Crayton Library Newsletter
Getting Ready for the DLE!
Why Do We Need More eBooks?
Point #2: According to our circulation records and Renaissance Place data, over half of our student body reads regularly.
Point #3: Based on conversations with our patrons, the vast majority of our regular visitors have access to the internet at home. These same students will have laptops next year, and laptops can and will go home.
Point #4: When asked during grade and subject-level planning meetings, teachers said that they would like for their students to use books for class research and activities if all of the students can access the same books at the same time.
If my math training has done me any justice at all, then Point #1 + Point #2 + Point #3 + Point #4 = a need for more eBooks. It's not rocket science! This year I purchased 100 additional universal, simultaneous access, non-fiction books from Follett. All of the titles pertain to curriculum instruction or are popular recreational-reading subjects. I have visited planning meetings to show teachers how they and their students can get to Follett Shelf, and everyone can read eBooks at school or from home, if they have an internet connection. Some of the titles are in the Bryte Wave format and can be downloaded to individual devices. Teachers are creating assignments based on the USA eBooks because all students can read the material and use the built-in features to take notes, search for specific content, and find definitions of difficult vocabulary words. The students who read Follett Shelf selections for fun can check out books from home at bedtime, over holiday breaks, and on rainy Saturdays. The minute our students get their laptops, I want them to have a wide range of eBook materials from which to choose. Not only do we have a good start on the non-fiction eBook colletion, we have almost 1000 fiction titles, and more are coming this year.
Digital media is here to stay! As of today, a large percentage of college textbooks are rented per semester in electronic forms only. It is customary for professors to assign articles from online databases. Before they graduate from high school, students should be comfortable reading online for extended periods of time. Although we often refer to people under thirty as digital natives, we have a digital divide. Many of our students have rarely, or never, used devices to access recreational or instructional reading material. For students who have no Wi-Fi connections at home, Crayton's Follett Shelf offers high-quality materials for classroom use, and we are encouraging all students to get Richland Library cards. If students cannot read or work on their laptops at home, they can access the internet at their local library branches. Teaching students how to find and use digital media is one of the most important jobs we have if we want our students to become life-long learners.