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South Dakota State Library Services

A list of services provided by the South Dakota State Library.

COVID-19: Information for SD School Libraries

South Dakota Specific

  • Starting Well 2020: A Guide for School Libraries - contains questions and considerations intended to help school librarians and administrators think about from-the-library and in-the-library adaptations that may be needed for face-to-face learning, distance learning, or a hybrid of the two.

  • Starting Well - provides guidance for reopening and daily operations for the 2020-21 school year. Info. from the South Dakota Department of Education, SD Department of Health, and K-12 school leaders. 

  • COVID-19: What SD Librarians Need to Know from South Dakota State Library - lists resources and information for public libraries.

 

Ask a Question

Contact Alissa Adams, School Library Technology Coordinator, SD State Library 

 

SD State Library Databases & Digital Resources

ALL 50+ databases and digital resources offered by the SD State Library are FREE and accessible 24/7 WITHOUT a library card if within the geographical borders of South Dakota.
 

Three Ways to Access

  1. Instant, click-and-go access through GeoIP if you’re anywhere within the state’s geographical borders. No login needed.
  2. Instant, click-and-go access through IP authentication with your school district. Think of it as a back-up to GeoIP. No login needed at school and public libraries.
  3. Through your school’s SDSL ecard. This barcode and password SHOULD NOT be posted anywhere online but can be given out to patrons as a back-up. Think of this route as a back-up to the back-up OR if you’re traveling out of state. Visit with your librarian or contact Alissa Adams for your school's ecard credentials.

 

Student Research Lists

Use our age-appropriate Student Research Lists when linking on your library or school websites, blogs, digital newsletters, etc. These lists are curated just for these age groups and they provide quicker and more customized access for students. For more information and for direct URL's to these lists visit this post on Collect+Connect blog.

Alissa’s Recs of SDSL databases for K-12 -  Share and print as desired.

eBooks via SDSL Databases

  • Book Flix: talking books for Pre-K -3 and Special Education w/ lesson plans and activities
  • True Flix: videos and paired non-fiction books w/ lesson plans and activities
  • Gale Virtual Reference Library: sets of specialized reference books
  • SIRS Discoverer: non-fiction eBooks for elementary/MS, pdf format
  • World Book Advanced: links from some articles to full-text eBooks in Project Gutenberg (Shakespeare, as an example)
  • Learning Express: eBooks on career & academic success, pdf
  • EBSCO Ebooks Collection: 10,000+ books in arts, humanities, social sciences, sciences, business, computers

Local Options

Please wait while the widget below loads.  :) Here's the link to go directly to our Digital Books List.

Digital Books, by alissamadams

Many educators worry about reading aloud and recording books online. Are they violating copyright laws? How far does fair use go during this pandemic? In response, many children's publishers have temporarily altered their policies. See the link directly below for a list of publishers, and if more information is needed, please consult individual publisher websites.

Fair Use During COVID-19 Pandemic

Virtual Field Trips

Interactive Activities

Go-to Learning Videos

Educational Podcasts

Other Resources & Tools for Digital Learning

Please wait while the widget below loads.  :) Here's the link to go directly to our Tools and Resources for Digital Learning List.

Tools and Resources for Digital Learning, by alissamadams

Ready-to-go Read Alouds

Recording & Sharing a Read Aloud

Tech tools abound, but this small, but mighty list consists of those with a lower learning curve. They allow users to record, edit, and share video read alouds. They also allow for live or recorded video communication.

Best Practices for Reading, Recording, and Sharing

We are seeing more flexibility from publishers. Know that each publisher has different guidelines. But, by and large, here are some best practices for recording and sharing digital read alouds:

  • Your district should own a print or digital copy of the book.

  • You must not be making any profit from the use of the book.

  • Make it clear in writing on your website or school management system that the recording is for school use only.

  • Cite the author, title, publisher, and date at the beginning of the recorded read-aloud.

  • Keep it local by posting the recording internally. Meaning link videos in your management system like Google Classroom, Moodle, Schoology, your YouTube Channel with videos listed as Unlisted, or via school email system. Posting to a classroom website is likely fine but be sure to make it clear in writing that videos are for school use only.

  • If you upload the video to YouTube so that that you can then share it, make sure you choose UNLISTED for the visibility. This means the person with the link can view but the entire world can’t publicly view it.

  • Avoid posting videos to social media. Keep recordings internal for school use only. 

  • Use good judgment. Think small scale – you are providing for your classroom or library audience not providing for the entire Internet.

Note: The SD State Library doesn’t encourage or endorse this practice under typical circumstances.

Reading

Writing

Activities and Events

School librarians and library staff may have to account for professional time in different ways than classroom teachers. Here are some suggestions:

SUPPORTING STAFF

  • Offer Zoom “office hours” for teachers and offer HELP hours, teach the teacher mini-lessons, or highlight resources.
  • Support curriculum by curating resource lists especially for teachers.
  • Support teachers by creating print or video instructions for accessing SDSL or district-owned databases.
  • Make phone calls to teachers to offer your support or help them troubleshoot.
  • Make phone calls to students and parents who are struggling with technology and resource access.
  • Creating quick go-to video tutorials for teachers to share with students and parents.
  • Help teachers create choice boards for their students.  These tools allow for flexibility and ownership.
  • Assist with teacher and student technology needs.
  • Create read alouds for library use and classroom use.
  • Create digital book talks to be shared via the library or via the classroom.
  • Create a SHORT one or two question survey about how you can support teachers. Let them tell you what they need.
  • Take a look at the SD State Library webpage aimed to help school librarians during COVID-19.
  • Dive into TIE's Transition to Online Learning website. It's loaded with goodies to help teach and be of help to other educators.

LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY & ADMINISTRATION

  • Update and enrich your virtual library (webpage, blog, social media, etc.).
  • Offer Zoom “office hours” for students and parents trying to navigate distance learning.
  • Set up and promote a Live Chat service on your library website.
  • Create and share video tutorials on your virtual library. Try out FlipGrid Shorts!
  • Develop a template for your school library newsletter that you can reuse each month.
  • Make a plan for your library's social media use. Will you highlight each Prairie Book like this?
  • Learn a new technology to use in the library next year. Maybe FlipGrid for book reviews or Book Creator to build student ebooks or Wakelet for curating resource lists?
  • Take some time to browse SDSL School Libraries Curated Resource Lists.

CURRICULUM

  • Study the SD School Library Standards.
  • Update library lessons to reflect new standards.
  • Update your Scope and Sequence.
  • Take a hard look at your yearly calendar. What can be revised? What's necessary? What's fluff? What's fluff but too awesome to not do.
  • Needle your way into classroom teachers' lessons to incorporate library standards.
  • Offer online book clubs or just reading meetups.

DISTRICT

  • Work on district-level library planning.
  • Catch up with fellow librarians via Zoom, Hangouts or Skype.
  • Advocate for budgets with an increased demand for ebooks and audio books.
  • Study or refresh on library policies.

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT

  • Start or expand or expand your digital book collection.
  • Clean up records in your library catalog.
  • Create summer reading lists.
  • Develop book orders for summer or fall purchases (Here's the new Prairie List!).
  • Run circulation reports. Study trends. Make future plans.
  • Run collection reports. Audit collections.
  • Weed the collection if available to you.
  • Take requests from teachers and order those materials to support their curriculum.

COMMUNITY

  • Plan for summer reading programming on your own or in conjunction with your public library.
  • Deliver books alongside meals in conjunction with school food services.
  • Research equity issues in your school and local community. Open hours? Ancient policies? Digital access?
  • Stocking little free libraries in their neighborhoods