Christmas Wishes

Merry Christmas from the LHS Media Center!  Enjoy the extra time with friends and family.  We'll be closed December 22 - January 7, but (as always) the website will be up and running.  Feel free to check out some of our digital resources such as the FollettShelf of eBooks or our Catalist Digital audiobooks to get a jumpstart on your reading for the Spring semester.  We'll see you in the new year!

* Image by thaikrit @ freedigitalphotos.net

LHS Tech Teacher Award

Class is almost always more interesting when technology is involved.

This is your chance to reward those teachers who make class better because of their use of technology. Whether it's letting you use your own devices for learning, having a great website, or taking you to the computer lab, let us know who you think is the best at using technology in school. The teachers with the most nominations will receive special recognition in January. Nominations are open until December 21st.  

Just visit http://bit.ly/TeacherTechAward to nominate. The form takes less than five minutes.

Janette Oke - Author of the Month

Photo from
JanetteOke.com

Our author for this month is Janette Oke.  Though most of Janette's books are officially labeled as "Adult Fiction," they are popular with teens and young adults as well.  Oke writes historical Christian fiction, and the main characters of her novels are typically females.  They struggle through adversity and grow in love and faith.

Oke was born in 1935 in Canada and was raised on a farm.  She did not publish her first book until 1979, but has been a prolific author since - publishing over 75 novels.  That first book - Love Comes Softly - and the other books in the series have been made even more popular by the Hallmark films based on the books starring Katherine Heigl, Dale Midkiff, & others.

You can learn more about Janette Oke and her books by visiting her website or checking out one of her titles on display in the fiction section of the library media center.

Cyber Week Book Sales

This week is Cyber Week for all you shopping junkies and that means great online deals for some of your favorite titles like the one shown on the left for the Hunger Games.  Websites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble have many of the hottest books on sale for great prices.  They also have steep discounts on popular eReaders like the Kindle and Nook.  Buy someone a book for Christmas!  

Happy Thanksgiving from the LHS Media Center.  Enjoy the holiday and take a few minutes to remember to be grateful for the blessings you have in your life.  

Checkout Audiobooks!

We've recently added some new downloadable audiobooks to our collection thanks to a program called "Catalist Digital."  For the next month, I invite you to take this new program out for a spin.  Visit CatalistDigital.com and use the username: lorenahs (replace the "hs" with "ms" "es" or "ps" for other campus collections) and the password: leopards to access these audiobooks.

You can listen to the book online, but you'll also find that you can download these audiobooks to your iPod touch, iPhone, iPad, or your Android phone or tablet.  The free app is available in the App Store and GooglePlay.  This is a great way to listen to your books on the go, and a major help to students who are struggling with understanding difficult texts. 

If you decide you like the program, we'll be happy to make you a free student account.  You can request one by filling out the Contact form on the blog or by speaking with me or any of the media assistants.  (Be sure to include the name of your English or Reading teacher if you use the contact form.)

Anthony Horowitz - Author of the Month

Picture from
anthonyhorowitz.com

Our author of the month for November is Anthony Horowitz.  Horowitz is a British author with a diverse writing skill set.  He has authored young adult fiction (like the extremely popular Alex Rider series), adult fiction, television series, movie scripts, and plays in addition to writing articles for newspapers and magazines.

Though the Alex Rider series is about a teen spy whose life is filled with fast action and thrills, not all his books fall under that genre.  For example, the Power of Five series is an apocalyptic set of novels, and he was also commissioned by the Conan Doyle estate to pen a new Sherlock Holmes book which was released last year - The House of Silk.

His latest book Oblivion (the final installment of the Power of Five series) was recently released.  You can get a glimpse at the first chapter of the book in addition to a pretty awesome video describing his trip to Antarctica to research the setting of the novel on Horowitz's website.

As always with our authors of the month, you can find a display of Anthony Horowitz books in the fiction section of the library media center, and if you'd like to contact him, you can reach him through Twitter @anthonyhorowitz .

Teens Top Ten

Congrats to Veronica Roth and her book Divergent for winning the Top Book for Teens as voted by teens across the nation.  You can find all the books in the Divergent Trilogy in the LHS Library Media Center.

For more info and to see the rest of the Top Ten visit the YALSA website.

Diigo - Your Friend for Online Research

I'm not sure who came up with the idea of "Favorites" - probably Microsoft (if not, I'm sure they took credit for it) - but they have been a staple since web browsing really got started.  You go to the same websites a lot; you mark them as favorites.  That way, you don't have to remember the address or go through the great big Google search that led you there in the first place.

Favorites are great.  You can even keep them in folders for organizing, but the Web 2.0 revolution brought about some other challenges.  Favorites needed to be accessed across multiple devices.  It's not enough to be able to get to your favorites from your desktop.  Why can't you have the same list on your tablet, and your laptop, and your other laptop?  Some awesome innovators came up with a way to make that possible - and they coined the term "Social Bookmarking."  

