Library News

On Thursday, September 4, District Librarian Emily Stambaugh, participated with other district administrators on a focus group to explore high level design concepts desired for our future school libraries. 

A vision of Libraries of the Future for CVUSD schools would boosts student outcomes through reimagined facilities that are:

• The happening place that centers the academic purpose of our schools and engages students, teachers and the community as they learn to consume, use and create information together
• Foundational to teaching and learning services, with resources, capacity and equipment to support multi-literacies and diverse abilities
• Supportive of hybrid print and digital information resources
• Beyond ADA compliant, they are ADA-friendly, embracing abilities and technologies of the future, in a space and a world where everyone counts
• Flexibly designed with reservable spaces that support individual study, multiple small group study rooms, media/recording rooms, comfy reading nooks, a large technology rich instruction room (60-80 students) and an event space with kitchenette
• Infused with natural light, acoustical controls and beautiful, durable indoor and outdoor spaces that that invite, welcome and engage all students
• Bring pride to campuses by celebrating our diverse students, heritages and their achievements with cultural and art displays, student accomplishment displays, and gallery walk space for inquiry-based and design-thinking projects
• Staffed by curriculum-savvy, information-savvy, tech-savvy credentialed librarians and highly qualified library staff

We look forward to continuing the planning conversation.

Register for a lunchtime teacher training on Beanstack, CVHS Library's reading challenge software. Boost student reading and vocabulary development in all academic subjects through reading gamification. Students sign in, log their reading and earn badges. 

CVHS Library offers lunchtime trainings on these dates. Registration is required. Register on the Library Events calendar (Quickstart Menu on the Library home page).

• Thursday, September 4
• Friday, September 5
• Monday, September 8
• Thursday, September 11
• Friday, September 12

In this training, teachers will learn to:

• Set up a reading challenge or participate in a challenge that is already offered by the library. 
• Monitor student reading
• Best practices for reading gamification for high school students
• Districtwide goals, competition and pilot sites

Library hours remain M-Th 8:00 AM to 4:30 pm and Fri 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM this week and next until further notice. Please continue to check the library website for hours. As soon as the library receives a before and after hours staff schedule, the hours on the library website will be updated. 

This week, CVHS first year students will visit the library on August 28 or 29 with their English classes to complete their Passport to the Next Level library orientations. 

Students will visit stations set up around the library. My Time, Our Space and Extra Help stations launch first year students toward resources for self-directed learning, accessibility, reading and writing support, civic responsibility and volunteer opportunities. 

All students will take an intake assessment of their research and information literacy skills at a fourth station such that CVHS can begin to build a longitudinal analysis of student outcomes. 

The library will be closed August 28 and 29 to all other students during the school day. 

English teachers may bring their classes to the library on special SSR days.  The following SSR days are reservable in ~20 minute increments, such that multiple classes can visit the library within a period to check out books.

Reserve in advance on the library instruction calendar! 

Please try to schedule all SSR appointments on these dates so that we can best serve your students and additional departments.

• Monday, August 18
• Thursday, August 21
• Friday, August 22
• Monday, September 15
• Thursday, October 2
• Friday, October 3
• Thursday, October 16
• Friday, October 17
• Monday, October 20
• Monday, November 17
• Monday, December 1
• Monday, December 15
• Thursday, January 8
• Friday, January 9
• Monday, January 12
• Monday, January 26
• Monday, February 2
• Monday, February 9
• Monday, February 23
• Monday, March 9
• Monday, March 23
• Monday, April 13
• Monday, May 4

Families, students and staff, this week, CVHS Library is open to students and teachers during periods 1-6 and breaks. 

Please check the library website for library hours. Changes to library hours will be announced on the library website first, then the Library News blog (under Quicklinks), and finally, in our Monday morning digest to all staff. 

Thanks to all of our library friends for your patience while we get set up for the school year and confirm support for before and after school staffing. 

Enjoy a great book! Keep reading!

CVHS Library is now open to students and teachers!

Please check the library website for library hours. 

During the first weeks, the library is open during the school day (periods 1-6 and breaks) while we set up and confirm support for before and after school staffing. Later in the year, hours will be extended.

All students and staff, return your library books to the library! 

• Return library books inside the library.  
• Return textbooks outside the library building on wood carts.
• Check out summer books! Students may check out an unlimitted number of books.

As reported in April, CVUSD is preparing a Collection Development and Reconsideration Policy for its libraries. A top priority for our school libraries, the policy is being developed by CVUSD library staff and Education Services.  

Using research conducted this year on best practices for school libraries at the local, state and national levels, library staff and Education Services officers will work together to draft a policy for CVUSD Libraries. The policy will guide the ongoing development of the libraries' print and digital collections across the district. A collection development policy is a foundational policy that all libraries have and which guides the healthy development of library collections over time. CVUSD Libraries have been operating without one for some time.

The draft policy will be submitted to the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent for Education Services for review. It will be submitted to the Board for approval. 

In August, all library staff will be trained on the draft policy in anticipation of its approval, in some form.  Further training will be provided to all appropriate school personnel in 2025-2026.

Questions can be directed to Emily Stambaugh, District Librarian of Record.

On May 15 after school, a dozen students from all grade levels volunteered for the last Love My Library cleanup event of the year. They made the library sparkle!

Book shelves in non-fiction and biography were emptied, cleaned and reshelved.  All library tables were cleaned and readied for the summer. Vacuuming and dusting helped the library sparkle!

Thank you, CVHS students! It takes a village to keep this valuable community asset in top shape. 

The Love My Library program has been a pilot program during academic year 2024-2025 to experiment with allowing food in the library, like a cafe, while also providing avenues for students to give back and clean up through structured, library-coordinated events.  

Part of the library's positive behavior strategies, the Love My Library program has shifted the library-student relationship to a constructive approach to addressing the health and vitality of their community learning space.

Next year, the library will continue the program and add a Library Volunteer Program, which will include some aspects of the Love My Library events.