Reflections on 2020-2021

We are now getting into the rhythm of the 2021-2022 school year.  Although it is tempting just to forge ahead, I believe it is important to take time to reflect upon some key takeaways from 2020-2021.  That year was a year unlike any other in teaching.  It’s easy to pinpoint the many negatives, but there were also bright spots as well as the opportunity to establish new connections with students.  As I continue to plan for this school year, I’ll be leaning on experiences from our unusual past year to improve library offerings (both in-person and virtual).

Here are some of the top happenings of 2020-2021:

#11: New Circulation Strategies
The COVID safety measures in place at the beginning of September 2020 necessitated a different approach to library circulation.  At this time, students were not traveling to different classrooms (the library included) and it was determined that browsing the library shelves would not be safe.  Several ideas took hold to continue to get reading materials into the hands of our Iroquois readers.

Morning Delivery Service: Taking the library mobile via a traveling book cart was a first for me!  As students entered the building in the morning, I visited various wings with new and interesting books.  This gave students the opportunity to select library books.  It was also a perfect time to chat with educators about library offerings and services.  The time in the morning to discuss books led to some collaborative lesson opportunities.

Sora: Our Sora usage really took off as a direct result of the pandemic.  Since our school offers 1:1 devices, Sora was a perfect fit for providing students with ebooks and audiobooks.  At the beginning of the year, I made sure to visit (either virtually or in-person) each ELA class to avail students of the Sora service.  Access to the digital collection through the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library greatly expanded students’ ability to find excellent reading materials.

BookHub: Although the morning book delivery and Sora helped fill the reading needs of students, more access to books was still needed.  The BookHub service provided students with different avenues to request titles directly from the physical library.  This offered students the option to place holds in the library catalog or request a surprise delivery of books.  Students in Ms. Beauchamp’s seventh grade ELA class even designed a logo for the BookHub service!

#10: Virtual Battle of the Books
The regional Battle of the Books competition is always a source of anticipation for area middle schools.  A fantastic group of middle school librarians affiliated with the School Librarians’ Association of Western New York (SLAWNY) selects five books and then creates trivia questions for the books.  Participating middle schools can host an in-school competition to crown the winning team in their district.  At Iroquois Middle, four teams participated.  Our winning team consisted solely of sixth grade students!  The regional finals, which would normally take place at an area middle school, were held virtually using Socrative.  The SLAWNY librarians did an excellent job making the virtual experience special for all participating teams.  The Iroquois Middle team fell short of first place, tying for second with Orchard Park.  The team is looking forward to trying for first place again this upcoming year!

#9: District DIY Contest
Over the fall and winter of 2020, the increase in COVID cases required taking a pause from in-person learning.  As our families were spending more time at home, the Iroquois Library Department found this to be the perfect opportunity to host a DIY contest for families.  This contest highlighted the large collection of DIY/Maker resources available digitally through Sora.  Winning projects were awarded prizes.  It was wonderful to see the creativity of our Iroquois families on display!

#8: Nonfiction Revamp
Folks unfamiliar with library work might be surprised to know just how much effort and attention is required behind the scenes.  I had long hoped to update the organization of the library’s nonfiction section, but this required recataloging, relabeling, and reshelving thousands of books.  The 2020-2021 year allowed me the opportunity to forge ahead with this laborious project, given the fact that the library space itself was without foot traffic.  The work that went into this overhaul has certainly paid dividends, as students can browse nonfiction with increased ease!  A grant from SLAWNY helped pay for the cataloging supplies needed for the project.  This blog post outlines the specifics of the revamp.

#7: Increased Emphasis on Digital Citizenship
Digital citizenship has long been a topic championed by school librarians.  However, time shortage in an already-packed curriculum is a barrier for classroom teachers to bring students into the library for digital citizenship instruction.  The increased emphasis on digital skills brought on by the pandemic created an opportunity to prioritize digital citizenship.  Teachers for seventh grade ELA and sixth through eighth grade STREAM booked multiple digital citizenship classes throughout the year.  These classes provided students with instruction on topics such as finding media balance, staying safe online, and confronting cyberbullying.  The excellent resources provided through Common Sense Media and the Empire State Information Fluency Continuum were readily used in lesson design.