With social bookmarking (through sites like Delicious), people could access their favorite bookmarks from anywhere, and they could even share them with friends.  The people at Diigo, however, have taken social bookmarking to a whole new level.  Imagine a simple toolbar that you can install on all your devices which allows you to not only bookmark, but annotate and highlight information from any website.  The best part - the next time you open that same page, the annotations are saved (on any of your devices).  This means you can take notes on THIS article at your computer at home, and then pull up the article and continue annotating at school.  

Imagine for a moment what this could do for your research paper/project organization.  Take a minute to watch this video to get a great visual of Diigo in action. 

Karen Kingsbury - Author of the Month

Photo from
karenkingsbury.com

Karen Kingsbury is an author best known for her Christian romance novels.  Our collection of Kingsbury books was relatively small until early last year when Mrs. Voiles highly recommended them.  As a result, we added several additional titles including the popular Bailey Flanigan series and the Above the Line series.

Kingsbury has her own website (http://www.karenkingsbury.com) and is active on Facebook and Twitter.  She also has her own YouTube channel where she posts book trailers for her upcoming novels.  Check out the latest one for the book The Bridge.

You can find a selection of Kingsbury books in the fiction of the library media center.  Let us know if you like them!

Taking Requests!

We'll be ordering new titles throughout the year, and we always want to make sure to carry the titles YOU want to read in the library media center.  Feel free to submit requests to Mr. B or Mrs. Webb in person, or you can submit the "Questions/Comments" form on the left.  

Don't forget - we now have Catalist Digital downloadable audiobooks and FollettShelf ebooks available for you to checkout as well.  If you want a title in a particular format, let us know that too!

YouTube Channel

 

The LHS Media Center now has a YouTube channel with how-to videos for some of our databases and apps.  You can access the channel by clicking the YouTube logo on the right of the screen at any time or by clicking here now. 

If you have any suggestions for videos to add to the YouTube channel (or if you've created something awesome that you think needs to be included), submit the link and some information about it in the Questions/Comments form on the left. 

We'll be adding videos throughout the year, so check back often!

Rick Riordan - Author of the Month



picture from
http://rickriordan.blogspot.com

Rick Riordan is a Middle School teacher turned best-selling author.  His Percy Jackson & The Olympians series has won numerous awards and accolades from students and critics alike and has been made into a major motion picture. 
Riordan was born in San Antonio, Texas and graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a major in both History and English.  He then taught in New Braunfels, San Francisco, and in San Antonio before committing to being a full-time author.  His books are known for their strong connection to mythology, something he says he has loved since he was young. 

To find out more about Riordan and his books, you can visit his website, follow him on Twitter, read his blog, or check out the display in the fiction section of the library media center. 

Welcome Back

Welcome back to school!  2012-2013 is sure to be a great year.  Please let us know if you have any needs or requests from the media center.  We're always happy to get books and resources based on teacher and student recommendations.  You can make a request by filling out the Questions/Comments form on the website or by talking to Mr. B or Mrs. Webb in person.

We have some great new tools available in the media center this year.  We have even more Follett eBooks to download on tablets and smartphones, a new YouTube channel with how-to videos, and our apps for managing your media center account, ebooks, and audiobooks have improved greatly!

More info about all these are coming soon!  Have a great year!

Summer AR Changes

The High School AR policy is changing a bit next year, and some of those changes deal with summer reading.  Here is the new policy:

Summer Points

We understand that students are involved in many extracurricular activities and would like to reward those students who take care of their reading early.  For that reason, we have summer reading points.

• A student may earn up to two six weeks worth of points through summer reading. 
• 20 points earned (with an average % passing of 85) = one six weeks grade (any six weeks in the first semester)
• 40 points earned (with an average % passing of 85) = two six weeks grades (one in the first semester, and one in the second)
• Any summer points earned below 20 will apply to the point goal for the first six weeks

Summer Media Center Hours



Image from CNN.com

 The High School Library Media Center will be open every Thursday this summer from 11 am to 2 pm.  You can come check out books, use the computers, and take Accelerated Reader tests.  All points earned over the summer will count towards point totals for a six weeks next year.  Incoming freshmen through outgoing seniors are welcome!

Meg Cabot - Author of the Month

Picture from MegCabot.com

Meg Cabot is our final author of the month for the 2011-2012 school year.  She is one of the quintessential authors of teen chicklit, but she writes for women and girls of all ages.  Some of her most successful book series include the Princess Diaries, Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls, and Avalon High, and she has written many stand-alone books as well. 

Cabot is an active-blogger and Twitter user.  You can find her diary blog on her official website.  She writes about just about anything that is on her mind (often her cats), and each post is filled with her signature humor and pop culture references. 

