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This year I am changing my outlook on my lessons just a bit. I would like to incorporate a center-based review of concepts that I have taught to my students about library skills. I got my idea from Cari S. Young's professional book: The Centered School Library.

First, I am teaching a lesson with the whole group about a new library concept and the next time the class comes to the library, we are reviewing the skill with stations. Here is what our call number stations looked like:

Our first station came from an idea from Pat Miller's Stretchy Library Lessons. This station is called "Sticks and Stones." I had all four children work together on the carpet for this station. I bought cheap rocks at Big Lots and wrote easy call numbers on each one. Then, I wrote the author's full name on a corresponding popsicle stick. The students dump all of the sticks and stones out on the carpet and have to work together as a team to match the author's name to their call number. If a team needs more of a challenge, see if they can also alphabetize the call numbers after they match them.

At our second station, students worked in groups of two at a pocket chart to alphabetize easy call numbers. I tried to make the first call number sort pretty easy. In the second sort, students had to alphabetize to the second letter and in the third they had to alphabetize to the third letter of the author's last name.

I called our third station: "Be the librarian." Students worked in teams of two to alphabetize books on an actual bookshelf. Our teachers have these in their classrooms and I just asked to borrow two for the week. The books on the top shelf were already in ABC order. Students had to take library books from the bottom shelf and alphabetize them correctly on the top shelf.

We called our fourth station: "Call number paper plates." Students took a pile of paper plates and worked in teams of two to alphabetize them correctly on the floor from left to right. If you want to try this with your whole class, you can give every child a paper plate and make the class line themselves up in ABC order correctly from left to right. This is fun to do at the end of class. I call it a "super challenge!"

At our last station, students used I-Pads to individually play an online game called Shelve-It from Mrs. Lodge's Library. This is an amazing game! The kids can choose to shelve easy fiction or nonfiction call numbers and they can choose three separate levels of play. Each level has a different number of books to shelve ranging from three to eight. This way, each child can play at their own personal difficulty level. The kids LOVED this game.

Overall, I felt like our first stations were a success! I used these for first and second grades. If you have any ideas for other stations for call numbers, please post them in the comment section and share. Thanks so much!

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This year I am changing my outlook on my lessons just a bit. I would like to incorporate a center-based review of concepts that I have taught to my students about library skills. I got my idea from Cari S. Young's professional book: The Centered School Library.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This year I am changing my outlook on my lessons just a bit. I would like to incorporate a center-based review of concepts that I have taught to my students about library skills. I got my idea from Cari S. Young's professional book: The Centered School Library.

First, I am teaching a lesson with the whole group about a new library concept and the next time the class comes to the library, we are reviewing the skill with stations. Here is what our call number stations looked like:

Our first station came from an idea from Pat Miller's Stretchy Library Lessons. This station is called "Sticks and Stones." I had all four children work together on the carpet for this station. I bought cheap rocks at Big Lots and wrote easy call numbers on each one. Then, I wrote the author's full name on a corresponding popsicle stick. The students dump all of the sticks and stones out on the carpet and have to work together as a team to match the author's name to their call number. If a team needs more of a challenge, see if they can also alphabetize the call numbers after they match them.

At our second station, students worked in groups of two at a pocket chart to alphabetize easy call numbers. I tried to make the first call number sort pretty easy. In the second sort, students had to alphabetize to the second letter and in the third they had to alphabetize to the third letter of the author's last name.

I called our third station: "Be the librarian." Students worked in teams of two to alphabetize books on an actual bookshelf. Our teachers have these in their classrooms and I just asked to borrow two for the week. The books on the top shelf were already in ABC order. Students had to take library books from the bottom shelf and alphabetize them correctly on the top shelf.

We called our fourth station: "Call number paper plates." Students took a pile of paper plates and worked in teams of two to alphabetize them correctly on the floor from left to right. If you want to try this with your whole class, you can give every child a paper plate and make the class line themselves up in ABC order correctly from left to right. This is fun to do at the end of class. I call it a "super challenge!"

At our last station, students used I-Pads to individually play an online game called Shelve-It from Mrs. Lodge's Library. This is an amazing game! The kids can choose to shelve easy fiction or nonfiction call numbers and they can choose three separate levels of play. Each level has a different number of books to shelve ranging from three to eight. This way, each child can play at their own personal difficulty level. The kids LOVED this game.

Overall, I felt like our first stations were a success! I used these for first and second grades. If you have any ideas for other stations for call numbers, please post them in the comment section and share. Thanks so much!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This year I am changing my outlook on my lessons just a bit. I would like to incorporate a center-based review of concepts that I have taught to my students about library skills. I got my idea from Cari S. Young's professional book: The Centered School Library.

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Pear Deck is on a mission to help teachers create powerful learning moments for every student, every day - using the tools you already know and love.

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For articles like this:

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Between 1941 and 1943, an exceedingly peculiar series of transmissions reached radio sets in Germany. The broadcaster called himself Der Chef, or the chief, and his Berliner accent and prodigious knowledge of military affairs suggested he was a high-ranking German of the old guard, probably an army officer.

A patriot and Hitler loyalist, Der Chef bemoaned the corruption enveloping Nazi headquarters while the war was being fought across Europe. He disclosed worrying news that injured German soldiers were receiving infusions of syphilis-tainted blood from captured Poles and Slavs, and gossiped about an Italian diplomat in Berlin who was bedding the wives of German officers. German civilians picking up the shortwave radio transmissions thought they were eavesdropping on the affairs of a secret military organ led by Der Chef.

"Had his listeners been able to take a peep at the surroundings in which his messages were, in fact, recorded," the British journalist Sefton Delmer wrote years later, "our audience would, I am sure, have shrunk to zero." Delmer knew of what he spoke: He had helped create Der Chef.

Although this was hardly the first instance of a wartime disinformation campaign, Delmer's "Black Propaganda," as he called it, shared plenty with today's "fake news." It was agitprop masquerading as inside dirt. To be sure, British intelligence agents played a role, but it was behind the scenes, unlike traditional government propaganda. By most accounts the broadcasts were insidiously effective: Hitler's high command repeatedly attempted to block the signal.

It turns out that Delmer, the subject of a new documentary, Come Before Winter, developed a fake news factory aimed at disrupting the Nazis. He introduced several other radio stations, including one anchored by a young German named "Vicki," who read a mixture of real news culled from intelligence sources and fake items, including a fabricated report about an outbreak of diphtheria among German children.

In November 1943, Delmer ended Der Chef's reign of error by penning a script that had Nazi troops storming the studio and "shooting" him mid-broadcast, but many other ruses lived on. Beginning in May 1944, he produced a German-language newspaper called Nachrichten für die Truppe (News for the Troops), which was air-dropped to soldiers on the Western front.

After the war, Delmer rejoined Britain's Daily Express, revealing his earlier role as a source of fake news in a 1962 memoir. "Delmer was proud of his work," says Gary Blount, producer of Come Before Winter. "His broadcasts had not only been heard extensively, but had contributed to the war effort."

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Between 1941 and 1943, an exceedingly peculiar series of transmissions reached radio sets in Germany. The broadcaster called himself Der Chef, or the chief, and his Berliner accent and prodigious knowledge of military affairs suggested he was a high-ranking German of the old guard, probably an army officer.

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News & Media Literacy

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Project Look Sharp :: K-12 & Higher Ed. Media Literacy Lesson Plans :: Ithaca College

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Project Look Sharp provides lesson plans, materials, training and support to help teachers integrate media literacy into their classroom curricula.

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Evaluating Information: The Cornerstone of Civic Online Reasoning

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Over the last year and a half, the Stanford History Education Group has prototyped, field tested, and validated a bank of assessments that tap civic online reasoning-the ability to judge the credi...

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Society of Professional Journalists, Code of Ethics

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Society of Professional Journalists, Code of Ethics

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SPJ Code of Ethics - Society of Professional Journalists

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Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues.

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Helping Students Identify Fake News with the Five C's of Critical Consuming

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https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/news-literacy-101

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Digital and media literacy programs and resources for education

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MediaSmarts has been developing digital media literacy programs and resources for Canadian homes, schools and communities since 1996. Our work falls into three main areas: education, public awareness, and research and policy.

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DAVE DAVIES, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Dave Davies in for Terry Gross. So do you remember reading that Hillary Clinton paid Jay Z and Beyonce $62 million dollars for performing at a rally in Cleveland before the election? You might have, but the story is false, one of many posted on hyper-partisan websites and spread by aggressive social media campaigns during the presidential election.

Our guest, Craig Silverman, has spent much of his career as a journalist writing about issues of accuracy in media. He wrote a column for the Poynter Institute called Regret the Error and later a book of the same name on the harm done by erroneous reporting. He also launched a web-based startup called Emergent devoted to crowdsourcing the fact-checking of fake news.

He's now the media editor for the website BuzzFeed, and he spent much of this year writing about fake news, rumors and conspiracy theories that gained currency in the presidential campaign - where they came from, why they got so much engagement on social media and what should be done to reduce their impact on public discourse. I spoke to Craig Silverman yesterday.

Well, Craig Silverman, welcome to FRESH AIR. You did an analysis comparing how stories done by, you know, mainstream major news organizations like The New York Times, The Washington Post did it in terms of engagement on Facebook. You compared those stories to other stories done by essentially fake websites or fake election stories. What did you find?

CRAIG SILVERMAN: Something pretty surprising. So what we did was we looked at 19 major media organizations and we found sort of the election content from them that had performed best on Facebook. And to kind of define what that means, Facebook doesn't give us a lot of data. That's I think one of the frustrations overall that a lot of researchers and other people have. But what Facebook will give you is one number for a piece of content that gives you the total count of the number of shares and comments and reactions for that one piece of content.

And so what we did was we looked across 19 major media organizations and we picked out the best-performing stuff about the election. And then because I'd been looking at fake news for so long, I have lists of more than 50 websites that completely publish fake information. I looked at what had performed best from them about the election, and I also did some searches to try and find other things about conspiracy theories that I knew had spread.

So at the end of the day, when we kind of looked at the numbers we saw that nine months before the election, six months before the election, the overall Facebook engagement for those top election stories from the mainstream outlets was greater than the fake news that was spreading. But when we went three months before the election, that critical time, we actually saw the fake news spike. And we saw the mainstream news engagement on Facebook for those top 20 stories decline.

And so at the end of the day, in that critical moment, the fake news of those top 20 stories was getting more engagement on Facebook than some of the stories from the biggest media outlets in the U.S. And that was incredibly surprising. I didn't actually expect fake news to win out in that sense.

DAVIES: So what does that tell us?

SILVERMAN: Something was going on there where, one, you can conclude that the stuff that they were creating and spreading was really resonating with voters. But two, I think you also have to look at Facebook itself and wonder how is it that these sites that have for so long been so marginal, how is it that these sites that in many cases had only been launched in the previous, you know, six to 12 months, how is it possible that they're getting stuff out there on this massive platform, Facebook, that is getting more engagement than, you know, op-eds and commentary pieces from major media, than, you know, big stories about the Trump campaign, about the Clinton campaign? It just didn't make sense to me.

But there's no question that these fake stories resonated with people. There's no question that they saw them and they shared them or they commented on them and they liked them, and that created tremendous velocity on Facebook. And a lot of people saw them, and that's a really surprising thing and it's a distressing thing.

DAVIES: When you looked at the fake news stories, did they tend to help one side more than another?

SILVERMAN: Yeah. Overwhelmingly, when you looked at the stories that performed really well on Facebook, they were pro-Trump or they were anti-Clinton. And that was a very clear trend. The stuff that was anti-Trump was just not getting the same traction. And so I think what happened is that a lot of people creating fake news looked at this and said, well, let's go all-in on Trump.

DAVIES: You've discovered that there are more than a hundred websites peddling false news stories for the American voting public from a single town in Macedonia in the Balkans. Tell us about this place. Who's pushing this stuff?

SILVERMAN: There's a town in central Macedonia called Veles, you know, population is roughly around 40 to 50,000 people. And, you know, to back up for a second, myself and a researcher named Lawrence Alexander were interested in pro-Trump movements outside of the United States and outside of North America. And so working with Lawrence, we kind of went from, you know, one European country in particular to the next to sort of see, you know, are there other pro-Trump Facebook pages? Are there pro-Trump websites? Who are the people running these? You know, what messaging are they using?

We were interested in that element of it, and we were interested for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that a lot of pro-Trump content online was getting really good engagement. And so we figured that there might be people from other countries around the world who are sort of trying to grab a piece of that. And then the second piece was that we were interested to see if there were any other foreign entities that were helping push pro-Trump messaging outside of the U.S.

And, obviously, one of the ones that comes to mind when you think about that would be Russia. Are there any sites pushing pro-Trump messaging in Europe that had connections perhaps to Russian interests? So we went looking and we found some sites in different places. And we found this small cluster initially in Macedonia, and that was sort of of interest. You know, why would people in Macedonia be running sites that seemed very pro-Trump in English?

And we looked a little bit closer and did more research and we found that actually The Guardian months earlier had pointed to over a hundred websites about U.S. politics in this small town of Veles. So we did our own research and we turned up a number of 140 sites. And I went and I visited every single one of these 140 sites personally. And we started to build a spreadsheet to sort of see like, OK, so what kind of content are they publishing and do they lean right or left or do they seem kind of, you know, in the middle?

And as I filled out the spreadsheet it became very clear that they were overwhelmingly pro-Trump. And as I visited the websites and read their content, I saw that a lot of the stuff that they were pushing was misleading, was to the extreme of partisanship and also occasionally was false. And so we dug in even more and realized that among the top shared articles from, you know, these range of sites, the majority of, like, the top five were actually completely false. So at that point, once we understood the content that they were publishing and how many there were, we really wanted to understand so who are the people behind these sites?

