Get in on the fun of March Madness, library style! There are two brackets you can participate in: Super Circulators and Battle of the Kids' Books. You can pick up your bracket in the library or print one from the attachment below. Brackets are due back to Ms. Yukari by Friday, March 25 (I am at a training that day so leave your brackets on my desk or ask Ms. Joni in the office to put it in my mailbox. Thank you.)

• For the Super Circulators, you need to guess which books have been checked out the most this school year.
• The Battle of the Kids' Books is actually a competition held online between 16 of the very best books for young people of the year, judged by children's books authors. (I've obscured the sponsor name in the logo above because competition has already begun at the website.) Some of the books are for older readers (middle school) and we don't actually have many of the books at the Robinson Library. This is a guessing competition; choose your "winner" by just looking at the titles.

At the encouragement of Mira Costa's teacher librarian, Mrs. Lofton, I became a member of the California School Library Association (CSLA). The organization's members work toward "enriching student learning by building a better future for school libraries." 

With so many school districts facing fiscal hardship, libraries are often on the chopping block. But school libraries (and the staff who support them) are an essential part of a well-rounded education. CSLA is currently advocating for better understanding and support of school libraries through the  California Campaign for Strong School Libraries. You can do your part by vocalizing support for your school library to your school's administration, the district's administration, and your state legislators. Another way to support CSLA is to purchase items from the Library Store and wear your gear with p

The California School Library Association advocates for all students to have access to:

• A full time, certified teacher librarian and a full-time paraprofessional working as a team. This allows the teacher librarian to collaborate with classroom teachers in co-designing instruction which incorporates information literacy into the curriculum. 
  Measurement: The national average is one school librarian to 856 students. California’s average is one librarian to 5,240 students.
• Lots of carefully selected books, databases, and other learning resources. Resources must reflect the school curriculum and the research and recreational reading needs of the students.
• Measurement: The national average is 22 books/student. 
• A program which provides instruction and activities for students to use the research process in finding the information they need. Measurement: The American Library Association (ALA) has created nine information literacy standards that are best taught when embedded in content-area standards-based units of study through collaboration between the site library media teacher and classroom teachers. Is your library media teacher routinely practicing collaborative teaching? California state content standards are infused with independent reading as well as information literacy. Is your teacher librarian promoting reading for purpose as well as for pleasure?
• Technology, including hardware, software, and networking that form a virtual library without walls linking students to the world of information, a cybrary that fully supports the school curriculum, 24/7.
• Measurement: Do all schools in the district have access to the same level of technology-based resources? How do your school library eResources compare with other school districts’ eResources? 
• Its doors open before, during and after school hours, with liberal circulation policies. This means access to the school library, its resources, and staff. 
• Measurement: Compare the number of hours your elementary, middle and high school libraries are open. Compare your district to others.

[updated March 18: The district libraries are updating the library software program beginning today; the data migration should occur during the weekend and the new system set up early next week. Librarians will be attending training next Thursday and Friday, March 24 and 25. Due to this training the Robinson Library will not open until 10am on Thursday and will be closed all day on Friday.]
[updated March 3: Many thanks to the Board of Trustees for approving the purchase of the new Follett Destiny software!]
The school district is very close to having the purchase of a web-based library management system approved by the School Board. All six library media specialists and the high school teacher librarian have been meeting monthly with Ms. Gerger, the district's Teacher on Special Assignment, to discuss and decide the merits of upgrading the library OPAC (online public access catalog) system. By upgrading to Follett Destiny, our students, staff, and parents will be able to access all district library holdings online. The web-based interface will promote library-to-classroom-to-home learning. If the purchase is approved at the March 2 board meeting, the new system will be implemented in mid-March and functionality should be available by late-March.