SLS Newsletter
January 31, 2022
Schedule a Meeting with Kerrie
I am currently scheduling virtual visits with librarians in our region. So far I’ve visited with about 30% of the librarians in the region and it has been amazing to talk with and see everyone. While I would much rather visit in person and see your wonderful space, I don’t want to put off meeting.
If you would like to schedule a time to meet virtually for a bit, please click on the appointment link below. You select a time based that works for you in the calendar. It will have a Zoom link attached, but if you need Meet instead just let me know and we can set that up. If you and I have already met this year, but you need to meet again, feel free to set up an appointment with the link too.
If you’d rather try to set up a time that is not on the calendar or you would like to meet in person, please let me know and we can set that up separately.
Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Professional News
Upcoming Professional Development
NoodleTools: An Introduction
Are you a NoodleTools newbie? Don't know what it is? Always wanted to use it with students but were unsure how? Join us for this 2 part beginners PD series. We will go over the basics of this amazing citation tool and will share ideas of when and how to introduce it to your students and staff.
Dates: 2/9/22 and 3/3/22
Time: 4:00 - 5:00 pm
Register: https://www.mylearningplan.com/WebReg/ActivityProfile.asp?D=18589&I=4008592
What can NoodleTools do for you?
What can NoodleTools do for you? Entering sources is a snap and you are ready for more. Sign up for this in-depth look at how NoodleTools can help you and your students achieve the Zen of research. What happens when students accidentally choose the wrong style or level and already started adding sources? You will also learn how to create and organize note cards, have students share projects where you can leave comments, learn how students can share with each other to make a group Works Cited, share sources and more.
Dates: 3/15/22 and 3/23/22
Time: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Register: https://www.mylearningplan.com/WebReg/ActivityProfile.asp?D=18589&I=4006294
Asynchronous PD for February, March, and April
We have interactive mini asynchronous PD coming up as well. These are 1 credit apiece. Take them at your own pace and learn more about these tools!
WSWHE SLS Resources (February)
https://www.mylearningplan.com/WebReg/ActivityProfile.asp?D=18589&I=4027027
Library.fyi (March)
https://www.mylearningplan.com/WebReg/ActivityProfile.asp?D=18589&I=4027030
The Menu (March)
https://www.mylearningplan.com/WebReg/ActivityProfile.asp?D=18589&I=4027031
Leveraging Sora for Students (April)
https://www.mylearningplan.com/WebReg/ActivityProfile.asp?D=18589&I=4027036
Get to Know OverDrive Marketplace (April)
https://www.mylearningplan.com/WebReg/ActivityProfile.asp?D=18589&I=4027039
Teaching for Truth - Librarians as Leaders for Media Literacy (Communication Coordinator Meeting #3)
Register: https://www.mylearningplan.com/WebReg/ActivityProfile.asp?D=18589&I=3972949
Tue, Mar 22, 2022, 8:30 AM – 3:00 PM
Capital Region BOCES, Watervliet Shaker Road, Albany, NY, USA
Book Study - Developing Digital Detectives: Essential Lessons for Discerning Fact from Fiction in the "Fake News" Era
Join us for a four part book study in which we will read and discuss Developing Digital Detectives: Essential Lessons for Discerning Fact from Fiction in the "Fake News" Era by Jennifer LaGarde and Darren Hudgins. This book will help school librarians update their media literacy toolbox with fresh new lessons and ideas for teaching important media literacy skills in this era of constant media infiltration. The book will be provided free of charge to all participants who register before March 25th.
Dates: 4/12, 4/26, 5/3, 5/17
Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Location: Online
Register: https://www.mylearningplan.com/WebReg/ActivityProfile.asp?D=18589&I=4010675
Sora
Curated Collection: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
We have an expansive collection of ebooks, audiobooks, and read-alongs that reflect diversity, equity, and inclusion, K-12, fiction and nonfiction.
School Stars contest is back!
School Stars Contest Information
OverDrive is running their School Stars contest again, starting Feb 7. They're looking for amazing ways that librarians promote Sora in their schools, and winners receive content credit to spend! Their web page gives all the details, plus you can see 2021 winning submissions (great for brewing ideas for promoting Sora).
Categories include:
Best in Visual/Virtual Display
Best in Social Media
Best Community Engagement
Best Use of Sora in Supoorting Learning Objectives
and Best Student Ambassador.
There will also be 5 honorable mentions selected just for entering the contest!
NEW: Content Bundles (like library carts!)
