Library News

The March Sgraffito Gallery Walks at CVHS Library were a resounding success, attracting more than 400 CVHS students from 12 class sections in 6 different disciplines. 

Ms. Bittner's Ceramics classes put together a lovely display of their Sgraffito works along with an artist's description. 

Visiting classes learned new art critique and design vocabulary and enjoyed a museum-like experience with music and browsing. 

Exit tickets provided assessment information about learning outcomes that Ms. Stambaugh and Ms. Bitter are still digesting. Ms. Stambaugh will use this pilot experience and our learning from it to create a template for future walks with any teacher interested in collaborating to combine students' research and inquiry, with creative work and cross-disciplinary engagement.

April is an eventful month! Join us at the library for:

• National Poetry Month. Enjoy a poem of the week selected by library TAs and library staff. Poems will be on display around the library for your enjoyment!

   

• Earth Day. Explore eco-activism, climate change and environmental science titles on display at the library. 

   

• Youth Voter Registration Day @ CVHS Library Friday April 18th. The Alameda County Registrar of Voters will be at CVHS Library to register students and answer questions. We may have a guest speaker and DJ, not yet confirmed. Stay tuned in to the library for more information. Flyers will be distributed to teachers about class visits. Save the date!

   

• Love My Library Cleanup Event. Sign up for the April 29 event on the library events calendar. Teachers, paras, students, administrators - all are invited!

The Library's printers for student use remain offline, and IT is looking into multiple solutions.

Teachers, please accommodate your students' printing needs or encourage printing at home for those students who are able. 

If students bring a USB key from home and save their document to it, they can print from the library's printers. 

CVHS Library got two new student printers recently, however the drivers have not yet been included in the students' Google for Education suite. District IT has submitted a ticket to Canon to push drivers to our G-Suite. Until then and as a backup, IT is looking into a tethered USB solution for the library printers.

SBAC Testing happens in April and the library will have a modified schedule during testing days.

CVHS Library will proctor up to 25 SBAC tests each period during the school day for students who forget their school laptops. 

The library will be closed during the school day to administer SBAC tests.

Closed for Proctored Tests

• Tuesday, April 15 (7:30 AM - 3:36 PM)
• Wednesday, April 16 (7:30 AM - 3:36 PM)
• Tuesday, April 22 (7:30 AM - 3:36 PM)
• Wednesday, April 23 (7:30 AM - 3:36 PM)

After School Seating

The library will open for study hall after school with limited seating (25 seats) in the quiet zone and book aisles. The classroom proctoring area will be unavailable after school use, including the library bathroom. Please plan accordingly.

• Tuesday, April 15 (after school limited seating)
• Tuesday, April 22 (after school limited seating)

Visit the Library Hours for daily and weekly schedules. 

Teachers, please try these databases and provide feedback by March 31st. 

The following trials end March 31st and will inform future subscriptions. If you use news articles (including the New York Times) in any of your classes, please trial these resources to gain the same or better, broader access and provide feedback.

• Proquest Current Newspapers: Major Dailies
  • Evaluation form
• Access World News (castroVALLEY / castroVALLEY)
  • Evaluation form

All Gale Databases are now accessed via Google SSO. 

CVUSD Libraries have transitioned access for all Gale databases from Geolocation technology to Google Single Sign-on. 

The following Gale e-resources are accessible 24/7 via Google Single Sign-on. Students and teachers can now “sign in with Google” to gain access. 

• Gale Interactive: Science (all sites)
• Gale in Context: Environmental Studies Database (all sites)
• Gale in Context: Biography (CVHS only)
• National Geographic Kids (all sites)

Site libraries have begun to transition their links to the new secure links.  Most of CVUSD libraries do not yet have an e-resource management function built into their websites, so this transition make take certain sites longer to implement than others. Thank you for your patience as our libraries modernize!

Why the change?

Authentication to Gale databases via Google Single Sign-on provides three key benefits:

1. Secure 24/7 easy access for students using their existing Google accounts. No usernames and passwords.

2. Students can download articles and push citations directly into their Google Drives and Google docs and teachers can integrate library databases into Google classroom.

3. Librarians can review usage data specific to CVUSD for assessment. Usage data is anonymized. 

Who supports these databases?

