Library Project

This semester, along with learning to run the library, you will spend time researching libraries in general in order to get a sense of what this magical little world is all about. You'll become expert researchers (a great thing to be!), and you'll start to figure out why people all of the world have loved libraries for thousands of years.

In the end, you will create something (an essay, a website, a game, a work of art) that describes what you have learned about libraries, and how you fit in to the history of libraries now that you have officially worked in one. Whatever you create will be partly research-based and partly personal.

So, to get started, you'll want to read up on libraries in general. I'll give you three weeks to do this. Consider it your project for the first grading period. Here's what to do:

• Find out what the encyclopedia says about libraries


• find out what happens if you search for 'libraries' in the catalog. Do we have any books about libraries? Fiction or nonfiction? Take a look at them.


• Use the digital library to read about libraries. When did people start having libraries? What are some famous libraries? What are libraries really for?

By the end of the first grading period, you must share with me a Google Doc that you have created on the topic of libraries. You can write a summary of what you learned, you can write questions you have come up with, or you can simply take notes on what you've read.

Step two is to narrow your focus. This means that it's time to figure out what about libraries you really want to research. Some ideas are:

• famous libraries (or even just one specific famous library)


• types of libraries


• the purpose of libraries


• libraries of the future


• how people use libraries


• libraries in danger!


• fiction about libraries or librarians


• movies about libraries or librarians


• What is a librarian?

Once you've chosen what your focus will be, you'll need to spend time developing your research on that focus. This is what you'll do during the second grading period. There are lots of ways to research your topic. Here are some ideas:

• online research


• research using books from ours and other libraries


• visit lots of kinds of libraries (take pictures, write down what you observe)


• interview librarians


• interview library users


• find movies about libraries


• read fiction about libraries

Again, at the end of the grading period, your Google Doc should reflect that you've been really thinking about this.

Now it's time to pull it all together. In the third grading period, you will decide how to organize what you have learned into a product that you can share with others. What will be the best format for your presentation? What will you enjoy creating? What do you have time to do? What do you know how to do? What can you get the materials to do? Here are some ideas:

• build a model of a famous library you've researched


• make a photo album of different types of libraries


• create a work of fiction, a play, or a comic book, about a library or librarian


• write a report


• create a game about libraries


• create a video promoting libraries or informing people about libraries


• write a song about libraries and record it


• create a display (in our library) about what you've learned

You can do anything that works. Just run it by me first.

At the end of the 3rd grading period, your product must be COMPLETE.

Because during the 4th grading period, we will share our work with each other. Every Student Librarian from every period and grade level will view and evaluate every other person's work so that we can learn from each other and get feedback on our own work.

Get started!

Add a Link List

This week, please add a list of links to all of our other students' blogs to your own blog. I want you all to read each other's blogs regularly. The easiest way to do this is to have a list of them ready to go on your blog, like I have on our class blog.

To do this, go to Layout and Add a Gadget.
The gadget you want is called a Link List.
Give it a title, and then copy and paste each student's blog address where it says New Site URL. Write the person's name where it says New Site Name.
Click Add Link and repeat for each student.

Don't forget to click SAVE when you are done.

Good Reads

Good Reads is a great website that lets you keep track of the books you read and the books you want to read. You can also make friends and join discussion groups based on the books you like. Take a look and, if you like the idea, join and become my friend. Then you can add books from your AR record, add new friends, and start keeping track of the books you want to read in the future.