Annual+Report+2009-2010

WBAIS Library Media Center: 2009-2010 Annual Report

__HIGHLIGHTS__

 * **//Media Literacy education in grades K-9://** Information and Media Literacy classes are introduced to Elementary, Middle School, and Grade 9 students. A Web Cafe, featuring online communication tools, was also offered to Middle School students as an exploratory class.
 * //**Technology integration emphasized**//: Internet widgets and various social network programs provided a opportunity to enrich classes with new technology and online activities. The librarians suggested ways and helped teachers, individual students and classes to interweave technology into the school curriculum.
 * //**Reading promotion activities:**// **100 DAYS OF READING** began for elementary students on the first day of school and culminated January 29, on the 100th day of school, with a celebration for the 94 participants who successfully completed the program.
 * //** YOUNG AUTHORS' FESTIVAL features visiting author, Tom Birdseye:**//
 * //** Circulation increases -**// Overall circulation of all items has increased by 12% this year, from 23,064 items in 2008-09 to 25,873 in 2009-10. The most active area of circulation is the elementary library, with 12,091, or 46% of all checked out items.
 * //** Database usage increases **//
 * //** Survey on library services and programs **////conveyed in February 2010 shows that the WBAIS community is uses library resources widely.//
 * **//NESA Library Week//**
 * //**Collaboration with NESA schools and local librarians**// :

**Curriculum**
>> This curriculum was adapted with permission from **The Media Awareness Network**, //Passport to the Internet//
 * ====//** Technology **//, ex. Voicethread and Web tools 2.0====
 * ====// **Information and Media Literacy - K-9**: // Children are using the Internet on a daily basis but frequently lack the skills they need to use the Internet in a safe, effective, and responsible way. A curriculum of information and media literacy skills was introduced this year to teach children essential literacy skills for Internet use, including:====
 * **Managing Safety and Privacy**: Topics covered included protecting personal data; creating and managing "Friend" and "Buddy" lists; dealing with stranger contact; managing videos and photos online, recognizing and avoiding unpleasant content; getting help from parents, becoming aware of the permanence of materials online
 * **Researching and Autheniticating**: Topics included detecting bias; authenticating information sources; verifying authorship; developing search skills
 * **Behaving Ethically Online**: Topics included managing online relationships; reacting to provocation; dealing with online bullying, using file sharing technology ethically
 * **Recognizing and Decoding Advertising**: Topics included recognizing advertising environments; recognizing and questioning advertising claims; understanding that immersive environments and "advergames" are used to collect consumer information and build brand loyalty
 * **Developing Awareness of Content Issues**: Identifying and analyzing the dangers of different types of inappropriate content; analyzing the dangers of violent and hate Web sites; Understanding the risks of online gambling

**THE LIBRARY COLLECTION**
>> Junior Nonfiction books: 4,327 >> Fiction books: 1,954 >> Young Adult Fiction books: 1,494 >> Junior Fiction books: 2,550 >> Easy Everybody books: 3003 >> Junior Biography books: 691 >> Reference books: 1,002 >>> 1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (1-4) by Jeff Kinney - 142 >>> 2. Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan - 98 3. Star Wars series, vaious authors - 95 >>> T-4. The 8th Garfield Treasury by Jim Davis - 23 >>> T-4. Bone. [3], Eyes of the Storm by Jeff Smith - 23. >>>
 * //**Print**// - In August 2009, the AIS library added 1084 new fiction and nonfiction books, for a total of 21,559 books . Special emphasis in ordering was placed on enhancing the collections in all areas of fiction -- Easy, Junior, Young Adult and HS (adult) fiction.
 * Number of Nonfiction books: 6,126
 * Circulation increased by 9% in elementary library books. But surprisingly, the Young Adult (MS) checkouts decreased by 12% despite the 200+ new books purchased for this area. HS fiction circulation was about the same as the previous year.
 * Most popular books for check out:
 * **Book Name**/**Author/** **# of Checkouts**

//** Top Readers, K-12: **//

//**Top 20 Students (as of 11/May/2010):**// //**Student Name** -/- **Grade** -/- **# of Checkouts**// //1. Harsha Vardhini -/- 3B -/- 106// //T-2. Samantha R. -/- 10 -/- 93// //T-2. Lucie Nathalie -/- 5A -/- 93// //T-4. Daniela -/- 6 -/- 81// //T-4. Trusha -/- 3B -/- 81// //6. Dane Morgan -/- 3B -/- 79// //7. Connor -/- 6 -/- 78// //T-8. Youmna -/- 1B -/- 76// //T-8. Neha Nanda -/- 1A -/- 76// //10. Uriel -/- 3A -/- 74// //T-11. Dan -/- 3A -/- 72// //T-11. Caitlyn -/- 5A -/- 72// //13. Teodora -/- 3B -/- 69// //14. Siwar -/- 4B -/- 68// //T-15. Ryan -/- 4A -/- 67// //T-15. Nidhi -/- 3A -/- 67// //T-15. Syna -/- 1B -/- 67// //T-18. Erel -/- 2B -/- 66// //T-18. Salvatore -/- 4B -/- 66// //T-18. Lili -/- 3B -/- 66//