DAVIES: OK, so you got in contact with these folks. Who were they?

SILVERMAN: Yeah, I shot out a lot of emails. You know, the sites that we had found, we found sort of who was registered as the owner of the sites. And most people didn't respond to me. Some people got back to me and politely declined saying that they weren't interested in talking to me.

But a few people through email or through finding them on Facebook and talking to them did speak to me. And one of the things that stood out right away was that a lot of them were very young. In fact, a lot of the people I spoke to were still in their teens or in their 20s and in university. And, you know, the biggest question is why. You know, why run politics sites, why pro-Trump politics sites and how would a teenager in Macedonia think to do this?

And I think there were probably still some unanswered questions there. But the answer that they always gave me was that, you know, it was simply for money. There are a lot of sites run out of Veles, run out of Macedonia in general that we found. In particular, there's a huge cluster of websites in English about health issues because they find that that content does really well.

And if they sign up, for example, for Google AdSense, an ad program, they can get money as people visit their sites and it's pretty straightforward. So they tried election sites, and over time they all came to realize that the stuff that did the best was pro-Trump stuff. They got the most traffic and most traction.

DAVIES: So these are young people, teenagers in some cases, who aren't driven by ideology. They're making a buck. Do they make money from doing well on Facebook?

SILVERMAN: Facebook directly doesn't really earn them a lot of money. But the key thing about Facebook - and this is true whether you're running a politics site out of Macedonia or whether you run a very large website in the U.S. - Facebook is the biggest driver of traffic to, you know, news websites in the world now. You know, 1.8 billion people log into Facebook every month. And they'll...

DAVIES: They see stuff they like, they hit the link and they go to the site, right?

SILVERMAN: That's it. And so the key thing there is you have to get your content onto Facebook. You have to get in front of people so that they start sharing it and clicking on it. And so Facebook is the driver. And what we've found in subsequent investigations was that a lot of the folks running these sites in Macedonia also have these - sometimes they're creating or buying fake Facebook accounts which they then use to go online and to drop links to the stories on their websites into, for example, pro-Trump Facebook groups that exist online. Maybe they have thousands or tens of thousands of members. If you put your story in there, hopefully you're going to get some clicks. And so that's what they were doing. They were using Facebook to drive the traffic to the website where they had ads from Google and where they would earn money from that traffic.

DAVIES: Right. Now, these young people in Macedonia I don't expect know enough about American politics to produce convincing fake election stories. Where were they getting the content?

SILVERMAN: This is, again, one of the key things you wonder because, I mean, the English of some of the folks that I interviewed, you know, was OK, but not enough for them to kind of create this content themself. And so as we were looking at the sites, we realized that, you know, if you, for example, would place the headline for a particular article on a Macedonian site in Google, you would probably find that exact headline on a site run out of the U.S. maybe a day or two earlier.

And so in the end, what they were doing was paying attention to the content that was doing well on Facebook, you know, looking in those pro-Trump Facebook groups to see what people were sharing. And then they would, you know, copy that text completely or just kind of pick a little piece out of it and link back. And so it was a very easy thing for them to do. They didn't have to come up with stories. They certainly weren't doing reporting. They were kind of copying and pasting and getting their stuff onto Facebook.

And the key here is it speaks to kind of what happens on Facebook, which is that it doesn't matter who necessarily created the story first. It matters who was able to get it to move the most on Facebook. That's who would earn the most money.

DAVIES: So these guys figured out there was money to be made from pushing this. When you talked to them, did you say hey, this isn't true, voters are being misinformed? Did they care?

SILVERMAN: There wasn't a huge amount of concern over that. And I think part of it is that, you know, Veles, it's a small place. It's - economically, it's not doing very well. Used to be heavy industry there. A lot of those jobs are gone now. And I think there was an element almost - in some of the people I was speaking to, there was almost an element of pride saying, you know, we're here in this small country that most Americans probably don't even think about, and we're able to, you know, put stuff out and earn money and to run a business. And I think there was a bit of pride in that. One of the people that I spoke to, who was a bit older - he was in his 20s - you know, he said that yeah, I mean, people know that a lot of the content is false. But that's what works.

And that's, again, one of the really big takeaways, I think, from this election, is - and I heard this not only from people in Macedonia, but from people in the U.S. who run very large - what people sort of refer to as hyper-partisan conservative Facebook pages. You know, meaning that their content is very, very slanted and very much appealing to their core audience there. They all said that when it came down to it, the fake stuff performed better on Facebook. And if you weren't doing some stuff that was misleading or fake, you were going to get beat by people who were.

DAVIES: You actually did an analysis where you looked at the accuracy of stories done by hyper-partisan sites on the right, hyper-partisan sites on the left and mainstream sites. What did you find about how well accurate stuff played and how well false stuff played?

SILVERMAN: So a team of us at BuzzFeed, you know, we spent seven consecutive weekdays looking at all of the posts that went up on the Facebook pages of a selection of, as you said, pages on the right, pages on the left. And then we also looked at three mainstream pages as well as kind of, you know, a base of comparison. And what we found overall is that the content that performed best was - you know, fell into two categories. So one is - was sort of misleading or false completely. That would get high engagement, meaning high shares on Facebook. That's - we really zeroed in on shares because that's how you drive the most traffic.

And then the other type of content that performed really well was, you know, memes, like a photo that just sort - kind of expressed a very partisan opinion. These - you know, they weren't necessarily factually based, but they really kind of riled up the base. And for the pages that were partisan pages on the right and the left, if you had stuff that really appealed to people's existing beliefs - really appealed to, you know, a negative perception of Hillary Clinton, a negative perception of Donald Trump - even if it, you know, completely bent the truth, that would perform much better than a sort of purely factual thing.

And when we looked at the performance of the mainstream pages, you know, the engagement for the partisan pages was much better. And I don't think that's only because we did find false and misleading stuff on the partisan pages. I think it's also because frankly, you know, the mainstream pages weren't posting as many memes. They weren't posting as many videos. And that stuff does really well on Facebook. It's strange, but you would think the media - big media companies are better at kind of running their Facebook pages. But honestly, these partisan pages on the right and the left were just much better at understanding what does well on Facebook.

DAVIES: Craig Silverman is the media editor for BuzzFeed. We'll continue our conversation in just a moment. This is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR, and we're talking about fake news in the presidential campaign with BuzzFeed media editor Craig Silverman. When we left off, we were talking about BuzzFeed's analysis of how false, highly partisan content did better on Facebook than stories reported by mainstream media.

SILVERMAN: So at the core of this is - there's two factors that are at play here. So one is a human factor and one is kind of a platform or algorithmic factor. So on the human side, there's a lot of research out there going back a very long time that looks at sort of how humans deal with information. And one of the things that we love as humans - and this this affects all of us. We shouldn't think of this as just being something for people who are very partisan. We love to hear things that confirm what we think and what we feel and what we already believe. It's - it makes us feel good to get information that aligns with what we already believe or what we want to hear.

And on the other side of that is when we're confronted with information that contradicts what we think and what we feel, the reaction isn't to kind of sit back and consider it. The reaction is often to double down on our existing beliefs. So if you're feeding people information that basically just tells them what they want to hear, they're probably going to react strongly to that. And the other layer that these pages are very good at is they bring in emotion into it, anger or hate or surprise or, you know, joy. And so if you combine information that aligns with their beliefs, if you can make it something that strikes an emotion in them, then that gets them to react.

And that's where the kind of platform and algorithms come in. Which is that on Facebook, you know, the more you interact with certain types of content, the more its algorithms are going to feed you more of that content. So if you're reading stuff that aligns perfectly with your political beliefs, it makes you feel really good and really excited and you share it, Facebook is going to see that as a signal that you want more of that stuff. So that's why the false misleading stuff does really well is because it's highly emotion-driven. It tells people exactly what they want to hear. It makes them feel very comforted and it gets them to react on the platform. And the platform sees that content does really well and Facebook feeds more of it to more people.

DAVIES: There are plenty of stories that debunk inaccurate information and you looked at how they do. How do they compare to the false stories?

SILVERMAN: They don't, unfortunately. And this goes back to a research project I did a couple of years ago where I was really very focused, one, on the spread of rumors and misinformation online and two, also how media organizations deal with this new world where it's very easy for something, you know, that's simply a tweet claiming something to suddenly get huge exposure and huge distribution. And the same obviously happens on Facebook on an even bigger scale. So when you're a journalist and you see something out there, you're not sure whether it's true or false, how do you deal with it? Do you wait and do your work? Or because potentially millions of people have already seen it, do you kind of write about it?

So I did a research project where we kind of identified rumors that we saw out there. We looked at how media coverage was of it. And this is how I started to encounter a lot of fake news stories and started to realize that there were entire websites that existed that just had completely fake stuff. So when I would see that completely fake stuff circulating, I would - we would look at the Facebook and other types of social engagement for it. And then we would also try to find any debunking of it from Snopes or from other sources. And honestly during that research project, we really only found I think one example where the debunkings (ph) actually had actually gotten more engagement on social, and in particular Facebook, than the false information.

DAVIES: It's just not as much fun?

SILVERMAN: Yeah. There's a few things going on there. And again, psychology comes into it a little bit. So one, when people create the false stuff and if they're smart about it - if I put it that way - you know, they know that it needs to appeal to emotion. They know that maybe if it can have a sense of urgency, if it can be tied to things people care about, that's probably going to do well in terms of fake stuff. Whereas when you come in as the debunker, what you're doing is actively going against information that people are probably already, you know, willing to believe and that gets them emotionally. And to tell somebody I'm sorry that thing you saw and shared is not true is you coming in in a very negative way unfortunately.

And so the reaction is often for people to get defensive and to disagree with you. And just in general you just seem like kind of a spoil sport. You're ruining the fun or you're getting in the way of their beliefs. And a lot of times when I put debunkings out there, you know, some of the reactions I get are people saying, well, it might as well be true. You know, he could have said that or that could have happened. Or, of course, you get accusations that, you know, you're biased. And so the debunkings just don't appeal as much to us on a psychological level. There's some emotional resistance to wanting to be wrong. That's a very natural human thing. And they're just not as shareable because the emotion there isn't as real and raw as something that makes you angry, for example.

DAVIES: Craig Silverman is media editor for BuzzFeed. After a break, he'll talk about how Facebook handles fake news and what it might do better. I'm Dave Davies and this is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Dave Davies in for Terry Gross. We're speaking with BuzzFeed media editor Craig Silverman about the spread of fake news in the presidential campaign. Silverman spent a lot of this year investigating fake news, reporting that a torrent of false web stories came from a small town in Macedonia and discovering that late in the campaign fake news did better on Facebook than stories from mainstream media sources.

As the campaign proceeded, did the campaigns themselves or Donald Trump through his tweets have any role in building an audience for these fake news stories?

SILVERMAN: Yeah. I think the Trump campaign was so remarkable for so many reasons when we talk about this specific area. So the first that I think needs to be mentioned is that, you know, the Trump campaign itself helped circulate false news stories, 100 percent fake news stories from 100 percent fake news websites.

DAVIES: Give us an example.

SILVERMAN: So the one that comes to mind right away, this is a story that was on a website that is made to look like ABC News but its domain is slightly different. And the story that was published, you know, long before the election claimed that a protester had been paid $3,500 to go and protest at Trump rally. And this fed into perceptions that the people who are against Trump were being paid by big interests.

And that story did pretty well on Facebook. It got a fair amount of engagement. But it was tweeted by Eric Trump. It was tweeted by Corey Lewandowski, who was a campaign manager for Donald Trump, and it was tweeted by Kellyanne Conway, who was his campaign manager, not that long before the election. So when you have people in positions of power and influence putting out fake news - and I want to say, you know, there's no evidence that they knew it was fake and put it out there to fool people. I think in each case they genuinely believed it was true because, as we've discussed, I think it fed into the message their campaign wanted to put out. And it's really kind of unprecedented to think of people that high in a campaign actively putting out misinformation and it happening from several people. You would have thought that after one or two of them did it, you people would have talked to them. So that piece is really, really remarkable.

The other one that I think has to be mentioned is that Donald Trump, on a very frequent basis throughout the campaign and now that he is the president-elect, says things that are not true and things that are demonstrably false. And when you have somebody who is in that position of power, with that amount of influence, with that amount of people who are very passionate about him and what they think he can bring to the country, putting out false information - you know, I think it lays the groundwork for other false information to get out there. And it creates a fertile environment for folks to start kind of making things up because the door is wide open. And I think that there is something unique about the Trump campaign in that respect.

DAVIES: Did you see any of this kind of activity among Democrats?

SILVERMAN: So there certainly was false information circulating that was, you know, anti-Trump or pro-Clinton. I certainly can't think of an example from the Clinton campaign of them actively falling for fake news or what have you. But there's no question that there were things that were false that spread about Donald Trump.

I can think of one meme that I saw where people had misquoted him. One that was really popular actually was one that falsely claimed he had given a quote to People magazine many years ago basically saying that if I ever ran for president, I would run as a Republican because conservatives are so stupid they'll believe anything. And this was turned into a meme.

It spread a lot on Facebook. It was debunked so many times. We debunked it at BuzzFeed. Snopes has debunked it. And it just kept going and going and going because this is something I think a lot of Democrats wanted to believe. But it also has to be said, I mean, all of the analysis that we've done about misinformation related to the election has shown that pro-Trump misinformation and anti-Clinton misinformation far outperformed anything that came from the other side.

DAVIES: Do we have any idea what the effect of this was on this election? Has anybody tried to figure out how many minds were changed, how many votes might have been affected?

