• 📣All team registrations for Battle of the Books were due January 17th. If your team(s) were not registered, contact Kerrie ASAP.📣
• The application for the NYLA-SSL Conference scholarship through the SLS is due by the end of the day on February 4th.. The conference is in Rochester this year. For more information, visit the NYLA-SSL 2025 site.
• Now is a great time to begin the process of looking at your database statistics and beginning to think about any trials you may want to try. Database ordering season will be here before you know it. We are currently putting trials together and will send them out in early February.

From Maria Weeks:

Musical Chair Book Tasting:

I hosted a musical chair book tasting for 5th grade students. Book tastings are always fun but the set up can be time consuming and I found that there were always a few students that just flipped through the stack of books on their table without really reading anything. Musical chair book tasting was quick to set up and was really engaging for students. I set up 30 chairs with 2 books on each chair (a variety of fiction, nonfiction and graphic novels) and my classes had about 22-24 students. I played a youtube musical chairs video as the students walked around the chairs. When the music stopped each student found an empty chair and they had 3 minutes to read the books. At the end of the 3 minutes, if they liked the book, they could add their name to a reservation bookmark that was in each book. We were able to play about 5 rounds and for the last round I let the kids pick any chair they wanted because I knew a few students had been eyeing specific books! When we were done, students were able to borrow any books they wanted.

The TLC Choice Board is finally live. Be on the lookout early next week for PD opportunities, virtual office hours, and more to help you as we start getting our groove with TLC. Many thanks to the rockstar librarians who do a lot of the detective work; it takes a village, and our WSWHE village is amazing.

There will be open office hours on Feb 4 from 8-10 am, via Google Meet:

https://meet.google.com/dwd-kafx-uzz

Karin will be putting out information on PD opportunities you can do at your own pace, on topics such as:

• OverDrive Marketplace (there have been some updates that you'll want to know!)
• ILLs (we're learning more about it and how to make it work for us)
• LS2 Reports

And we welcome suggestions, too!

And don't be afraid to click on Karin's Calendly link on her email if you just need a quick virtual visit one-on-one.

We hope you join us for the online course, Empowering All Students through Media Decoding. With a limited number of spaces available, our plan is to gather information from interested librarians through a short Google Form and then make our decision about the final set of participants no later than February 21st.

Here are some key things to know:

* The course will start with a 90-minute live online zoom session on Thursday March 6th from 7:00-8:30pm that will be led by the co-founders of Project Look Sharp and CMD, Chris Sperry and Cyndy Scheibe, Lake George school librarian and CMD trainer, Bridget Crossman, and School Library Director, Kerrie Burch. It will be interactive, with a few break-out sessions, and will lay down the basics of media literacy and constructivist media decoding (CMD), with an overview of how librarians can use it in their own work with students and in collaborations with classroom teachers. Course participants must attend this session.

* For the next nine weeks, the work will be self-paced based on four modules (one released every 2-3 weeks), each focused on specific aspects of leading a CMD, and including some short readings, videos, and interactive elements to practice what you're learning. We anticipate that the amount of work involved will take about 2 ½ hours per module – 10 hours total.

* As part of that work, participants will develop their own Activity Plan for leading a media decoding lesson and will need to try it out with a group of students sometime in April. Chris Sperry will be facilitating the course and tracking participant online reflections. There will be an optional individual coaching session with Chris or Bridget.

* The course will end with another 90-minute live online zoom session Thursday May 8th from 7:00-8:30pm that will again be led by Chris, Cyndy, Bridget and Kerrie. It will be very interactive, with a break-out session for participants to share their experiences in doing CMD work and their plans for using it during the upcoming school year. Course participants must attend this session. We'll talk about how to build on this training and how to stay connected with us and other librarians involved in CMD.

* We will be providing a badge (Trained in Constructivist Media Decoding by Project Look Sharp) for participants who complete all aspects of the course. We will also provide a Letter of Documentation describing your work in the course, which we can send to an administrator on your request.

