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Library.FYI & The Menu

What is Library.FYI?

Library.FYI is a landing page for all databases that are purchased by a school district in the Menu and by Capital Region BOCES School Library System. It can also be used to house all other resources used within the library including databases, websites, and files.

 

Database Renewals

Database Ordering Process

 

  1. November: Look at database usage stats!

  2. March: Log in to the Menu to see new pricing information.

  3. April: Review purchases and make selections, discuss with the department if applicable.

  4. May: Communications Coordinator will click check out.

    • Due Late May- Date to come 

    • Communications Coordinator will receive a quote.

  5. June: Signed quotes due to Katie on June 5th to ensure the continuity of access.

Vendor Demos

Beanstack - Beanstack is the premier solution for inspiring individuals to engage in reading. It stands out as a unique platform that offers a wide range of features. With a focus on reading challenges and fundraisers, The primary goal of Beanstack is to assist educators and librarians in promoting reading within their communities. By providing tools to easily create and promote reading challenges, Beanstack encourages individuals to achieve their reading objectives by monitoring their reading progress.

BreakoutEDU - Educational Games!  Breakout EDU transforms the learning process into an interactive and empowering journey for students across various grade levels. By offering games that align with educational standards, Breakout EDU encourages players to work together and apply their knowledge in a collaborative manner. Through uncovering clues with their classmates, students embark on a captivating and rewarding adventure that ignites a passion for learning.

Cavendish Square - Featuring over 50 digital databases! Cavendish Square is a digital platform that prioritizes user-friendliness. The content is aligned with standards and curriculum, providing instant translation into more than 100 languages. The platform is designed to be easy to use, with illustrated and interactive elements.

ClickView -  Discover a wide range of standards-aligned videos covering various subjects, topics, and classes with ClickView. Simplify your lesson planning by exploring ClickView's extensive collection of age-appropriate and diverse videos. With thousands of options to choose from, you can easily find the perfect video for your classroom.ClickView seamlessly integrates with your existing apps, making it convenient to incorporate videos into your lessons. Transform any video into an interactive quiz to enhance student engagement and gain valuable insights into their learning progress.

CyberCivics - Digital Literacy Curriculum!  Founded over a decade ago.  Designed specifically for middle school students, Cyber Civics offers a user-friendly and engaging curriculum that can be seamlessly integrated into the classroom. This program addresses the growing demand for teaching students how to navigate the digital world responsibly, ensuring they become ethical, safe, and productive digital citizens. With a total of 75 lessons, each lasting around 50 minutes, Cyber Civics™ covers three essential topics: digital citizenship, information literacy, and media literacy. Teachers can conveniently access the curriculum through an online portal, where they can find regularly updated lessons, slides, and original videos that have been carefully crafted and refined by experienced educators.

Digital Theatre -  “We believe the arts are for everyone” By subscribing, students and staff alike will enjoy the benefits of unlimited access to a vast array of captivating resources for English and the Performing Arts. The platform is available 24/7, allowing users to utilize it on their time and any device.Start your journey with Digital Theatre+ and gain access to thousands of engaging resources that are specifically designed to enhance your students' academic performance and broaden their horizons. Digital Theatre+ provides enriching learning experiences for ELA and Theatre students and educators in more than 3,000 schools, colleges, and universities across 90+ countries.

Eduporium - Eduporium is a dynamic educational technology start-up and distributor of cutting-edge STEM tools with a common goal of promoting the effective use of STEM solutions in education. They collaborate closely with teachers, administrators, librarians, makerspace leaders, and educational organizations to offer tailored educational technology solutions that enrich hands-on learning experiences and foster the development of essential 21st century skills.Through strategic partnerships with EdTech, makerspace, and technology companies, Eduporium can broaden access to STEAM tools, make EdTech devices more affordable, and create customized solutions to meet specific academic and budgetary requirements.

Exploring Nature- Exploring Nature is an online science education resource for K-12 students. It offers access to over 7000 pages of science education resources. This platform can be utilized in various ways, such as preparing science units and providing visual aids to enhance comprehension. It provides students with vetted science content online, including science models, activities, and units that align with the next generation standards.

Fablevision -  FableVision was established by Peter H. Reynolds, a renowned author/illustrator and advocate for creativity, with the aim of fostering creative learning. The organization is committed to offering hands-on, meaningful, and authentic learning opportunities to empower all learners to reach their full potential. FableVision strongly believes that a comprehensive education should encompass more than just "test-able" skills, such as the 4 Cs (plus 1): creativity, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and compassion. These foundational skills serve as the cornerstone for a lifetime of learning. While specific educational objectives and outcomes may differ across states and countries, the shared goal is to ensure students' success through this fundamental vision.

Fathom Reads - E-books in Foreign Languages!  A diverse reading platform tailored for core-subject education with assessment options, offering a wide range of reading levels and topics including Science, Math, Geography, Language Arts, and Social Studies from reputable publishers. With a library of 1421 English books and continuous monthly additions, users can explore select titles in additional languages like Spanish (861), Arabic (20), Haitian Creole (4), Bahasa Indonesian (14), Thai (13) to name a few, all narrated by native speakers! Don't forget Language toggle options within the books- You can even read them Bilingually! Word Highlighting and interactive experiences built into all the books!

