Wakemedia Monthly
Volume 5: August 2020
Welcome Back!
We want to take this opportunity to welcome everyone back for what is sure to be a unique school year. We took a break from our monthly newsletter this past spring, but we intend to restart our efforts to send a monthly communication that summarizes everything you need to know. In this edition, we want to make sure you’re aware of all of the resources that have been prepared for you as you navigate how to best serve your school community this year. Now more than ever, know that we are here to support you, advocate for you, and problem-solve beside you.
AAT Day
You received an email on July 21st inviting you to participate in an AAT Day Canvas Course in place of our traditional opening meeting. This course contains important guidance for this school year, including information about library services, instruction, new support resources, and important professional learning. You can enroll in the course by clicking on the link above. Please make time to explore all of the content.
Responsive Library Services Guidance
Also on July 21st, we shared our Responsive Library Services guidance with principals. This guidance is meant to support you in safely reimagining how to provide library services and instruction this school year. We know that one document cannot possibly answer all of your questions, so please feel free to continue to reach out to us if you need to talk through scenarios or get feedback on ideas specific to your school. Also, continue to lean on one another to troubleshoot, problem-solve, and share successes. You can refer to the COVID-19 guidance page of the new Library Media Services site for answers to frequently asked questions.
NEW!
In addition to the new Library Media Services Site, we are excited to share some additional supports that your colleagues have worked to create this summer.
The biggest of kudos go to Kristen Ziller at Pine Hollow Middle for creating all of the content for this new Kyte course! This 40 minute course contains tutorials on everything you’ll need to know to effectively use Destiny Discover and Destiny Collections to support virtual library services. You’ll want to take this course for the DLC credit, and then refer to it again and again as you refine your library’s virtual presence.
Elementary EL Collections in Destiny
After learning all about Collections in the new Kyte course, elementary librarians will want to take a look at the Collections Lindsay Santiago (Parkside Elementary), Cori Minton (Morrisville Elementary), and Felecia Washington (Sanford Creek Elementary) collaborated to create and share. These Collections contain ebooks, available to everyone via NCWiseOwl, that support the topics in the first two modules of EL. Click on the links below to view the Collections. You can make copies of these Collections and personalize them by adding the resources available through your library. See directions here: Making a Copy of a Collection
Middle school librarians, similar Collections for grades 6-8 EL modules are coming soon!
Ebooks
We know that many of you are considering ways to increase your students’ access to digital texts, and that thinking about ebooks and all the different formats available can be overwhelming. We created this infographic to help simplify some key things to consider: Thinking Through Adding Ebooks to Your Collection. You can also refer to the recording of the Ebooks webinar that we hosted in the spring.
Wakemedia Shared Drive Highlights
All school library media coordinators now have access to a Wakemedia shared drive. We look forward to seeing you populate this resource with things you create and share, and hope it can be a useful place to turn to when you need ideas or inspiration. Each month, we’ll try to highlight a few new entries to the drive as a way to encourage you to explore its contents.
Wakemedia > Technology and Digital Resources > NCWiseOwl
Take a look at the information that’s been added to this part of the folder structure. You’ll see that we’ve already had people share sample tutorials for using ebooks in NCWiseOwl, as well as a folder with all of the images you’ll want to upload if you copy the EL collections mentioned above.
Wakemedia > Library Media Environments > Virtual Environments
We’re excited to see the different types of virtual library environments you are creating to engage your students. Take a look at the items shared in this folder if you need some inspiration for your virtual space.
Office Hours
Library Media Services will offer virtual office hours this fall.
Kendra: Tuesday/Thursday 8am-9am
Susan: Tuesday/Thursday 8am-9am
Just drop into one of our Google Meets during the designated times if you need to chat!
Beginning of Year Support Groups
Susan will facilitate discussion groups for those who have ideas to share, or want to hear more about how others are handling different components of reopening. Join us via Google Meet for whichever session interests you:
Monday, August 10, 4pm-5pm: Managing schedules and instruction
Tuesday, August 11, 4pm-5pm: Managing Circulation
Wednesday, August 12, 4pm-5pm: Supporting and collaborating with teachers and families
Paper bags
Many of you have asked about paper bags for curbside circulation. We regret that we do not have the funding to provide these to schools at this time. Thank you for your patience while we tried to work out a solution. You can work with your school to procure bags. Examples of the styles we suggest can be found at these links:
Barrel Sack - These bags are what the public library is using for their Books on the Go service.
12" x 15" Merchandise Bag - These bags are similar to the bags used at bookstores.