Check this out

Teaching Pre K-8, Apr 2001 by Samples, Joni

With just a click of a mouse, a county library makes its collection available to teachers

Our county library waited like an unfulfilled promise. The Cat in the Hat or Tom Sawyer, in book and video form, stood ready to be checked out by the more than 500 teachers and aides in Glenn County, CA. Unfortunately, only one or two visitors per week were coming in to peruse the holdings.

The library staff held an open house last year in order to attract more people, just so folks could see the wonders available for their classrooms. Cookies were laid out. Punch was on the table. No one attended.

We were disappointed, but not defeated. We asked ourselves: If we couldn't attract teachers to the library, how could we get the library to the teachers? Answer: the Internet.

A creative solution. Our library media technician, Linda Armstrong, is a whiz with computers - and creative to boot. She developed a web page showing some of the offerings in the library. It can be reached through our home page at www.glenn-co.kl2.ca.us On that page, click on "Media Center," and you'll be brought to a page that looks like a checkerboard with 12 cells, each one containing some of the materials in the library, links to a librarian or helpful curriculum resources.

Click on the box for Reading Rainbow, and up pops a list of over 100 Reading Rainbow kits available. Click on a kit title and see Alistair in Outer Space by Marilyn Sadler, Bugs by Nancy Winslow Parker or Digging Up

Dinosaurs by Aliki. The book cover appears, along with a list of the materials in the box. The kit contains the book and the Reading Rainbow video, along with supplementary books and, in some kits, a list of other suggested books that go with the topic. Some even have stuffed toys befitting the book's theme. In Bugs, you get the book and video plus "Ant Cities "Backyard Insects," "Ladybug," "Fireflies" and "Insects."

Scroll down to find the form for checking out the material via e-mail. Type your name, school and the day you want the material. Press the send button and it's ordered.

More than just books. What art prints for your bulletin board are available to fit with the study of the ocean? Go back to the home page, choose "Art Prints" and see a much larger checkerboard. Click on the box reading "Artists Paint the Sea."A screen appears with a variety of art prints from which you can choose. If you'd like to enlarge one for better viewing, just click on it. Is this what you had in mind? Not yet? Then go back to the Art Prints index page and click on "Call of the Ships and the Sea." There are more choices.

What if you want to use extra items to reinforce a science lesson on electricity? Go to the library's home page and click on "Bibliographies." The screen will show a checkerboard of topics. Bill Nye's box may be one to look at, but the one on Science Experiments could be better. Ask for both. You'll get a list of all the materials in the library -- books, videos, kits, art prints and models -- about your topic.

Serving schools. Our library houses over 35,000 items of interest for teachers, including children's books from preschool to 12th grade, educational and fun videos, learning and book kits, art prints, models, even "Mr. Bones," a life-sized skeleton. A catalogue listing the library's contents is provided to all the schools. Checkout forms are provided to all teachers.

We recognize how busy teachers are, so we've simplified our check-out system. All teachers need to do is call in and check material out over the phone or use the Internet form. We deliver at no extra cost.

Linda wants a third grade teacher doing a unit on the ocean to know we have nine video tapes at a primary level and more at higher levels, three art prints depicting oceans and an additional eight prints of ships and the sea. What about the fourth grade teacher doing a study of the state of California? Does she have any idea how many books we have on California missions all at reading levels? A click on the computer finds them all. We want teachers to find the match that exactly fits the concept they're teaching. Reading our catalogue descriptions helps, but we want teachers to be sure the materials are right for their curriculum. The best way to do that may be in-person. The second best way seems to be the Internet.

We may have been disappointed with no one attending our open house, but we weren't defeated. Going to Plan B - the Internet - has proved to be very valuable. It has increased circulation, and we have a number of teachers excited about the possibilities they've discovered in our library. Currently, check-out is only available for Glenn County teachers, but your school librarian may want to explore technological possibilities in your area.

Maybe we'll try "cybercookies" for our next open house!

Dr. Joni Samples is Superintendent of Schools for Glenn County, CA.