It's mere days before the CSLA conference in the City of Industry, and the California State Librarian and the lead coordinator for the K-12 Online Content project will be there too. Our newsletter this week is a reminder that we'll be there, and some more helpful sites. See you this week!
Get tech help at CSLA conference
If you happen to be at the upcoming California School Library Association (CSLA) annual conference on February 7-10, and you're struggling to get have your school district set up access for the CA K-12 online content providers, the conference is the place to be.
Staff from all three content providers -- ProQuest, TeachingBooks.net and Britannica -- will have representatives on site, ready to help answer your questions and give advice for usage and access.
For example, you may receive direct help with the optimal setup for your school or district at CSLA booth 17 (TeachingBooks -- ask for Ray R). Once one provider is ready to go, incorporating all three content providers will be much easier. (Especially with the website template now available, see "Repeats" below.)
Are you definitely interested in taking advantages of the tech support offer from Ray at TeachingBooks.net? Help Ray and his team ahead of time by filling out this questionnaire.
If you and your colleagues aren't able to attend the conference in person, no worries -- use the questionnaire and submit information about your issue for help and answers via email or phone.
Animal Diversity Web - open online resource for the budding zoologist
Do you have a classroom of animal lovers looking for detailed information for a science-writing project? Have a student looking for facts on a specific species of insect? Consider taking a look at the Animal Diversity Web, an informational tool from the University of Michigan's Museum of Zoology.
"Animal Diversity Web is an online database of animal natural history, distribution, classification, and conservation biology at the University of Michigan," notes the website at animaldiversity.org.
The mission of the project is to provide an encyclopedia of animal natural history, built through contributions from students, photographers, and others. Funding was provided not only by the University and donors, but also from National Science Foundation.
"It is a rich and flexible resource designed both as an encyclopedia for exploring biodiversity and for use in formal, inquiry-based education." -- animaldiversity.org.
(The editor of this newsletter stumbled across this resource when looking for information about the Rocky Mountain Locust, the now-extinct insect that ate through much of the American Midwest in the 1880s.)
REPEATS
The following information was included in previous newsletters, but the blurbs are important enough to include again. One key highlight: how to easily include links to the resources on your website with the template.
NEW TEMPLATE! Easily create a webpage with Links to Britannica, ProQuest and TeachingBooks.net
One of the biggest frustrations we've heard is the complexity of creating access points online for the three online content providers of Britannica, ProQuest and TeachingBooks.net. Each district or charter school received three different welcome letters with three different sets of instructions on how to set up. We didn't have one easy way to include these resources on a district or school website.
We do now.
The content providers crafted a template that lets a web designer easily create a web page with direct access links to the databases. By simply copying/pasting the code provided on the template URL into an appropriate web page, you will have all the buttons, links, and language needed to create an appropriate web page for your district.
(If the links above didn't work to see the template page, go directly to https://www.teachingbooks.net/show.cgi?f=CA_K12_resources. )
Users will be able to view buttons for all of the library databases. Computers that have IP authentication (such as on a school site) will be able to access the content directly. If off-site, the user will be prompted to supply the username/password for your district that’s provided in the welcome letters from each of the content providers sent to the district or school IT team.
Note: Customized code is required to setup your district access for one of the ProQuest products, Schools and Educators Complete. This is a specialized product and each district has different customization needs. Each district's lead IT contact should reach out to ProQuest directly for this set-up information, as noted in the welcome letter.
New York Times online access for all Californians via your local public library
All California public libraries are now able to offer online access to the New York Times, complements of a statewide project from the California State Library. This offer for local public libraries in California features direct access to nytimes.com from 1851 to right now, including:
The State Library is supporting this resource for California public libraries for at least the next 18 months, and access set-up is at the local public-library level. Contact your local public library for more information about access. Creation of an user account with the NYTimes required.
TRAINING: Recorded webinars and training videos
Quick reminder about the recorded webinars and other training videos to help teachers, students and others learn about how to utilize the online resources. Take a look at the main K-12 Online Content page under the "Webinar Recordings and Other Online Training" tab.
Share this with someone (You can grab the text for your own outreach, too)
We’re trying to build a network of educators, librarians, administrators and others (including parents and the students themselves) to fully utilize this educational opportunity. Please share this eNewsletter with others, and encourage them to sign up. And feel free to copy/paste text for your own outreach to teachers, staff and others -- just make sure you get the URLs, credit the State Library somewhere, and fix any typos or grammar problems!
Comments and suggestions are always welcome and may be sent to Marybeth.barber@library.ca.gov.
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