#6: Updates to Library Website
Although an accessible and functional library website has always been important, the rise in online learning made the library website a crucial tool for learning.  Throughout the year, improvements were made to the website’s appearance and function.  A Bitmoji library adorned the welcome page.  A virtual makerspace, complete with clickable activities, were added.  Book promotion pages featuring book trailers and student recommendations provided new reading inspiration.  Since students needed assistance with their devices while at home, a link was provided for the district’s technology help pages.  As COVID restrictions changed, the COVID-19 procedures portion of the website was continuously updated.

The main page of the library website.

The virtual makerspace, with clickable activities.

#5: Virtual Wednesday Events
Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, the learning model changed.  One aspect that remained consistent for the first half of the year was some unstructured time on Wednesday afternoons.  This provided the perfect opportunity for virtual programming through the library.  On Wednesdays, students were encouraged to visit the library’s Microsoft Teams page for a variety of events.  These events included pre-recorded author visits, book chats, trivia contests using Gimkit, and even an advanced writing workshop with author Judy Bradbury.  These events helped build the library’s community atmosphere, just in the virtual space!  It was wonderful to be able to check in with students for fun activities and discussions.

#4: Virtual Author Visit with Gordon Korman
A yearly author visit is always an event to look forward to.  The benefits to students are numerous: the ability to hear about the writing/publishing processes, to learn about new and interesting titles, and to have a VIP-type connection with a stellar writer.  After an author visit, the author’s books remain popular checkouts for years to come.  Even though COVID threw many curveballs, the Iroquois Library Department knew that missing out on the yearly author visit was not an option.

An author with wide appeal across all buildings is Gordon Korman, writer of nearly 100 books for children.  Gordon got his start as a published author when a manuscript he wrote as a seventh grader was published three years later.  Mr. Korman was eager to hold virtual visits.  Students in grades 4-12 were inspired to hear of Gordon’s early start as an author and loved the ability to ask him questions.  Ever since the author visit, Korman books have been flying off the shelves at all Iroquois schools!  This proved to be a valuable opportunity for our community of readers.

#3: Girls’ STEM Leadership Group Meetings
In 2019, our school was fortunate to receive a generous $50,000 grant from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation to fund STEM learning for girls.  A variety of delays meant that we still had funds to spend during the 2020-2021 year.  COVID restrictions did not allow for in-person meetings across grade levels, so meetings were relegated to the online environment.  This proved to be beneficial as it allowed for more students to participate without the barriers of needing rides home.  Our group met on select Wednesdays after the school day.  Activities hosted during the meetings included a movie night, trivia competition, and building Tinkercrate engineering projects.  We were also fortunate to host two author visits with women who wrote STEM-focused books: Lynne Kelly, author of Song for a Whale, and Melissa Sarno, author of Just Under the Clouds.

#2: Virtual STEM Night
A major focus of the STEM leadership funding was the planning and implementation of a district-wide STEM event for Iroquois families.  Possibly the biggest challenge of the year was how to pull off an event without the ability to host in person!  Members of the Girls’ STEM Leadership Group tackled this challenge head-on and delivered an amazing virtual STEM experience.  The finished product, an at-home event accessible anytime, is a website filled with STEM goodness.  A variety of hands-on experiments were planned.  Girls created written directions, materials lists, and videos for each experiment.  Other group members interviewed women in STEM fields.  To make the virtual event even more exciting, supply bags for 200 families were prepared and distributed.  This demonstrated students’ ability to carry out a largescale project, even under difficult circumstances.

The contents of the STEM Night supply bags.

#1: Friendships Formed
Undoubtedly the biggest takeaway from this past school year was that students were still able to form new, lasting friendships.  Although we hadn’t been used to communicating mostly through technology, the hardships of last year meant that students who normally wouldn’t meet during a school day now had the ability to connect.  Library events and STEM events brought together students from different teams and grade levels.  A group of three students who met at a virtual library event later went on to write a book together!  It’s important to acknowledge the positive role that technology can play in relationship building.

