Tag Archives: School media center

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

New (Re-Direct) Links for Britannica School K-12

The new Britannica School interfaces went live in July!

This new platform has been developed for Britannica School resources.  Therefore, if your school media center uses Britannica you will want to obtain a copy of the following updated links to access K-12 databases;

Image retrieved from Britannica School website. All rights reserved
Image retrieved from Britannica School website. All rights reserved

Other points of interest:

  • Previous links will only be redirected until December 2013.
  • In the months to come, Minitex Reference Outreach & Instruction plans on offering webinars.
  • Users of Britannica’s Public Library Edition and Academic Edition are not affected by this change.
  • There is a new lesson plan builder feature in Britannica School.

A recent article in Reference Notes (September 2013) written by Beth Staats, discusses the new Lesson Plan Builder tool. Staats states the following,

“One of the new features, specifically for teachers, is the Lesson Plan Builder. It is available in My Britannica, which is a tool that allows you to save and share content . You’ll need to create a free account to access it and use the Teacher Code KMVL when setting up your account . Once I logged in with the teacher code, I was shown a page that introduced me to the features available in My Britannica . This tool lets you save and organize favorites and create descriptive tags for those items; lets you search for interactive lessons, study guides, and lesson plans; and lets you create lesson plans.”

Click here to read the full Minitex article in Reference Notes on page 4.

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Thinking of Redoing Your Library Space?

Image by Thurman some rights reserved
Image by Thurman some rights reserved

Rejuvenate Your Space: Top Building Trends in Library Design

Wednesday, June 5, 2013, 2:00 – 3:00 PM CST

Looking to spruce up your space? More than just a home for books, a library is a living organism, a vibrant community center for learning, digital content discovery, and exploration. Shouldn’t your 21st century patrons have a 21st century library? Learn about the top building trends in exterior and interior design from architects who have reinvigorated and reimagined library spaces throughout the United States. Breathe new life into your library.

Click on the link for additional information about this free webinar!

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist

Summer Learning Resources!

Image by Ahmad Hammound-some rights reserved
Image by Ahmad Hammound-some rights reserved

Edudemic (May 2013) posted an article on Ten Resources for Learning Over the Summer.  This is a quick, easily read post for all educators looking to enhance a program or instructional design. Below is a list of the general content areas discussed. Click here to read the full article.

  1. How Do Teachers Inspire Curiosity in Their Students
  2. Teaching and Learning with Videos
  3. Creative Classroom Ideas
  4. Add Multimedia Components to Presentations
  5. PBL (Project Based Learning)
  6. Engage, Inspire, and Educate Interactively Online
  7. Game Statistics and Game Simulation Applications for PE Teachers
  8. Eureka Moments–Fostering & Inspiring Creativity & Innovation
  9. No Homework
  10. Tools for Creating

Tip: When you are ready to begin planning for the 2013/14 school year, consider introducing at least one new idea into your classroom/media center. 

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

The State of America’s School Libraries

Some rights reserved by Jusgrimes
Some rights reserved by Justgrimes

As we wrap up School Library Month, it is especially timely for Maureen Sullivan, president of ALA to write a blog post specifically about the importance of school libraries. Maureen mentions cuts to specific  federal programs that may have impact on our school media centers in Minnesota. She also mentions that “The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project Online Survey of Teachers found that although the Internet has opened up a vast world of information for today’s students, their digital literacy skills have yet to catch up. Twenty-four percent of those surveyed stated that students lack the ability to assess the quality and accuracy of information they find online. Another 33 percent reported that students lack the ability to recognize bias in online content.” This reinforces the critical role that media specialists possess in our schools.

Read Maureen’s  post at http://tinyurl.com/crqshp8

Academic, Check this out:, General, School Media Specialist, Special

21 Skype Lessons for Learning!

SkpyeHave you considered using Skype in a classroom setting?

Skype can be viewed as a mini and potentially mobile I- TV session-accessible on several gadgets.  If you have a device with a webcam and internet access, this resource can often be used at no additional cost. Once a free account is created,  a program can be downloaded for a computer, television and/or an app for a mobile phone, tablet, iPod, etc.

Because of its flexibility and relatively easy set-up process, some schools are developing “Skype lessons.” This is a pre-scheduled lesson in which a teacher invites a content expert into their classroom via Skype. The students are able to hear and see the guest speaker, in real-time, via streaming video.

Recently, Edudemic posted an article on “21 Skype Lessons For Active Learning, Sorted by Topic.” Click here to read the entire article.