Each Wednesday morning, after chapel talk, advisee groups settle comfortably into various parts of the library to discuss upcoming events and check in with their advisors. Mrs. White's group meets around the table in the electronic classroom to share events of campus life and discuss whatever might be of interest to them at the moment.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Barbie is Nifty at Fifty!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Open Doors
open doors
Originally uploaded by Pesky Library
to leave the doors ope
n to let in fresh air. But fresh air isn't the only thing that entered today. MingMing, Mrs. Gold's kitten, decided to discover the library. According to Mrs. Gold, MingMing is quite the cultured kitten. In addition to her fascination with the library displays and the fiction collection, she apparently has attended campus art shows and concerts. Sporting events, however, she leaves to the dogs.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Earth Day
Our Earth Day display includes information on how the poor are disproportionately affected by environmental degradation. For more information see Disproportionate Affects in Our Planet magazine on the United Nations website.
Also on our display is a book made entirely without paper. Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough is made from calcium carbonate and petroleum byproducts and claims to be nearly indestructible and infinitely recyclable.
Also on our display is a book made entirely without paper. Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough is made from calcium carbonate and petroleum byproducts and claims to be nearly indestructible and infinitely recyclable.
Monday, April 20, 2009
A Day in the Life
The 2009 ESL class took photographs to document A Day in the Life of an international boarding student at The Governor's Academy. Photographs include pictures from the academic day, the afternoon program and residential life. All the pictures were uploaded to the library's Flickr page and organized into a set called A Day in the Life. Enjoy!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Classes working in the library
Teachers often bring their classes to the library to take advantage of the many resources - the Electronic Classroom with 12 computers and an overhead projector, or in this case, the nine laptop computers. Students can work together on their project and get guidance from their teacher and the librarians.
In this photo, Mrs. Gold helps students in her English class upload photos to our Flickr page.
In this photo, Mrs. Gold helps students in her English class upload photos to our Flickr page.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Conversation Overheard
Conversation overheard between a faculty member and student on the way back from morning meeting: "
"So, did you have any luck finding all those books you needed for your independent study?'
"Yeah, I've got them all. They had them all in the library."
"Really?"
"Really. They have an amazing variety of books on the Middle East."
"So, did you have any luck finding all those books you needed for your independent study?'
"Yeah, I've got them all. They had them all in the library."
"Really?"
"Really. They have an amazing variety of books on the Middle East."
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Behind the scenes
Jean and Terri, two of our evening librarians, spend their time preparing books to go on the shelves, cleaning, repairing, and otherwise making sure that the books, newspapers and magazines are always where they can be found and in good repair. It takes many hands to keep things running smoothly and looking attractive.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Newburyport Literary Festival Display
The Newburyport Literary Festival will be held April 24th and 25th. We set up a display of books and author information. The festival honorees for this year are the recently retired Dorothy LaFrance from the Newburyport Public Library and native son David McPhail whose books have enthralled and delighted our small faculty children over the years.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
An empty library?
One of our international students composed this picture. It's not often that this section of the library is empty. These two tables are some of the favorites for students who want to work and study together. We also have several long tables for larger groups, study carrels on the second floor (our silent space), and comfy chairs in many of the windows. For groups that really need to spread out and discuss their assignments we have three rooms that can be reserved for group work. Each is outfitted with a table, chairs, and whiteboards.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Book Repair
Emma, our student intern, is trying to avoid an end of the semester bind. To keep her out of any sticky situations, she's on the cutting edge of book repair technology here at the academy. Emma's fixing to spend her summer in school and enjoying the great north shore summers.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
As signs of spring are popping up all over campus (daffodils, spring beauties, lacrosse players, golf clubs) some other signs have mysteriously appeared in the rest rooms.
Apparently, at least one of our students was inspired by an article in the April 8th issue of The Governor that suggested that pranks make spring more fun. A quick internet search suggests that an enterprising student may have found this prank on cheesebikini.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Karibu means "welcome" in Swahili
Today we welcomes two new students from Kenya, Leslie and Lydia, who will be studying here through the end of the term. Each year we're fortunate to have students from Kenya visit us while several of our students have a chance to go to school in Kenya.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Awaiting Opening Day
As we eagerly awaited Opening Day, we put together a display of baseball stories to tide us over. Our selected stories included Kluger's Last Days of Summer, Lardner's You Know Me Al, and Kinsella's Shoeless Joe among others. AND, given today's rain we shall just need to keep on reading. Sox have been postponed until tomorrow at 4:05.