I’m glad to see 2020-2021 in the rearview.  The challenges were many, but the positives will help bolster future library offerings.  

Physical and Digital Nonfiction Revamp

Teaching and managing a school library during a pandemic presents many challenges and opportunities.  At the top of my list of concerns was finding ways to continue to get books in the hands of students.  When thinking about this, I had to identify barriers to access that exist in both the physical and digital space.

As far as the fiction and biography sections are concerned, I believe that the current arrangement works well for access.  In previous years, I was able to spend time "genrefying" both of these areas.  Genrefication is the process of moving a library's collection into topic/subject areas, rather than adhering to other traditional organizational structures.  These sections are clearly labeled in the physical library.  The signage and multicolored spine labels help to draw students' attention to the sections which pique their interest.  In the digital library catalog, topic buttons exist for each fiction and biography genre.  This makes it easy to narrow down digital library searches to areas of interest.  This has been particularly important as COVID restrictions have limited access to the physical shelves.  Students have relied heavily on the library catalog to place orders for books from our library.

Why Revamp Nonfiction?
It was becoming clear that the physical and digital access to the nonfiction area was cause for concern.  Although the shelves were organized according to Dewey classification, this alone wasn't cutting it for ease of resource access.  Here's a short list of some of the gripes I had with the old layout of the physical section:

• The 796 sports area was a mess.  Some Dewey numbers reached 3 or 4 decimal places, and different sports were interspersed throughout the area.  This made it hard to easily locate books on specific sports.

• Similar issues existed in the animals section.  Inconsistent Dewey decimal places made it difficult to pinpoint areas where you could find the animal you were interested in reading about.

• The mythology area did not clearly denote different mythologies from areas of the world.  This caused some trouble when students were looking for books specifically on Greek mythology for a sixth grade project.

The labels at the top of each shelf were helpful,
but there was a better way to organize.

Students could get to the general area of interest,
but finding specific titles still posed some difficulty.

The digital access to nonfiction books also posed some issues.  Although students could search by keyword or topic for nonfiction titles, this could sometimes be hit or miss.  Incomplete or brief records might not contain the search terms students would be looking for.  Misspellings when searching the library catalog could result in a lack of hits.  It would be helpful to have digital subject buttons for nonfiction, just like what is found in the catalog for fiction and biographies.

Gathering Inspiration

Although fiction genrefication is gaining in popularity, it is less likely to find school libraries with flexibly-cataloged nonfiction sections.  In our WNY region, I gained inspiration from hearing about the nonfiction changes that Kristin Frauenhofer made to the Maryvale Primary library.  While at the 2019 Fall Sharing Conference (a yearly event from the School Librarians' Association of WNY), Melissa Flynn discussed her nonfiction genrefication project at the Forest Elementary library in the Williamsville Central District.  Melissa generously shared her document with the updated Dewey sections, including some cutter numbers which corresponded to particular subtopics within each numbered section.  These examples were extremely helpful!

Getting Started

With a nonfiction section of close to 3,500 books, I knew that a revamp would be both time and labor intensive.  When my school district went fully remote this winter, the opportunity to get started on this project presented itself.  Patty Lebrenz from the Erie 1 BOCES Library Automation Team answered some of my initial questions and helped me download an Excel spreadsheet of the library's nonfiction area.

While at home and not tending to the physical library, I had time in between scheduled virtual classes to work within the Excel spreadsheet.  The first step involved moving items to be weeded into a separate tab in the file.  I would suggest this as step one anytime a genrefication project is underway!  It doesn't make sense to re-catalog and label materials that will just end up being deselected.  My spreadsheet showed me the copyright year, number of checkouts, and other useful data points.  When choosing material to deselect, I took into account the number of checkouts, age of the materials, presence of outdated information, and if there were multiple copies which were no longer needed.  After this process was completed, I designated about 300 books for deselection.

Deciding on Categories

Probably the most excruciating part of this whole process was deciding on the categories and new Dewey designations.  Although Melissa Flynn's document was a big help, her elementary library did not house books on some of the middle school topics covered in my library's collection.  When deciding on the categories I would use, I thought about the logical flow of the collection, students' browsing habits/previous topic requests, and longstanding classroom projects.  All of these factors helped guide me into category decisions that (I hope!) will translate into more nonfiction checkouts and an easier time finding information.

