Updates & Changes to Destiny OPAC and FollettShelf

When using Destiny OPAC, if you login, you will be able to do more things with your search results.  Login to Destiny the same way you login to the school computers.  When you do a search for books, you will also be able to click a tab to search for related websites and click another tab to search through some free databases.

From the results you get, you can select which titles or links you would like to save in your Personal list. Why would you need to save them? If you need to go back and get citation information or if you can't remember a particular book that you thought would be useful, you can keep pertinent websites for your research in the same list with your book titles.

If you click on the FollettShelf tab from Destiny, you will be automatically logged into FollettShelf under your name.  Doing this will allow you to highlight information in a book you are reading, take notes and bookmark certain pages, you will also be able to print out pages from the books now.  Once you create notes on a book, they are entered into an online notebook.  You can access this notebook anytime by signing into FollettShelf, your notes will remain until you delete them.

FollettShelf books are now available for you to checkout.  Checkout on these books is for a three (3) day checkout period and will be released after the third day.

World Digital Library

A link to the World Digital Library has been added to the Media Production Tools page at the top of this site.  The World Digital Library makes available on the internet, free of charge, and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.  It contains books, journals, manuscripts, newspapers, maps, prints and photographs and some audio recordings and film clips.

You can search by Place, Time (8000 BCE - 2010), Type of item, Topic and Institution (where the original is located).  When using the items from the WDL remember to follow fair use and copyright policies. Remember to cite the location of any images you may use in your school work.

Mobento - Online Videos

Mobento is a video learning platform that combines the best educational content with innovative technology to deliver a more personalized and effective learning environment for students while empowering educators.

How It Works: Mobento curates content from world class teachers like those at Stanford, Yale, Khan Academy and TED.  Students and teachers can watch the videos online. Teachers can click the share button and get an embed code to place videos on their own websites, or create an educational account and put together a class online.

There are a wide variety of subject area videos: biology, chemistry, art, design, technology, business, global health and many others.  The link is located in the left-hand column under Teacher Reference Center button.

VarsityTutors - New Site added to Practice Tests

A new link has been added to the Practice Test Sites list.  The new site is called VarsityTutors.  The site has practice tests for the Accuplacer, ACT, SAT, AP exams and a variety of other exams. The Practice Test Sites list is located in the right-hand column of this webpage.

Direct links to ACT Questions of the Day have also been set up for English, Reading, Math and Science for you to use, look for the subject icons above the Practice Test Sites list.  Click on the icons and they will bring you to the Question of the Day for that subject area.

  

Once on the VarsityTutors site, you can create your own account and keep track of your testing progress.  It is a free practice test site.  Each type of exam has practice tests, flashcards and questions of the day.

YALSA Book Award Winners

YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) a division of the American Library Association has announced its 2014 Best Lists for Young Adult Literature. 

The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.  The award went to Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick and the Honor Books are: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal, Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner, and Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool. 

The Edwards Award which recognizes an author for his/her body of work went to Markus Zusak for The Book Thief, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, Getting the Girl, and I Am the Messenger.  The YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction went to The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World's Most Notorious Nazi written by Neal Bascomb. 

The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18.  This year’s winners are: Brewster by Mark Slouka, The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell, Golden boy: a novel by Abigail Tarttelin, Help for the Haunted by John Searles, Lexicon: a novel by Max Barry, Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu, Mother, mother: a novel by Koren Zailckas, Relish by Lucy Knisley, The Sea of Tranquility: a novel by Katja Millay, and The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence.

For a complete listing of these awards and also lists of current and previous years’ lists for: Best Fiction for Young Adults, Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers, Great Graphic Novels, Outstanding Books for the College Bound, Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults and lists for Amazing Audiobooks and Fabulous Films go to this website link: http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/booklistsbook.

There is also an App that can be downloaded YALSA’s Teen Book Finder for your phone or iPad. http://www.ala.org/yalsa/products/teenbookfinder

Apps for the Library

Follettshelf and Gale eBook Apps

There are now two apps that you can download to either your iphone or ipad that you can you to access information quickly.The Follett Digital Reader app will give you quick access to the Follettshelf of ebooks.  The Access My Library School Edition will give you access to all of the ebooks that we have in the Gale Virtual Reference Library.


Access My Library                                                                                      
Click the following link for more information.
http://www.gale.cengage.com/apps/aml/SchoolStudent/

You can download from the link on the Gale page or go directly to the App Store.


Follett Digital Reader                                                                                                         

Click the following link for more information.
http://www.aboutfollettebooks.com/app-shelf.cfm

You can download from the link on the Follett page or go directly to the App Store.

 
Use the same logins and passwords that you would regularly use when entering these two sites from the media center webpage.  If you do not remember the passwords see the librarian for them.

 

 

Great Gatsby Prom Information

Great Gatsby Prom Link




Click on the link to go to Ashley Readers Webpage. You will find information about this year's prom and also links on clothing, hairstyles and makeup of the 1920s. There are also links on the music of the 1920s.

Infographics

An Infographic is a visual presentation of information, it can be a diagram, a chart or a pictorial representation.  You can create one to use in a presentation or print out and post it to a display board.  Located in the right-hand column of the webpage you will find an Infographic Livebinder.   Click on the binder and you will find information about how to create an infographic, a number of different types of tools for you to use, links to already created infographics and also links to data sources to gather statistical information to make your own infographic.

Easel.ly, visual.ly, and Piktochart are the easiest tools to use to create your own infographic.  Click on the Data Sources for statistical information to use in your development.  If you would like to use an infographic already created click on the tab Infographics, just remember to cite your source if you use someone else's creation. 

SAT and ACT Test Practice

A list of links to different test prep locations have been added to the right-hand side of the webpage.  Some links are to free online quizzes, question of the day sites, and one is to a downloadable workbook.  Make use of them to prepare before taking either the ACT or SAT.  The tutor.com link is part of Homework Help so you may need to use the password for that program to get into it.

There are additional testing information sites located on the 300 Social Sciences Dewey page at the top of the website.