Here are some ideas, resources, and guidelines to help you plan out your beginning of the year library orientations for students and faculty. Click here for a printable PDF version of this document.
Do you have other ideas or suggestions for orientations or starting the year? What information do you feel is most essential to share with your students? Please contribute your thoughts in the comments section below.
Library Orientation – Secondary Schools
When:
September – October
Who:
Ideally every student should go through an orientation. I would start with 7th grade in JH and 9th or 10th grade in HS.
What:
- Introduce the librarian.
- Familiarize both students and faculty with the media center. Show the materials, electronic resources, technology, and services that are available and how to locate or access them.
- Demonstrate how to use the library catalog. (Destiny/Destiny Quest)
- Review library hours, policies and procedures.
- Encourage use of the media center.
- Introduce new titles.
- Introduce reading programs or promotions.
- Introduce OverDrive to students.
- I will get you a list of new titles on OverDrive.
- Access Overdrive at http://granite.lib.overdrive.com
- Resources available at http://granitemedia.org/overdrive and http://partners.overdrive.com/marketing-outreach/schools/
- Introduce the Granite Book Awards.
- I have bookmarks and posters for your schools.
- Access and resources found at http://granitemedia.org/gba
- Introduce Canvas.
- Access Canvas at http://graniteschools.instructure.com
- Resources available at http://guides.instructure.com/
- Introduce Safari Montage.
- Access Safari Montage at http://safari.graniteschools.org
- Resources also available at http://granitemedia.org/safari
- Introduce Pioneer – Utah’s Online Library (http://pioneer.uen.org/k12)
Ideas for Orientations:
- http://dentonlibrary.wikispaces.com/Library+Orientation+Lessons
- http://thedaringlibrarian.com
- http://sharingtheshelves.blogspot.com/2012/08/qr-code-library-orientation.html
- http://bungermedia.weebly.com/1/category/qr%20codes/1.html
- http://www.slsd.org/webpages/crobbins/index.cfm?subpage=1299464
Here is a new blog post I just came across with a lot of great options and ideas for orientations: http://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2013/08/14/orientation-inspirations/
Joyce Valenza searched and crowd-sourced Pinterest, Twitter and a bunch of blogs for orientation ideas, and shared what she found on her blog.
Here is another resource of funny library videos for orientation that Renee Larsen at Hillside found: http://www.readerpants.net/2012/08/fun-ideas-for-library-orientation.html