Ever wish you could put Sora items on a library cart to wheel to a grade level or classroom, like you do with physical books? Well, OverDrive now offers a new feature call Content Bundles! SLS is going to try it out to see how this works with a couple of our campus classes, but this could potentially be a really great way to get some temporary features at the top of a Sora page geared to very specific audiences (such as littles, certain classes/grade levels, or students working on projects or within a genre). Only students given an access code for that content bundle can see a particular bundle (and access levels are still in effect, so littles can't game the system and try to access a YA bundle from an older sibling). Learn more in the asynchronous PD mini sessions listed in this Smore.
Tip for Today: How to purchase a cart in OverDrive Marketplace
Note: You must keep track of your purchases so you don't overspend, and if there are multiple librarians in your district, you must keep open lines of communication with each other to keep things smooth sailing. Feel free to email us with any questions.
OPALS/ILLs
Tips for today: Quick Cats and How to Add a Thumbnail Book Cover
Insert a thumbnail image: Have a record with no book cover? If it's not a Quick Cat, you can edit the record to insert an image. Here's how!
Quick Cats: Here's an explanation and screencast. Quick Cat is an easy way to add a new item to the collection. We fetch the MARC records for you. If at all possible, don't edit Quick Cats after you put them in, if they are books. Just alert us so we can fetch a full record first, and then you can edit. If drop-down menus don't give you what you need, let us know so we can tweak settings on the back end.
Why is this important? 1. Editing a Quick Cat makes it disappear from the queue we receive, so we don't know it needs attention, and any shortcuts Quick Cat gives us disappear as well... 2. Editing a Quick Cat potentially pushes it up into the ILL/Union catalog as a stub record. Edits in local catalogs do not replace what already filtered up to the union, unless SLS manually does an overlay from that local catalog (which we do as needed).
Professional Book Collection
Collection Development and Management for 21st Century Library Collections
Packed with discussion questions, activities, suggested additional references, selected readings, and many other features that speak directly to students and library professionals, Gregory’s Collection Development and Management for 21st Century Library Collections is a comprehensive handbook that also shares myriad insightful ideas and approaches valuable to experienced practitioners. This new second edition brings an already stellar text fully up to date, presenting top-to-bottom coverage of the impact of new technologies and developments on the discipline, including discussion of e-books, open access, globalization, self-publishing, and other trends; needs assessment, policies, and selection sources and processes; budgeting and fiscal management; collection assessment and evaluation; weeding, with special attention paid to electronic materials; collaborative collection development and resource sharing; marketing and outreach; self-censorship as a component of intellectual freedom, professional ethics, and other legal issues; diversity and ADA issues; preservation; and the future of the field. Additional features include updated vendor lists, samples of a needs assessment report, a collection development policy, an approval plan, and an electronic materials license.
Connecting with students online: strategies for remote teaching and learning
Available in our print Professional Collection
WSWHE "ROCK STAR" School Librarian
Alicia Makenzie, WSWHE BOCES
Alicia Makenzie is the WSWHE BOCES SLS Rock Star School Librarian this month. She has worked for WSWHE BOCES since 2008, and became a certified school librarian in 2013. she was chosen as the Rock Star Librarian this month because she always goes the extra mile to help someone find what they need in order to help students learn and thrive. Read what she has to say about being a school librarian here at WSWHE BOCES in the Multimedia Department:
When I first started my job at BOCES, I was attending college at ACC. At the time, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for a career, but quickly felt at home working in the library. After transferring to SUNY Albany and getting my bachelors degree in Art History and English, I continued on and got my masters in library science.
I feel very lucky to be in the position that I am in. The MultiMedia library is continuously supporting teachers throughout our region, and I hope that it helps foster the love of reading for students in our area. I also love providing new and popular ebooks for students on SORA. There is nothing better than seeing a newly purchased title be checked out as soon as it is available.
I work closely with BOCES teachers to make sure that students in the CTE and ELD programs have access to the same awesome resources that they would in a typical school environment. I am currently co-planning a "Blind Date with a Book" event for students at SAEC, and I think they are going to really enjoy it. I am also in the process of making our SWANK streaming service easier to access by having it be SSO with Google.
I am a huge fan of audiobooks and am so excited that the MultiMedia library now has an expansive collection on SORA. Our SORA collection now has over 170 ebook sets and over 100 readalongs available for MultiMedia members and students. After going remote in 2020, it made sense to provide ebooks and audiobooks since almost all students now have 1-to-1 devices. MultiMedia Services works with 25 school districts, and hopes that our collection can provide equity among students access to resources they need in the classroom, as well as finding new and popular titles to help instill the love of reading. MultiMedia will always provide physical copies of books, but the ability to provide new and popular books that students are looking for has been an amazing experience. Having books that students and teachers are eager to read available within hours vs. months (typically when ordering physical books) is also very exciting. No matter what the future holds for books, MultiMedia plans to be here and provide them!