Year: 2012

Our New iMacs

janelofton Technology , ,

iMacs Rock!

We were thrilled last week to get 40 brand new iMacs installed in the library! Huge thanks go to the PTSA dor their incredible generosity. It’s been such fun hearing all the “Wows!” and excited and surprised expressions of students seeing them for the first time. The library is always a busy place. Now, with 40 well-functioning computers, we are busier than ever. Please come by the library to see them live in action. In the meantime, enjoy these photos:

Roy Tanck‘s Flickr Widget requires Flash Player 9 or better. 

Widget courtesy of roytanck.com

If you aren’t able to view the slideshow above, you can view the photos on our Flickr page.

 

Hear Some Free Halloween Horror

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As a Halloween special, Audible.com is inviting us to download Neil Gaiman’s latest exclusive Halloween short story, “Click-Clack the Rattlebag” for free. The story is both written and narrated by Neil Gaiman. And, for each download, Audible.com will donate $1 to DonorsChoose.org!” Do participate, both to enjoy a free audio story by Neil Gaiman, an extraordinary storyteller and narrator, and to build donations for DonorsChoice.org. This offer from Audible.com lasts just until Halloween, so don’t delay. Visit this link to get it.

And, here are some great, free horror audiobook choices available from Learnoutloud.com:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Works of Edgar Allan Poe

The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I learned about these because I subscribe to the Learnoutloud.com newsletter. If you enjoy audiobooks, I encourage you to subscribe also. Visit Learnoutloud and enter your email in the “Free Resource Email” box in the left sidebar.

Happy Halloween and Happy Listening!

 

Banned Books Week Celebration & Contest September 30 – October 6

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Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read has been observed during the last week of September each year since 1982. This annual event, sponsored by the American Library Association, reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted.

Banned Books Week emphasizes the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them.

Please check these links for more information about Banned Books Week:

American Library Association Banned Books Week Announcement

Banned Books Week: Celebrating 30 Years of Liberating Literature interactive  timeline display

Books Challenged or Banned in 2010-2011 by Robert Doyle

And view this great video (link)


Please visit the Mira Costa Library to see our Banned Books Week Display, and participate in our Banned Books Week Contest. The contest requires you to answer 14 easy questions about frequently banned or challenged books. You can download a copy of the contest form here. Submissions are due by Wednesday, October 10. Check the links above to help you with clues.

 

Get Ready for the Geek Squad

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Some of the new Geek Squad members at a planning get together.

Are you a geek? Do you enjoy using and helping other people with computer hardware. software, or mobile devices?  Then please consider joining the Mira Costa Geek Squad. This group will be offering their assistance to staff and students most days during lunch in the Mira Costa Library. If you would like to consider being a member of the squad, come to an organizational meeting during lunch on Thursday, September 27 in the library workroom.

Join TLC: The Library Club and Our #SWVBC

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Do you like to read? Do you enjoy discussing books with others? Would you like to contribute a little time and ideas to library program? Then, please consider joining TLC: The Library Club. TLC will be having its first organizational meeting of the year on Tuesday, September 18, during lunch. And, the library club isn’t just an ordinary club; we are also a “Somewhat Virtual Book Club” or #SWVBC on Twitter. Last year, we formed a partnership with several school library clubs from across the country, and have been having monthly online discussions with our partner clubs in addition to our live meetings at Costa.

Our first virtual discussion will be on October 17. We will be reading and discussing Tilt by Ellen Hopkins, AND we are honored that Author Ellen Hopkins herself is joining us! So, join in the fun; join TLC: The Library Club.

 

Welcome to the 2012-2013 School Year!

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letter W letter E l39 letter C Rubber Stamp Letter O Scrabble Coaster Letter M letter E

I would like to extend a huge welcome to new Mira Costa students and parents, and a warm welcome back to ongoing students and parents. This year is the second year that we have distributed textbooks during registration, enabling students to get books early, avoid loss of instructional time in classes during the first days of school, and get the library functioning as a library as quickly as possible. I am pleased to report that we were able to remove all the piles of textbooks from the main library area by last Thursday and start inviting students in to use the library as a library by mid-day the second day of school!

A big thank you goes to Cindy Gardner, our main office/textbook clerk; Jessica Curtiss, our library volunteer coordinator; and all our volunteers who participated in making our smooth textbook distribution and quick transition back to the library possible.

The best way to find out all about what the library offers is to come by for a visit! Please come see me soon! In the meantime, you can also check our updated Library Brochure and library orientation video. All Freshmen will get to learn about the library first-hand; I will be conducting two-day orientations for all Freshman English classes this month, starting on Thursday, September 6.