* Participants will receive 15 hours of CTLE credit upon completion of the course. Graduates will be eligible for continued training to become facilitators of the course with teachers in their schools.

* The cost of the course is $190. WSWHE BOCES will bill your BOCES/Big 5 for your participation. WSWHE BOCES will not collect money directly from participants.

We will let you know no later than February 21 if you've been selected to participate in the course.

More information to come. Space is limited so register early.

As always, this workshop is open to all librarians regardless of being a CC.

Date: April 2, 2025

Time: 8:30 am - 3:00 pm

Location: Ballard Road Conference Center

Register: https://www.mylearningplan.com/WebReg/ActivityProfile.asp?D=18589&I=4959110

Topic: TBD, but we will also celebrate our retirees and our School Librarian and Administrator of the Year Awardees.

Date: May 15, 2025

Time: 8:00 am - 3:00 pm

Location: Ballard Road Conference Center

Register: https://www.mylearningplan.com/WebReg/ActivityProfile.asp?D=18589&I=4959120

The Regional BOCES School Library Systems are collaborating to bring you multiple book studies this year. Please see the attachment below for information. These book studies are limited to 20 participants so you will want to register early.

• The New York State Department of Labor is hosting the Educator Career Development Ambassador Program.
• The Educator Career Development Ambassador Program is a paid, four-week summer training opportunity for teachers, librarians, and counselors to develop, implement, and deliver 21st-century career-readiness curricula and strategies to New York’s students.
• This program is open to all grade 6-12 teachers, librarians, and counselors with five or more years of experience in a school setting.
• For more information, please visit the Department of Labor’s Teacher Ambassador Program web page or send an email toDOLAmbassador@labor.ny.gov

EBSCO Research Databases

http://search.ebscohost.com

Username: bocestrial

Password: trial4u!

ABC-Clio Databases

https://databases.abc-clio.com/

Admin Login(s):

Username: Staff(71616)

Password: ABC-CLIO

User Login(s):

Username: Student(71616)

Password: ABC-CLIO

PrepSTEP for High Schools with Job & Career Accelerator and Computer Skills

Link: //www.prepstep.com/highschool

Username: Dream-pshs@learnx.com
Password: Password!!

FinancialFit (English only)

Link: https://learn.financialfit.com

Username: DCFFtrial

Password: Password!!

When: Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Secondary: 2:00-3:00pm EST | Elementary: 3:00-4:00pm EST

Navigating Book Selections with Book Resumes and Instant Collection Reports on TeachingBooks

Receive insights, reports, and confidence around the titles you choose for displays, storytimes, book clubs, and more. Book resumes provide you with the book’s bona fides: awards, reviews, genres, reading levels, and more. Collection analysis reports give you insights into diversity, recency, fiction/non-fiction, and more – while also helping you identify titles for possible augmentation.

Zoom Links:

Secondary: https://overdrive.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kplipPdFSxOr0WDKg-BCdQ

Elementary: https://overdrive.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qBIgHlERQ6m9eVL5Gc34nA

The Collaborative Summer Library Program/CSLP is happy to announce that New York Times bestselling author, Katherine Applegate is CSLP’s 2025 official Summer Reading Champion!

Katherine’s books, such as Odder, Wishtree, Willodeen, and Crenshaw have inspired many young adult readers to think creatively and unleash their imaginations. On March 5, Katherine will be featured in CSLP’s Summer Reading Kickoff event, where she will share information on her upcoming Color Our World Writing Contest. This online kickoff event will also feature information about exciting program ideas from CSLP’s Manual Committee members. Libraries can also receive a free posterfeaturing information about Katherine’s books and her passion for reading.

To register for this free virtual event, please visit the CSLP Summer Reading Champion Kickoff registration page.

Kerrie Burch, School Library System Director

Karin Howansky, School Library Media Specialist

Laurie Doyle, Information Processing Specialist

Deb Massa, Information Processing Specialist