//** Information Literacy Classes **// //Library media specialists adjust their programs to the rapidly changing digital landscape that shapes how our students learn. We focus on educating students to deal with information, which sources to choose, how to acquire information, what search techniques are efficient, how to evaluate information found on free web, how to properly participate in social network systems, safely open accounts and adequately present their identities. All these topics are covered in three courses that have been created this year:// //Info Literacy Course for Grades 6 and 9 and Web Cafe (an elective course for Middle School).//
 * //**Audio Books**// - New this year, the AIS library purchased 8 //Playaway// audio books for circulation for grade 5 students and up. The new format proved very popular, with 55 check outs for the year.
 * //**Kindle**// - a collection of e-books and journals in a kindle format has started with a purchase of a Kindle last summer.
 * **Video/DVD** - The AIS library purchased 59 new videos and DVDs for teachers to use in their classroom curriculums, bringing the total number of videos and DVDs to 1609. Circulation of videos and DVDs is down less than 1%.
 * //** Online Collections **//
 * **BookFlix** //is a great collection of paired fiction-to-nonfiction digital books. It is well used by Elementary School teachers and students (140 books accesed/month);//
 * //**BrainPop/BrainPop Jr**. **Online Program** is very popular among Elementary and Middle School teachers and students (135 educational videos viewed /month);//
 * //**EBSCO**, an online database collection of articles published in journals and newspapers, is checked out very often (496 articles read/month);//
 * //**Facts On File Database** featuring social studies resources averages 52 articles/month read by HS students and teachers;//
 * //**World Book Online**, the reference center and the source of information on current events, is accessed approximately 105 times in a month.//
 * //**Website use** - library web page and Destiny catalog are the source of information used by everyone at school (the survey results)//

//** Technology Integration **// //We meet with teachers supporting them with new technologies and new instructional strategies. A collection of technology tools and skills to use them in class has started. Video clips featuring examples of how teachers at WBAIS integrate technology into their instructional units are presented for professional discussions at WBAIS Staff Ning. Tech Cafe Group gathers teachers to share their expertise on integrating technology into their teaching instructions. The use of tech tools in education is discussed in the [|Library Buzz]blog entries.//

//** Collaborative Projects **// //Librarians collaborate with subject area teachers. We suggest resources for Humanities, Social Studies, Health, and Modern Languages and set up accounts in VoiceThread for their classes.//

//The library is hosting projects.//

//Grade 9 Social Studies projects on Ancient Rome were displayed and discussed at the library.//



// **Developing Professional Connections** // // Librarians from **Information Resource Center (IRC), the American Center in Jerusalem**, visited our school in September. They offered us their help with resources about American government, political, society, history and culture that the Center provides to researchers and Israeli residents. Three professional librarians from the Center provide their assistance in finding resources for a number of senior projects that WBAIS seniors worked on this year. We are looking forward to stay connected with them and develop our professional communication. // // Local librarians' visit //

// Having librarians from **local public libraries** situated in Even Yehuda neighborhood was a new experience for us. We learned about a dearth of resources local public libraries experience and a lack of digital formats. We spoke about some advantages of online databases and shared our collection of digital resources that are accessible from the Library [|Digital Libraries] Web Page. In order to support the local libraries, we would like to stay connected and find mutual interests to continue our professional communication. //

//**NESA Librarians Group and Library Technology Week, 2009.**// //I t won’t be an exaggeration to say that NESA Library Technology Week started a new tradition in school libraries of the Near East South Asia region, a tradition of professional collaboration and cultural exchange. Five NESA school librarians and students from their schools celebrated reading and technology this year. // // Our celebration could not have been successful without the kind cooperation and support we received from Lorna, American International School of Cyprus. The collection of digital projects, questions for Scavenger Hunt, and her vigorous participation colored not only the Library Week wiki but the whole event. // // One of the major results of the Library Technology Week this year was the growth of the professional community and development of connections among NESA librarians. This project strengthened the network of librarians and allowed new librarians to join the group. We are having 30 librarians so far. // // Our first attempt to write a inter-school story using the online StoryBird application is still at work. WBAIS students wrote the first page or two and passed the story along for additions to AISC. // // Scavenger Hunt questions checked High and Middle school students' skills to search the Internet and directed them to check web pages and library catalogs of NESA schools. You are welcome to suggest to your students to find answers to these questions. We had fun! // //One of four topics suggested for discussion touched the widely discussed question about the library of the future. This theme became a center of other librarians' attention. You can read some interesting articles on the subject linked to the topic in their responses. // //A collection of digital projects displayed in the wiki demonstrate librarians' and teachers' talents in making use of the Internet, implementing the 21st century tools into their curriculum, and working on collaborative units. This assortment of works is an exclusive way to share efforts in the area of Media and Information literacy, librarian/teacher collaboration including teachers of English language, Art, Social Studies, and Technology. Sharing is a necessary element in the learning process, and displaying our works facilitates professional growth. It also helps build communication and provides positive outcomes in education. // //Projects presented by AISC, BBS, and WBAIS demonstrate how digital natives – Middle and High school students – use of Web 2.0 tools, master their blogging, post in VoiceThread, make sound recording, and do digital video taping. Don’t miss the Writers’ Workshop blog of ninth graders posted by Kathleen (Bayan Bilingual School in Kuwait), Media Literacy and Book Club blogs, Information Literacy and AP European History class discussions presented in VoiceThread (WBAIS). //

=** 100 DAYS OF READING **//=

code This year the elementary library invited all elementary students to join in 100 DAYS OF READING! Each elementary student was given a reading log sheet with 100 stars representing the first 100 days of school. Each night a student read for a specified time, he or she colored ONE star. Those students who had 100 colored stars by the 100th day of school on January 28, 2010, were awarded a special prize as a successful “star” readers.

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