Wakemedia Monthly

January 2023

January Digital Learning and Libraries Checklist

Information overload? These are the most important DLL things you need to know to stay on track!

  • Sign up to participate in a WakeForward PLC! Choose the PLC that best aligns to your focus area work. Register in WakeLearns: Course #14893 WakeForward PLC for School Librarians. Choose 1 or more sections that meet your needs. Sub forms will be provided.

  • Update your collection management plan if you haven't already done so.

WAKE Up and Read Book Drive


WAKE Up and Read (WUAR) is a community coalition committed to supporting literacy for school-aged children in Wake County. One of their efforts is an annual book drive to collect books for babies and children up to age 12. The WAKE Up and Read Book Drive supports book distribution events throughout our community, including free book fairs at 15 WCPSS elementary schools.


Consider working with your school (PTA, clubs, etc.) to host a drive. See this flier from Wake Up and Read for more information. Feel free to share it with club sponsors or others who may want to lead a drive. Pay special attention to the part of the flier that explains what makes good donations* 🙂.


*Discarded classroom, bookroom, or library materials should NOT be donated to WAKE Up and Read. Materials that have been thoughtfully weeded from school collections due to condition, age, or lack of use are not ideal for supporting WUAR’s mission.

Sending books through courier

Please make sure you are using the courier system correctly when sending books between schools. Following these guidelines saves time, eliminates extra work for courier staff, and gets materials where they need to go faster.


  • All books need to be placed in a courier envelope. You should not place loose books, books rubber-banded together, books labeled with sticky notes, etc. in courier.

  • Books that belong to another WCPSS school should be sent in a courier envelope to that school.

  • Wake County Public Library books should be sent in a courier envelope to Athens Drive High School. (WCPL’s Athens Drive Community Library shares physical space with Athens Drive High School’s library.)

  • Only books that belong to a site outside of WCPSS or WCPL should be sent in a courier envelope to Library Media Services, Crossroads II. We’ll work to get them back to their proper home.

Is your collection management plan up-to-date?


If you haven’t updated your collection management plan this year, please add that to your to-do list. Your collection management plan should guide your purchasing decisions and budget requests. If you need support with collection management, check out the Collection Management pages on the Library Media Services site.

Elementary Sample Lesson Planning updates


More lessons and resources have been added to the Elementary Sample Lesson Plan Bank. In addition, we’ve added a Lesson Planning button to the homepage of the Library Media Services site. Get lesson planning resources in one click!


WakeForward PLCs have started. Sign up to join us!


Library Media Services kicked off the first of several WakeForward PLC this month. At these PLCs, participants are given time to work collaboratively to explore content relevant to the PLC’s focus. Participants are also given work time to develop plans to address goals for growing their library programs and get input on those plans from colleagues. Feedback from our first two meetings showed that 100% of participants rated the days as “A very good use of my time”, or “5” on a 1-5 scale.


We have more opportunities planned and hope you’ll consider attending.

  • Digital Literacy Focus - Work with colleagues to explore ways to improve our instruction around digital citizenship, information literacy, and media literacy. Recommended for those with a Curriculum & Instruction or Data & Privacy focus area. Next meeting: January 31st.

  • Canvas Focus - Work with colleagues to learn about Canvas and blended learning, share strategies for supporting your staff with Canvas implementation, and design your own Canvas courses. Recommended for those with a Curriculum & Instruction, Professional Learning, Use of Space & Time, or Technology & Infrastructure focus area. Next Meeting: March 3rd.

  • Include Focus - Work with colleagues to explore the AASL Include standards and develop methods for incorporating them into our library programming and instruction. This PLC is appropriate for all focus areas. Next meeting: March 14th.


Register in WakeLearns: Course #14893 WakeForward PLC for School Librarians. View all sections to see available dates. Choose 1 or more sections that meet your needs. The meetings will be designed to accommodate both new and repeat attendees. Sub forms will be provided.

LETRS Manuals Update


We have updated guidance for the LETRS training manuals. As we shared in August, the manuals no longer need to be cataloged in Destiny. To eliminate further confusion, the title records for both manuals (1 and 2) will be deleted on Friday, February 10, 2023.


As a result, existing barcodes will not correspond to a copy record in Destiny after this date. As per instructions from the State, manuals belong to the teachers and should move with them as they transfer schools. The original plan for inventory management of the manuals has changed, and we are acting accordingly.


If you have Destiny questions, please contact Stacy Symes (ssymes). If you have LETRS questions, please contact Lakeesha Tyson (ltyson).