In order to provide increased services to our students in grades 9-12, the Central Columbia High School Library has made a significant commitment to providing students with access to information beyond the hours of the school day. In association with the school district's digital conversion which provided all students in grades 5-12 with iPads in a 1:1 program, the high school library began acquiring ebook titles in our collection that students could access at any time.
With the award of the LSTA grant, Central Columbia High School Library was able to purchase titles in fiction, nonfiction and biography categories that may not otherwise have been added because of the steep cost of these titles. The district also purchased an additional $2522.00 in titles to assist with the Digital Enhancement Project. After meeting with other building librarians and the director of technology, it was determined that these titles would be purchased through Follett and their Brytewave app would be utilized by students to access these materials both at school and at home.
Once awarded, the librarian met with teachers in a variety of subject areas whose students would benefit from these materials in research projects. Teachers made suggestions of titles as did students who provided input on options that would enhance our Accelerated Reader program.
With these funds, 69 new titles were added to the library's collection and began to circulate almost immediately in May of 2015. More titles were added over the summer and all materials are now circulating regularly.
There has been a significant increase in access to digital materials since the Digital Enhancement Project began. In August of 2015, the librarian met with all students in grades 9-12 to demonstrate access to the school's ebook collection and ensured that incoming freshmen had access to the Brytewave app in order to read ebooks on their iPad. It was determined at this time that 100% of the students in grades 9-12 were able to access the library's ebook collection.