Dr. Felice Russell, Library Media Specialist
Dr. Russell is excited to join SDMS! She has been an educator for over twenty years and has worked at all levels of K-12 and higher education. In her role as library media specialist, she collaborates with teachers and staff to develop lessons, develop instructional resources, co-teach lessons on information literacy and technology, and promote literacy and a love of reading throughout the SDMS community. Her goal for the library is to support creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, communication, and civic responsibility--key 21st Century Skills!

Mrs. Taylor Zocco, Library Assistant
Mrs. Zocco assists with the daily operation of the library. Mrs. Zocco is responsible for managing the circulation desk, record keeping, and the many other tasks that keep the Library Media Center running smoothly.

The Silas Deane Middle School Library Media Center staff believes that the 21st Century requires citizens to be effective and efficient users of information. Knowing how to locate, use, and synthesize information in an efficient manner will empower students in school and beyond. With these goals in mind, the Silas Deane Middle School Library Media Center strives to promote reading for pleasure and for research, to assist students in acquiring information and technology literacy skills, to provide a rich array of print and non-print materials to support the curriculum, and to work with teachers to identify curriculum links and integrate resources into instructional units. We integrate the AASL Standards Framework for Learners: think, create, share, and grow.  In addition, the school library lessons, programs, and collection support the district's priority goals--equity, empathy, and achievement--and its Vision of a Graduate.

MATERIALS/SUBSCRIPTIONS/RESOURCES

The Silas Deane Middle School Library Media Center, holds approximately 14,200 materials. It has a wide range of fiction, nonfiction, and reference materials  for student and staff use. Students have access to expansive digital library collections available 24/7 such as  the World Book Online subscription database, and the Research IT CT (formerly known as ICONN).  Other subscriptions include Newsela, Trueflix, PowerKnowledge Science,  BrainPOP,  and Swank video to support curricular units. Students can use the Clever portal bookmarked on their Chromebooks to log in to these subscriptions.

PHYSICAL SPACE

SDMS is a 1:1 Chromebook school. so students bring their Chromebooks for classwork or independent work. The library media center has four zones: an instructional zone, a makerspace zone, a reading and fiction/book checkout zone, and a collaborative zone.  There are two Smart Boards and projectors for instruction, one in the instructional zone and one in the collaborative zone.  There is also a small Green Screen Space. The Makerspace area has rotating activities--from Rubik's Cube Mosaics, to recycled book art, Zentangle cards, Makedo cardboard creations,  puzzles, Snap Circuits, Lego Building, line coding with Ozobots, iPad app coding with Spheros, and more! 

LIBRARY CATALOGS

The Library Media Center uses Follett’s Destiny Library  Manager software to manage its collection. This database includes  an online browser-based card catalog, which allows students and staff to search the collection both from the classroom and from home. In addition, because it is a union catalog, we can view the library collections of other schools in the district. 

Students can search the catalog without logging in by title, author, subject, keyword, series, or subject. They can also search by Lexile Level. However, by logging in to the Destiny system, using their Google Apps for Education Single Sign On, they have access to enriched features including the ability to: create and save lists of favorite books, view items checked out to them, place holds, make suggestions for "wishes" for the staff to purchase, write book reviews, recommend books to friends within the school, and access eBooks and audiobooks. 

The district also subscribes to Sora (formerly Overdrive) which hosts our digital downloadable eBook and audiobook collections. We have a partnership with the Wethersfield Library so that when students search in Sora, they can also see the public library's collection of ebooks and audiobooks and borrow books easily without inputting a Wethersfield Library card. This resource sharing is critical for expanding student access to books!

LIBRARY COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT

The staff looks at the collection with a critical lens, conducting periodic audits of the collection to ensure resources are representative of varied perspectives and our society and community at large-- as well as relevant and updated for curricular use. Pleasure reading titles for independent reading are a core component of our collection as well.