Intensive Resource
With only a few students in the building, we were so happy to welcome our friends back! We helped students connect to Zoom classes, organize their schedules and feel comfortable in a completely uncomfortable situation.
Book Delivery System
With students learning remotely, we worked hard to devise a system to allow them to receive library books for independent reading. Our next task was to figure out how to know what students wanted!
Reader's Interest Survey
We developed a reader's interest survey where students could answer questions about what they like to do and how they spend their time. We also asked about previous books they liked, as well as what TV shows and movies they like to watch. Click the button below to take the survey yourself: we'll send you a personalized list of recommendations for you to choose from!
Reader's Advisory
We sent hundreds of students personalized recommendations through email with video tutorials about how to request the books they wanted online. Any student that needed help deciding what to read completed a survey in ELA class and we responded to all of them with personalized recommendations that were available at our school (since we could no longer rely on interlibrary loan). Students picked up their books from the main office, and during hybrid learning, we delivered them to their classes.
Ask a Librarian
We instituted a new "Ask Us" feature on our library website. During the school day, students can use the chat feature to communicate with us in real time. We also have the ability to open a zoom video chat if we need to see a student's computer screen to help answer their questions. We received all kinds of questions from "what is today's schedule" to "where do I find more information about art in the Renaissance" to "help, my computer won't work!"
Video Tutorials
We continued our practice of creating video tutorials to make tasks easier for students. We used our videos to teach students to use our new chat feature, to request a book online, and to browse the collection virtually. We posted our videos on our website and used Canvas Studio and YouTube to include closed captioning if needed.
Advisory Redesign
Abby created a new Advisory course to allow teachers a large cache of lessons to choose from. Lessons are divided into 4 areas depending on the needs of the group. Advisories can do anything from answering Would You Rather questions together, to playing a game, to learning to change a tire. In the past, many students have expressed the sentiment that they don't learn important things at school like how to change a tire or file taxes. This was an attempt to remedy that although Advisory time has been limited this year.
Credits:
Created with images by Tumisu - "coronavirus virus mask" • StartupStockPhotos - "student typing keyboard" • janeb13 - "books reading relaxation irex" • jarmoluk - "library book reading" • mohamed_hassan - "webinar conferencing video"