Support Strong School Libraries

We are so fortunate at Mira Costa to have a strong school library. So many schools in California and across the U.S. do not.

Carl Harvey, AASL (American Association of School Librarians) President has posted a petition on the Whitehouse.gov site in support of school libraries. Here’s the text:

“WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
Ensure that every child in America has access to an effective school library program.
Every child in America deserves access to an effective school library program. We ask that the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) provide dedicated funding to help support effective school library programs. Such action will ensure more students have access to the resources and tools that constitute a 21st century learning environment. Reductions in school library programs are creating an ‘access gap’ between schools in wealthier communities versus those where there are high levels of poverty. All students should have an equal opportunity to acquire the skills necessary to learn, to participate, and to compete in today’s world.”

Petitions posted on this site need 25,000 signatures to be forwarded to President Obama. Please add your signature and spread the word far and wide. We need more signatures by February 4 for this petition to be forwarded. We can do it if we all get out the word to colleagues, family, and friends. Our students’ futures depend upon strong school libraries. Let’s advocate to make it happen.

To sign, click this link to go to the petition. You do need to create an account, then sign in. Some people have had challenges getting logged in. If you have trouble, try another browser. If you still have trouble, click on ‘forgot password?’.  You’ll fill out the dialog box and then it sends you a new password in your email.  When you get that, you are sent to a site to change your password then you can go back to the original site and type in your new password.  That seems to work. I did have to log in about three times before I succeeded. The time and effort will be worth it!

Thank you for your support of strong school libraries for all students!

Library Catalog Now an App

If you have a smartphone or iPad, you can now access our library catalog via our new Destiny Quest app. The free app, available through the Apple iTunes App Store or Android Marketplace, runs on iPhones, iPod touches and iPads with iOS 4.2 or later and on Android 2.1-2.3.7 phones. Here’s some of what you can do with the new app:

  • Search for books in our collection
  • See the top ten recent checkouts
  • See recent additions to our collection
  • Access resource lists of books on different topics
In addition, you can login to:
  • Place holds
  • See what books you have checked out. (The list does not currently include textbooks).
To download the app, go to the iTunes App Store or Android Marketplace and search for Destiny Quest, click on the app name, then click on Free and Install to install it. Once the app is installed, you need to set it up by entering our district url: http://destiny.mbusd.org. Then, select Mira Costa from the list of MBUSD schools. You can now access the library as a guest, or login. To login, enter your nine- or ten-digit Permanent ID number as your username and destiny as your password.
If you don’t have a smart device, you can still access our library catalog on any computer with a web browser. Either follow the link from the library website (mchslibrary .org), or type destiny.mbusd.org on the URL line. Then, select Mira Costa from the list of MBUSD schools. You can now search for books and resource lists. To check the books you have borrowed, place holds, or create resource lists, you can login from the Mira Costa page, entering your nine- or ten-digit Permanent ID as your username and destiny as your password. When you login on a web browser, you can display both your checked library books and  textbooks.

Andrea Cremer Enchants Mira Costa Students!

Author Andrea Cremer

Mira Costa students, staff, and library volunteers had a huge treat on January 13 meeting best-selling author Andrea Cremer when she visited our library. Ms. Cremer shared how she became a professional writer, where she gets her inspiration, the historical background she applies to her work, and the discipline required to complete a novel and get published.

As you can see above, she also posed for a READ poster, now featured to our Library READ wall.

Please visit the library to borrow Nightshade and its two sequels, Wolfsbane and Bloodrose. You can also see more photos from the visit on our library Flickr page.

Many thanks to {pages} bookstore for arranging the visit for us.