Wednesday, August 27, 2008

9th Grade Library Orientation

Library orientations started this week with a presentation to a special ed class. Four students got an "up close and personal" introduction to the library. Three where freshmen and one had transferred from Drake (another school in the district) and hadn't taken World Cultures & Geography yet which is a graduation requirement.
The students were attentive and I think they were able to absorb most of the rules and expectations of the Library as well as an introduction to the many library resources.

Today the first of 12 regular WC&G classes came to the Library. Mr. McDaniel has three classes and I will be talking to two more tomorrow. As usual SpongeBob is a hit with the kids and, also as usual, at least one remembered that SB's pet snail, Gary, has the dream of being a librarian (See the "Sleepytime" episode). I was able to sign the class up to do the TRAILS-9 information literacy assessment and they will log in and complete the assessment over the next few days. I am asking all the 9th-graders to do the assessment as a pre-test of information literacy skills and I will share the results with all 9th-grade teachers once the results are in.

Yesterday we found out that a district employee who has been working in food service at Drake accepted the position as afternoon Library Specialist. Hans Doto will be working in the Library this year while Karen Barrett serves as Redwood's Athletic Director in the afternoon. Mr. Doto is a martial arts instructor among other things and I expect he won't have much trouble keeping order in the Library during lunch. (Just kidding!) I'll try to get a picture of Mr. Doto on the website as soon as possible. He's scheduled to begin working here next Tuesday.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Welcome Back!

As the new school year starts I've got a lot of catching up to do.

The summer was eventful for the Library, especially August 2 when we had over 50 international visitors who were in town for the annual conference of the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL). The visitors were impressed by the welcoming nature of the Library. They also commented on the size of the space and the number of books in our collections. Refreshments, wonderful cookies and mini fruit tarts from Rulli's, were also enjoyed by all.

Two of the visitors presented gifts from their own countries. Rashmi Kumbar brought six books from India which we will add to the collection. They are classic Hindu texts which are part of the TUHSD English Department reading lists but which we didn't have in the Library.

Another visitor, Mieko Nagakura, a retired professor of library science from Japan, brought a beautiful silk scarf with a design from the Hiroshige, the famous 19th century Japanese print maker.

Look for pictures in an upcoming posting.