You Make a Commercial

What do you say when someone says why do I need to go to a database training? Last week, I was asked that question by more than one person. With a need, comes a solution. I needed an infommercial about our district one-stop-shopping source for all your digitial information needs- Destiny. So, at midnight on Friday, I grabbed my cell phone from the nightstand and recorded my thoughts. This morning, I made a little video. Too large to email, I created this post. Here is the text of the video. Perhaps you can use the bones of it to create your own infommercial.

Suppose you are a 6th grade student doing research on ancient China. You do a Google search and get 11 million hits. How are you supposed to know which site has the best answers?

Maybe you’re a classroom teacher. You have to teach a unit of inquiry and you just don’t have enough resources for content. You need differentiated texts.

Maybe you're a parent. You can’t afford to buy an encyclopedia every year and you don’t have the gas to drive to the public library after school closes.

Maybe you’re an administrator and you just want to level the playing field to ensure that everyone has equal access to the most current information.

We’re all busy. Isn’t there one place to go with all that information?

There is. I’m Deborah Ford, your resource librarian. The answer is one simple word. That word is Destiny. It’s available 24-7 and it goes beyond the bricks and mortar of your library.

Our district library catalog, Destiny, is more than a list of books. It’s one stop shopping for all your digital needs- from up to date encyclopedias to PDFs of magazine articles in databases, from vetted websites to readers’ theater scripts, you’ll find everything you need all at one website.

Want to know more about Destiny and the digital databases? Contact me, Deborah Ford, at Library Services to Schools. From a 15 minute overview that leaves you wanting more to a hands-on two hour workshop, you can find out how your library extends beyond the bricks and mortar with Destiny.

Oh! And you can find out what books you have in the collection too.

Aunt Betty Skypes

Today Aunt Betty had a new experience. She Skyped with a school- in Michigan. Pansophia Academy is a school in Coldwater, Michigan. I met the librarian at a recent workshop. Her school planned a read-a-thon, so she asked Aunt Betty to share a story with her school.

Enter Skype (or Google Voice and Video Chat). Skype offers free audio and video chats, all for the downloading of the software. You can talk (and see) someone from anywhere in the world without leaving your house. How about Skyping with an author? Try a Virtual Visit. Check out teachingdegree.org for more ideas about how to use video chats in your classroom.

To do this with a guest speaker you will want to do a few things ahead of time.

1. Download Skype,
2. Invite your speaker to be a contact within Skype.
3. Check your Privacy settings in Skype.
4. Get an LCD projector to connect to your computer.
5. Get speakers- you may need to place a microphone near your speakers, depending on the size of your audience.
6. Do a practice test with your guest before there is an audience.
7. You may want to use a USB web cam so that if you want to show other things in the room, you won’t have to move the whole computer.

Because we used a USB web cam, Aunt Betty was able to show her office and a Google map of the distance between San Diego and Coldwater, Michigan. We sang a song together and Aunt Betty told the true story of the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

As my mama always says, “a good time was had by all.” Try it. You’ll like it.