April 3, 2015 at 4:54 p.m.
School district receives $100,222 for use in libraries
School district receives $100,222 for use in libraries
The district received $100,222 from the fund this year, far more than any previous year. A total of $35.5 million was distributed to public school libraries around the state.
The board "generates earnings for the Common School Fund by investing in community projects across the state through the State Trust Fund Loan Program," the group said in a press release.
"Trust Fund earnings are distributed annually to public schools and are the sole source of state funding for public school libraries. For many school districts, this is the only money available for library materials including books, newspapers and periodicals, web-based resources, and computer hardware and software. The funds distributed today are enough to put a book in the hand of every child in Wisconsin," the release states.
The district's library media specialists - Laura Tooke and Ellie Rumney - are already planning how best to use the funds.
"It was amazing news. My initial reaction was that's a $12,000-plus increase, so I just immediately started brainstorming different ways we could use that to support the library program," Rumney said.
"We have so many different ideas that we want to do and so many needs that our students have and our classrooms have."
"We have new curriculum directives and new technology initiatives in our district, so we had to look at how we could support those initiatives," Tooke added.
There are strict guidelines that must be followed concerning how the money is spent. The funds must be spent on items that are housed in the library, support the library programs and are accessible to all students.
Following those guidelines, the two librarians began creating a list of needs.
"We went through and we made a wish list - what do we want and what do we need in each of the schools - and then we went through it and figured out what we could feasibly get to support the curriculum and support the library program," Rumney said.
"We had to really think about how we can support everyone with this money, and then divvy it up to all the schools so that everybody gets an equitable piece."
The pair feels they accomplished that goal.
"We've been purchasing materials that are supporting our technology and library initiatives in the district," Tooke said. "We've been beefing up different collections that were lacking in certain buildings, especially our research materials."
"We spent some to update our databases and our book collections, including e-books and audiobooks," Rumney added. "We also spent some on technology for the libraries. We're updating our library computers to better meet the needs of the students. We have some really old library computers, so we bought one new machine for each elementary library and iPads for the elementary schools, just a few to get us started for checkout and use in the library. There are a lot of different ways those can be used in education."
These tools are changing the culture of school libraries by creating a more collaborative learning environment, the librarians said.
"Libraries are no longer the quiet place that they used to be," Rumney said. "Now they're energetic and the kids are collaborating, they're creating, they're learning. It's a learning commons now. That's the new buzzword for libraries. This money helps support us changing to a learning commons. Now it's a learning community where kids are doing 21st century skills."
That change in culture is encouraging to see, the two said.
"We were both classroom teachers before becoming librarians and we both love it," Tooke said. "This is how we both ran our classrooms. It's productive noise that you hear when you're in the libraries. It's a good place to be."
"The energy when you walk into these libraries now, it's amazing. It's student energy full of creativity and positivity," Rumney added. "I can walk into any one of our libraries when these kids are collaborating and creating and I just feel positive energy. It's exciting."
Advancements in technology are helping create that change in culture. No longer is the school library just a place to go to check out a book or pour through thick reference books until your eyes cross. While the books are still important, these days the kids have a wide range of tools to help cultivate their learning. That's exciting to see for the two librarians.
"Watching these kids grow and be able to find resources, our goal as classroom teachers was how do we teach our kids to learn. It's not just how do we teach our kids a topic, it's how do we teach them to learn," Rumney said. "I think our libraries are so supportive in that goal, in teaching our kids to learn and to never stop learning. Seeing the kids do those kinds of things and pull that information from so many places, it's really exciting to see that."
"There's too much information out there to just teach information," Tooke added. "We really have to teach the kids to be life-long learners. We're finding new ways to teach them to find good and valid information. We're finding new ways to get them to test and check and question things. It really is so very exciting."
Superintendent Kelli Jacobi shares that feeling of excitement.
"The increase in Common School funds is fantastic news for SDR," she said. "Although these funds can only be used for specific purposes related to school libraries, they help keep our school libraries up to date in order to provide the very best for our students."
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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