MRMS Library Media Center
2012-2013 Annual Report
Looking back...
Our collection has grown considerably, both print and digitally. While most of our students continue to read print books, we have had some students enjoy our digital collections and we foresee higher digital usage next year. As libraries become more digital, ease of use is a constant concern. We now have the ability to access our Axis360 digital content (books and audiobooks) through the axisReader app (May 2013). This will streamline access and delivery of over 3700 books and 50 audiobooks. We continue to have access to our Follett Shelf and Richland 2's Digital Library, provided by Overdrive. This library is now available to all schools in our district.
We hosted 3 book fairs, one BOGO, to ensure our students had access to new reading materials throughout the year and during the summer. Based on student and teacher reactions, book fairs were well received. PTO generously donated $800 to help our teachers procure books for their classroom needs during our spring book fair. PTO will continue to fund classroom magazine subscriptions for Time for Kids and Scholastic Scope for ELA and Social Studies classes.
Our students consistently accessed our resources throughout the school year with classes as well as independently. To encourage usage and reading, we invited local Richland Library librarians to come read to our students, we participated in and promoted the SC Junior Book Award program, R2RC (Richland 2 Reader's Challenge), Columbia Blowfish Reading Rewards Program, and held Fine Free Fridays in April and May where students could return overdue items and have those fines waived. We also welcomed student book reviews, waiving fines for books that were reviewed. In addition, we hosted a variety of meetings and events in the media center this year, affirming our space as a hub in the school.
See infographics below for specific data regarding our busy school year.
Instruction and Collaboration Opportunities
- DISCUS - how to find resources and how to transfer information to Notability or Google Docs
- EasyBib - creating citations, bibliographies, and using the EasyBib app to build a list of resources
- Resource Lists in Destiny - teachers learned how to create resource lists and how to share these lists with their students to provide quality links and materials for research needs
- Destiny Quest app - accessing student accounts via the app, finding resources on a resource list, searching WebPath Express
- Follett Digital Reader - accessing and downloading eBooks through Destiny into this app, reference collection available here
- Axis360 and Bluefire Reader - accessing and downloading eBooks from Axis360 into Bluefire Reader, new access available in AxisReader app (May 2013)
- Genres - each month we focused on genres with several ELA teachers, creating specific genre displays to help students identify and locate materials for their IRP (individual reading projects)
- Book Trailers and Book Reviews - to encourage writing and reading, we provided instruction on creating book trailers and guidelines for creating book reviews; students are encouraged to create both as a way to clear their overdue fines in Destiny
- Poetry Picnic - planned collaboratively with ELA teachers, this was a taste of poetry for their students at the end of April in preparation for PASS
- News show, digital signs, Flickr and Facebook pages - as one of the news collection places in the school, we were collectors of information as well as disseminating information via the news show, creating content for digital signs, and posting information/photos on Flickr and Facebook pages
What's Book Spine Poetry?
A poem created by using only the titles on spines of our books. During our Poetry Picnic in April, this was the most popular and creative station. Poetry Picnic served as a culminating poetry activity in collaboration with ELA teachers.
Bookmark Contest
We held a Mustangs Read! bookmark contest in October and we received many great entries. Kira Parker was the overall winner and her bookmark was distributed all year for students and teachers.
Themed displays
All year we rotate the themes and books in our display case. Similar to bargain racks at Target, these catch our visitors' eyes as soon as they enter the media center. Often, the Top 10 books come straight our of our display case as most circulated all year.
2013-2014 Goals
- One of my GBE goals for 2012-2013 was to assist students in choosing a variety of literature for both classroom reading requirements and personal reading pleasure. In conjunction with that, I worked hard to ensure our collection is diverse and provides a variety for our students and teachers. This includes both print and digital materials, books and audiobooks. My goal for next year is to increase visibility of certain areas of our collection, whether by physical displays, advertising on digital signs, book trailers, PSAs, etc... This will also help us address the Common Core standards focused on informational text.
- Increasing collaboration with teachers, media specialists in our district and around SC. I've started working on this goal by joining #bookbootcamp, continuing to volunteer on the SC JBA committee, Skyping with Blythewood Middle during poetry day, creating a Google Community for R2 media specialists, sharing ownership of a Middle School Reads group on Edmodo, and networking via Twitter, Facebook, Scoop.it, etc...
- Convergence Media Program - Studio 1031 will be a convergence media class next year at MRMS taught by our AVID teacher, our ITS, and myself. This is in hopes of centralizing the creation and updates for our school website, news show, yearbook, digital sign content, newsletter, and to improve communication efforts at MRMS with parents and local community. Digital Literacy will be a huge part of this class, both in our instruction as well as students creating PSAs and other content to teach their peers.
- Community of MRMS Readers - I have been working toward building a community of readers (teachers, students, and parents) and hope to continue next year by starting a faculty book club and continued participation in the Richland 2 Reader's Challenge, SC Junior Book Award program, and a Reading Stampede with the Mustangs in November 2013.
Professional Development
- Member of school admin committee, tech team, district LMS Overdrive pilot
- SCASL member
- Served second year on SC Junior Book Award Committee
- Presented booktalk at SCASL Annual Conference in March 2013
- Conferences/Training attended outside of school: WOW in Columbia (October 2012), SCASL in Columbia (March 2013), SC Midlands Summit in Blythewood (June 2012 and June 2013), DISCUS training (June 2012)
- Owner of Brandon's Book Blog
- Joined #bookbootcamp group of SC library media specialists as a presenter/teacher
- Curator of articles useful for middle level teachers
About us
Email: mbrandon@richland2.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/mrmsmediacenter/
Location: 1031 Muller Road, Blythewood, SC
Phone: (803) 691-6851
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Muller-Road-Middle-School-Library-Media-Center/282264241803699?ref=tn_tnmn
Twitter: @Michal_Hope