Once the categories were set, I was able to go back into the spreadsheet to denote the updates.  New columns for category and updated call number were added.  Once I added this information, I had the pieces I needed to create new spine labels and make the needed updates to the books' records.

A view of the spreadsheet.  When I created the new spine label, I changed the cell to blue.

Revamp Underway

Once we returned to teaching in the school building once again, I was able to utilize the spreadsheet to make the changes needed to both the physical space and the library catalog.  I first went through and placed the deselected books on a cart.  With those titles out of the way, I could see the amount of books left to move, relabel, and recatalog.

Little by little, I worked in between classes to update each book within the nonfiction section.  I would grab a cartful of books and replace its spine label with an updated one.  While I had each book in my hand, I went into the library catalog and updated both its sublocation and copy category to reflect the topic I had chosen for that book.  This update would come into play later when changes are made to the look of the library catalog.  Once the books were labeled and cataloged, they were returned to the shelves.  Each shelf now houses one distinct topic (or multiple topics that are similar in nature).  This took a lot of reorganizing, and a LOT of time.  It took four months to complete this part of the process.

Updated Signage

While I liked that each large shelving unit had category labels, I thought that there could be an even better way to denote the subject areas within nonfiction.  Instead of each shelf displaying the Dewey number, it now displays the topics found on each distinct shelf.  The tops of the shelving units now displays the Dewey range.  This makes it possible to find books by Dewey number, or simply by browsing by topic.  The signs were created for free using Canva.  This signage matches the templates used for the fiction and biography sections, so this adds to the overall cohesiveness of the library space.

Topic signage will be displayed on each shelf.

The tops of the shelving units will display the Dewey range for that area.

SLAWNY Grant

As supplies needed for this project were expensive, I was lucky enough to receive a generous $300.00 grant from the School Librarians' Association of Western New York.  This grant helped to defray the costs of label protectors and new caps for each shelf.  I'm very appreciative for the assistance with this project!  It would not have been completed this year without the financial help from SLAWNY.

Digital Updates

The addition of a copy category and sublocation will eventually make it possible to update the Destiny Discover interface with an added feature of topic buttons for students.  Right now, Destiny does not allow for flexibility in the topic ribbon within Discover.  If this is updated, my plan will be to have topic ribbons for each hundreds Dewey range, then specific buttons for the topics contained in this range.  For right now, I'm deciding on the major topics I want to add in the space Destiny provides.  I will be taking some notes on student browsing habits in order to see which nonfiction areas generate the most foot traffic!  These topics will be the best choices for the digital shortcuts.

The current topics in Destiny Discover.
I'll be adding nonfiction buttons based on student browsing habits.

Physical Updates

I am overjoyed with how the nonfiction section looks now!  While shifting the collection, I was able to solve some issues that had been bothering me.  First, I was able to make sure that there was space left on the ends of shelves in order to display books.  While shifting, I also changed the height of each shelf.  Now, no books are on their sides.  All of the spines are visible.  Some books that were previously overlooked might now get checked out.

Next Steps

Although the physical space is ironed out for now, I know that changes may need to be made to the collection moving forward.  The ability to visualize the amount of books available for each topic gives me ideas for future collection development efforts.  As teachers add and delete classroom projects, I might need to alter topics and spine labels.  I'll also be on the lookout for topic areas that are confusing to students.  This will always be a work in progress, but I'm happy to make these adjustments to make the nonfiction section work better for the school community.

Many thanks to SLAWNY for their support of this project!  It's wonderful to be a part of a library organization willing to provide assistance for new ideas.

District DIY Contest

It seems the 2020-2021 school year continues to throw curveballs our way.  Throughout the year, we have oscillated between the hybrid model and the 100% virtual models of learning.  Strangely enough, this state of constant change is starting to feel a little more normal.  If there's anything to be said of this year, it's that those in education have become very adept at rolling with the punches!

