Library News

• E-books from the Library

  This past school year brought many new resources and new formats. We taught new databases using the iPad and tried to get e-books into the iPads of our readers. The e-book market changed rapidly this year, and continues to do so, but there have been some major improvements for libraries and for our school library.

  We are subscribing to ebrary for access to 90,000 nonfiction college-level e-books. This growing collection is now integrated with one of our major news databases, so access is even easier. We buy fiction e-books using the axis360 platform, which just introduced a fabulous new app which will make checking out books from the library as easy as buying them on iTunes - but free! Our students should now have plenty of reading choices on their iPads and other devices. More instructions and passwords can be found on the Library Databases and Passwords Google Doc.

  Remember to read this summer! The new app gives you 24/7 access to the library, and don't forget to consult the required summer reading and recommended summer reading lists.

  Have a Great Summer!

• What's New for 2012-2013?

  The Library is pleased to welcome Jessica James as our new librarian and member of the Middle School Faculty. Ms. James will specialize in working with the Middle School, while also helping out with the Upper School classes, library programming, and supervision. She is full of great ideas for our library, and I know you will feel as lucky as I do to have her as a part of our community. Please come introduce yourselves.
  
  We hope you will enjoy all our new resources this year. To support the Upper School iPad program, we subscibed to ebrary, a database of more than 78,000 ebooks for academic use, which you can access via a computer as well. We also started an account with both Axis 360 and FollettShelf, sources of ebooks with large fiction collections. We have a new library catalog that has features such as student book reviews, ebook integration, and an app called Destiny Quest. And, to make the library even more comfortable, we now have a couple bean bags to relax in while enjoying the new student-planned "fiction alley." If you are a Brentwood School student or faculty member, you can check out some of these new resources here (you will need to log into your email account).
  
  Stay tuned for instructions on how to use our new resources (a piano?) and perhaps some different rules (yes, you can now have drinks in the library, as long as your drink has a top). Welcome back to school!

• Students Make the Library Their Own

  The East Campus Library is a participatory space where students are encouraged to be creative, inquisitive, and expressive. The Student Library Advisory Council (or SLACers as they like to be called, pronounced slackers) is a group of students that emerged out of the Upper Division Book Club with the sole purpose of making the Library as dynamic a place as possible for students and faculty alike—a true collaborative environment where conversations are created, relationships are built, and learning can flourish. It is their belief that the experience of using the Library is as important as the resources housed within it...

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