SILVERMAN: I don't think anybody's going to get a definitive answer on that. It's really tough to conclude the effect of media on people's voting habits because there are so many factors. But - so I think anyone who believes that fake news won Trump the election is wrong. There's no data to support that. And I say this as somebody who's been looking at this data in a lot of different ways. There's no smoking gun. There's - I don't think we'll ever get it.

But when we look at some of the data about the impact of misinformation, it's really significant. So we at BuzzFeed partnered with Ipsos to do a survey of 3,000 Americans. And one of the things we wanted to find out was their familiarity with fake news headlines about the election. And what we found in the end after testing a group of five fake news headlines that went really big during the election and six real news headlines that went really big during the election is that 75 percent of the time, the Americans who were shown a fake news headline and had remembered it from the election believed it to be accurate.

And that's a really shocking thing. It's impossible to go the next step and say, well, they voted because of that. But I think one of the things this election has shown is that people will believe fake news, misinformation will spread and people will believe it and it will become part of their worldview.

DAVIES: Yeah, but did I hear that right, three quarters of us will believe a fake headline, think it's true?

SILVERMAN: This is - this was a pretty high number, a shocking number. And that number is based on more than 1,500 judgments about fake news headlines from people in this sample of 3,000 people. So it's a pretty good sample size. It's not definitive, but it's a high number. And it is shocking because, I mean, for example, one of these headlines that we tested claimed that Hillary Clinton had been proven to have sold weapons to ISIS. I mean, that was one of the headlines and people did believe that.

DAVIES: We're speaking with Craig Silverman. He is the media editor for BuzzFeed. We'll continue our conversation after a short break. This is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. And we're speaking with Craig Silverman. He is the media editor for BuzzFeed. He's been writing about accuracy in reporting and fact-checking for many years. And he spent a lot of time this election season writing about fake news.

Let's talk about Facebook's role here. Now, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has said a number of different things about this. At one point, he said, you know, we're a tech company, not a media company. And that's what Facebook does - right? - it allows millions of people to share content and is kind of reluctant maybe to regulate it. What have its own policies done to propagate or limit the spread of false information?

SILVERMAN: One of the core things that Facebook does or I suppose what it doesn't do as much as it can tries to not act as kind of a censor or a control point on what people are sharing. And I think overall, you know, that's a good thing. I don't want Facebook deciding whether what I put up is good enough to be shown to other people or not.

And this goes into what you mentioned about it sees itself as a platform, meaning it's a place where you can put stuff out and they help it reach lots of people and help you connect with other people. But, of course, that cuts both ways. So me sharing stuff about my family, me sharing news stories I've read that I care about can get just as much attention and can move just as easily as somebody who's consciously created something false and is working to get it to spread on Facebook. So the platform mentality creates the opportunity there.

And the scale of Facebook, which I think people should never get comfortable with how big it is because it's unlike anything in human history. There are almost 2 billion people logging in every month around the world. We've never had a communications system where people are connected in this way that has reached that amount of scale.

And so I think along with, you know, the platform mentality, there's also the scale piece of it that is a huge factor in false information spreading because there's just so many people there. And there's so much potential for information to move and to spread. And Facebook at the scale it's at to a certain extent I feel is almost unknowable. You can't even fathom understanding what's happening on it at any given moment. I think that's not only true for us, but it's also true for them because I think from what we've seen Mark Zuckerberg say, I think he's been really taken aback by what happened, to be honest.

DAVIES: Taken aback by the volume of fake news stories that spread during the election, you mean?

SILVERMAN: Yeah. I mean, his first comments were very dismissive. You know, the first thing he said publicly about it was at a tech conference and he talked about it being, you know, just a crazy idea that fake news had an effect on the election. And, you know, I agree with him. I'm not ready to say that fake news decided the election for Trump. But I also think that completely dismissing, you know, the growing evidence that we have that fake news got huge, huge engagement on his platform, you know, it doesn't make any sense. And he got a lot of blowback for that comment. And I think over time they have come to realize inside Facebook that, you know, this is actually a big issue. And they faced a lot of criticism. And now, you know, the most recent thing from Mark Zuckerberg is they announced seven things they're going to do to try and reduce the spread of misinformation on their platform.

DAVIES: What are they? And do you think they're effective?

SILVERMAN: So one of the things that they're going to do, for example, is to make it easier for average users of Facebook if they see something that's false to be able to kind of flag it and say, hey, this is a false piece of content and signal to Facebook that this is something that you don't want to see but also something that they should look at and prevent from spreading further. Now, that's a feature that actually already exists in some ways. The problem is that it's very hidden. So they want to make that a little more evident for people. And I think that's a good thing. The downside as always is that how many people are going to use that? And would people use it to kind of flag stuff they simply just disagree with rather than things that are false?

They've also acknowledged that there's a role of their algorithms in this. And they're looking at ways of having algorithms be able to recognize stuff that might be misinformation. And that may sound like a simple thing to say. It's incredibly complicated to do. And I've spoken to a lot of researchers who were very focused in this area of trying to automatically identify misinformation or automatically identify rumors and there is no algorithm that exists today that can do that at a high level of accuracy. So the opportunity is for Facebook to really do huge amounts of leadership in this area and do some innovation.

The downside is for them to hand too much over to an algorithm that starts suppressing free speech and suppressing other things it's not supposed to. One of the last things he mentioned that's probably worth noting is they've announced that they are not going to allow fake news websites to have access to the advertising tools on Facebook. So if you run a fake news website, they're going to try and stop you from, for example, paying to promote that post to more people on Facebook. And that's a good thing. And I think if we can cut off some of the financial incentives around fake news, that overall it can be quite powerful.

DAVIES: Right. And, of course, that requires somebody to make a judgment about what a fake new site is.

SILVERMAN: Yeah. Now, this is where things are getting very tricky. And as much as we talk about algorithms when we talk about Facebook, you know, there are humans who are involved in the review of content. When you flag something as offensive on Facebook, it's possible that it may automatically then be scanned by an algorithm and realize that that is an image, for example, maybe they've already banned. But a lot of the time it ends up in front of a person on their content review team who has to make a judgment call. And I can tell you from speaking to people in conservative media, they are extremely concerned.

One, they view Facebook as a liberal organization. They think it's biased against conservative points of view. And two, they're extremely concerned that if Facebook starts trying to weed out fakes, they're going to have people with a liberal point of view who disagree with an article potentially suppressing it. And so there is risk now of suppression of free speech and suppression of different points of view if these things were to go in the wrong direction.

DAVIES: Do you have a view yourself about what they should be doing?

SILVERMAN: You know, the first thing in terms of what should be done is that - is the answer is kind of a lot of things. And that's an unsatisfying answer to give, but it speaks to the complexity of this problem. When people started circulating lists of fake news websites, it was a huge problem because a lot of the sites on those lists, sure, they may publish some stuff that's misleading or false but they weren't publishing stuff a hundred percent in those areas. And there were a lot of simply ideologically-driven sites that were on these lists. And so if, for example, Facebook wanted to just implement a big bad blacklist, get rid of lots of sites, that would be a terrible, terrible outcome. So it's not as simple as I think some people have suggested it can be.

I would like to see them make flagging more of - more easy for people and to make sure that it can't be abused. I think they absolutely need to innovate in the area of algorithmic detection of misinformation. I also think, frankly, they do need to increase the amount of people who are reviewing content, whether it's for being offensive or other things because the scale of their platform is so big that I don't think they've put the human element in there in the right places. So them figuring out where that can be applied and how to guard against ideologically-driven decisions is a big thing. And to be honest, I think that they should figure out ways to identify the sites that are a hundred percent fake news and to see how they're sharing. Are they just being shared among small groups of people who all sort of think the same way and realize that that probably isn't a story that should spread further. So I'm not a huge proponent of blacklists but I think that analyzing the content and knowing what it is and knowing how it's being shared is really important.

The other unsexy thing finally, I think, is that we need to put this in our education system. There are a lot of people being fooled by fake news. There are a lot of people who don't know how to kind of check out the story they're reading online and that's understandable. It's not a matter of intelligence. We're consuming media in very different ways. We're having a whole menu of links and things from all different kinds of sources fed to us every day by Facebook. And that's very different from opening up a newspaper and knowing where everything was coming from. So I think we do in our schools need to start thinking about how we integrate more media literacy and critical thinking education so that people can make better judgments for themselves.

DAVIES: What's Google's role in all of this?

SILVERMAN: Well, Google is in a lot of ways the financial engine for fake news. And similar to Facebook, Google is - considers itself a technology company, not a media company, and considers itself in many ways a platform, which means they're not there, you know, to decide what should or shouldn't be published. They're there to facilitate these things.

The biggest piece for Google - aside from obviously the search element which can send a lot of traffic to these sites - the biggest piece is AdSense, which is their very big advertising network, which you can sign up for very quickly. If you put up a website and you've got some content on it and you submit to AdSense to apply to put ads on it, you can get approved relatively quickly. They do review the site to see if it goes against any of their terms of service. But once you have the ads up there, that's how you make the money.

And I have to say, I mean, the vast majority of the fake news websites and kind of dubious websites that I come across are running AdSense. And oftentimes they're doing things that are in direct opposition to the terms of service that Google says it applies to the sites that are supposed to be in that program.

DAVIES: How would they violate Google's terms of service?

SILVERMAN: Well, let's take the Macedonian sites as an example. One of the things that Google looks for in approving a site for AdSense is that they're adding value in some way. So if you, for example, set up a site and all you did was copy and paste content from other sites and you added nothing to it, you should not be approved for AdSense.

But that's what a lot of the Macedonia's sites that I looked at were doing. They were either completely plagiarizing or just quickly taking from elsewhere and copying it almost completely. There's no reason why those sites should have been approved. They violate Google's own terms of service for AdSense, and they just shouldn't be able to make money that way, but they do.

And so these review processes, whether it's Facebook, you know, trying to review a piece of content to figure out whether it's false or offensive or Google trying to figure out whether a site is in line with its advertising standards, you know, there's always going to be mistakes. There's always going to be things that slip through cracks because when you're a platform, you have reached such massive scale that it's very hard to do quality control.

DAVIES: Well, Craig Silverman, thanks so much for speaking with us.

SILVERMAN: Thank you.

DAVIES: Craig Silverman is media editor of BuzzFeed and author of the book "Regret The Error." This is FRESH AIR.

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Fake News Expert On How False Stories Spread And Why People Believe Them

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DAVE DAVIES, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Dave Davies in for Terry Gross. So do you remember reading that Hillary Clinton paid Jay Z and Beyonce $62 million dollars for performing at a rally in Cleveland before the election?

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current events/ daily news
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CNN 10 is an on-demand digital news show ideal for explanation seekers on the go or in the classroom.

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https://archive.org/web/

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A line drawing of the Internet Archive headquarters building façade.

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Newest Wired magazine issue has great article on Snopes
https://www.wired.com/story/snopes-and-the-search-for-facts-in-a-post-fact-world/

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Blue Feed, Red Feed
From Wall Street Journal.
Compares liberal and conservative Facebook feeds on the same topic

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See Liberal Facebook and Conservative Facebook, Side by Side

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Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC)

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Introduction

The AASL/ALSC/YALSA Interdivisional Committee on School/Public Library Cooperation aims to design and conduct a project of mutual interest and benefit to the three participating ALA Divisions, working from a platform identified by the AASL/ALSC/YALSA Presidents-Elect.

This page highlights past successful partnerships between school & public libraries. Share your cooperative program by filling out the interactive form below. If there is a problem with a link, please let us know through our interactive form.

Interactive form for schools/public libraries to submit other partnerships.

Contents

Assignment Alert Programs

Title of Program: Assignment Alert
Type of Program: Assignment Alert
Age level: N/A
Description of Program: We also do an Assignment Alert which is faxed to the public libraries. A copy of the alert is on one of the public libraries' home page and is being put on our home page. This alerts the librarians on upcoming assignment that students will be doing.
Contact Information:
Rose Tobiassen
rtobiass@mw.k12.ny.us

Title of Program: Middle School Teacher Resource Center
Type of Program: Assignment Alert
Age level: Middle school
Description of Program: The Middle School Teacher Resource Center is an online website that supports Portland Public School teachers and librarians. This online resource links teachers with librarians (school and Multnomah County Library) and curriculum specialists. Specific goals are to: help librarians and curriculum specialists reach and help more teachers and students; allow teachers, librarians and curriculum specialists to share their "best" units, and allow centralized librarians (Prof. Library, School Librarians & Public Librarians) to serve more schools.
This website specifically provides:

Lesson Plan Database--an archive of continually growing curriculum activities and resources searchable by grade level, curriculum area and topic. This website allows the lesson plans (pathfinders) to be collaboratively developed and shared by teachers, Professional Library, TOSA's and Multnomah County Library to specific teacher needs.

Curriculum assistance--online curriculum "help request" for teachers that immediately alerts the school librarian & curriculum specialist, Professional Library and Multnomah County Library to specific teacher needs.