As our learning model continues to shift, an ongoing challenge for librarians is to facilitate opportunities to build community, especially in the virtual environment.  The librarians at Iroquois Central developed an at-home family challenge to help do just that.

One of the most helpful services organized through our libraries this year has been expanded access to Sora, our district's platform for digitized ebooks and audiobooks.  Even when it was difficult to get physical books in the hands of the Iroquois community, Sora was available 24/7 for students and staff to access books from our digital book collection.  

To highlight the offerings in Sora, librarians utilized STEM grant funding from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation to create a mini-collection of STEM/DIY books within Sora.  These books provided the Iroquois community with lots of inspiration for projects that could be completed at home.  The books selected for this collection promoted DIY projects of many types: cooking/baking, LEGO builds, cardboard creations, and computer coding (only to name a few).

The DIY collection was showcased on Sora's main page.

In order to further promote use of the collection, librarians organized a contest centered around use of the Sora books.  The Iroquois Family DIY Contest encouraged families to look at the Sora books and work on an at-home project together.  The contest was open in late December and ran through February 1, 2021.  The contest was publicized by posting information to the Iroquois district Facebook page as well as the websites for the school libraries.  More excitement was generated by emailing students about the contest and "talking it up" in virtual library classes.  The timing of the DIY Contest was perfect, as the cold weather was an excellent time to stay inside and work on some projects!

The contest flyer.

As the contest deadline approached, many amazing submissions were sent in!  Staff members and students across grade levels shared pictures of their wonderful DIY creations.  Pictured below are just a few of the submissions:

An elaborate cardboard fort.

Cat food truck!

A crocheted Josh Allen.

Intricate LEGO house.

Animal origami mobile.

A gorgeous creation from a staff member!

The level of creativity blew the librarians away!  It was amazing to see such displays of creativity, but more importantly, it was fun to see families having fun together during these tough times.  With some of the remaining grant funding, our department was able to provide all participants with prizes.  These prizes varied by age level, but included some project supplies as well as a participation button.  Iroquois librarians look forward to hosting more contests in the future.

DIY Contest prizes.

Shifting to Virtual

Iroquois Middle School started out the year with students choosing either a hybrid or fully-remote attendance option.  However, as the number of COVID-19 cases continued to rise in Western New York, it no longer became possible to continue with the hybrid model of learning.  Pivoting to solely virtual learning did not come as the surprise it did in March 2020, but the fact that we are now not face-to-face with our students is tinged with a bit of sadness.  In order to prepare for the challenges of this newest normal, updates were made to the library's offerings and services.

Bitmoji Library Homepage Upgrade
I was incredibly reluctant to jump on the Bitmoji bandwagon.  I think that I was concerned about accessibility (and also somewhat put off by something that seemed too "trendy" to me).  However, after exploring accessibility options and seeing examples of Bitmoji classrooms that weren't too cluttered and busy, I decided to give it a try.  Ann Marshall, librarian at Cleveland Hill Middle School, alerted me to the free Canva Education upgrade.  Through this service, it was easy to create a Bitmoji library page.

I updated the library website's homepage to include a clickable library scene.  This was accomplished through layering URL-linked pictures onto a background image.  By downloading the finished product as a PDF, the clickable properties were retained.  This enables library website visitors to click through the links on the image to explore the library website.  All of the clickable links are also available on the left-hand menu for those that would prefer not to deal with the image.

I was able to personalize this page by including a Bitmoji that (kind of?) looks like me, in addition to clickable versions of my actual cats, Boots and Dora.  This level of personalization might help to make the library website feel a little more cozy as our school community spends time apart.

The image used for the updated library homepage.

Virtual Makerspace
Something that had been on my to-do list was to add a virtual makerspace to the library's offerings.  Last year I was excited about the physical makerspace added to the library's footprint.  Due to current restrictions, the physical makerspace is no longer in use.  Using the same process as I followed for the library homepage, I added a clickable virtual makerspace.  Below the image, I also included a list of direct links for people that would prefer to access the websites that way.  The dog I used for the image is Winnie, my brother's Pitbull.

