September 1, 2011

A n n u a l
State of the Library Overview of the strengths and areas for improvement of the ISU Media Center Page 1

I S U MEDIA C E NTER
R e p o r t
Accomplishments A look at what progress was made towards addressing areas of concern. Page 2 Instructional Collaboration Working with faculty for student achievement Page 6 improve for 2011-12. Page 7

2 0 1 0 - 1 1
Usage, Literacy and Goals How were library materials used, and what do we hope to

Jeri Hurd, Library Media Specialist

Baigalmaa Sangad, Library Assistant

PART I: STATE OF THE LIBRARY

While Michele Moller put a herculean effort into organizing years of neglect last year, but there is still much to be done.
As the rst certied LMS at ISU, I accepted the job with both anticipation and trepidation; anticipation at the opportunity to create a vision for the library, trepidation at what I might nd. Fortunately, those fears were largely unfounded. Michele Molller did a ne job of beginning the organization process, but there was still plenty to be done. STRENGTHS Collection: The primary section contains a solid collection that lls most of our needs, though there is always room for improvement. The secondary collection contains an adequate selection of Young Adult (YA) ction. Space The library is large enough for current needs, with spaces for a primary reading area, student collaboration, and a small collection of computers for general use; with the addition of an LCD projector, we were able to create an instructional area. Caught in Passing
Student tourguide to prospective students: The library is so much better this year than last year! We have Kindles you can check out and better books to read, and you can actually nd stuff on your research topics now.

ISU Media Center

PO Box 36/10

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

September 1, 2011

ISUM C A N N U AL R EPOR T
Budget Kudos to the board for recognizing the need to improve the library, and making the budget for that available! AREAS TO IMPROVE: Policies: There were no library policies in place. Collection The nonction section of the primary collection is adequate, but some units have few books appropriate to the topic. The secondary collection needs quite a bit of work. There is little available in nonction to support the curriculum; nor is there much available in ction for adult or DP level reading. Both sections need a stronger reference section. The lack of a computer in the back area necessitates a lot of running back and forth to search the catalog for books. Moreover, the collection has never been weeded and contains quite a few books of questionable value! Teacher resources and Professional Development books are housed in the storage area; as a result, they dont circulate much. There are no tools for media production available from the library. The only database available for use is JSTOR, which is of little use to non-DP students, and BrainPOP, which has limited research value. Space: The shelves were poorly arranged, providing areas where students could congregate without being seen by library staff. The current blinds in front of the windows do not allow us to darken the room. This is big problem both during lessons and for presentations frequently scheduled in the library, as it is often too bright to see the projection. While we have computers, they are old and dont work half the time. Signage is inadequate, making it difcult to nd specic shelves. Program: There was no set library program in place for primary or secondary, beyond weekly library visits for the elementary. I With a $50,000 budget, we were able to begin addressing some of the collection issues, adding 1209 books to the collection, including several reference sets for both

45% 55% 72%

28%

primary and secondary. The charts to the left show the distribution between primary/secondary and ction/ nonction. It is difcult to give a more detailed collection analysis, due to the way in which the OPAC (Destiny) was originally setup. Not only the collection, but all the textbooks, primary readers, teacher resources and media are catalogued as part of the general collection; moreover, within the catalogue no distinction is made

Primary Secondary

Fiction Nonction

ISU Media Center

PO Box 36/10

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

September 1, 2011

ISUM C A N N U AL R EPOR T
between books for secondary and books for primary. Finally, no ordered system for assigning call numbers was used, making it extremely difcult to run an analysis on just the collection. I have started trying to clean this up, but with over 30,000 items in the database, its a slow process. Weeding: In addition to adding books, we rolled up our sleeves, broke out the dust-rags and commenced culling out the
bad, the ugly, and the useless. So far, 733 books have been removed from the collection and thrown out (when beyond hope) or donated to a school in the country. The Collection: Databases In addition to JSTOR and BrainPOP, we added several grade and subject appropriate databases.