According to her website, Cabot was born and raised in Indiana but has also lived in France, California, New York City and (now) Key West, Florida.  She uses these experiences as inspiration for her books and blog posts. 

You can connect with Meg via Facebook, Twitter (@MegCabot), or through her website, MegCabot.com.

Last Six Weeks

As you prepare for the last six weeks of school, here are some media center dates that you may want to keep on your calendar:

• May 11th - Cut-off day for the senior AR scholarship.  The senior student who has the highest cumulative AR point total (over all four years) as of this date will receive a $500 scholarship. 
• May 21st - AR deadline for freshmen
• May 23rd - 
• Last Checkout day for the media center
• AR deadline (everyone but freshmen)
• May 25th -
•  All library media center materials are due.  All outstanding fines must be paid prior to the last day of school. 
• May 27th - Media Center closed all day for elections
• June 1st - Last day of school
• June 7th - First day of summer library media center hours.  We'll be open Thursdays from 11 am to 2 pm. 

National Library Week!

This is the week set aside each year to celebrate libraries and the impact they have on learning.  In fact, the entire month of April is School Library Month.  The theme this year is "You Belong @ Your Library," and we certainly hope you feel that way about the LHS Library Media Center.  I'd like to take the opportunity to thank YOU for making our library media center a great place to work and learn. 

If you are interested, the American Library Association has a few activities going on this week.  The Honorary Chair of National Library Week is Brad Meltzer, author and host of the TV Show Brad Meltzer's Decoded (which I watch as often as I can to get my conspiracy theory fix).  If you tweet a six word story about why you belong @ your library and use the hashtag #nlw6words, you could win the first season of Decoded.  For more ways to get involved in National Library Week, check out http://www.atyourlibrary.org/.

Walter Dean Myers - Author of the Month



Photo from
WalterDeanMyers.net

 Walter Dean Myers was born Walter Milton Myers.  He was given away as a child to man named Herbert Dean, and he was raised by the man and his wife in Harlem.  Myers struggled in school (though he had talent as a writer), and eventually dropped out and joined the army.  Later in life, he returned to writing, especially about what he considers to be the toughest part of his own life - his teenage years.  (Bio information from WalterDeanMyers.net)

Myers has written over 75 books (including prose and poetry), and we have almost a third of those available in the media center.  They are currently on display in the fiction section of the media center, including Monster - winner of several national book awards. 

You can find out more about Walter Dean Myers at his website - http://www.walterdeanmyers.net/, and you can contact him through his literary agent.

eBooks Available for Checkout

The Lorena ISD Media Centers now have eBooks available for you to view online or checkout on your iPad or Android (version 3.0 or higher) Tablet.  Most of the ebooks are reference and nonfiction titles at this time, but we do have some popular fiction titles (such as The Hunger Games Trilogy). 

To access these ebooks, visit the Library Media Center Catalog by clicking "Find a Book" on the media center website.  To only look at our ebook collection, simply click the "Ebooks Resource List" that is located right in the middle of the page.  When you find one you like click on it.  You will be taken to a login screen, and you should use the same credentials you use for logging in to AR.

Once you are logged in, you will have the option to Read the Ebook Online, Check Out the Ebook Online, or (sometimes) Download the Ebook.  Here's some info about each of these options:

• Read Online - This is the same as reading a book while

Darren Shan - Author of the Month

Picture from Goodreads

Darren Shan is best known for his young adult horror books such as the Cirque du Freak series and the Saga of Larten Crepsley.  According to his official website, Shan resides in Limerick, Ireland and his real name is Darren O'Shaughnessy.  He began writing at an early age, but did not write full time until the age of 23. He loves movies (his collection contains over 4,000) and art. 

His first published books were actually written for adults, and he is currently writing more adult fiction in addition to his soon-to-be-published new series for young adults called "Zom-B" (scheduled for release in the fall of 2012). 

If you want to get in touch with Shan, you can do so in a variety of ways.  He responds to letters and e-mails (you can find address information here), and you can also find him on Twitter and Facebook. 

Audiobooks - Free & Paid

If you enjoy audiobooks, add a visit to Audible to your to-do list.  Their service (powered by Amazon) allows you to download thousands of audiobooks to your smartphone, mp3 player, or even your Kindle.  You can purchase audiobooks like The Hunger Games at regular prices (between $20 & $30 a piece) or you can become a subscriber and download a book each month (along with some other perks) for a monthly fee of $14.95. 

That said, if you're into the classics (or have to read one for class), such as A Tale of Two Cities or Pride & Prejudice, you can get those audiobooks for the low, low price of FREE.  For a great list of most of the free titles available on Audible, check out this article from Open Culture. 

Audible is a great site to visit if you're better at listening to those AR books than you are at actually reading them.

P.S. - Just want free audiobooks?  Try LibriVox!

