By Gabrielle Corley

It’s National Library Week and there is much to celebrate about the libraries in your life. I am a confirmed library lover. I’ve been hooked on the library ever since I was in grade school and the Book Mobile came by every couple of weeks.  I got in trouble multiple times trying to check out books that the librarian deemed ‘to hard’ for me! That experience influenced my choice of career as a Teacher/Librarian and certainly stayed with me for all the years I allowed little readers to check out ‘Big Kid’ books.

For my fellow school librarians, this is a perfect time of year to catch the interest of students and promote summer reading.  It is also a great time to reach out to teaching staff with some new and exciting resources. A quick search on the K-12 education website  Educate.Today  reveals some great ideas.  Just use the keyword ‘literature’ and you’ll be rewarded with author interviews, discussions with composers and poets, explorations of setting, theme, and character, and much more.  You can also search by nearly any topic and narrow it down by grade level and even National and State standards. All of the resources are authentic interactions and explorations of curricular topics that can be tailored to student need and interest.  Of special interest to busy teachers is the ‘Classroom Packages’ resource located on the top menu bar. Classroom packages are collections of videos and video clips on a variety of curriculum topics along with associated activities, teaching guidelines, and reading suggestions.  While you are on the site, explore the Interactive Program area as well. Educate.Today offers some unique opportunities for students and staff.  There are monthly themed interactive programs that classrooms can ‘drop in’ to participate and even opportunities to personalize your visit.  The ‘Point to Point’ programs feature the ability to schedule a personal learning session (via camera) with experts in many fields. The expert will interact directly with students and respond to questions and comments along with discussing the topic.  There is a small fee for that service. Teachers (and librarians) might also appreciate the ability to create playlists, and to utilize the classroom feature to organize and provide information and instruction to students.

There is so much to appreciate about your local libraries. If you haven’t checked out yours lately, you are way overdue for a visit. Nowadays you can download eBooks and Audio Books, research your family history, check out a movie, learn a new skill, see an art exhibit, listen to a writer interview, learn another language…and they even still have books!