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Movin' Up and Out: Going Online with SILNET
12:39 PM EDT 6/15/09
Movin’ Up and Out: Going Online with SILNET Students will have a new method for searching library materials at the Teutopolis High School and Teutopolis Junior High School come fall 2009. Under the auspices of a Library Services and Technology Act grant, records for all library materials have been entered into the Shawnee Library System database, SILNET. The grant application was written and submitted in spring 2008. Winners were announced in September 2008 and the effort to complete grant activities was begun in December 2nd with training of data entry personnel, Linda Verdeyen and Barbara Weber, and district media specialist, Susan Yallaly. Training was provided by Shelley Stone, Shawnee Library System cataloger. Through diligence and commitment, nearly 10,000 library records were entered into SILNET database between December 2, 2008 and April 24, 2009. Concurrently, library collections at both schools were evaluated and weeded of out-date items. Through regular district library funding, many new non-fiction titles were purchased in the effort of providing current, relevant information for Teutopolis students. Popular fiction titles in disrepair were likewise replaced.
Staff and students will be offered training in fall 2009 of how to utilize the new library searching system, as well as the benefits of interlibrary borrowing. This change in library searching and circulating services allows Unit #50 to become a part of the global online services offered through SILNET and WorldCat.
People unfamiliar with libraries may wonder at the need for the conversion. Advantages to having our school libraries become an automated member of SILNET include:
1. Greater fluidity of interlibrary loaning from SILNET’s 94 member libraries, including school, public, academic, and special libraries across 32 counties in southern Illinois.
2. The inclusion of our library resources on OCLC’s WorldCat. WorldCat is the global network of library content. Library items can be searched at http://www.worldcat.org/. Our own library items will begin appearing in WorldCat in January 2009.
3. The opportunity for further participation in the Shawnee Library System as a SILNET automated member.
4. Provision for the possibility of future increased community involvement.
The attached photos show Linda Verdeyen, one of two data entry personnel and former Unit 50 district media specialist and Cindy Esker, Teutopolis High School Library Aide. Remaining photos show the Teutopolis High School Media Center facility.
For more information, contact Susan Yallaly, district media specialist at yallalys@ttown.k12.il.us.
Funding for this grant was awarded by the Illinois State Library (ISL), a Department of the Office of Secretary of State, using funds provided by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), under the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).
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