Connect With Us!

In case you didn't know - there are several social media accounts associated with Lorena ISD.  These are great ways for you to keep up with organizations and happenings across the district.  Here's a quick run-down of some of the current social media accounts:

• You can follow daily district events and

Ning - Your own personal Social Network

Though Facebook is by far the most popular social network, many people are put off by the enormity of it.  They love to interact with friends and others who have similar interests, but they want to do that on their own terms.  If you are a part of this growing group - then Ning could be the thing for you.  *Small disclaimer: Ning is blocked here at school, as are almost all social networking sites.  You'll have to take it for a test spin at home.*

Ning allows you

Jan Karon - Author of the Month

Photo from mitfordbooks.com

Jan Karon is best known as the author of the Mitford books - a series of novels about the personalities who inhabit a small town.  Her path to being a best selling author is an unusual one.  She went to work for an advertising firm at the age of 18, and she eventually worked her way up in the company.  She won several awards in the advertising industry.  However, she had always had a desire to write novels, and when she was 50, she quit the ad business, moved to North Carolina, and set out to pursue her dream of writing. 

Ebscohost and Gale Database Tips

Research papers are upon us - people are working on them in droves.  Many of you are told by your teachers to use the research databases like Ebscohost and Gale Powersearch.  If you're stuck, here's some tips I put together for one of the English classes.  I hope they help.

1)      To find the databases, click “Research” on the menu of the Library Media Center website. 

2)      There are two main research databases available to you (not including encyclopedias)

a.       Ebscohost - Use the Search box in the middle of the page to search some of the preselected Ebsco Databases or click on the Ebsco logo on the right to choose your own.

                                                               i.      Ask Mr. B. or Mrs. Webb for the password.

                                                             ii.      Ebsco citations are found by clicking on the article title and the clicking “Cite” on the tools menu to the right.  You will get the bibliographic citation for several different style manuals.

b.       Gale – Click on the link that reads “Gale Powersearch” in the table below the search boxes.

                                                               i.      Ask Mr. B. or Mrs. Webb for the password.

                                                             ii.      Gale citations are found at the bottom of any full text article or by clicking “Citation tools” on the menu to the right.

3)      Research databases contain articles written by academic professionals.  Do not expect

Destiny Quest Mobile App

Keep up with your library media center account on your smartphone!  With the new Destiny Quest app, you can renew your books, hold titles that you want to read, check your due dates, organize personal bookshelves, recommend books to others and submit book reviews.  In addition to these great features, you can also search the catalog to find library media center books and resources that you need. 

To get the app just search "Destiny Quest" in the app store of your iOS or Android device.  You'll need to input our catalog url: http://lisd-lib.lorenaisd.net/, choose your school, and then input your username and password (the same one you use for AR and computer logins). 

Coming soon, the app will allow you to check out and read our collection of ebooks on your device, though we are not sure when that will be available.  Until then, it's a pretty cool app by itself.  Check it out, and if you have any questions, ask Mr. B. or Mrs. Webb.

Dean Koontz - Author of the Month

Click to visit
DeanKoontz.com

Dean Koontz has written more than 50 novels and is touted as one of the greatest suspense authors of our time.  In spite of the chilling nature of many of his stories, Koontz has a great sense of humor that adds an element of fun to his otherwise frightening tales.

According to his website, Koontz won a fiction writing competition while in college and has pursued a career as an author ever since.  After working several jobs, his wife volunteered to support him for five years while he focused solely on writing.  By the end of that time, she had quit her job to work as his business manager.  Koontz has had 13 books reach #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list.

Scan to download the
Dean Koontz App for iPhone.

Koontz does not have a Facebook or Twitter account (though he does have his own app for iPhone and iPod touch).  The best way to get to know about him is to check out his website and read the "Author Q&A" page.  He approaches these questions from fans with his signature humor, and you get a pretty good insight into who he is and why he writes.  Here's an excerpt:

Are you right or left-handed. I've heard that people who are left-handed (as I am) think differently from those that are right-handed.

Julia, I am right-handed, which would be all right except that I am one of those rare right-handed people who suffers from solodexterous ignoratio, a condition in which the right hand never knows what the left hand is doing. My right hand can be penning a love letter while my left hand is strangling an innocent passerby.My right hand can be sincerely waving bye-bye, while my left hand is making the most viciously obscene gestures, and my right hand remains blissfully clueless of what is transpiring only five fingers away. While engaged in a friendly shake with a new acquaintance, my right hand proceeds utterly unaware that my left hand is trying to gouge out this person’s eyes, thus the right hand is surprised and its feelings are hurt when the new acquaintance, for no reason apparent to the right hand, tries to crush its bones. Conversely, my left hand always knows what my right is doing, but that is another story.

We have several Koontz novels on display this month in fiction section.  Check one out today!