Contact Information:
Doni Stewart
Portland Public Schools
Portland, OR
dstewart@pps.k12.or.us

Book Collections/Kits

Title of Program: PAL PAK
Type of Program: Book Collections/Kits
Age level: K-8th grade
Description of Program: In an effort to share resources and expand services to the Orland Park students, the Orland Park Public Library instituted a unique program to provide materials to the teachers in the local schools which would enhance their lesson plans on a variety of topics. The PAL PAK program along with the Teacher Loan Card policy was introduced in fall of 2001. PAL PAKS are comprised of 15 - 30 books, audiovisual materials and props related to thematic units on a variety of subjects and geared for grades K - 5 and packaged in a rubber tote. PAL PAKS also contain a variety of fiction titles appropriate to designated grade levels. These variety packs serve K - 8 students.
The Library Board passed a policy allowing teachers in the schools that service Orland Park students to have access to our materials on a longer checkout time and their administrators have agreed to be fiscally responsible for lost and damaged materials. This service compliments the PAL PAK program when teachers wish to supplement their classroom and school library collections with materials from the public library.
The PAL PAK program initially requires knowledge of what the teachers need, what their administration is willing to do to collaborate, and whether this service will truly benefit the children. After almost two full years of providing thematic units to the teachers, we find that more PAKS are being requested; the teachers are requiring new subject units to be created, and that individual teachers are requesting "personalized" PAKS for their special needs children. Our statistics have shown an increase of PAK use over this last school year, and more units are in the process of being created.
We hope that other public libraries may benefit from our experience because this program is one that can be emulated by other libraries. Understandably, in this uncertain economy, libraries must find the means to share resources without depleting their own budgets and collections. This program may be modified to utilizing more of existing collections by creating more variety PAKS of duplicate titles, and using the paperback as the preferred format. Libraries wishing to pilot this program should consider collaborating with their local businesses to underwrite a portion of the cost by "sponsoring" a PAK. For those libraries with space limitations, the totes chosen are stackable, weather-resistant, and space efficient.
In the interest of economic prudence it has become necessary for educational institutions to collaborate and share their resources for the educational benefit of the children.
Contact Information:
Marilyn Heintz, School Liaison
Orland Park Public Library
14760 Park Lane
Orland Park, IL 60462
heintzmoppl@yahoo.com

Items that can be found at the School Resource Center include items from all 12 of the libraries in the Lee County Library System. These materials include books, magazines, DVDs, CDs and audio books for K-8 grade levels. Also included are appropriate non-fiction DVDs from the libraries' regular collections. These items are in used but good condition and are relatively recent, but they are no longer needed in the libraries due to the constantly changing nature of public library collections. New library items arrive at the School Foundation monthly.

The library system delivers approximately 300 boxes of library materials per year, with approximately 20 items per box.

Title of Program: Youth Outreach / Words on Wheels (WOW)
Type of Program: Book Collections/Kits
Age level: birth to five
Description of Program: .
Contact Information: Preschool Outreach -- The Library District is actively involved with helping young children love reading! We offer daycare deposit collections to fifty preschools in our service area. We also visit preschools and daycares with literacy enhanced library storytimes that use a combination of books, fingerplays, songs, flannel boards, and movement activities to teach early literacy skills and an appreciation of books.Outreach staff is also available to create library and literacy based trainings for preschool teachers and parents.
Contact Information:
Mary Nelson Brown
Youth Services Coordinator
833 Las Vegas Blvd. N.
Las Vegas, NV 89101
(702) 507-3596
brownm at lvccld.org

Book Discussion Groups

High School boys lead an active book discussion with boys in 4-6th grade. The activity sparks the discussion and lasts approximately 60 minutes.

The School Librarian supervises the meeting. However, since she is female, she remains in the background.

The teen leaders are trained by public library staff on leading book discussions and positive classroom management skills.

Name of Contact Person: Pam Jankowski
Title of Contact Person: Public Services Supervisor
School/Library Name: Cuyahoga County Public Library, Fairview Park Branch
Mailing Address: 21255 Lorain Road, Fairview Park, OH 44126
Phone: (440) 333-4700
Email Address: pjankowski@cuyahogalibrary.org
URL of Library: http://www.cuyahogalibrary.org
Citation for any presentation(s) or article(s) reflecting partnership: Blog: www.guysandbooks.blogspot.com

Date: 06/18/09
Title of Program: Lunch Time Book Club
Type of Program: Book Discussion Groups
Intended Grade Level of Participants: Grades 5-8
Description of Program: The Basalt Regional Library District has funding for programming, but they are short on space and have a difficult time getting interested teems to remember to attend programs. The local middle school has little funding and less staff, but plenty of space and students available.

For the past two years, the school and public library have partnered to hold a book club once a week during the students' lunch periods during the winter months. The teens in the book club are allowed to go first in the lunch line and then bring their lunches into the library. The 5th and 6th graders meet together for one club and the 7th and 8th graders meet together for the other club.

The students vote on which books to read, and the public library provides a copy of the book for each student. The teens set the pace for reading, and they do well discussing on their own with occasional guidance from either the school or public librarians; both librarians read each title so the book club can take place even if there is a librarian's absence.

The last meeting of each year is spent evaluating the club and talking about the public library (and getting ideas for programming there). Gradually, there has been an increase in the number of teens remembering to attend library programs, and many participants are either from the book club or friends of someone in the book club.

Date: 07-08-09
Title of Program: Northridge Middle School Book Club
Type of Program: Book Discussion Groups
Intended Grade Level of Participants: Grades 6-8
This is a book discussion group which is based on Indiana's Young Hoosier nominees. It is held monthly and separated by grade levels. The students come to the library during their lunch period and talk about a book that was chosen the month before from the Young Hoosier list. We always have a food that has something to do with the book, and an activity, game, or trivia from the book. The school librarian and I collaborate on this (I am a teen librarian at a public library). We have done it for 3 years. Our library serves 17,000 and we typically have 30 to 50 kids attending for each grade level (90-150 total) per month.

Title of Program: Reading Connections @ the Guilderland Public Library: Linking Parents and Teens
Type of Program: Book Discussion Groups
Age level: Secondary (Middle and high school)
Description of Program: I am finishing up the first year of (hopefully) a two year grant collaborating with our local school district.
Here is a brief description: The Guilderland Public Library is one of 18 public libraries throughout the State that has been awarded a Parent and Child Library Services grant from the New York State Library, New York State Education Department. Reading Connections @ The Guilderland Public Library: Linking Parents and Teens is a program of book discussions led by the Guilderland young adult librarian and Farnsworth Middle School librarians. Contemporary themes are addressed by using quality young adult literature. Various options are available for discussing each of the three books read throughout the year; teen only book discussion sessions, parent only book discussion sessions, and book discussion sessions and Internet "chat forums" open to all participants. The project will culminate with the author of one of the featured books participating in book discussion sessions with the groups as well as presenting a public talk at the Guilderland Public Library. For this first year the participants have been 8th graders and parents. The second year of the grant expands to the High School with the addition of 9th graders and parents. For the grant's first year, the public library young adult librarian and the middle school librarians worked together to arrive at the books for discussion by the group.
Hidden Talents by David Lubar
Persepolis : The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde
Vivian Vande Velde will visit the library in June for two programs:
Friday evening, June 4th - participation in book discussion groups focusing on Heir Apparent and other books by the author.
Saturday afternoon, June 5th -Every Life Needs a Little Fantasy: a public talk at the Guilderland Public Library
The Middle School librarian and myself recently presented at a NYLA conference. Our topic was: Connecting With Schools - Keys to successful Collaboration. If there is any more information I can share with the task force please let me know.
Contact Information:
Karen Balsen
Assistant Director
The Guilderland Public Library
2228 Western Avenue
Guilderland, New York 12084
518-456-2400 ext. 11

Community Reading Projects

Global Reading Challenge Mission: To encourage reading as a fun and recreational activity that allows 4th and 5th grade students of all reading abilities to engage in the sport of reading. This citywide program is a collaborative effort between The Seattle Public Library and the Seattle Public Schools.

Goals
1. To ensure the participation of children with lower reading scores throughout the city.
2. To foster teamwork and cooperative thinking.
3. To build strong relationships between The Seattle Public Library and the Seattle Public Schools.
4. To share quality children's literature with the participants that represents a diversity of experiences at a variety of reading levels.

Name of Contact Person: Mary Palmer
Title of Contact Person: Children's Librarian
School/Library Name: The Seattle Public Library
Mailing Address: 1000 4th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104
Phone: (206) 386-4674
Email Address: mary.palmer@spl.org
URL of Library: http://spl.org
URL of School: http://www.seattleschools.org
Citation for any presentation(s) or article(s) reflecting partnership: Webinar: http://www.webjunction.org/children/-/articles/content/68202071

Title of Program: One Book Two Villages
Type of Program: Community Reading Projects
Age level: Secondary (high school)
Description of Program: This year New Trier High School Library participated with the Winnetka-Northfield Public Library on the public library's "One Book Two Villages" program. It was a community reading project like Chicago's One Book One Chicago. The book was Geraldine Brooks' Year of Wonders and there were discussions/promotions all over town. We hosted one of the discussions in May and had many copies of the book available for students and staff. Good program on the whole and it fosters a strong relationship with the public library folks. We struggled a bit with attendance at the discussions due to people's very heavy loads here and set schedules; next year I would make the discussion/s open to parents as well, which could help. Thanks for the opportunity to offer input!
Contact Information:
Anne O'Malley
New Trier HS/Northfield Campus
OMalleyA@newtrier.k12.il.us

Delivery to Schools

Title of Program: Library Linx: Bringing the Public Library to Schools
Type of Program: Delivery to Schools
Intended Grade Level of Participants: Primary and secondary
Description of Program: Library Linx is a cooperative project between the Deschutes Public Library in central Oregon, and 3 school districts. Students and teachers can place holds on public library materials, which are then taken to a central location for each school district, and delivered to schools by school courier. Delivery is 5 days a week. Linx schools are selected when they are able to meet their responsibilities, which include having a regularly scheduled media manager, and opportunities for public library staff to speak to teachers twice a year, and students twice a year, about library services and resources. In the past, they were also required to support the media center with a budget that was half of the national median expenditure per student, but that has been eliminated due to the serious financial situation in two of our school districts. The first four years was entirely paid for by the public library. Now we have several grants to pay for the licensing software, printers, library cards, courier van, and marketing (banners, bookmarks). The library still pays for the computers. Library Linx will include 17 schools by the fall of 2009.

Title of Program: Various
Type of Program: Delivery to Schools
Age level: Various
Description of Program: This is a compilation of messages the task force received from Susan Ludington of Deschutes Public Library about book delivery programs between public libraries and schools.
Susan writes: "About a month ago I inquired about examples of book delivery programs between public libraries and schools, specifically those that allow students and teachers to request public library materials via the online catalog and then have those requested items delivered to the appropriate schools. I'm including the compiled list of responses below, but a couple of generalizations:
*The trend has been to have all student holds placed using a school/teacher/media specialist library card, and items are checked out at the public library using that card prior to delivery to the school(s)
*Courier service is typically carried out by the school districts, rather than the public library; however, there are exceptions to this, or modifications (e.g., Cranston Public Library)
Thanks to everyone who responded. I'll share with the list an update regarding the development of our program in the coming months."
Contact Information:
Susan Ludington
Young Adult/Outreach Services Librarian
Deschutes Public Library
susanl@dpls.lib.or.us

Heather Wallen
Elmhurst, IL
I am a liaison to our local high school, so when teachers request materials for their students I either pull them or ILL them, then use a van delivery service (run by the schools) to get the materials there. The high school teachers don't use the service much, but I think my colleague sends things to the lower grades more often. It works well when I need it, though.

Michelle A Vallee
Coordinator of Children's Services
Cranston Public Library
Cranston, RI
We are a medium-sized library system: one central library with five branches. If individual teachers or students request materials using their own card, then we do not send the materials to the school. Here's how we connect with our middle and elementary schools when the school makes the request:
*Requested materials are taken by our system delivery person to the central school library office. (We have a Monday through Friday delivery, so when ever the materials are requested, it's no problem to send them out.)
*Within the public school system, a delivery person works daily and goes to any school where a delivery is needed.
*Checking out the materials at the school library is done in accordance with their policies. (They can issue temporary barcodes that work with their tech system. Schools use Follette; we're on Horizon.)
*Returning material is handled in the same way: school office to library delivery person, back to sending library.
Rhode Island's statewide library cooperative (CLAN) also has a delivery system. This system has regularly scheduled delivery stops at most high schools in the state. So we simply "bag" the requested materials (again, that would be materials requested by the school, not an individual) and the state delivery system picks them up. When delivering, the driver also retrieves materials to be returned.
As far as "outcomes", we're very much aware that this reciprocity is a good thing. It's cemented our relationship here in Cranston, as well as statewide.
Of course, we still moan and groan about not knowing in advance about some assignments...but that's probably a permanent condition!
I hope this helps you. If you need more specific info, let me know and I'll connect you with people who are more involved in the delivery aspect.

Wayne Grimm
Library Media Specialist
Conestoga Middle School
Beaverton, OR
When I was at Tigard Public Library, we had a setup with the Tigard-Tualatin school district where their courier would stop by whenever we had books or materials to deliver to one of the schools in the area. This was actually pretty seldom--once or twice a month--and we'd just call the school district courier whenever there was a pickup ready; they'd swing by when they were out on their route that day.
The school librarian was always the point of contact for receiving, distributing & returning all pub. library materials (before sending them out we'd check them out to a special account we'd created for the school, with the LMS as primary contact). If the books were to go out to individual students once arriving at the school, the LMS would keep track of their circulation with a manual signout list.
It was a nice setup, and one I miss here in Beaverton. Our school district won't consider adding the public library as a courier stop (as it is, they've already had to cut back courier service to elementary schools to every other day), and the Beaverton City Library hasn't come up with a way to make it work from their end...
I don't think the arrangement at Tigard did much to boost circulation, really, but it was a great way for me to keep in contact with and collaborate with the school librarians--and through them, with the teachers. Mostly we used the system when a school librarian would discover a hole in the school collection--and the kids needed those resources right away. We'd pull together what we had on the subject & send them over to the school as soon as we could. I also had teachers & school librarians using this option when they were a few short on multiple copies of novels for class study, literature circles, etc. The communication about what was needed & when almost always happened through a phone call or an e-mail from a school librarian (though I got the ball rolling by going out to the media specialists' meetings to let them know the service was available).
We never did use this delivery setup to allow individual students (& teachers) to place items on hold online & then have them delivered to their school--I would love to see such a service for my students & teachers, but the logistics of it seem pretty daunting. Good luck with your project--let us know how it develops--

Melissa Jones
Director of Youth Services
Schaumburg Township District Library
Schaumburg, IL
We have had a book delivery program in place for many years. The delivery van is run by the local public school district. It travels once each week between the 27 public schools in the district and the library. The teachers call in for a bag of 20 books for their classroom. The books are checked out to the school. The book statistics are part of our YS circulation statistics. Students may not request materials through this program. We send out on average 50 bags of books weekly during the school year, so this adds to our circulation statistics. The library handles the book check out and check in and the school assumes the delivery responsibilities.

