Library News

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

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

CVHS Library is making way for new books. Science fiction, fantasy and Historical Fiction titles are available. 

Teachers, visit the library conference room Monday and Tuesday to take any deaccessioned books for your class libraries. Students and all other staff are invited to take the remainder of the books on Wednesday through Friday. 

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.

CVHS Library seeks teachers in multiple disciplines to be early adopters with BookCreator as part of next year's CVUSD Writes & Creates! Program.

For more information, please 

• read the CVUSD Writes & Creates! program description including early adopter teacher expectations
• sign up for two required lunchtime PD sessions  for teachers and onboarding onto the library's license (May 1 and May 8). Register now

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.

CVHS students, teachers and staff now have access to current editions of the New York Times while on the high school campus, compliments of CVHS Library. 

Visit the library website for access to the New York Times (Current Edition) via the Databases A-Z or News Resources.

Knowledge for class. Knowledge for life.

Whether you are prepping course materials or planning for the weekend ahead, discover original, quality journalism that helps you
understand the world — and make the most of every part of life. 

• Connect to school Wifi and begin reading today.
• No user names. No passwords.

About our institutional subscription

All CVHS users have access to 

• New York Times U.S., Spanish, Canadian, Chinese and International editions.
• Current issues via direct institutional subscription with New York Times
• World, Business, Arts, LifeStyle and Opinion sections, NY Times Magazine and Interactive articles
• Does not include Games or Cooking

For older issues, citation management tools, and to download articles, use Proquest. Links to the New York Times via Proquest are on the library website.

Seek the truth. Find new perspectives. Inform your conversations on current topics!
 

All staff, please collaborate with the library to ensure it remains an open, vibrant, safe and welcoming environment. Please send students with paper passes during class periods. Students without a paper pass will be sent back. Please also instruct students to sign in on paper and electronically via QR code.  

The paper sign-in coupled with teachers' paper passes provide administrators the records they need, while the electronic sign-in provides counselors and administrators real-time data about a student's location on campus. Minimal student data is collected: ID, name, time/date and purpose (limited to: CVVA, ROP, printing, book check-out, other.)

During any given period, the library can have multiple students from multiple programs and departments from any of our population of 3,000 students, in undifferentiated spaces. The library and administration have been exploring policy and low cost technology solutions including library-specific lanyards for teachers or Teachmore library passes to balance the need for 

• real-time data for counselors about a student's location on campus 
• easily distinguishable and visually identifiable ROP and CVVA students 
• student privacy 
• appropriately assigned teacher & librarian accountability
• lowest cost solutions 

This is a work in process. We appreciate your collaboration!

If you need to send more than five students to the library during a period, please schedule an instruction appointment with Ms. Stambaugh and schedule instruction sessions so that your students can have undivided attention and learn information skills. Scheduling options are available on the library website under “Teacher” services in the hamburger menu.

Any single student sent to the library for more than 20 minutes should come with assigned work prepared by a teacher or counselor. Students will be returned to their classes if not using the library as a privilege, for research, study, free reading or class projects.

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 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. 

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!

Did you miss the orientations to the library for teachers, staff and administrators? 

Register for our last make-up session on Wednesday, August 21, 3:30-4:00 pm.

https://cvhs.libcal.com/calendar/20306/teachersorientation10

Please attend if you use the library, if you book the library for any event, or if you need access to any published content in your (Google) classes, including resources with accessibility features. 

An important goal this year is to get all teachers and first year students signed up for an Alameda County Library eCard and to test access to the databases. You will learn how to do this in the orientation. The eCard will provide access to additional content for you and your students, save instructional minutes, and save our school significant subscription dollars.

https://library.cv.k12.ca.us/home 

Please update your links, bookmarks and redirects. 

CVHS Library has upgraded its website to provide students a pre-college and pre-career experience with information resources. 

Features: 

• Responsive design for all devices
• Access to the A-Z Subscription Databases and other digital resources
• Access to the library catalog
• How to do research videos
• Subject and Class Guides for teachers and students to support project-based or inquiry learning units
• Reservations and bookings for all instruction and events @ the the library
• Office hour appointments to work with the Teacher Librarian 
• Dynamic FAQ and Ask a Librarian function to ask questions remotely 

We invite you to explore, ask questions using the Ask a Librarian feature, and look for answers in the dynamic FAQ. 

Watch for new developments to support student engagement and curriculum throughout the year. We will continue to develop the site, in alignment with state and national information and media literacy standards.

Register to attend a library orientation for New and Returning Teachers and Staff to learn about upcoming changes to library services.

https://cvhs.libcal.com/

August 2, August 6 and August 9 at various times to accommodate your busy schedules! Check the Library Events calendar and register to attend.

Register in advance. (No registrations cancels.)

--Ms. Emily Stambaugh, Teacher-Librarian

Topics:

• What's new?
  • Library website and services for Teachers area
  • Databases A-Z
  • FAQ
  • Events and Instruction calendar, booking reservations for class visits
  • Requests for Subject and Class Guides 
  • Check out and place holds on books
  • Coffee and Tea in the library - Bring your own cup with lid, donations appreciated

• Student Services and Events to promote or be aware of
  • Alameda County Library eCard registration drive for all CVHS students
  • Student orientations to the library during open Trojan Time (August/September)
  • Library Cleanup Days and New Food Policy @ the Library
  • "Student Led-Services" by Library TAs. Pre-career service experience.