring made the process of checking/adding/editing individual pages much more efficient than in years' past. Purchases and renewals automatically populate the live end and just need us to make sure all of the i's are dotted and t's are crossed.
As of this writing, we are waiting for glitches to smooth out in a couple of databases that are not library.fyi related, including ABC-Clio access. Stay tuned.
Sora and NY Reads
- This Choice Board has great information for you to sift through on your own to answer questions regarding Sora and OverDrive Marketplace.
- Each district has both ADV and CCD accounts. Please pay attention to which account you build carts and spend $$. CCD ebook purchases are visible to all schools in the region, while regular ADV building ebook purchases are only viewable by students and personnel within your district.
- DO NOT OVERSPEND! OverDrive Marketplace will not stop you from spending more than you have. You have to keep track of purchases as you go on a spreadsheet or Google Doc, and keep in regular communication with other librarians in your district if you share funds. If you overspend, your district will be billed.
NY Reads is live! This is a giant, simultaneous-access add-on collection of popular and canon materials available to everyone in WSWHE. Every user--student, librarian, teacher--must add it manually once in order to see the collection. Here are directions for how to add NY Reads.
OPALS
It's that time of year for patron uploads! Instructions have been sent out, but if you need it again, let us know. Do not email patron files to us; use the OPALS portal to directly hand them the information. You can also work with your IT folks to set up a "set it and forget it" system that regularly receives information from your district's student management system. Ask us for details.
ILL
Districts have weekly BOCES courier service through MultiMedia. In addition, most districts coordinate daily courier service via their BOCES bus runs to Myers and SAEC. If you have any questions about courier services, contact Alicia Makenzie, MultiMedia librarian.
Battle of the Books
School Library System Council
Meeting Dates 2021-2022
October 19, 2021
January 13, 2022
March 9, 2022
May 5, 2022
Communication Coordinator Meetings
The dates for this year's meetings are below. If you click on the date, you can register in My Learning Plan. At this time we are planning on in-person, full day (8:30 am - 3:30 pm) meetings. If that should change we will notify you in advance.
The October meeting will be our General Membership meeting. All librarians are encouraged to attend this meeting, even if you are not a Communication Coordinator. All librarians are welcome to attend all meetings, but CCs are required to attend or send a librarian in their place.
SLS Office Hours
First meeting: September 27th - Welcome Back! Getting geared up for a great year.
Additional Meetings: October 18th, November 8th, December 13th, January 10th, February 14th, March 14th, April 11th, May 9th, June 13th.
Professional Development 2021-2022
School Library System Staff
Karin Howansky, School Library Media Specialist
Amy Brennan-Strack, Databases, Budgets, General Information
Deb Massa, Information Processing Specialist
Website: https://sites.google.com/wswheboces.org/wswhebocessls/libguide
Location: 267 Ballard Rd, Wilton, NY
Phone: 518-581-3700