DA T A B A S E
Kids InfoBits Discovery Collection Questia Achieve Global Issues in Context Opposing Viewpoints World History in Context Science Online JSTOR

CONTENT
Primary level, general interest articles and multimedia 6-12, general interest articles and multimedia Online library of over 30,000 volumes and 3,000,000 articles, with IB/AP content (9-12) Reference texts, articles and media on topical issues from a global perspective (9-12) Pro/Con articles and peer-reviewed journals on topical issues (8-12) Collection of history-based articles, media and reference materials (9-12) Database of science articles, videos, graphs and images (6-12) College level, academic database of peer-reviewed articles and journals

The databases form the core of our support for student and faculty information needs. They are available 24/7, whether at school or from home, and provide students access to authoritative, relevant articles, books and media on a variety of subjects.

ISU Media Center

PO Box 36/10

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

September 1, 2011

ISUM C A N N U AL R EPOR T
The Collection: Equipment Computers: In addition to the six desktop computers, we added 6 laptops for use in the library, one (ancient!) computer in the back for searching Destiny. Cameras: We added ve Kodak zi8 cameras for student and faculty use. These are Flip-stype cameras that take both stills and video. Kindles: The school had 4 Kindles purchased for the secondary that were just sitting there, so we added them to the library collection for circulation. USB Headsets: We purchased 15 USB headsets for use with digital projects. LCD Projector: We had an LCD projector installed by the desktop computers for library instruction. Space: Fortunately, the shelving arrangement problem was an easy x. With the help of a few students in desperate need of something to do during orientation week, we rearranged the shelves to a) remove hiding spaces and b) provide clear line-ofsight between the front and back of the library. The curtain issue remains a problem. Program: The most urgent need in terms of programming lay with the secondary. The library had no involvement to this point in supporting the MYP or DP students during the research process for their Personal Projects and Extended Essays. Program (cont): Working with the MYP and DP Coordinators, I developed information literacy curriculum guiding students through the research process. We set up a series of workshops for DP students to attend during their study periods, teaching the research process, search skills, information management and MLA citation style. Students created Information Dashboards and were introduced to EverNote and NoodleTools as methods for organizing their research ndings, as well as Bibme.org for documenting sources.

I wish I had partnered the library much earlier. I have always been excited about using web 2.0 applications to engage my students in learning, but felt overwhelmed by the information I found on the internet. I have the ideas but I need the tools, and the best tool. When Jeri came along, it was amazing because she is knowledgeable in this area. Not only did she offer me great ideas, but she also supported me by co-teaching with me, which makes it less daunting when it comes to introducing fancy new ideas to a class of Grade 10 students. Students were surprised by the quality of work they produced in the end. They felt good about themselves, and I learned a great deal!
Sou Cheng Leong, English Teacher

ISU Media Center

PO Box 36/10

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

September 1, 2011

ISUM C A N N U AL R EPOR T
For MYP, I had a couple of sessions with the 10th graders, but they were already pretty far along in the process, so it was of limited value to them. Dave Chilton and I began working with the 9th graders in late May, and I will be able to monitor them closely this year, within the MYP guidelines, as I have them in class. Faculty: There was not much culture of the library in the secondary section, and faculty are used to going it on their own. To help establish the library as a go-to place for a variety of needs, we offered a series of tech workshops during rst semester on everything from Web 2.0 tools such as VoiceThread and ToonDoo to developing classroom websites using Google Sites, to using iGoogle to develop a personal Information Dashboard. I feel these primary By Section secondary 10 6 workshops are essential to developing technology prociency in the staff; unfortunately, with after school activities, many faculty could not attend, and participation was rather limited. Moreover, my own ASAs during the second semester meant I could not grade 3 By Subject grade 5 science (myp) humanities 2 4 5 4 offer the after-school workshops at all. More successfully, I worked with a few teachers in primary and in secondary to provide Pathnders for research along with instruction for students on their use, additional searching, and appropriate citation style. In all, I created a total of 16 different pathnders (collections of sources) for both primary and secondary. As you can see from the chart above, only four teachers in total took advantage of this resource, which is somewhat disappointing, though probably not unexpected, given the dearth of time I had with the faculty as a whole to explain just who I could be of service to them. I spoke with admin about making time available, but with the busy meeting schedule, it fell through the cracks. Those who did use them found they aided student research. I added Google Analytics to the pathnder site in May, in order to track usage. For May alone, certainly a slow month for research, the website had 123 hits. It will be interesting to track their use for 2011-2012 school year. On an upbeat note, after the library presentation during Orientation Week this year, three additional members of the secondary faculty approached me about working with them on research projects for their classes this year. With other

Pathnder Distribution

ISU Media Center

PO Box 36/10

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

September 1, 2011

ISUM C A N N U AL R EPOR T
sessions already scheduled on faculty training in using Destiny and

The pathnders were a very useful way to direct students to reliable and userfriendly sources for their Humanities work. Some of them were used for student research or as additional reading, for myself as well as the students. I had a pathnder for almost every unit that I taught and students were encouraged to see them as their rst go to place.