Generation Genius - With a focus on grades K-8, Generation Genius enhances the learning experience by incorporating engaging and educational videos, lesson plans, activities, and quizzes. All the videos have been created in collaboration with the National Science Teaching Association, ensuring that they align with the school science curriculum and standards.

Hackersjack - In today's digital age, children are dedicating more time to online activities, whether for educational purposes or personal enjoyment. Hackersjack emerges as the top choice for schools seeking to fulfill their needs. Hackersjack is the sole platform that directly and comprehensively teaches children how to navigate the digital world successfully. Through a web-based, non-technical curriculum, the platform covers learning modules on safety, security & privacy.

JoVe - JoVE is the perfect solution for enhancing Science Resources in higher grades. Being the largest library of science videos, JoVE provides content that directly corresponds with your curriculum, providing students with captivating videos to enhance their understanding. The videos are user-friendly and offer comprehensive explanations of the materials. They are especially beneficial for students who are visual learners.  - 19,000+ videos spanning various subjects  - Authored by experts in the field.

LexisNexis -  Nexis Uni was created with the collaboration of university students and librarians in order to provide an interactive academic research platform accessible on various devices. It includes over 17,000 news, business, and legal sources, such as U.S. Supreme Court rulings from as far back as 1790.

LibraryTrac- LibraryTrac offers a wide variety of components to help you track the usage of your library.

  • Student Log: Monitor the attendance of each student who visits the library.

  • Class Log: Monitor the overall number of students visiting the library with a specific class.

  • Calendar: Keep track of the events happening in your library (or other school areas under your supervision) and enable staff to remotely register for them.

  • Pass: Enable students to schedule and reserve a time slot in advance to use the library (or other designated library areas).

  • Custom Reporting: Generate personalized reports based on specific criteria as needed.

Novel Effects -  NovelEffect aims to foster the social, emotional, and cognitive development of children by motivating both kids and adults to engage in consistent shared reading experiences. Currently, Novel Effect stands as the sole app that seamlessly integrates children's story books with advanced speech recognition technology. This unique combination produces a captivating audio experience, incorporating interactive music and sound effects that dynamically respond to the reader's voice as they read aloud from their physical book during their customary story time routine.

News-O-Matic (Press-4-kids)- News-O-Matic aims to ignite students' curiosity and motivate educators to revolutionize their teaching methods. News-O-Matic supports your K-8 ELA, science, social studies, and SEL lessons with a diverse array of captivating nonfiction material, encompassing topics ranging from civics to planets!

Oxford Univ Press. -  Oxford University Press (OUP) holds the prestigious position of being the foremost university press worldwide, boasting an extensive global reach. OUP is dedicated to endorsing diverse business models to effectively distribute their scholarly research. A primary objective of OUP is to ensure that our academic work and research are accessible to a wide range of individuals.

Reference Point Press - ReferencePoint Press is a publisher specializing in high-quality series nonfiction for grades 6-12 students and researchers. Their titles are designed to align with the Common Core State Standards for grades 6-12, featuring pedagogical elements like source notes, primary sources, multiple perspectives, statistical visuals, and maps. The content covers key curriculum areas crucial for academic achievement, such as current events, social studies, history, and health/science.

Sooth.FYI - Sooth is an optimized search engine designed specifically for students and knowledge professionals. It offers a curated collection of reliable sources from various websites, ensuring the information is trustworthy and accurate. The search results are organized and presented in a transparent manner, making it easier for users to find the desired information. Additionally, Sooth provides built-in productivity tools to enhance the user's research experience. One of the key advantages of using Sooth is its ad-free and commercial-free environment, allowing users to focus solely on their search without any distractions.

TeachingBooks- TeachingBooks aims to enhance the reading experience of individuals by providing a diverse range of vetted instructional materials that offer valuable insights and opportunities for deeper understanding and enjoyment of the books being read. 354,713 resources about children's and young adult books.

TechRow -  TechRow is a cutting-edge media network that prioritizes the preparation of students for early college, career, and life. TechRow is revolutionizing the field of education by ensuring that experiential learning is within reach for every student. Renowned for its ability to deliver secure and top-notch content viewing experiences, TechRow is the trusted choice of the country's largest school districts. Comprised of a team of educators, media professionals, and technology experts, TechRow firmly believes that learning is the most enriching aspect of our lives. With unwavering dedication, TechRow strives to connect students from all corners of the world with impactful educational content.

YuJa - YuJa is a video management platform. Offering a wide range of products, YuJa caters to various needs such as video management, lecture capture, live streaming, test proctoring, digital media accessibility, digital archiving and compliance, and real-time student response systems. YuJa is particularly adept at simplifying the process of producing and sharing original video content while enhancing accessibility within Learning Management Systems (LMS).