Stephanie Squicciarini
Teen Services Librarian
Fairport Public Library
Fairport, NY
We are a school district public library, meaning our budget is voted on directly by the community considered to be part of the school district. This allows for some natural cooperation, one being a school district courier service...
Courier Service: We do have a service, actually, an employee of the school district that transports materials between the schools and the public library (I work at the public library). This helps with books that the schools need for assignments, book discussions (teachers and students) and for books returned to the wrong library - that is, if someone returns a book here that belongs to one of the schools, which happens frequently, we just send it on in delivery. Students also often return our books to their school libraries, so they get sent back to us.
Circulation: Only our staff does any checking in/out here. I cannot speak to any training that goes on at the schools, but we are on different systems so our books would not get checked in/our there...we charge them out to the school's library card - which can also be used by teachers if they are checking out books to use in the classroom.
Outcomes: This has been in place since well before I started here. I don't think it increases circulation substantially, but it does make things easier for us and our patrons. They see the connection between the two and are pleased that their books will ultimately get in the right place. It is always well-used and very effective. I also use this service to get other materials to the school librarians - fliers about our programs, professional books they might be interested in, etc.
Hope this helps. Please let me know if you need me to clarify or expand on anything.

Ria Newhouse
Teen Services Librarian
Hancock County Public Library
Greenfield, IN
We use a courier service to deliver books to schools in the county. We are a county-wide library and teachers can call, email, or fax requests to us for a collection. They may want 50 books on frogs or a collection of 150 biographies, etc. The request goes to the associated department and they fill the request. The books are put in plastic tubs, noted what school they're going to, and then the courier picks them up and delivers them to the schools. Each courier trip costs $15 and my library eats the cost. When the teacher is done, she/he calls and lets us know and then we arrange for the courier to do a pick-up and deliver the tubs back to us.
Now, when we send out books, we actually check them out to the teacher or the school librarian on their teacher card. They can have extended loans with these cards. They are, however, responsible for all of the materials and any fines associated with the materials. This hasn't been truly successful and we do end up waiving a lot of fines.
Teachers do utilize the service and I do think circ stats go up because of it. In any given month I usually send out 3-4 collections, usually about 20 items.
Hope this helps, feel free to ask any questions.

Large, Systemwide Initiatives

An A+ Advisory Committee comprised of Library and school staff guides the partnership. The committee meets

bi-monthly to review partnership activities, discuss school and Library goals, and develop future initiatives.

Each school is assigned to a Library branch and connected with a Library liason, who communicates with the media specialist and other school faculty.

The Library develops curriculum-related classes and promotes them to teachers and PTAs at Back to School nights and other events throughout the year. Library instructors teach these classes in the schools and Library branches.

Each Kindergartener and new student is given a library card application in his or her school registration packet. The application is completed with school forms and returned to the school, where personnel forward the application to the Library. Library cards are mailed to students at their homes.

Title of Program: Education Initiative
Type of Program: Large, Systemwide Initiatives
Age level: Elementary and secondary (K-12)
Description of Program: In 2000, the King County Library System in Washington State established the Education Initiative in order to work with school libraries to help students achieve academic success. An Education Coordinator was hired to establish partnerships with the 18 school districts in the service area and to serve as a liaison between school librarians and youth librarians in the 42 branch libraries. At the center of the Initiative is the personal connection between the school librarian and public youth librarian. Each school is assigned to the closest community library. The Education Initiative supports an annual 2nd grade library card distribution, regular school visits by youth librarians to provide online database demonstrations, give book talks and promote reading incentive and summer
reading programs and other presentations as requested by school staff. Programs for Black History Month, Poetry Month and author presentations held in schools ensure a large audience of students, many of whom become aware of public library resources for the first time. Schools often can't afford to have these programs and are very enthusiastic about the curricular support. Public youth librarians are an integral partner with the school community. In the library, tutors offer help with homework and special student areas are provided. Organized lists of recommended websites on homework topics and online databases support the curriculum. Live online homework help draws large numbers of students. An electronic newsletter is sent five times a year to every school librarian in the area to spread the word about new resources and upcoming events.
Contact Information:
Barbara Carmody, Education Services Coordinator
King County Library System
960 Newport Way NW
Issaquah, WA 98027
425-369-3324
bacarmody@kcls.org

Library Card Campaigns

Title of Program: Carroll County Public Library and Carroll County Public Schools Partnership Kindergarten Library Card Campaign
Type of Program: Library Card Campaigns
Age level: Primary
Description of Program: Carroll County Public Library offers all county kindergarten students an opportunity to receive a free library card during a class visit to their branch library to attend an age-appropriate, literature based puppet show. In partnership with Carroll County Public Schools, we are able to reach children and their parents to make them aware of the library in their area, provide access for children through their cards and promote the enjoyment of reading and library services.
Kindergarten teachers schedule a spring visit to their local branch to attend the original puppet show presented by CCPL staff. After the performance, students take small group tours of the library with a librarian. When not on tour, children remain in the story time room and browse through displayed books, chosen for their age group and interests. Teachers and chaperones assist each child by writing a list, which the child takes home, of the books they would like to check out when they return to the library with their parents.
Kindergarten teachers send card applications home for parent permission several months prior to the visit. Library cards are ready for the teachers on the day of their visit, along with a bookmark thanking parents for "giving the gift of reading" to their child and branch information.
Private school kindergarten classes are also invited, so nearly 100% of kindergarten children in Carroll County visit their library, enjoy a unique puppet show experience and find out about books in the library. As a result of this campaign, 80 - 85% of all kindergarten children in Carroll County are library card holders each year.
Contact Information:
Brenda Conaway
Westminster Library
50 East Main Street
Westminster, MD. 21157
410-386-4490 Ext. 729

Last fall, Dr. Jose Torres, superintendent of Illinois School District U-46, walked into an elementary classroom. A young smiling boy made eye contact with him. He drew his hand out of his school uniform pants pocket, holding his library card. Dr. Torres smiled back as he showed his own library card. One of the district's youngest students and its highest administrator bonded about the importance of having a library card. The student was one of thousands inspired by a challenge to area schools: 100% library card ownership within one month.

This effort actually started in August of 2008 when the state's second largest school district that serves over 40,000 students welcomed this new superintendent. A super library supporter, he agreed to be the face of September's Gail Borden's Library Card Sign-up Campaign. Card registration increased 10% over the previous September. Everyone agreed that the momentum couldn't end and the challenge was borne for October with the goal of 100% library card ownership in all U-46 schools. Gail Borden recruited five other public libraries that served U-46 students to join the effort and all stops were pulled out to maximize use of press, media, e-marketing and word-of-mouth buzz.

Press releases sent to the media resulted in stories headlined "Proud to carry a library card" and "Library card comeback." Dr. Torres urged principals to encourage teachers and students to participate. Some schools ran their own marketing campaign. Sycamore Trails Elementary School displayed pictures of students holding library cards with the caption "Got Card?" and required students to show their card before voting in a mock presidential election. The school achieved 100% library card sign-up before the end of the month. School officials all motivated their students to not only get a card, but to use it.

The Dr. Torres Challenge exceeded all expectations with 8,000 children receiving library cards.

The Gail Borden Library District covers over 60 square miles, reaching a diverse multicultural community. By 2030, that population is expected to grow to 170,000. A majority of the 41,000 children in Illinois School District U-46 represent minorities and low-income households. Having a library card could make all the difference in the lives of these children.

Title of Program: Great Library Card Adventure/Get Carded
Type of Program: Library Card Campaigns
Age level: Elementary & secondary
Description of Program: The Great Library Card Adventure is a library card campaign for kindergarten classrooms in Multnomah County, presented by the Multnomah County Library School Corps. Although we usually run the campaign kindergarten classrooms, every few years we extend the campaign to all K-5 students. (All K-5 students are able to apply for cards during any Great Library Card Adventure campaign, but during most years, the contest is for the kindergarten classrooms only.) We want every student, faculty and staff member in the county to have a Multnomah County Library card. We send letters to school principals and library staff inviting them to join the campaign, and we send kits with posters, applications, and instructions to those who join. After returning the applications, teachers receive a drink coupon from Starbucks. Students (both those who already had cards and those who get them through the program) receive Great Library Card Adventure stickers. Kindergarten classrooms with 100% of the students signed up for library cards are entered in a drawing to win one of three collections of age-appropriate fiction and non-fiction books for their classroom. Classes with 100% of students signed up that do not win a book collection will receive a gift certificate to a local bookstore. URL: http://www.multcolib.org/schoolcorps/glca.html
Get Carded! is a library card campaign for middle and high schools students. We have done this campaign twice since 1997. We send letters to school principals and library staff inviting them to join the campaign, and we send kits with posters, applications, and instructions to those who join. School return tally sheets to us with the numbers of students who already had cards, and the applications of those who are applying. All students and teachers who participate in the program (whether they already had cards or applied them) received a card with discount offers from local businesses.
Contact Information:
Jackie Partch
School Corps Team Leader
Multnomah County Library
205 NE Russell, Portland, OR 97212
503.988.6004
jacquelp@multcolib.org

Title of Program: PowerCard Committee
Type of Program: Library Card Campaigns, Summer Reading Programs
Age level: Elementary & Secondary
Description of Program: The Schools and Public Libraries in Palm Beach County, Florida have a partnership called the PowerCard Committee. It is 6 years old.
The PowerCard mission is to encourage children and their families to develop a love of reading, learning and libraries. Because of the work of this group, all students in Palm Beach County Schools can get free library cards at their choice of 15 county and 7 city libraries. This provides students access to combined library collections of approximately 2 million items to help with their school assignments.
PowerCard sponsors an annual library card campaign in September through contests in the schools and public libraries with incentives provided by local businesses. We've even been able to make sure that a library card is included on the school supply list. Right now we're working on our yearly Summer Reading Program promotion. Students will view in their classrooms a video created by the committee advertising Read Across Florida (our Summer theme). Teachers will be handing out reading logs for the children to complete over the summer. These were also created by the PowerCard committee and the libraries will use the same one. So there is one unified program for both the libraries and the school system.
Why is PowerCard Important? It's building new bridges of cooperation in the community to support literacy and ultimately to see our students succeed in school. Palm Beach County libraries and school district have developed partnerships with the Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition; Children's Service Council and other local agencies.
Contact Information:
Wendy Rosenfeld
Youth Services Coordinator
Palm Beach County Library System
3650 Summit Blvd.
West Palm Beach, Florida 33406-4198
Tel. 561-233-2745
FAX 561-233-2627

Library Cards for Educators/Schools

Public Library Visits to Schools

The first visit, I demonstrated Bloom's Literary Reference Online and several "Power Library" databases supplied by the PA Commonwealth Library, including AP Images, Student Resource Center, EBSCO Health Source and Brodart's Dartclix (a database of Web sites).

The second visit, I demonstrated Novelist and booktalked several titles from each library's collection. The third visit, I demonstrated Grove's Art and had some "hoax" photographs for the students to determine which were fake and which were real.

At the end of the school year, I plan to return to promote the summer reading program. We have also gotten permission to send flyers home with the students about the program. (A first.)

We also have a copy of all of the textbooks being used throughout the school district in our reference collection. Students who have forgotten a book can come to the library to use it. Some students regularly copy the pages for their assignments so they don't have to carry their books. Home school parents use them as well.

The benefits: Laurie and I are developing a great working relationship. I recognize students who come into the library and they recognize me. The teachers are more aware of the public library's resources. The use of our online resources has increased dramatically. As a result, our board established a separate line item for databases and authorized us to purchase World Book Online.

The idea of collaborating with the schools can be overwhelming. Starting with simple, focused programs will get both parties involved and who knows where it will grow from there. Laurie and I are talking about a one book one school program in the future.

Overdrive Audio books have been added to our collection. I visit the high schools to demonstrate how to use the program and download audio books to MP3 players or iPods. I also give a presentation to low readers about the various types of library materials that may be of interest to them such as audio books, DVDs, magazines, online resources and books, DK publications, high-interest non-fiction, graphic novels, etc.

At the end of the school year, I visit the schools to promote summer reading activities. Over the summer, students can earn extra credit by participating in approved school or community activities. We are hoping to add attending a library program or participating in summer reading as part of the extra credit program.
Contact Information:
Linda L. Homa, Reference Librarian
Public Library of Union County
255 Reitz Blvd.
Lewisburg, PA 17837
570-523-1172
reference@publibuc.org

BLAST has received financial support from a number of foundations in the Pittsburgh area, and is currently supported by the library, EITC funding ( Educational Improvement Tax Credit funds), and the Pittsburgh Public Schools. For the first five years of the program, BLAST was evaluated by Dr. Rita Bean at the University of Pittsburgh. The programs goals are to: enhance the reading attitudes and abilities of third grade students, provide equitable access to public library resources and materials, and increase the visibility of Carnegie Library in the elementary schools. The success of the third grade program led one of the foundations to seek expansion of the program into a rural community library. After two successful years the rural library was able to seek local funding to continue the program.

