Sibley-Cone Library: Monthly Report, February 2013

Prepared by: Erin Newton Addressed to: Colonel Thornton, Prep School Principal

Some days were busier than others but February was certainly a busy month with class visits, meetings, an AR deadline, and the normal day to day operations of the library. Maj. Jones and Mrs. Newton attended two English department meetings to discuss a new approach to handling AR testing for the high school students. Students already keep an AR log but will now be required to get approval to test on an AR title from their literature teacher. Each literature teacher supplied Maj. Jones with a list of each students name and their chosen AR title(s). If a student wished to take a test on an AR title not on the teachers sheet they needed a signed note from their teacher approving the test that day. We ran into some confusion at first but the whole process ran smoothly by the deadline date. The high school AR deadline was February 27th. Maj. Jones and Mrs. Newton also attended a professional development meeting concerning Common Core standards. The entire prep faculty met for the introduction of the guest speaker from GC&SU and the initial discussion. Departments were then encouraged to break into groups in classrooms and continue discussing the impact of CC for their particular discipline. Mrs. Newton also attended the weekly IT department meeting.

Several classes visited the library every week of February. Maj. McCabes classes used the computers to work on their PowerPoint presentations documenting the history of different military divisions. Maj. Mercers and Maj. Gebels classes visited to use the reference section, literary criticisms in the nonfiction section, and the literature databases for their American writers research papers. Mrs. Newton assisted students in locating helpful reference books and refining their searches in the databases. Each class visited multiple times. Mrs. Newton completed her reading enrichment unit with Maj. Dixons 7th period 8th grade class. The reading enrichment class visited the library on four separate occasions and Mrs. Newton attended presentation day in the classroom. Mrs. Newtons next practicum project,

Collaborative Information Literacy Unit, began the last week of February with all of Maj. Myers classes taking the TRAILS assessment on the library computers.

Mrs. Newton created a book display and PowerPoint presentation for Black History Month and Mrs. Brown created a display for our newly processed books. Maj. Jones was able to complete her Brodart book order of 236 titles. Past orders with Brodart have rarely been completely filled with an average of 6-12 titles not arriving. This is usually due to the titles no longer being in stock. National Signing Day in the Sibley conference room was an exciting experience for our prep students to witness a fellow student sign with a college. The library closed briefly so staff could attend the Command Retreat and Parade. Mrs. Newton and Mr. Stephens installed Google Chrome on all the student computers to better assist with the growing use of Web 2.0 tools such as Prezi and Thinglink. Maj. Jones and Mrs. Newton worked on and completed weeding and altering records of books in the collection below the 4.0 reading level. A Staples order was also completed to replenish office supplies. Mrs. Newton was also able to take photographs needed for her Digital Story project with the help of some willing prep students.

With Spring Break approaching in the month of March, there is a lot to do and a lot of excitement in the air. Description Classes visited # of students in visiting classes Books circulated Funds collected Books weeded Staples order Book order People counter Total 21 378 391 $226 138 $448.80 236 titles 2435

AR Stats # of students who tested # of AR tests taken # of passing AR scores

Total 301 444 377