Library News

Students and teachers can now access the library's subscription citation manager, NoodleTools, through their Google accounts. 

Visit the academic writing guide on the library website to get started (or click on MLA Citation & Paper Format). 

Detailed account setup instructions are on the database page for NoodleTools. 

CVHS Library announces its first Subject Guide to support Modern World History. Subject guides connect teachers and students to library resources in a specific subject area or topic. 

The Modern World History guide is tied to curriculum standards and provides access to the primary and secondary sources discussed in the textbook as well as additional resources in the library (in print and digital format.) By using the guide, students and teachers can broaden their learning about key moments in history from the Enlightenment to present day with excellent information resources. 

The first page of the Modern World History guide provides comprehensive access for most topics covered in high school. The secondary pages of the subject guide focus on specific units, in this case, a specific historical period (e.g. the Industrial Revolution.) Over time, the secondary pages will be built to cover additional units (e.g. the Great Depression), and additional resources in all formats will be featured (books, eBooks, documentary film, etc.)

Subject guides appear on the library website:

Subject guides can also be accessed in the library's main search menu:

For more information about subject guides for teachers and department chairs, and how to request priority development of a guide for your department, please visit the Teacher Services page.

CVHS Library sparkles after the Love My Library Cleanup event on September 24th. 

More than two dozen students generously volunteered one hour of their time after school during the first Love My Library cleanup event. They removed all of the books from the bookcases in Realistic Fiction and Romance sections, cleaned the bookcases and returned the books. Study tables and chairs between the printers and in the Quiet Zone were also cleaned top to bottom.  

Students received a “Certificate of Appreciation” and some fresh baked corn muffins. 

Thank you to all of our volunteers!

The Love My Library cleanup events are part of a pilot program involving a new food policy in the library. Students and staff volunteers can register for future Love My Library cleanup events on the library events calendar. Students and staff who wish to bring food or eat in the library participate in these monthly events to help preserve the the library collections and maintain the community facility. It takes all of us to keep it clean!

Representatives from the Alameda County Registrar of Voters were on campus September 24 and 25 at CVHS Library to assist students who are 16 years and older to pre-register or register to vote. 

Students engaged in fun trivia questions, picked up registration forms and asked questions about registering to vote. 

CVHS Teachers can now place immediate holds or place holds for future dates on multiple copies of the same title using Destiny Back Office. With new faculty privileges, teachers can see real-time inventory and availability, including for Book Club titles. Teachers can also place holds for longer periods of time than typical circulation periods. 

This applies only to library holdings, and it includes Book Club titles. (Textbooks must still be coordinated with Ms. Oliver.)

For more information and how-to videos, visit Teacher Services: Reserve Books on the library website. For step by step instructions, visit our FAQ How can I reserve books in advance for a class? 

As part of ongoing improvements to the Library Management System (LMS) and in a collaborative effort between the CVHS Library and CVUSD IT, all CVUSD teachers now have accounts in Destiny with faculty privileges. 

As vital partners in educating students of all ages in 21st century media and information literacy skills, teachers require access to their school library and its systems. Teachers are often the first people to introduce students to the world of information (print and digital) that is at their fingertips through the library. 

All other CVUSD staff will be given library accounts over the next few weeks as will general cleanup of accounts. In addition, other authentication methods are being explored by the Library and IT to facilitate access for all district users. 

More information about teachers' accounts in Destiny can be found on the Teacher Services: Library Cards and Privileges Page. 

Open Trojan Time at CVHS Library for the week of September 9 is Study Hall for Juniors and Seniors. 

Students must register in advance. Register on Teachmore with Ms. Stambaugh and the Library Events Calendar. 

Study Hall is a time for Juniors and Seniors to do homework and work on group projects. 

CVHS Library launched Athena's Cooperative Cafe in August 2024. The cooperative cafe supports teachers, students, and the environment. 

What is a cooperative cafe?

A cooperative service is one that is sustained by a community. Athena's Cooperative Cafe is sustained by CVHS students, teachers and staff for the benefit of all. Contributions in-kind (that is, non-monetary contributions) are managed by trained library student assistants as part of their service learning assignments at the library. Teachers, staff, students and parents can make contributions (see below.) Student clubs and staff can make use of the coffee grounds for gardening projects.

What is service learning?

Service learning connects academic study with community service to help students solve real world problems and learn through critical reflection. 

Athena's Cooperative Cafe provides an opportunity for students to support our teachers, staff and fellow students with a warm beverage to brighten their day! 

Certain project challenges provide learning opportunities in several areas:

• Sustainability and Marketing: How to reduce waste by encouraging use of reusable cups? What level and pace of marketing and communications is required to effectively achieve behavioral change in a community?
• Ecology and Environmental Science: How to reuse coffee grounds and tea bags in compost and school plantings? What ecological benefits do coffee grounds actually provide (or not)? 
• Social service: How to portion and extend sometimes limited supplies to a community? 

Pokorny, Kym. “Used appropriately, coffee grounds improve soil and kill slugs.” Oregon State University Newsroom. 23 June 2023. [article link]

Find other articles like this in the library's Environmental Science and General research databases. 

Who are our Baristas?

Baristas are Juniors and Seniors taking the Library Assistant Course at CVHS Library. As part of the course, Library Assistants rotate assignments, including the ever-popular Barista assignment, at the library. Baristas rotate once per month. Please thank them for their work when you see them at the front desk!

Who else is learning? 

Student clubs interested in reusing the coffee grounds and tea bags to improve school gardens can partner with Athena's Cafe. Please inquire at the library front desk. This is a great opportunity for environmental science learning and sustainability practices!

Faculty and staff are also learning to interact more with our Library Assistants as vital contributors to our learning community.

How can you contribute?
Teachers, staff and students can contribute a box of tea, a bag of coarse ground coffee, or a box of pre-packaged hot chocolate mix at the front desk of the library anytime. Library Baristas will take care of restocking, apportioning supplies, preparing drinks and breaking down the cafe at the end of the day. 

Please contribute:

• Pre-ground dark or medium roast coffee. No whole beans, as we do not, and cannot, grind coffee at the library.
• Green or black tea bags. Individually wrapped. No loose leaf tea.
• Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate packets, or similar. A favorite among students!

Thank you for your contributions!

Visit our table in the 200 Wing. 

• Fill out a Volunteer Interest Form
• Donate
• Learn about how the library supports your child's learning

Teachers and staff attended one of eleven orientation sessions offered by the library in August to become familiar with the new hybrid academic library and high demand services. As the library gradually modernizes its academic services to prepare students for college and careers, we are also preparing teachers and staff to lead the way. Teachers and staff learned new skills.

At this time, all teachers, administrators and staff should have an Alameda County eCard and know how to:

• Link to the library website in their Google Classroom
• Guide students from the high school webpage to the library homepage or use industry standard URL structure to find their library
• Find and access a subscription database in their subject, and guide students to do the same
• Show students to get an Alameda County eCard in order to access more and different databases for coursework
• Find and access a book or eBook in the collections, and guide students to do the same
• Find the library FAQs and ask a question that may become an FAQ for others! 
• Request that a subject or course guide be prioritized for development
• Make an instructional planning appointment with the librarian
• View the library events and space reservation on the library events calendar
• Make a reservation for a class visit, a club visit, or an event during library hours (7:30 am - 6:00 pm) via the library website (not email)

For a refresher and to revisit these skills, please visit the “Teacher Services” area of the library website. That area is useful for all staff.