Media Minute
A newsletter of the Avon High School Libraries
Annual Report 2014-2015
Goals for the 2014-2015 School Year
- Co-teaching with teachers to help provide the best learning experience for each individual student (worked with 93% of the staff in some capacity).
- Working with students one-on-one as needed (searching for books, helping with individual research, providing individual learning stations) (There were 72,223 visits by students to both libraries. This amounts to 401 students on average per day visiting the libraries, and does not include the 337 study hall students).
Special Programs
- Tim Swarens, Opinion Editor for the Indianapolis Star, spoke with English classes about writing editorials prior to their own writing assignment. This opportunity was arranged by the Library (see image above).
- Library Orientation was completed on My Big Campus this year with evaluations done with all students
- National Library Week celebrations—bookmark making, popcorn in the library, library scavenger hunt, book checkout
- Read Poster Making
- Teen Read Week Celebrations
- Eliot Rosewater Pizza Parties to celebrate reading of the Rosie Books
- Special Webinar Event with Rick Riordan (author)
Value Added to Library Program
- Purchased 1,454 books and 61 instructional DVDs through the course of the year.
- Senior Study Halls - managed 416 students over the course of the year. This includes handling attendance, tardies, and parent phone calls.
- Laptop repair - 15 student laptop repairs were handled this year. This includes contacting the student and informing him of the repair cost, contacting the parents, accepting payment and fulfilling purchase orders.
- Speaker at the Hoosier State Press Association Annual Conference. The round table discussions led with newspaper editors and publishers helped to explain the need for newspapers and education to collaborate with one another.
- Taught the Professional Development Cohort on Office 365 during the 2nd semester.
- Centralized Purchasing - purchased $50,690.00 in online databases for the school corporation. This requires the setup of all user names, passwords, and IP authentication at all schools in the district. Includes coordination of Purchase Orders.
- Created and led (with Beth May) the New Teacher Orientation and Tips from the Trenches sessions throughout the first semester of the year.
- Elected Vice-President and Conference Chair for the Indiana Library Federation.
- Member of the ABC-Clio Social Studies Advisory Board. This provides $500 in reference and professional development materials to the library.
- Writes book reviews for Library Media Connection. This adds approximately $500 in books to the library collection.
- Attended the American Library Association Mid-Winter Conference in Chicago (at her expense). This provided almost 100 book galleys to the library that were used as prizes for students.
- Led discussions of Deliberate Optimism: Reclaiming the Joy in Education by Debbie Silver with School Librarians during PLC Meetings.
- Created and distributed 9 online newsletters over the course of the year with 1,246 views (averaging 138 views per newsletter).
- Coordinated Secret Santa Program for staff members.
- Created Teacher of the Year and Total Package surveys.
- National Honor Society Co-Adviser - monthly meetings were held with 310 students, 7 officer meetings were managed, and 9,300 service hours were submitted by students that had to be calculated for each student. Virtual meetings were created to help busy students meet their attendance obligations.
- Worked with Social Studies Department to determine e-textbook usage possibilities.
- Created and maintained sign-in databases for AHS Main and Student doors, ALC, Guidance, Clinic and both libraries.
- Coordinated with Academic Teams to provide online and print resources for competitions.
- Evening of Excellence program - coordinated with the top 25 students with the highest GPA. Created the PowerPoint presentations, worked with students on paragraphs for their teachers, and prepared the script for the evening.
- Helped senior class officers create Senior Video. This includes setting up contact email, helping to publicize, and creating the final product.
- Worked with the Avon Alumni Association to setup equipment for their dinner and provide transportation for members to get to and from their vehicles.
- Library Software Administrator - contacted 458 times by other schools within the school district for questions regarding the library software system or other library related topics.
Top Checkouts for the Year
Development of New Website
Climate Audit
Library Usage Data
Mission of the Avon High School Libraries
The mission of the Avon High School Library program is to encourage the quest for knowledge and promote the joy of reading by providing free access to a variety of materials that meet both the educational curriculum and recreational reading needs of Avon High School students.
Robyn Young
Robyn Young is a certified School Librarian (grades K-12) who is in her 15th year of being the librarian at Avon High School. Prior to that, she taught Social Studies and English for 10 years.
She is the Vice-President for the Indiana Library Federation, 2015 Indiana Library Federation Conference Chair, National Honor Society adviser, a Newspapers in Education Board Member for the state of Indiana, American Association of School Librarians member, and a member of the ABC-Clio Social Studies Advisory Board.
Email: rryoung@avon-schools.org
Website: http://www.avon-schools.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=5471
Phone: 317-544-5000
Twitter: @ahsbooks