Title of Program: Linn Library League Summer Reading Program
Type of Program: Summer Reading Programs and Lists, Public Library Visits to Schools
Age level: N/A
Description of Program: Linn Library League is a volunteer group of Linn County residents who want to bring high-quality, publicly funded library service to everyone in Linn County. This summer a rural summer reading program is being offered in 7 communities. Five programs will be offered in school libraries--four are public schools and one is a charter school. The funding for our program comes from the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the Oregon State Library.
Contact Information:
May Garland
(503) 394-3696
garlandm@smt-net.com
Linda Ziedrich
(503) 394-3643
ziedrich@smt-net.com

Title of Program: SWIFT (Student Web Instruction for Teachers)
Type of Program: Public Library Visits to Schools
Age level: Secondary
Description of Program: SWIFT is a partnership between Hennepin County Library and area secondary schools dedicated to improving online research skills among students and teachers. Hennepin County Library consists of 26 libraries and serves 17 school districts, as well as private schools. Through classroom visits and staff development workshops, SWIFT works to teach students and teachers to use Hennepin County Library's online resources,
such as TeenLinks, to access databases, selected Web sites, and the library catalog. SWIFT also works to promote information literacy by teaching students and teachers how to effectively locate and evaluate internet sources on a specific topic. Our Web site is www.hclib.org/ToolboxForTeachers.
Contact Information:
Cyndi Webster
Eden Prairie Youth Services Librarian & SWIFT Project Manager for Hennepin County Libraries
(Student Web Instruction for Teachers)
565 Prairie Center Dr.
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
Phone: (952)847-5376
Voice Mail: (952)847-5386
Fax: (952)847-5377

Contact was made with the New Castle Transit Authority to arrange for their trolley to come to the library that day to provide trolley rides to children and parents attending the program. When contacted, local downtown businessman Tom George provided free parking to all who attended the program and Eat 'n Park Restaurant provided us with their famous "smile" coookies to give to the children.

During the three week period for the sweater drive, we received sweaters not only from individuals but also from local churches, and one of our biggest contributors proved to be the employees at Liberty Mutual Insurance Company who contributed over 200 sweaters to our drive.

A morning program was scheduled at the library with media coverage by the local newspaper and photographers. Representatives from the Lawrence County Crisis Center were on hand for the presentation by Mr. McFeely of over 30 boxes - 427 sweaters - collected.

We also contacted the Pre-K coordinator, Sandy Graham, and did another program for the Pre-K classes in the New Castle Area School District. Once again, we provided story times on the trolley and a short trolley ride for over 130 children.

During all of our story times that day, children received a free book, a personalized autographed picture of Mr. McFeely, and the opportunity to spend one-on-one time with him. We also provided chalk drawing outside and Mister Rogers coloring pages inside for the children as they waited to talk to Mr. McFeely or ride the trolley.

The program was extremely successful and well-received, not only by the children but also by parents. Our visit to the school was also appreciated; the administration expressed their gratitude several times regarding our continuing efforts to include them in special library events, and tentative plans have already been made to promote more of the library programs in the schools.

What started out as a story time and sweater drive resulted in a cooperative effort among our library, private business, and the City of New Castle to provide a memorable day for our community and also to be a good neighbor to the clients of the local women's shelter. In fact, that's what our program was called: "Welcome to the Neighborhood."
Contact Information:
Susan Morgan
New Castle Public Library
207 E. North St.
New Castle, PA 16101
724-658-6659, x107
smorgan@ncdlc.org

- Website Introduction: we teach students to navigate the Library District website focusing on homework help, online tutors and tests, ordering library materials, emedia, and getting a library card.

- Nevada Reading Week Classroom Visits: Let us visit your Elementary classroom and share stories, information about the library, and the joy of reading when you celebrate Nevada Reading Week.

- Summer Reading Assemblies or Classroom visits: Reading during summer break helps kids keep their skills fresh. Let us get kids fired up about reading all summer long as we explain the Library District's Summer Reading Program.

- Third Grade Wallet Visits: we can visit your 3rd grade classroom to share stories, booktalks and information about the public library. Third grade students receive the state Library Card Wallet with a special greeting from the Governor and encouragement to sign up for their own library card.

- We are also available for: Family Nights, Literacy Events, Career Days, College Fairs and other school events we can staff an information table or create a custom presentation to fit your needs.
Contact Information:
Mary Nelson Brown
Youth Services Coordinator
833 Las Vegas Blvd. N.
Las Vegas, NV 89101
(702) 507-3596
brownm at lvccld.org

Publicity (including newsletters)

Title of Program: Discover@PWPLS: An E-Mail Newsletter for Educators
Type of Program: Publicity (including newsletters)
Age level: Adult
Description of Program: Discover@PWPLS is an e-mail newsletter designed especially for educators! Discover is designed to be a brief overview of changes or additions to the web based resources and services offered by the public library system. Three times a year, you will receive a 1 to 2 page update, delivered directly to your e-mail address! Discover is free! You can subscribe or unsubscribe at any time! Sample copy: Prince William County Newsletter (PDF)
Contact Information:
Prince William Public Library System
http://www.pwcgov.org/library

Title of Program: E-Resource News
Type of Program: Publicity (including newsletters)
Age level: Elementary & secondary, adult
Description of Program: A newsletter with resources for teacher-librarians, teachers and students. Sample copy: DeKalb County Newsletter
Contact Information:
DeKalb County Public Library
www.dekalblibrary.org

Title of Program: Teacher Connection: A Newsletter from the Youth Services Department of the Lake Villa District Library
Type of Program: Publicity (including newsletters)
Age level: Elementary & secondary
Description of Program: Published once a quarter, Teacher Connection is full of information on how the Library can help you and your students. You'll find: Information on upcoming Library programs and initiatives; a regular column by Kerry Reed, Head of Youth Services; updates on teacher services such as Classroom Connection bags; and other useful information about Library resources.
Contact Information:
Elisa Gueffie
847-356-7711, ext. 242

School Visits to the Public Library

Title of Program: Cooperative Summer Reading Program
Type of Program: Summer Reading Programs and Lists, School Visits to the Public Library
Age level: Elementary
Description of Program: Newport Public Library and Yaquina View Elementary School in Newport, Oregon, have been running a cooperative Summer Reading program for three years. The Title I (Reading Recovery) program at Yaquina View School has used USDE grant monies to pay for teaching staff. This is how the program works:
The library's summer reading program meets once a week on Wednesday afternoons. The school program meets at the same time in the library with the students attending the program. Both before and after the program the teaching staff meets with students for one-on-one and small group reading instruction. About 40 children participate in the school program and another 100+ participate in the library program.
This cooperative program has introduced the library to many families who would not otherwise be using it in the summer (or any other time). The students participate in the reading rewards part of the library program as well and, for many of them, it is the first opportunity to recieve the same recognition that the "normal reader" kids get.
The school staff have been tracking the testing results of their students and statistics show students involved in the summer reading program actually gain skills over the summer.
Both library and school staff are very happy with this program and hope to continue it indefinitely.
Contact Information:
Rebecca Cohen
Newport Public Library
Newport, Oregon
storyweaver@newportlibrary.org

Title of Program: N/A
Type of Program: School Visits to the Public Library, Public Library Visits to Schools
Age level: Elementary (Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade)
Description of Program: We have a successful program with our elementary schools that has been running for three years. On Thursday morning of each week the school buses a different 1st grade class to the library. We have volunters come and read to the children and then they are allowed to check out books that will be due the next time they come back (usually about a 1 month time period). On Friday morning they bus the 2nd grade students for the same program. We follow their character traits theme for the month. One Thursday a month one of the staff goes to the Kindergarten classes and reads to the students. This program insures that every 1st and 2nd grade student has a library card. There is no cost to the library as we already have our staff and the school buses the children. Organizations donate funds each year to purchase new books for the 1st and 2nd graders.
Contact Information:
Carol Brentlinger
Palmyra Bicentennial Public Library
573-769-2830
pbpl@nemonet.com

Title of Program: Oakland Elementary Night at the Public Library
Type of Program: School Visits to the Public Library
Age level: Elementary
Description of Program: One type of program that has worked well for me is "Oakland Elementary Night at the Public Library" or "Green Elementary Night at the Public Library". I have done this with two public schools after getting to know the school librarian. As the public librarian, I give a bilingual orientation and tour to my library and then a storytime together with the school librarian. I usually provide snacks and we encourage and expect families to sign their youngsters up for library cards.
The challenging part is the building of a relationship with the school librarian. Turnover is great in public schools in Fort Worth. It has taken me almost three years to build a relationship with these two schools because of it and even after having successful programs the next year is unpredictable if there is a new administrator who does not place a high priority on this type of partnership (many administrators have tunnel vision solely focused on testing, testing, testing!)
Contact Information:
Desiree Fairooz
Youth Librarian
East Berry Branch Library
Fort Worth Public Library

The public librarians also visit two other elementary schools (one is K-2, and the other is K-4). Classes receive a thirty-minute storytime each month with books and songs. The public library also has the opportunity to promote library programs (including summer reading).

The relationship with area schools in the elementary and middle grades have been great, and the library is working to expand the program to area high schools in the future.
Name of Contact Person: Jennifer Buch
Title of Contact Person: Youth Services Supervisor
School/Library Name: Port Clinton City Schools & Danbury School/Ida Rupp Public Library
Mailing Address: 310 Madison Street, Port Clinton, OH 43452
Phone: (419) 732-3212
Email Address: buchje@oplin.org
URL of Library: http://www.idarupp.org

Special Events

Title of Program: Books to Treasure
Type of Program: Special Events
Age level: Second grade
Description of Program: "Books to Treasure" is the Tulsa City-County Library's annual celebration of National Children's Book Week. The event encourages families to read aloud, and promotes the beauty of children's book illustration. An illustrator is invited to Tulsa to visit second graders at a private school, a Tulsa Public School, and an outlying school district's school. An evening talk and book signing is held at a public library.
During the fall, a second grade library card signup is conducted. Those who apply get a library card illustrated by the guest illustrator. In September, teacher workshops are held to showcase the Books to Treasure web site which has an illustrator biography, related web sites, and lesson plans written by public and school librarians. Examples of the lessons are presented at the workshops. Refreshments and door prizes are provided.
Each second grader in Tulsa County receives a paperback book illustrated by our guest, an effort to create lifelong readers if they aren't already.
Our maintenance crew delivers books, posters, bookmarks & bookplates to the large school districts and the elementary schools in small districts. Our children's librarians deliver materials to the private schools.
The whole program is funded by the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation. Anne Zarrow was a teacher and the Zarrow family is a huge supporter of schools and libraries.

Contact Information:
Lana Voss, Children's Department Manager
Tulsa City-County Library
Central Library
400 Civic Center
Tulsa, OK 74103
918-596-7973
lvoss@tulsalibrary.org

Date: 06/17/09
Title of Program: Booksicals-Encouraging the Love of Reading Through the Arts
Type of Program: Special Events
Intended Grade Level of Participants: Preschool-Grade 2
Description of Program: Booksicals on stage literacy program ( http://www.booksicals.com) and the Robertson Branch Los Angeles Public Library put on an afterschool musical performance of the picture book Too Many Visitors for One Little House (by Susan Chodakiewitz, illustrations by Veronica Walsh) for pre-school through second grade school students on June 2, 2009.

Booksicals brought the Booksicals Repertory Company to perform the new picture book with author and illustrator participation. The students got to interact with the author and experience a live musical performance of the book by the Booksicals Repertory Company. After the show they greeted the characters and asked questions. Students also had an opportunity to purchase the book and get it signed by either author or character.

Emails and information about the program were sent to the local public and private schools in the area. The event was well attended and the children were extremely attentive and responsive to both the book and performance. Afterwards, parents sent emails praising the event and describing children who repeatedly asked for the books to be read to them at home.

This was a literacy-promoting event. Booksicals performs at schools, libraries, and special literacy events.
Name of Contact Person: Carol Duan
Title of Contact Person: Librarian
School/Library Name: Robertson Library
Mailing Address: 1719 South Robertson Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90035
Phone: (310) 840-2147

Title of Program: Breakfast with School Librarians
Type of Program: Special Events
Age level: Adult
Description of Program: We invited all the school librarians and the teachers we know best from our 14 partner schools to stop in at Bayside between 8:30 and 9:30 this morning for coffee & a library orientation. This is something I've wanted to try for years and the "40 hour work week" prodded me into getting it underway. I'm writing to let you know how it went.
We had representation from 3 schools - a teacher from one elementary, 2 librarians from another, and the secretary from a middle school. We also had many librarians call to explain that they couldn't get away to come - the principals had called meetings. (The secretary was sent by the librarian in her place.)
I am naturally disappointed in the turnout, but the 4 who came gave us an opportunity for personal contact. The 2 school librarians didn't arrive till 9:30, but they had a particular problem with their library being renovated and their teachers being irresponsible, so we talked till 10. Additionally, those who called at least know we want to be supportive. So, it was worth doing, though another time we'll try something different.
We had refreshments, an assortment of our handouts, an assortment of weeded posters, and tours for our guests. But, mostly, it was the personal contact and affirmation that mattered.
Contact Information:
Carolyn Caywood, MSLS
Bayside Library & Special Services
936 Independence Blvd.
Virginia Beach, VA 23455
757-460-7518
fax757-464-6741
http://VBgov.com/libraries ccaywood@vbgov.com

This year marks the sixth year that we have partnered with the students and teachers. The English teachers and I feel it is a very successful program. F D Campbell Memorial Library pays for the postage and the ceremony. It is a very simple and cost effective program and could be replicated easily anywhere.
Contact Information:
Jean Workman, library director
F D Campbell Memorial Library
P O Box 666
Bessemer, PA 16112
724-667-7939
read_books@hotmail.com

Date: 07-17-09
Title of Program: Joint MSLA/MLA Legislation Day at the State House
Type of Program: Special Events
Intended Grade Level of Participants: Preschool - Grade 12
Description of Program: Members of the Massachusetts School Library Association (MSLA) and the Massachusetts Library Association (MLA) have held two successfully lobbying days at the State House in Boston.

