 Elementary and Secondary School Libraries
Our school has two very good libraries with a comprehensive selection of books and videos, one for the Elementary School, and another for Middle and High School.
Online Database Service: EBSCO ONLINE DATABASES offer to our school community access to more than 100 databases and thousands of e-journals through four different subscription services. Please include these resources in the bibliography required from students for their projects.
Elementary Library
The Lower Library serves all students and staff from K4 to grade 5, over 700 students. The collection has been significantly upgraded over the last four years in order to advance student learning goals of Reading Comprehension in both English and Spanish. There are over 12,000 books, videos, CDs, and magazines available for student, staff, and parent checkouts.
All thirty-five Elementary classes from K4 to grade 5 attend a scheduled class with the Teacher-Librarian, Jane Atkinson who guides each grade level through a program of popular authors and series, provides instruction in library systems and how to make reading and research choices that challenge and satisfy personal interest, reading level, and learning in two languages.
Circulation exceeds 32,000 checkouts per year. Students from K5 begin to take 1 book home in the second semester, grade 1 check out 1-2 books each week, and those students from grades , 3, 4, and 5 are encouraged to check out 2 English books and 1 Spanish book each week.
The library purchases an average of 800 new books each year in all classifications, in both Spanish and English. The majority of materials are in English. Both the Easy picture books and Juvenile Fiction areas of the library are outstanding in quality and quantity.
The English and Spanish collections are separated for ease of selection. Juvenile Fiction is separated and catalogued by genre; Fantasy, Adventure, Historical Fiction, Realistic Fiction, and Mystery.
All new books are purchased with a standardized reading level label to facilitate the student when selecting a just-right book. Non-fiction classification materials are purchased to support all curriculum units in both languages.
The current collection exceeds 12,000 copies with an average copyright of 1995.
Jane Atkinson, Certified Teacher, Library Specialist, B.A., M.Ed.
Marta Luz Ossa, Library Assistant
386-1122 ext. 134
Middle and High School Library
Secondary Library/Media Center
The purpose of the Secondary Library Media Center is to provide students,
teachers and staff information resources which foster curriculum support and enhance students to become life long learners as well as provide a location and facilities where students have a useful, welcoming, and pleasant space for them to feel comfortable when doing research or reading.
A continuing goal is to keep supplying this area with updated materials and useful equipment in order to support the school curriculum and also to provide technological and print resources.
Print Materials:
Collections: Reference, Non Fiction, HS and MS Fiction, Biographies and paperbacks. 10.200 titles in total. Collections are divided by English and Spanish sections.
AV Material: VHS & DVD Collection; Educational Software.
Periodicals: Magazines & Newspapers (19 titles in English and 15 titles in Spanish). Some of the titles are also available online in the EBSCO Databases.
Furniture & Equipment:
8 computers used for academic purposes only. (Internet, multimedia and Microsoft Office programs.
2 computer terminals for “Quick” Internet Searching (Standing Up).
2 search engines for accessing our On-Line Catalog (Follett System).
3 carts with laptops that belong to the High School Section should be reserved in the Library/Media Center.
Slide projector, Overhead Projector and DVD Player are available for teachers to use in their classrooms. Teachers may book them in the check out desk.
A TV Set and a VCR is placed in the reading area and it could be used for teachers having a library class when needed.
- Library Services
- Material Reserve: Teachers may leave material in the library to be reserved for students for a determined period of time. This material could not be checked out.
- Library Class There is a Library Class schedule available for teachers to book their classes for working, researching and reading.
- Photocopy & Printing: A card is used to photocopy and printing when necessary. The card for teachers’ photocopies is available in the Circulation Desk. Teachers do their own copying in the library for emergencies only. Students should buy the card for $5.000 that let them do 50 photocopies or printings. The card can be recharged with $2.000 as minimum.
- Hall/Library Pass: It is used when a teacher need to send students to work in the Library. Maximum 8 students per pass. This pass is used as a reward but not for punishments. Polices and Procedures are given to the teachers by the librarians and/or the Dean of Students.
- Interlibrary Loan: Our school staff has access to the Centro Colombo Americano’s material loan service. Secondary Library is in charge of this loan. Any material needed from Colombo Americano will be available in our library through this service but teachers should ask for it at least one week in advance.
Visit the Colombo Americano webpage and get the catalog of the video collection available for the interlibrary loan service: www.colomboworld.com
- Library Orientation: At the beginning of the school year, new students and teachers are invited to the library to be part of the library orientation (rules, procedures, basic search on the Follett Database, etc). This activity may be given to students and teachers through the school year if necessary.
- Library Skills: The Library Curriculum project will be developed since August 2006 in order to integrate the library into the students’ learning process.
- Reading Circle: This activity is planned and developed with the Middle School Students during the English and Spanish classes. Each group of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade visits the Library with the Spanish and English teacher each three weeks in order to have a book talk between students, the teacher and the librarian.
- Research Skills are given to the students anytime a teacher needs to begin developing a research project. A guide of using the library resources and system used as well as searching in Internet and Online Databases are given by the librarians planned ahead with the teachers.
Procedures of services and expectations from teachers and students are handed in at the beginning of the school year.
BOOK ORDERS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendation of titles (books and magazines) to support the school curriculum will be more than welcome. Periodical subscriptions should be renewed at the beginning of the year (January-December). Book orders are placed during the second semester of the school. If any orders of new titles are needed, they should be done during the whole school year.
The Library should be the place where students and educators are able to read, study, research, prepare, compile, create and develop projects in a supportive, productive and comfortable environment. Thanks for helping us to make this real. |