One of the items that I really like on the makerspace is the virtual Stick Together puzzle.  This is a collaborative project where students can add stickers to a background in order to reveal a mystery image.  We had an actual Stick Together puzzle in our library, so it is nice to have an online version in our virtual space.

The image used for the virtual makerspace.

Expanded Reading Recommendations
Earlier in the year, the students in Mrs. Maulucci's class viewed book trailers in order to gather ideas about books they may want to read this year.  At the end of this period, the students then filled out a form providing book recommendations to their peers.  I was able to utilize their recommendations to add a quick slideshow to the Reading Recommendations page on the library website.  I find that students really enjoy hearing what their peers are reading, so hopefully this will help to connect students to books they would be interested in reading!

Canva was utilized to make the recommendation slideshow.

November 2020 and Beyond
Thankfully we had some warning before the pivot back to solely virtual learning.  I was glad to be able to get many books in the hands of students before the building shut down.  As teachers smooth out their new routines with their students, I am looking forward to adding some library events to the schedule.  As indicated on the student surveys in the beginning of the year, Kahoot/Gimkit competitions and book clubs would be welcomed.  The virtual environment presents many challenges, but a host of opportunities for connection as well!

November 2020 Monthly Report

How Things Are Right Now

What a wild ride.  I normally try to post a "back to school" update on this blog each year.  It's now October 22nd and I'm just now getting to the update.  That should give you an indication of how things have been going...BUSY!  I have not been a huge fan of the phrase "the new normal" so instead I will use "How Things Are Right Now" as the title for this update.

Our school buildings officially closed on March 13, 2020.  A return to in-person learning wasn't in the cards, but our classes and activities moved into the virtual environment for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.  This posed many logistical challenges, but also enabled teachers to use technology in different ways for creating learning experiences and fostering connections.  I worked hard to support teachers and students with resources, create lesson content and video tutorials, and extend special library programming.  Through the Microsoft Teams platform, we were able to host Gimkit trivia competitions, book groups, and even virtual author visits.

End of Year Report for 2019-2020

The summer before the 2020-2021 school year wasn't particularly restful, as plenty of uncertainty loomed regarding what school would look like in the continuing era of COVID-19.  Iroquois administrators chose to employ a hybrid model with a 100% remote option also available.  Cohort A students attend in-person Monday and Tuesday, while students in Cohort B attend on Thursday and Friday.  Wednesday in-person attendance alternates weekly between the two Cohorts.  Students learning remotely participate in each period via use of Microsoft Teams.

As the school year began, students stayed in their home base classroom for the entire day and teachers rotated into these classrooms to teach.  As of October 19th, students are now moving into different rooms for their classes.  The library remains closed to students, so this has posed some logistical issues for library services.

Book Access
The first hurdle of the year was rising to the challenge of getting books in the hands of students within the context of the new learning environment.  It was interesting to have to think about how to get books out without having the use of the physical library as a place to browse and checkout materials.  Many different strategies have been employed so far:

Sora Introduction: Each student in grades 6-8 has been introduced to Sora, our district's service for ebook and audiobook access.  I was able to introduce Sora in a couple of different ways.  Our library website includes a Sora information page which features tutorials on how to use the service.  Some teachers chose to show these videos to their students.  Other teachers booked time with me to visit their classes.  I either visited the classroom in person or virtually.  While virtual, I shared my screen via Microsoft Teams so all students could walk through Sora access step by step.  In our region we are also lucky to belong to the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library system.  With a public library card, students can expand their digital book access through Sora by linking to the public library's collection.  Each student was also encouraged to utilize the public library collection and sign up for a card in case they didn't already have one.

Morning Book Browsing: Students are allowed to enter the building at 7:15 am, but home base does not begin until 7:40 am.  This creates quite a bit of downtime, but it's also the perfect opportunity for book checkout.  Each morning I wheel a cart around to the classrooms and students may check out books then and there.

BookHub: The last phase of this approach involved setting up a system for students to request books from the library.  While I was in Ms. Beauchamp's classroom reviewing Sora, her students commented that "BookHub" would be a perfect name for the book delivery service.  They even designed a gorgeous logo to go with the service!  Through BookHub, students can email requests, place holds on specific books, or request a surprise delivery.