Name of Contact Person: Kathy Lowe
Title of Contact Person: Executive Director
School/Library Name: Massachusetts School Library Association
Mailing Address: PO Box 658, Lunenburg, MA 01462
Phone: (978) 582-6967
Email Address: klowe@maschoollibraries.org
Citation for any presentation(s) or article(s) reflecting partnership: http://maschoolibraries.org/content/view/644/320/

Title of Program: Partners in Education
Type of Program: Special Events
Age level: Middle school
Description of Program: Goal: To improve educational opportunities by increasing access to research and other educational materials.
The Partner will: Permit use of field guides to identify science collections, provide instruction in the use of the computerized catalog of the public library, provide display space for student work in the library, furnish materials from Federal and State agencies, display posters to encourage student reading, and engage in a special lending agreement through the school librarian.
The School will: Provide student art work for display in the Bayside Library, make library aware of upcoming subject areas to be studied in the classroom, offer performances (band, chorus, orchestra, theater, etc.) at the library that would be open to the public.
Contact Information:
Carolyn Caywood, MSLS
Bayside Library & Special Services
936 Independence Blvd.
Virginia Beach, VA 23455
757-460-7518
fax757-464-6741
ccaywood@vbgov.com

Title of Program: Professional Development Partnership
Type of Program: Special Events
Age level: Adult
Description of Program: Library Connections, a grant-funded program working with schools in the Archdiocese of New York actively collaborates with New York Public Library to promote the use of the public library to faculty and students in the 32 schools in the program. (We also promote the public library to other schools throughout the diocese. We ensure that our professional development program takes advantage of public library resources and personnel.)
Examples include:
We held 2 programs at our 2004 Library Connections Summer Institute on Children's and YA book Talks, given by New York Public Library staff members.
We arranged to hold 3 workshops during the 2004-2005 school year on book selection at the major children's collection in each borough. Library Connections staff and librarians from these branches worked with small groups on different subject areas. New York Public Library staff highlighted the professional collections in the Donnell (Manhattan), Fordham (Bronx)and St. George (Staten Island)branches. Faculty members (librarians, classroom teachers, computer teachers, and administrators were at each workshop. They were also able to get library cards during the programs.
Using our Intranet Portal (for Library Connections schools) and e-mails to all Catholic school principals in the New York Public Library service area, we publicize the monthly CLASP (Connecting Libraries and Schools Project) teacher programs given at Donnell.
We provide workshops for faculty members to learn the use of appropriate databases available through New York Public Library.
We encourage all Library Connections schools to make contact with their branches to arrange for students to get library cards, schedule class visits to the local library branches and invite the public librarians to make visits to the school.
Contact Information:
Melinda Greenblatt
Library Connections,Archdiocese of New York
1011 First Ave., 14th Fl.
New York, NY 10022
212-371-1011, ext. 3367
melinda.greenblatt@archny.org

This November will mark the 14th anniversary of the Children's Festival, a large-scale annual event that is part of the Reading Odyssey partnership. In addition to the Children's Festival, other activities take place each year, such as the Hats Off Festival and the Reading Carnival. These activities incorporate a variety of activity booths, crafts, and entertainment shows, focused on exposing children to the love of reading.

Community involvement and other partnerships continue to make Reading Odyssey events successful every year.

Title of Program: Tall Trees Programs
Type of Program: Special Events
Age level: Elementary & Secondary
Description of Program: We in Fairfield County were also beneficiaries of the Reader's Digest largesse. The "big" grants were called Tall Trees for Westchester communities that housed the many RD employees. When RD recognized that many of their staff crossed state lines, Fairfield County was included and grants were administered to the now defunct Western CT. Library Council. (Thanks, now resigned in shame Gov. John Rowland who slashed the budget big time.) The grants were for $1500 which could be split any way the school and public library deemed appropriate. The Bridgeport Public Library received about seven of these over a 3 year period. Collaborations included "P.I.E. Partners in Education" for parents of children in a K-1 classroom at one of our worst schools. Storytelling for 7th graders, Book Buddy programs between 5th and 1st graders, a book discussion club, and a reading program in the school not unlike most public library summer programs. Another one was about Bridgeport history and we included a tour of our Historical Collections and a workshop/concert with the CT State Troubador.
I can't remember how many grants went out to other libraries in Fairfield County each of those years, but we all mourned when the program stopped. The ties with the schools continue, some intermittently and some with great regularity. All in all, the grants were wonderful not only for their creative projects and needed collaborations which evolved, but also for their ease of planning and reporting. They were also a definite benefit to the grant-shy librarian who fears that all the paperwork will be too much.
Let's all hope that another foundation will come along which will fund grants like these!
Contact Information:
Bina Williams
Bridgeport Public Library
Bridgeport CT
bwilliams@brdgprtpl.lib.ct.us

Date: 06/18/09
Title of Program: Tween Visionaries
Type of Program: Special Events
Intended Grade Level of Participants: Grades 6-8
Description of Program: The Frederick County Public Libraries and Frederick County Public Schools created a collaborative Web 2.0 project targeted to middle school students. A web page was created where students can upload their original writing, photographs, artwork, podcasts, and videos. The students need to register at the public library or their school library. Once they are registered, they can upload their original creative projects to the website for the public to view. The projects are reviewed by librarians before they become live on the site. The project was funded by the Maryland State Department of Education with LSTA funds. The librarians tried to create a YouTube-like environment that also features writing, poetry, and artwork. The students' projects can be seen at http://www.tweenvisionaries.org.
Name of Contact Person: Sandra L. Doggett
Title of Contact Person: Supervisor of Library Media
School/Library Name: Frederick County Public Schools
Mailing Address: 7630 Hayward Road, Frederick, MD 21702
Phone: (301) 644-5134

Title of Program: Various
Type of Program: Special Events
Age level: Secondary (Middle school, high school and college)
Description of Program: I am part of a trio of librarians who have done several collaborative programs over the past year with schools, the public library and an academic library. I am a subject/outreach librarian at Valley Library, Oregon State University, Bryan Miyagishima is the librarian at Philomath High School, and Andrew Cherbas is the outreach librarian at Corvallis-Benton County Public Library. Here's a list of the programs we've worked on since last September:
-Senior Seminar at Philomath High School (all three of us) - advising students working on their senior projects
-Seminar for a middle school class working on science fair projects (Andrew and I) -"Researching IFO's (Identified Flying Objects) (all three of us) - a upcoming summer Saturday Academy class for 9-12th graders offered through university outreach. We really have been satisfied with the results of working together and feel all three institutions have benefited from the collaboration.
Contact Information:
Susan Goodson
Science Librarian, Valley Library
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97331
541-737-7301
susan.goodson@oregonstate.edu

Summer Reading Programs and Lists

Title of Program: Cooperative Summer Reading Program
Type of Program: Summer Reading Programs and Lists, School Visits to the Public Library
Age level: Elementary
Description of Program: Newport Public Library and Yaquina View Elementary School in Newport, Oregon, have been running a cooperative Summer Reading program for three years. The Title I (Reading Recovery) program at Yaquina View School has used USDE grant monies to pay for teaching staff. This is how the program works:
The library's summer reading program meets once a week on Wednesday afternoons. The school program meets at the same time in the library with the students attending the program. Both before and after the program the teaching staff meets with students for one-on-one and small group reading instruction. About 40 children participate in the school program and another 100+ participate in the library program.
This cooperative program has introduced the library to many families who would not otherwise be using it in the summer (or any other time). The students participate in the reading rewards part of the library program as well and, for many of them, it is the first opportunity to recieve the same recognition that the "normal reader" kids get.
The school staff have been tracking the testing results of their students and statistics show students involved in the summer reading program actually gain skills over the summer.
Both library and school staff are very happy with this program and hope to continue it indefinitely.
Contact Information:
Rebecca Cohen
Newport Public Library
Newport, Oregon
storyweaver@newportlibrary.org

Title of Program: Linn Library League Summer Reading Program
Type of Program: Summer Reading Programs and Lists, Public Library Visits to Schools
Age level: N/A
Description of Program: Linn Library League is a volunteer group of Linn County residents who want to bring high-quality, publicly funded library service to everyone in Linn County. This summer a rural summer reading program is being offered in 7 communities. Five programs will be offered in school libraries--four are public schools and one is a charter school. The funding for our program comes from the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the Oregon State Library.
Contact Information:
May Garland
(503) 394-3696
garlandm@smt-net.com

Title of Program: N/A
Type of Program: Summer Reading Programs and Lists
Age level: N/A
Description of Program: For our summer library program we contact the schools and ask them to offer incentives for kids who finish the summer library program. Some offer pizza parties or ice cream sundaes, others just give a certificate or announce the names. One school gives each child a free book. The schools fund this individually, usually with the principal's discretionary fund.
Contact Information:
Deborah L. Dubois
Children's Outreach Librarian
Mansfield/Richland County Public Library
deborah_dubois@freenet.richland.oh.us

Title of Program: PowerCard Committee
Type of Program: Library Card Campaigns, Summer Reading Programs
Age level: Elementary & Secondary
Description of Program: The Schools and Public Libraries in Palm Beach County, Florida have a partnership called the PowerCard Committee. It is 6 years old.
The PowerCard mission is to encourage children and their families to develop a love of reading, learning and libraries. Because of the work of this group, all students in Palm Beach County Schools can get free library cards at their choice of 15 county and 7 city libraries. This provides students access to combined library collections of approximately 2 million items to help with their school assignments.
PowerCard sponsors an annual library card campaign in September through contests in the schools and public libraries with incentives provided by local businesses. We've even been able to make sure that a library card is included on the school supply list. Right now we're working on our yearly Summer Reading Program promotion. Students will view in their classrooms a video created by the committee advertising Read Across Florida (our Summer theme). Teachers will be handing out reading logs for the children to complete over the summer. These were also created by the PowerCard committee and the libraries will use the same one. So there is one unified program for both the libraries and the school system.
Why is PowerCard Important? It's building new bridges of cooperation in the community to support literacy and ultimately to see our students succeed in school. Palm Beach County libraries and school district have developed partnerships with the Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition; Children's Service Council and other local agencies.
Contact Information:
Wendy Rosenfeld
Youth Services Coordinator
Palm Beach County Library System
3650 Summit Blvd.
West Palm Beach, Florida 33406-4198
Tel. 561-233-2745
FAX 561-233-2627

Title of Program: Summer Reading Club
Type of Program: Summer Reading Programs and Lists
Age level: Secondary (middle and high school)
Description of Program: We launch our Summer Reading Club in the schools during National Library Week with booktalks, author visits, giveaways, and displays.
Contact Information:
tgermano@suffolk.lib.ny.us

Tutoring/Student Success Programs

Title of Program: Early Reading First
Type of Program: Tutoring/Student Success Programs
Age level: Elementary (Pre-K), Head Start
Description of Program: The Montgomery County Public Library is a Partner to the Montgomery County Public School Early Reading First (ERF) Grant program.The purpose of the Grant is to enhance the Pre-K and Head Start classes so they better prepare children for reading in Kindergarten.
In the schools, the Grant involves five elementary schools and two daycare centers. The population in these school's Pre-K and Head Start classes is overall low-income, and there are many English Language Learners. The program utilizes a preschool curriculum from Scholastic and introduces the practices of dialogic reading, flooding the classrooms with books, "enhanced literacy play" and a program for "scaffolded" writing. Each school has an experienced Pre-K teacher who acts as Mentor to the 3 to 5 Pre-K, Head Start and PEP (preschool education preparation) classes at that school.
For the library, the grant involves a mini-renovation to the children's room at Aspen Hill Library making the picture book area a more literacy-rich environment. The grant also includes a staff person. That's me, Susan Modak, I started at Aspen Hill Library in February, 2004.
For two years before that, Montgomery County Public Libraries staff from the Library Director to the Early Childhood Specialists to Aspen Hill's Agency Manager and Head of Children's Services (past and present), and others worked on the vision and the grant application.
Since February, I've visited each of the ERF classrooms for a story time. This allowed the teachers to introduce a special visitor/reader from the library and for me to meet the children and the teachers, see the class settings and gauge the children's language abilities.
In May and June, the seventeen ERF classes visited the library. While visiting, the class groups had a tour (picture book area, ask-the-librarian-a-question, summer reading program display, videos, books in Spanish), a short story-time and time to choose a book. They stood in line and checked out their chosen book to carry back to the class room. Feedback from the teachers was very positive and reflected that the children enjoyed the stories and most enjoyed having the chance to choose a book and check it out. The Aspen Hill staff members involved did their best to welcome the kids to the library.
At the end of June, I presented a program for parents called "Read with Me/Lee Conmigo" offering suggestions for how the library can support the parent's efforts to help their children learn to read. The program was held at the community center in the low-income housing complex nearby and was attended by eight mothers. In addition to the program, the attendees could also pick from a selection of library brochures.
While working on the desk in the children's room, I actively publicize the library's preschool programming and the school's Head Start and Pre-Kindergarten opportunities to the parents of likely-looking customers (anyone who is roughly preschool age). Someone from the Head Start office dropped off a bi-lingual flyer today and I've posted it at several places around the library, including in the Adult Spanish book area.
Contact Information:
Susan Modak
Montgomery County (MD) Public Libraries
Outreach Librarian, Aspen Hill Library
4407 Aspen Hill Road
Rockville, Maryland 20853
301-871-0458
Susan.Modak@montgomerycountymd.gov

