March 2007
Many wonderful things have been happening in the library this school year! We are in the process of becoming part of the Department of Education's union catalog. A union catalog is one in which the catalogs of many libraries are listed. An example is the public library's on-line catalog which lists all the books in all the branches. Here, the union catalog will be the catalogs of schools in NYC. Students, teachers, and parents will have access to our catalog on the internet on computers in classrooms and at home. When they log on, they will see only our catalog, but librarians can look and see if the material is available elsewhere in the NYC school library system. Children will be able to use the resources of our library more efficiently and can practice the searching skills they need to use the high school, college and public libraries. With this new system, we will be able to create instant bibliographies for teachers, track our inventory easily, while continuing to have an automated circulation system. Someday in the future, there might even be inter-library loans available. There are technical problems to be addressed before the system becomes fully functional in our school, and the volunteers have to be trained in using the new system, but this service will certainly be in use at P. S. 8 by September, 2007. As soon as it is, you will be given the URL, user id, and password needed to access the catalog. I foresee a time when a child will have an assignment, look at the catalog at home, ask for a reserve on line, and pick up the book in the morning, or a teacher will, at home, look at our catalog and ask for books to be put on reserve for a class's use. I'm already playing with the system from my home computer in order to become more comfortable in using it and I expect to have training sessions with the volunteers in August and September.
Also on the internet front, Bill Macxy has helped set up the P. S. 8 Portaportal. This is a listing in one place of vetted internet sites for children, teachers, and parents to use to find information on the internet. This is a constantly evolving space, and we hope that it will be a useful one for everyone. Right now, the internet sites listed are primarily from those recommended by the American Library Association and/or the NYC Department of Education. Again, we have a few technical problems to address, and as soon as they are solved, we will provide the P. S. 8 community with the URL, user id, and password needed to access the site.
Our book collection is growing nicely. It has been kept current by the supplementing of our meager budget with donations. Thank you to all those who have participated in our various fund-raising activities. We have gotten wonderful books through the Birthday Club, the Read-a-Thon, and the spontaneous generosity of friends of the P. S. 8 library. Special thanks, once again, to Paul O. Zelinsky, a very special library friend, who has given us another wonderful collection of current picture books. Library collections are vibrant entities, constantly in flux. Books become out-dated, lost, damaged. New subjects are introduced to the curriculum. New media become standard. The world changes. All of this affects the way the library must act to meet the needs of the children and teachers. We are so fortunate to have such a generous P. S. 8 community, one that keeps our library filled with materials that excite our children's minds.
A special "thank you" goes to Tess McKellen, former head librarian of Packer upper school, who has generously given her time to evaluating, weeding, and cataloging the audio-visual materials in our library. Tess was here visiting for just a few months, but made a terrific contribution in that short time. She'll be leaving us this month, and will be missed.
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A request to teachers: please let us know if the library is lacking material in any area you wish to use with your students. Your input is very valuable. If you are planning any new areas of study for next year, or think you will be putting greater emphasis on a particular topic, now is the time to let the library know about it. Just drop a note in the library mailbox, or stop in and tell your volunteer about it. If you have particular titles in mind, list them. If you don't, just let the library know the topic and the grade level you are interested in, and we will search for materials to meet your needs.
Posted on: April 7, 2007