Special thanks to Ms. Beauchamp's class for this great logo!

Book Promotion

Another concern was how to promote books in a climate where we are mostly virtual.  During last year's building closure, book clubs and book chats were held online.  Students and staff members had wonderful book recommendations, which were compiled and posted on the library website.  

In addition to sharing out these recommendations, reading teachers in sixth grade have also began promoting the 40 book challenge with their students.  As part of this challenge, students are asked to read widely across genres.  A genre organizer was shared with the teachers and I was "virtually" invited in to chat about genres and offer suggestions.  I'm blown away by the knowledge of the sixth graders!  This is a group that has read a TON of books.  They had amazing reading suggestions which they graciously shared with their classmates.

Book promotion also took place with Mrs. Maulucci's eighth grade ELA classes.  Mrs. Maulucci wanted to make sure each student chose something of interest for use during their independent reading times.  To aid in their selection, I used Wakelet to compile a collection of book trailers.  These book trailers corresponded to titles that were available in the physical library.  The Wakelet also included instructions for BookHub, so students were able to put in their book requests immediately.

I've been slow to post on social media these days, but the library Instagram page is still up and running!  I'll be using @iroquoismiddlelibrary to post library updates as well as book recommendations.  Goodreads allows me to keep track of books in the library that I've read; the app's widget pairs with both this blog and the library website to promote recently read titles.

Digital Citizenship

The increased emphasis on virtual learning has made it increasingly important to discuss both the benefits and pitfalls of being online.  Common Sense Media provides an amazing digital citizenship curriculum which I've been able to utilize and adapt to meet the needs of learners here at Iroquois.

So far, I've delivered digital citizenship lessons to seventh grade ELA classes and both sixth and eighth grade STREAM classes.  Topics covered included how to problem solve "red flag" feelings that arise while online, making a plan for digital balance, and analyzing the characteristics inherent in excellent digital citizens.  Each of these lessons contained a reflection component where students shared what they enjoy about social media and what they would like to learn next.

Student Voice and Making Connections

As would happen in a typical year, I look for ways to ensure that student voice and choice remain central to all of the offerings in the library.  While pushing into classes for the Sora introduction, I invited each student to fill out a brief library survey.  This survey asked students to share their insights as to books that should be ordered and programming that should be offered.  I look through all of these responses and add the requests to the library book order.  The feedback will also help me to determine which programming would be most well received by students.  As time allows, I individually respond via email to each student survey.  Sending this email opens up another line of communication with the students; it's my hope that making myself available to them will urge them to reach out should they desire anything from the library.

New this year are library bookmarks and postcards.  Minute Print in Cheektowaga, NY designed gorgeous items to distribute to students.  The bookmarks contain a QR code to the library website and also remind students how to care for books in the age of COVID-19.  The postcards will be sent home to remote students, or to the hybrid students just to say hello.  There's nothing quite like getting an ACTUAL piece of mail in this digital age!

Minute Print created these postcards to send to students.

Custom bookmarks contain a WR code for the library website.

Assisting Staff Members

Finding ways to help staff members has also looked a little different because of the health concerns we are now facing.  In previous years I would be planning our Book Bistro staff party and potluck in the library.  COVID concerns prevent that, so I've been sending out all staff emails with library updates as well as targeted emails with resources/ideas that would be of interest to individual educators.

Library Twitter is always a great place to go for fresh ideas.  I'm ashamed to say that I can't find the person that originally shared the template below.  However, I was able to adapt this library menu in order to share library offerings with the educators at Iroquois Middle.

Library Services Menu via Canva

How Things Are Right Now

To conclude, library services are still chugging along but just in a different form than in the past.  Being an educator right now is a tough mental lift.  I'm used to being able to perform at higher levels.  Tasks that were once easy now require tons of creativity and effort.  I can't think of another time during my career as a school librarian where I've worked so hard only to feel like efforts are falling short of the mark.  It is some comfort knowing that all educators are finding new ways to make it all work.  I'll continue to lean on colleagues for support and inspiration!