Title of Program: Read Aloud: Dog Days at Your Library
Type of Program: Tutoring/Student Success Programs
Age level: Elementary (K-6th grade)
Description of Program: "Read Aloud: Dog Days at your Library" was funded by an LSTA grant to help children who read below grade level improve their reading skills and gain self-confidence by reading aloud to a Certified Therapy Dog, who is also a Certified R.E.A.D. (Reading Education Assistance Dogs) and the dog's owner.
Each session is 20 to 30 minutes where one child reads to one dog one day a week for four weeks. The maximum time for one dog to spend being read to is two hours. At the end of each session the child choose a hardback book as a reward that they can take home and keep. The R.E.A.D. dog "pawtographs" the book.
Ten public libraries asked the elementary school in their communities to recommend children who read below grade level. The dog teams (the dog and the dog's owner) held the session at either the public library or in the school building. The public librarian selected books from the public library collection for the children to choose from to read to the dog. The school arranged the time for the students to be away from their class to participate in the program. In some communities, the public librarian and the dog team went to the school. In other communities, the public librarian walked the children to and from the school to the public library for the R.E.A.D. session.
Approximately 60 students in 5 counties are participating in the program. Libraries and schools have found the program so successful they want to continue the program during the upcoming school year.
Lief, a boy who was in 2nd grade chose a preschool reader the first week and ended the program reading 2nd grade reader. He read 4 books. Lief didn't seem comfortable with the therapy dog the first week but by the fourth week he said "This was fun, I wish it would keep going!" The dog would lay its head on the boy's thigh and "listen" to the stories. The dog trainer would say "Corky thinks you have been practicing!" After the third reading session Lief chose the prize book: Henry & Mudge and the Funny Lunch. He asked if he could bring it back next time to read to Corky. When he arrived on the last R.E.A.D. session he had the prize book in hand. Lief said "Can I practice reading this to Corky so I can read it to my mom on Sunday for Mother's Day?" After reading the book cover to cover he said "My present to my mom is going to be me reading this book to her".
The Regional Public Library System administered the grant, worked with the local dog training center to provide training to certify the therapy dogs, provided the R.E.A.D. Manuals for training the dog owners, connected the dog owners and the public librarians, and selected the books for rewards for each child.
Contact Information:
Rebecca Patton
Arrowhead Library System
5528 Emerald Avenue
Mountain Iron, MN 55768
218-741-3840
rpatton@arrowhead.lib.mn.us

Title of Program: Reading Scores!
Type of Program: Tutoring/Student Success Programs
Age level: Elementary (3rd grade)
Description of Program: We did a reading tutoring program called Reading Scores! last summer. It was an LSTA funded program though the Florida State Library targeting 3rd graders who failed the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test.) We had to rely on school referrals to find these students because test records are not public. While the program was very successful, cooperation from the schools was mixed, some schools never gave the information to students while other actively referred students though us.
A belief that a personal connection with the schools is a must to make an interaction succeed. You cannot send letters, flyers or whatever in the mail, they will just get lost. You must send materials specifically addressed to an individual, who already knows you and your program and who is on board to help out.
Contact Information:
Maria Mena
Youth Services Coordinator
LeRoy Collins Leon Co. Public Library
200 West Park Avenue
Tallahassee, Florida 32301-7720
(850) 487-2665
(850) 487-1793 FAX
menam@leoncountyfl.gov

Cautionary Tales

Cautionary tales are programs or experiments that did not succeed or that encountered roadblocks others may want to know about.

Title of Program: This message relates to the FCAT tutoring program listed in the Tutoring/Student Success section above
Type of Program: Cautionary Tale
Age level: Elementary (3rd grade)
Description of Program: The summer FCAT tutoring program in 2003 did not reach as many students as we had hoped. Time needed to hire the tutors and get the information and locations out to the public proved to be too much of a challenge. The students that did attend the tutoring programs got intense one-on-one instruction that enabled them all to advance to their next grade level.
Contact Information:
Priscilla Lakus, Tampa -Hillsborough County Public Library System
900 N. Ashley Drive
Tampa, Fl. 33602
(813) 273-3648
Lakusp@hillsboroughcounty.org

Title of Program: This message relates to the School Corps program listed in the Public Library Visits to Schools section above.
Type of Program: Cautionary Tale
Age level: Elementary & Secondary
Description of Program: Schools in my area are very fortunate to have the Multnomah County Library's School Corps. I must admit that I was reticent when I first heard about Multnomah County's new program to assist school libraries. Schools in our area, as in many other areas of the country, continue to struggle to find adequate and stable funding. When budget woes appear, "extra" services, such as libraries can be on the chopping block-both book budgets and personnel. Multnomah County, seeing a need to help, offered assistance. It was a learning curve for both of us. On one hand, who can say no to additional resources, services and help. On the other hand, it is very important that this additional help and services are not perceived to replace school libraries and librarians.
Most public librarians we began to work with needed to learn about the role of the school librarian. It is much like being all the librarians in a large public library. A school librarian wears many hats-often all at the same time! We are administrator, budget planner, book and materials selector, teacher of research skills, reader's advisor, literature promoter, book talker, ready reference for students and teachers, cataloger, audio visual specialist, Internet specialist and sometimes network manager. We also are copyright specialist for our buildings, as well as a reading expert, curriculum consultant and in-service provider to staff on changing technology.
At one of our first meetings with School Corps personnel, they offered to come into my school and teach students how to use an online card catalog and surf the Internet. I was rather blunt and told them that's what I do. Does that mean I can't use additional help? Of course not.
Multnomah County Library School Corps' promotional information now states the services that they provide to "connect students and teachers with the information resources of the public library." They are clear that they add to the current services of school libraries and extend to what the public library has to offer. Some of the most popular services are training on DYNA, their online catalog; customized webliographies (annotated lists of age-appropriate websites for particular assignments) what I would love to do more of if I had the time; and customized book talks. They also offer "buckets of books" to teachers, special educator library cards that allow a longer 6 week checkout and have run promotions for public library cards for students.
The School Corps and public school libraries have formed a wonderful partnership in Multnomah County, with the School Corps promoting the resources of the public library and collaborating with school teachers and librarians, both respecting each other's role.
Contact Information:
Marlene Hagen
Centennial High School
Gresham, OR

Title of Program: This message relates to the Middle School/High School/Afterschool Outreach program listed in the Public Library Visits to Schools section above.
Type of Program: Cautionary Tale
Age level: Secondary
Description of Program: One caution - the primary teacher must stay in the classroom (or library conference room) at all times. They should not let an aide or other adult 'represent' them. It's not just about personal safety, it's also about classroom control. If a group is acting disrespectful, stop. If a teacher is acting disrespectful, stop. If you can state clearly upfront what your expectations of the teachers are, that is very important. Some of them just act like it is an hour off for them. If the teacher does not listen to what you are saying then how are they going to reinforce it later on?
Contact Information:
Melissa A. Pillot
Young Adult Specialist
Teen Services
St Louis Public Library
1415 Olive Street
St Louis, MO 63103
(314)657-1000
MPillot@SLPL.LIB.MO.US

Title of Program: This message relates to the BLAST program listed in the Public Library Visits to Schools section above.
Type of Program: Cautionary Tale
Age level: Elementary
Description of Program: We started out working with the school district and needed to find the right group to work with and at the right level of administration in order to have full support and implementation. Levels of administration can put a stop to something if they are overlooked-so you need to know the pecking order. We work exclusively with the Pittsburgh Public Schools
Contact Information:
Georgene DeFilippo
Youth Services Coordinator
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
130 Whitfield Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
phone 412-665-2106
defilippog@carnegielibrary.org

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The AASL/ALSC/YALSA Interdivisional Committee on School/Public Library Cooperation aims to design and conduct a project of mutual interest and benefit to the three participating ALA Divisions, working from a platform identified by the AASL/ALSC/YALSA Presidents-Elect. This page highlights past successful partnerships between school & public libraries.

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Great for Elementary Library Organization Lessons!

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Great for Elementary Library Organization Lessons!

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Check out Shelver! http://www.mrs-lodges-library.com

Call Number Centers
http://libraryeverything.blogspot.com/2013/09/call-number-centers.html

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In the last two posts I have been providing ideas and reflection regarding the use of the internet in the classroom. You can explore these posts in the links that follow this paragraph. With the opening of classroom walls allowing for virtual journeys on the worldwide web comes the need to provide classroom educators and students with resources regarding proper learning and citizenship on the internet. I believe this is essential to the success of any e-learning, blended learning, and on-line learning program. It is important that educators teach and model proper digital citizenship. It is equally important that the school curriculum has digital citizenship standards embedded in the curriculum. Many of the free resources listed below provide some wonderful possibilities for educators committed to the amazing learning opportunities the internet provides. Please note that the first four areas to explore come from Common Sense Media, an amazing education resource sites! Enjoy exploring and sharing all of the resources, and come back for the next post providing even more! Also, feel free to explore the past two posts of this series in the immediate links below.
Ten Digital Citizenship Resources
1. Common Sense Media Student Video Library
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/video/educators
The Common Sense Media Student Video Library has more than 20 videos that are each 2-4 minutes long. Use them in conjunction with their corresponding lesson plans, or use them to jump start a conversation with your students

2. Digital Citizenship Classroom Posters
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/posters
Download these from Common Sense Media colorful POSTERS to remind your students about digital citizenship and device care and maintenance. These posters could be the perfect addition to any classroom.

3. Digital Citizenship Scope and Sequence
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/scope-and-sequence
Use Common Sense Media's Scope & Sequence tool to find the lessons that are just right for your classroom. These cross-curricular units spiral to address digital literacy and citizenship topics in an age-appropriate way. Browse by grade band or click a category to highlight the lessons that address that topic. You can download a PDF of the Scope and Sequence ( english) (en español).

4. Free Cyber-bullying Tool Kits For all levels of teachers
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/cyberbullying-toolkit
Click link for what you might need: Elementary...Middle School...High School
Every day, you see how Cyber-bullying hurts students, disrupts classrooms, and impacts your school's culture. So how should you handle it? What are the right things to do and say? What can you do today that will help your students avoid this pitfall of our digital world? Common Sense Media has created these free toolkits to help you take on those questions and take an effective stand against Cyber-bullying. So start here. Use it now. Rely on it to start your year off right.

5. PBS Webonauts Academy
http://pbskids.org/webonauts/about/
Webonauts Internet Academy is a web original game for PBS KIDS GO! that gives kids 8- to 10-year-old an opportunity to have some fun while exploring what it means to be a citizen in a web-infused‚ information-rich world. It is an engaging experience on its own but becomes all the more powerful when parents and teachers use game play as a springboard for conversations about media literacy and citizenship in the 21st Century.

6. Netsmartz Teens
http://www.nsteens.org/
NSTeens.org was created through a partnership between Sprint® and the Internet safety experts at NetSmartz® Workshop, a program of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children®. Through animated videos, short films, games, and interactive comics, NSTeens teaches tweens and teens about making safer choices online. Teaching materials are available for intermediate, middle school, and high school educators so they can bring these engaging lessons right into the classroom. All resources on NSTeens.org are available free of charge. Check out the how to use page.... http://www.nsteens.org/Educators

7. Netzsmartz Workshop
http://www.netsmartz.org
Check out the workshop page where you will find material for different groups. NetSmartz Workshop is an interactive, educational program that provides age-appropriate resources to help teach children how to be safer on- and offline. The program is designed for children ages 5-17, parents and guardians, and educators. With resources such as videos, games, activity cards, and presentations, NetSmartz entertains while it educates.

8. Ikeepsafe
https://ikeepsafe.org/resources/] Here you will find a goldmine of wonderful resources with some great suggestions for working with kids of all ages, including:

Fauxpaw for Early Elementary - http://archive.ikeepsafe.org/parents/fauxpaw/ - This is an engaging program that any young student will enjoy and learn from.

Privacy and Reputation Online lesson plans http://goo.gl/DoZmmg
9. Digital Education Revolution http://www.digitalcitizenship.nsw.edu.au/index.htm
This Australian Website asks the question, Do you use the internet to share information about yourself or others, communicate with friends, comment on what you see online, play games, get material for an assignment or buy stuff online? If you answered YES to any of these, you are a digital citizen. Why is digital citizenship important? Do you want to get the best out of using the internet and keep yourself and others safe and healthy in an online world? Use these materials to learn what it takes to become a positive digital citizen
Michael Gorman has overseen a one-to-one laptop program and digital professional development for Southwest Allen County Schools near Fort Wayne, Indiana. He has also served as a consultant for Discovery Education, ISTE, My Big Campus, and November Learning; served on the National Faculty for BIE (BUCK Institute); and been an adviser for Tech & Learning magazine. His awards have included district Teacher of the Year, Indiana state Teacher of the Year semi-finalist, Indiana STEM Educator of the Year, Advocate for Johns Hopkins University, and Microsoft's Global Education Hero award. Mike maintains his award winning 21centuryedtech Blog and also posts articles at T&L and November Learning.
10. Media Education Lab
http://mediaeducationlab.com/curriculum/materials
The Media Education Lab from the University of Rhode Island is one of the leading providers of multimedia curriculum resources for K-12 media literacy education. Take advantage of our extensive collection of free resources. You will be amazed at tall of the digital and media education possibilities.

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10 Digital Citizenship Resources - Web in the Classroom Part 3

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In the last two posts I have been providing ideas and reflection regarding the use of the internet in the classroom. You can explore these posts in the links that follow this paragraph. With the opening of classroom walls allowing for virtual journeys on the worldwide web comes the need to provide classroom educators and students with resources regarding proper learning and citizenship on the internet.