I’m excited to be embarking on my third year at Mira Costa, and committed to making our library program the best of the best!

Free Audiobooks from Sync

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Sync YA Lit into your earphones

It’s almost time for Summer! Do plan to spend time reading during vacation. And, listening to audiobooks is one great way to read! Here’s an opportunity to download 16 free audiobooks over the summer. Just visit the SYNC website to get two free books each week. The program has already begun, and will last through August 22. Each title will all be available for just one week, so be sure to visit the site today and every week this summer  to avoid missing any. Each weekly selection will include a current YA (Young Adult) book and a classic on a similar theme. For alerts when new titles are available, text syncya to 25827.

Start here with the list of books.

June14 – June 20, 2012
The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch, Read by Dan Bittner (Scholastic Audiobooks)
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Frank Galati [Adapt.], Read by Shirley Knight, Jeffrey Donovan, and a Full Cast (L.A. Theatre Works)

June 21 – June 27, 2012
Irises by Francisco X. Stork, Read by Carrington MacDuffie (Listening Library)
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Read by Wanda McCaddon (Tantor Media)

June 28 – July 4, 2012
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud, Read by Simon Jones
(Listening Library)
Tales from the Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang, Read by Toby Stephens
(Naxos AudioBooks)

July 5 – July 11, 2012
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake, Read by August Ross (AudioGO)
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, Read by Ian Holm (AudioGO)

July 12 – July 18, 2012
Guys Read: Funny Business by Jon Scieszka [Ed.] et al., Read by Michael Boatman, Kate DiCamillo, John Keating, Jon Scieszka, Bronson Pinchot (Harper Audio)
The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Stories by Mark Twain, Read by Norman Dietz (Recorded Books)

July 19 – July 25, 2012
Cleopatra’s Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter, Read by Kirsten Potter (Oasis Audio)
Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare, Read by a Full Cast (AudioGO)

July 26 – August 1, 2012
Pinned by Alfred C. Martino, Read by Mark Shanahan (Listen & Live Audio)
TBA (Brilliance Audio)

August 2 – August 8, 2012
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, Read by Khristine Hvam (Hachette Audio)
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Read by Simon Prebble (Blackstone Audio)

August 9 – August 15, 2012
Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy, Read by Rupert Degas (Harper Audio)
Dead Men Kill by L. Ron Hubbard, Read by Jennifer Aspen and a Full Cast
(Galaxy Press)

August 16 – August 22, 2012
The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera, Read by Jay Laga’aia (Bolinda Audio)
The Call of the Wild by Jack London, Read by William Roberts (Naxos AudioBooks)

Enjoy listening!

#SWVBC to Discuss Beauty Queens

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Somewhat Virtual Book Club Map

On Wednesday, TLC: The Library Club is joining our cross-country group of other library book clubs in a “Somewhat Virtual Book Club” discussion of Libba Bray’s Beauty Queens.

This will be our fifth virtual book discussion. We have tried two different software platforms, Google + Hangouts and Skype, for previous meetings, and had both successes and challenges with them. Unfortunately, my aging computer has frozen at times, and, last time while we were discussing John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, the Skype options disappeared on us so we could neither control the mic nor read or write in the chat box! While problems like these are frustrating, they also offer us a real-world lesson in the opportunities and challenges of communicating online. For Wednesday’s discussion, we will be using Blackboard Collaborate, software I use regularly for California School Library Association Board business meetings and for webinars I have attended, and find to be very reliable. I’m optimistic that, with my brand new Mac Air and Blackboard, we will have good communication throughout our session. I am confident that Bray’s satirical book will inspire a lively discussion and the opportunity to explore parallels with one of our school curriculum novels, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies as well as many contemporary issues. Check out this preview of the book. Our club members invite any interested guests to join us at 3 PM on Wednesday. And, of course, we’ll have refreshments!

I have posted a map of the club before. If you compare the two, you will see that I have updated it since we have added two new members – Cathy Jo Nelson’s Domain HS in  South Carolina and Debbie Bobolin’s James Caldwell HS in New Jersey. Welcome! They join our “founding members” at Joyce Valenza’s Springfield Township HS Library in Pennsylvania, Shannon Miller’s Van Meter Community School in Iowa, Michelle Lahtala’s New Canaan HS in Connecticut, and Colette Cassinelli’s La Salle Catholic College Prep in Oregon. I left Amy Lott’s Deer Park MS in Texas on the map in case her group is able to rejoin us in the future.

P.S. If the map looks squished in on your screen, click on it to view it in a new window in better proportion.