Dave Chilton, MYP Coordinator

the online databases, one hopes this will further embed the library in classrooms throughout the school. Online Presence: With a rm belief that the library must move where its patrons are, the media center needed to develop an online presence. Moreover, that presence should be as participatory and interactive as possible. Thus, while creating the ISU Media Center website, we chose to use a blogging-based platform, which allowed us to embed media, create online quizzes, invite student blogging, and showcase student work. In addition, we created a Facebook page that students could like to receive updates on library events, and, again, highlight student work. The media center also petitioned to adopt Google Apps as a school-wide platform

for collaboration and student email. Initially, in conjunction with the Tech Director, we piloted the program to a few tech-savvy teachers. Now that the apps have gone live for the entire school, we will add a Library folder shared with the school that contains all the library handouts.

Part III: Instructional Collaboration

grade 1 The ISU Media Center approached instructional collaboration guided by two essential questions: What skills are necessary for students in a participatory culture? How can we best facilitate student learning and develop transliteracy? We collaborated with faculty on a variety of projects and research topics, from 1st grade storytelling to 5th grade science experiments to 10th grade Animoto BookTrailers. We taught tools such as Animoto, Aviary, JayCut, NoodleTools, Google Docs,
ISU Media Center PO Box 36/10

Classes by Subject

3 4 3 5 3 3 2 3 7

grade 5 grade 3 science 6 science 7 science 9 humanities 6 Eng B 10 history 11

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

September 1, 2011

ISUM C A N N U AL R EPOR T
Google Forms and Survey Monkey, NetVibes, iGoogle, Glogster and Storybird, embedding meaningful use of technology into the curriculum. We created school-wide accounts for VoiceThread, ToonDoo, and Storybird to facilitate using these tools in a safe manner. Just what were some of the students essential learnings? Students learned digital citizenship by nding copyright friendly sources of digital media, and citing them appropriately in their multimedia projects. They learned to use cloud computing to produce, collaborate and share. They learned to evaluated media for accuracy, reliability and authority. They learned methods for creating engaging media and content-rich presentations. Students learned questioning techniques and research strategies that apply to multiple disciplines. They learned to organize and manage their information lives.

Our most extensive collaboration was with Darren Heil and the MYP science classes. Darren was a betatester for Google Apps. All of his classes were signed into the apps; together, we showed them how to document their sources and create notecards in NoodleTools, then link their NoodleTools account to Google Docs to create their paper. They shared their note cards and research paper with both of us, receiving content feedback from Darren, and citation/research feedback from me. It was an exhilarating use of technology for real purposes, and Darren and I learned a lot about what works, what didnt work, and ideas for improvement next year, including ways in which the library can be part of formative assessment.

Part IV: Usage, Promoting Literacy, and Goals

Circulation: This is the baseline year for establishing circulation trends. As stated above, it is somewhat difcult to establish hard data, because the textbooks skew the results. However, assuming textbooks account for half of the secondary circulation (and I suspect its more), the number of books they check

ISU Media Center

PO Box 36/10

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

September 1, 2011

ISUM C A N N U AL R EPOR T
out is dismally low, and something to be addressed. On the positive side, the primary students are avid readers (and only check out one or two textbooks, so their numbers are almost entirely pleasure reading), a habit one hopes will continue as they enter secondary.

DATABASE USAGE Given that most students of the students had never used a database before, our addition of these useful sources of information was highly successful this year, with a total of 3176 sessions and over 5,500 full-text documents retrieved. Understandably, given the nature of an IB school, Global Issues in Context was the most used database. A few areas that will need to reinforcement this year. 1) Questia is an excellent resource of which students need to take more advantage. I suspect they dont like the interface, and it can difcult trying to read and search a book online. However, given the fact that we are still trying to build a collection, this is denitely under-utilized. 2) Despite repeatedly telling students these databases are available from home (and handing out password bookmarks, only three of the sessions were remote, and that was from a 3rd grader! We will need to emphasize with students that these databases are accessible from home and a better alternative than Google. HARDWARE: The laptops, Kindles and video cameras proved to be a popular addition to the library circulation. The six laptops circulated 834 times, whether through general student use or classes coming to the library to use the computers.