Friday, April 03, 2009
Dwindling but will it be gone?
We are all hoping that today's April showers (well, deluge) and murky weather will melt this pile. Enough is enough!
Thursday, April 02, 2009
The Digital Commonwealth
On Tuesday, the academy's archivist and myself attended this year's Digital Commonwealth conference to see "what was what." Digital Commonwealth is a portal for the historical and cultural resources of Massachusetts which are in libraries, historical societies, museums, colleges, and schools. Now that we have a part-time archivist, we are assessing our collection for where we might want to begin digitizing the historical resources in our archives to share. Next Wednesday Greg Pronevitz of the Northeast Massachusetts Regional Library System and a driving force behind the creation of the site is coming to answer our questions and give us advice on this exciting new venture!
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Foolish April Library Behavior
School libraries are built for students, but students don't always know what's expected of them in the library. While we like to think that our students are exemplary, we know that our mission is educational and that we need to instruct students on the best research methods and proper library etiquette. For those who'd like to see just what can happen when those skills haven't been properly taught, take a look at The Peeps Arrival at the Library from Milliken University.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Scottsboro
Ellen Feldman begins each chapter of Scottsboro with a quote from one of the participants (victims?). She intersperses the novel with news reports and insights into 1930s America, giving us a feel for what both northerners and southerners must have been thinking. Her invention of a white female northern reporter allows us to view the happenings as impartially as possible. Yet this book left me with a feeling of such distrust for my fellow Americans that on a recent trip to Georgia I couldn't stand to get close to strangers. There seemed to be noone who was innocent in this travesty of justice that is now a part of our history. The Scottsboro boys and the multiple trials that ensued can't be erased from our history. Feldman has given us a well-researched tale of Jim Crow and communism in the 30s and 40s. Other reviews have said that she failed to develop the fiction well enough to make an enjoyable read, but I found the inhumanity of the tale enough to keep me turning the pages.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
The ipod touch
A couple days ago I reported on a comparison between what some college students listen to and their colleges' average SAT scores. Today, the Wall Street Journal reported on some non-music uses for the iPhone and iPod Touch. A quick survey of students in the library seems to agree that the apps for the iPod Touch, at least, are very cool. While the general consensus was that they didn't think the service on the iPhone was as good as other phone systems, the iPod Touch is "way cool."
According to the Wall Street Journal, there are now more than 25,000 apps or widgets that can be purchased for the iPhone or iPod Touch. They end their article with, "It's the software, not the hardware, that makes these gadgets compelling." The Wall Street journal mentioned some great games, the Kindle e-book reader, and some social networking software, but I wanted to see if there were any good educational apps (since I am in a school). I found a lot of tools for small children to learn words and foreign languages that look like normal computer educational games. I was disappointed in the math programs that I found. While they may be great for checking one's work, I thought they might actually hurt students' understanding of math concepts because of the temptation to check for the answer without doing the work. I was really excited when I saw the reference section, though. As a birdwatcher and sky-watcher, I loved seeing the field guide that would play bird songs loud enough to attract the birds closer to me and the animated planetarium and star finder apps. Some of the productivity apps looked interesting, too, but many of them require wireless access in order to work. Of course, there's the free wireless access locater, so that might be useful, but I think I can carry my laptop around for now. After all, I've barely learned to use my iPod.
According to the Wall Street Journal, there are now more than 25,000 apps or widgets that can be purchased for the iPhone or iPod Touch. They end their article with, "It's the software, not the hardware, that makes these gadgets compelling." The Wall Street journal mentioned some great games, the Kindle e-book reader, and some social networking software, but I wanted to see if there were any good educational apps (since I am in a school). I found a lot of tools for small children to learn words and foreign languages that look like normal computer educational games. I was disappointed in the math programs that I found. While they may be great for checking one's work, I thought they might actually hurt students' understanding of math concepts because of the temptation to check for the answer without doing the work. I was really excited when I saw the reference section, though. As a birdwatcher and sky-watcher, I loved seeing the field guide that would play bird songs loud enough to attract the birds closer to me and the animated planetarium and star finder apps. Some of the productivity apps looked interesting, too, but many of them require wireless access in order to work. Of course, there's the free wireless access locater, so that might be useful, but I think I can carry my laptop around for now. After all, I've barely learned to use my iPod.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)