The California State Library sponsors access to the Gale Science, Environmental Science and National Geographic databases with a statewide, negotiated publisher license on behalf of all K-12 schools. The statewide license is funded by the California Department of Education (CDE.) 

CVUSD sponsors access to the Gale Biography database at CVHS. It is funded by California Lottery funds for schools. It is not available via the California State Library. 

CVHS Library now offers access to Gale in Context: Biography. 

Biographical research just got better for CVHS students!

Gale In Context: Biography offers authoritative reference content covering historically significant people to present-day changemakers. It is continuously updated to ensure students have access to the very latest information. 

For those who remember the (International) Dictionary of National Biography, this is the database has exclusive rights to that content. The editorial group for the DNB continues to research and create entries in this contemporary e-resource. 

Access

Students, teachers and staff can access the database through the Library's Database A-Z List. Access is now offered via Google Single Sign-on (SSO). 

Navigation: Databases A-Z

Teachers, please do not bookmark library databases. Instead, guide students to access the library homepage, find the Database A-Z list and select a database. This is not only an essential media and information literacy skill that all students need to learn before college, but it is also important as libraries regularly update links to keep our users connected. The publishing and cybersecurity industries change rapidly. Providing durable digital access is a core e-resource management service that modern libraries provide their communities. Please take advantage of it!

Guide students to the Database A-Z list. 

Make an appointment with Ms. Stambaugh if you would like training or would like her to come to one of your classes.

Subject Guides

In the next few weeks, Ms. Stambaugh will update the library subject guides on the library website to integrate Gale in Context: Biography into the guides. 

Subject guides help students and teachers find the best databases available to them in their discipline.

The good news is the library has two new printers for student use! The printers are for student use only and they print in black and white only (not color.)

The challenging news is that they are not yet ready for student use. Students' Google accounts do not have the drivers necessary to be able to print from the library workstations to the printers. IT has submitted a ticket to Cannon to request that they urgently include the drivers in our Google for Education suite. Until then, IT is looking into purchasing USB keys for student use that can be physically tied to the printer workstations.

Teachers, please encourage your students to print at home if they are able. Be advised that students who do not have printers at home may need accomodations for a while. 

Students must sit in chairs in the library during break times, lunchtime, before and after school. Once all of the chairs fill, the library is at maximum capacity and cannot accept more people. 

Students who sit on the floor or crowd around tables are asked to find a chair.

The library will close its doors to new visitors once it reaches maximum seating capacity. 

For a full list of library policies, please visit the library policies page.

CVHS Library celebrates Women's History Month with book displays that invite students to explore women's equality. 

Do women have equal rights today?

 How do we make the case today for equality? What would be the benefits to society if women had equal rights? How does not having them hold everyone back?

Great titles encourage and challenge students to explore these questions and formulate strong arguments. 

For more resources:

• About Women’s History Month
• Library of Congress Resources
• National Committee on Pay Equity
• National Women’s History Museum
• National Women’s History Alliance
• Smithsonian Institution: American Women's History Museum

CVUSD is adding new e-resources to support teachers and students. CVHS will gain access to several of them. 

CVHS teachers will find access to the following e-resources on the Library's Database A-Z list in the upcoming weeks:

• JSTOR Secondary Schools Collection (CVHS sitewide)
• Gale in Context: Biography (CVHS sitewide)
• Oxford English Dictionary (CVHS sitewide)
• BookCreator (CVHS, 1 license)

The following resources will become available for other sites:

• BeanStack (4 pilot sites, TBD)
• Pebble & Go

Ms. Stambaugh is currently working with each publisher/vendor to finalize licenses and establish 24/7 access. Whenever possible, Google Single Sign-on will be enabled. 

Once access is enabled with Google SSO, each resource will gradually be included in library subject guides and instructional offerings for all teachers and classes.

Castro Valley High School Library closed out Black History Month with a bang! 

Six advanced Spanish classes did a gallery walk through the library to explore student-created posters about influential Afro-Latinos in the United States. Students read, listened to and commented on biographical information, interviews, recordings and other multimedia.

Thank you, to Ms. Christensen's students and classes for a successful and inspiring cross-cultural and intersectional event.