ISU Media Center

PO Box 36/10

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

September 1, 2011

ISUM C A N N U AL R EPOR T
Similarly, when we introduced the Kindles in March, once students realized they could check them out, we only saw them to check them in, then send them out again as we had a waiting list. Students were especially excited that we could download popular books the day they were issued in the U.S. or UK, and that we take requests for books to load onto the Kindles. I am looking forward to initiating the iPad program this year, as they function as more than just an e-reader. We plan to load a variety of apps to facilitate both student learning and production, and it will be interesting to watch how students and faculty use them. We plan to have users complete a follow-up survey to gauge this, whether they are a useful offering, and users ideas for improving our implementation. Finally, the four Kodak zi8s introduced in January were a hit with both faculty and students, circulating 104 times.

Google Apps and Research

My grade 6 to 9 classes were assigned a research paper in Science class. Not only were they to research certain topics and write a 1200 word essay, they were also introduced to Google Docs and Noodle Tools in order to organize and submit their work. I partnered with the ISU Media Center and Ms. Hurd to help explain to the students the research process and the many resources the media center has to help them write their essay. The students were very interested in using Google Docs with the ability to share their work and have access to it without a series of emails. Noodle Tools was a little more difcult for them to get used to, forced many of them to break several bad habits they had. With Ms. Hurd and I able to check their progress, they could not procrastinate or use poor or few sources. It would be extremely useful for them to use these resources in all their classes with all their teachers explaining the benets of proper research and organizational skills. Darren Heil, MYP Science

PROMOTING LITERACY
We think our biggest boost to promoting literacy at ISU last year was simply opening up the library to the primary grades during lunch and recess; previously, they had not been allowed in during those times. They took full advantage, and the library was a hoppin place as students perused the shelves, worked on classwork together, or just sat and pored over books.

LITERACY WEEK:
The Media Center played an integral role in developing the activities around literacy week. First, we broadened the denition of literacy beyond merely textual literacy to include transliteracies such as information literacy, media literacy, visual literacy, and technological literacy. All-School Activities

The month long Read-A-Thon was a smashing success (in the primary, at least), raising almost 4,000,000 MNT to donate to buy books for the Baaganur school, with prizes for both individual readers and the class that raised the most money. Other activities included D.E.A.R and Book Buddies, pairing secondary students with primary students to share a favorite story. On the nal day, everyone came dressed as his/her favorite character.

ISU Media Center

PO Box 36/10

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

September 1, 2011

Divisional Activities K-5 classes wrote and illustrated stories using StoryBird, created 3-D book covers and invited parents in to read stories in their native language and enjoyed a Skype visit with childrens author David Greenberg. Secondary classes created Google Search Story videos, participated in a week-long Library Mystery and Skyped with YA author Laurie Halse Anderson.
READING PROMOTION:

The library has been a great place to nd research for my Extended Essay. Ms. Hurd is always stopping me and saying, We have something new that will be useful. Elise Aadnanes, grade 12

In addition to Literacy Week, the library promoted reading through board displays on Adventure novels, Dystopian novels, and Graphic novels, as well as author promotions of Laurie Halse Anderson and Chris Crutcher. We opened up student and faculty accounts on Destiny, inviting students to write book reviews and share them with friends and classmates. author Laurie Halse Anderson.

GOALS 2011-2012
1) Continue to advocate for the library, embedding it into classrooms and curricula. 2) With last years focus on secondary, this year we need to develop a primary curricula during weekly library time. 3) Continue to promote new tools to students and faculty for curating information, while pushing faculty to include the Media Center in their planning and lesson development, particular in developing ways to use technology as a meaningful tool. I also want to promote Question-based research, rather than some of the reports currently being used. 4) Implement student pre/post research readiness surveys, for curriculum assessment and feedback.

ISU Media Center

PO Box 36/10

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

September 1, 2011

5) Become part of the formative assessment process for student research and writing. 6. Initiate Library Advisory groups. 6) Develop faculty workshops for using social media for collaborative and pedagogical purposes. 7) Develop our eBook, Kindle and iPad programs. 8) Continue to address the need with Admin for a) a security system and b) the textbook component of

ISU Media Center

PO Box 36/10

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia