Annual report for Palisades High School Library

1. ANNUAL END OF YEAR
REPORT
JUNE, 2017
Compiled and composed by:
Karen Hornberger, Library Media Specialist
Palisades High School
Library Media Center

2. PURPOSE OF REPORT
This is our 15th annual report. The purpose of this report is to reflect upon
the school-year and to educate readers on the programs and services that we
have offered throughout the year, supporting both students and staff with the
goal of making students as academically successful as possible.
You may notice I
use the same
design every year!
This is just to allow
me to spend my
precious end of year
time on other tasks!

3. ARRANGEMENT OF REPORT
Section One provides data on our school, usage of the library, and our resources.
Section Two provides information on some ways in which I, the Library Media
Specialist, have supported student learning and achievement.

4. SECTION 1
• school data
• usage of library
• our resources
• usage statistics

5. OUR SCHOOL
Palisades High School is located in Kintnersville, PA with a current enrollment of
approximately 600 students and approximately 60 faculty members.
Karen Hornberger is the Library Media Specialist.
Candice Rousseau is the Computer Lab Assistant.

6. LIBRARY VISITS
The category “other” represents visits from health, guidance, world
languages, etc.

7. COMPUTER LAB VISITS
The category “other” represents visits from health, guidance, world
languages, etc.
Our lab will close next year, as we will become a 1:1 school.

8. ADDITIONAL VISITORS
In addition to classes that visit, each period we also have:
• Student assistants
• Students on permanent pass
• Students using the cyber center
• Students from study hall
• Students using the copiers
• Students taking tests
• Meetings
• etc.
WE are a very, very BUSY and WELCOMING library!
We average 480 visitors per day!!!
☺

9. OUR HELPERS!
This year, the high school library has had a student helper program in
which the students serve as “triage workers”. The student helpers were
the people that students came to when they needed to sign a book out,
receive help with the copier, and obtain supplies and passes. The helpers
also shelved books and pulled items teachers need for units.
I will receive additional help next year as we move to 1:1 and I gain
Candice Rousseau, our computer lab assistant, as my library assistant! As
we get busier (with 480 visitors average per day), this will be so helpful
in allowing me to work with classes and teachers and students who seek
me for academic help. Candice and the students can check books out,
maintain the shelves, help with the copier and phone, etc.

10. OUR COLLECTION
In our collection, we have:
• Print books ( 11,772 titles - I weeded extensively this year and succeeded in
making the collection more up-to-date and appealing to students. We have
supplemental money coming in to help update our collection over the next
few years!)
• eBooks (over 8,800 titles in the EBSCO High School Collection & over
22,500 titles in the EBSCO eBook Collection)
• Advanced Placement Source (articles from scholarly journals, etc.)
• SIRS Issues Researcher (articles from national and global magazines and
newspapers)
• NoodleTools (bibliography/notecard/outline generator)
• Videos
• Audiobooks
• Calculators
• Two Chromebook/Laptop carts
• PLUS… state-provided Power Library Resources!

11. TINICUM CIVIC ASSOCIATION
Tinicum Civic Association has, yet again, graciously donated money to
our library. We were able to update our collection mid-year, and chose
titles that students had been requesting. Our budget has been cut
significantly and this allowed us to order more books that the students
wanted. We were VERY grateful for their donation. Here is a slideshow
to share which books we selected this year.
The Tinicum Civic Association raises monies through community based
events with the purpose of supporting local non-profit organizations that
contribute to the general welfare or enhance the quality of life in our area.
Please consider helping the association by volunteering at or attending the
upcoming Tinicum Arts Festival, July 8-9, 2017 in Tinicum Park or by
visiting Stover Mill Art Gallery located on River Road in Erwinna.

12. OUR CIRCULATION
In-House Materials represents the circulation of print materials along with AV
materials and remain the most popular way to use library resources.
eBooks solely represents eBook accesses (and excludes access to electronic
articles from newspapers/magazines, interlibrary loan materials, etc.)

13. OUR CIRCULATION
Fiction remains our most popular print “In-House” material.

14. OUR CIRCULATION
Advanced Placement Source offers articles from scholarly journals with
over half originating from international publishers. This year, there were
2,964 searches performed within the database.
SIRS Resources offer articles from national and global magazines and
newspapers. This year, there were 6,716 accesses to SIRS resources.
NoodleTools is a bibliography/notecard/outline generator. This year,
there were 2,065 bibliographies created.
We requested 81 interlibrary loans this year.
We saw an increased trend in every eResource this year! I attribute this
trend to more access to chromebooks and the research unit sites that I
have created (see part 2 of report).
As a result, we were able to reduce the number of interlibrary loans
that we needed to request.

15. SECTION 2
• supporting students and teachers
• making resources available to the world

16. RESEARCH INTEGRATION
After completing intensive work on research scope and sequences through the past three
years, this was a big year to implement, reflect upon, modify, and assess instruction.
The goals were to make integration more consistent, ensuring that all students in English
and social studies courses had research units where they were introduced to the grade
level skill sets identified for them.
9th grade students were to receive high support on thesis statement construction, outline
construction and formatting, and citation formatting (parenthetically and within a Works
Cited list).
10th grade students were to be introduced to searching global news sources to expand
perspectives, search social media to identify trends, and analysis statistics during
research.
11th grade students were to receive high support in utilizing peer reviewed articles from
scholarly journals and to learn how to annotate a bibliography.
12th grade students were to synthesize all skills learned during prior years.

17. 9TH GRADE RESOURCE UNIT SITES
Below are the launchpads for all of the unit sites that are designed for 9th
grade which incorporate thesis statement, outline, and citation work. The
Civil War and Reconstruction sites were built from the ground up this
school year and the English Career Research Paper site was greatly
modified and adjusted to best support students.
Grade 9
English: Career Research Paper
Social Studies: Reconstruction Paper
Social Studies: Civil War Paper

18. 10TH GRADE RESOURCE UNIT SITES
Below are the launchpads for all of the unit sites that are designed for
10th grade. The units that have no asterisk incorporate global news, social
media research, and statistics work. All five were built from the ground
up this year.
Grade 10
English: Modern Day Witch Hunt (The Crucible) Paper
English: Julius Caesar Research *
Social Studies: Imperialism Unit
Social Studies: World War I Research*
Social Studies: World War II Battles Research *
asterisk (*) indicates a unit site that is not aligned to research scope and sequence skills targeted to the specific
grade level.

19. 11TH GRADE RESOURCE UNIT SITES
Below are the launchpads for all of the unit sites that are designed for
11th grade which incorporate scholarly journal and annotated
bibliography work. The Truman Paper site was greatly modified this year,
while the additional four were built from the ground up.
Grade 11
English: Persuasive Paper
English: Debate Project
Social Studies: 1920's Paper
Social Studies: Truman Paper
Social Studies: Vietnam Paper

20. 12TH GRADE RESOURCE UNIT SITES
Below are the launchpads for all of the unit sites that are designed for
12th grade which synthesize all research skills learned in prior years. The
Dictator Paper site was greatly modified this year, while the senior paper
site was built from the ground up.
Grade 12
English: Dictator Paper
Social Studies: Senior Paper

21. NEW RESOURCES FOR INSTRUCTION
One goal for this year was to make as much instruction as possible, hands-on. I modified
lessons that had been more lecture focused to become more active, allowing for more
engagement. This way, the students could work on their research as I guided them along.
Some resources that enhanced this goal that I created this year are:
 Creating notes on research
 Side by side: outline and writing
 Crafting an introduction and conclusion
 Expanding upon Expert Information graphic organizer
 Cultural Viewpoints Graphic Organizer
 Statistics Graphic Organizer and student examples
 Career paper thesis student examples
 Civil War Paper thesis student examples

22. UMBRELLA THESIS INSTRUCTION
There was a great deal of feedback from teachers and students that they wanted
to move away from formulaic (enumerative) thesis statements (originally
taught to them to help them develop a foundation) and work on more
sophisticated thesis statements.
As a result, I added information on umbrella thesis statements to this slideshow
that I use for instruction.

23. LIBRARY WEBSITE
After all of the Google Site development using new Google Sites, I felt that I
could finally create a more attractive site.
As a result, I created a library website using Google Sites which would redirect
users to the site. I think that it is a more attractive, user-friendly site.

24. LIBRARY DEPARTMENT REVIEW
Our school launched a district wide library review which was
refreshing since it had been twelve years since the last review. Here
is our written report that culminates our work.
In the high school, we worked hard to evaluate and weed our
collection to get it closer to the recommended age of the collection.
We still have a bit of work to do on that collection development.
We are looking to accomplish this through supplemental funding
through the district curriculum budget.
Additionally, it was apparent that the library needed more support in
terms of staffing and we are happy to say that we are promised a
library assistant next year!

25. COURSEWORK
During the school year I took the following courses:
Encouraging Active Participation my focus within this course was
to develop hands-on activities for students to apply the lesson
immediately to their research work.
Dealing with Parents: Fostering Positive Relationships my focus
within this course was to better communicate with parents how to
support their students in upcoming research units.
Reading Like a Historian my focus within this course was to better
understand social studies curriculum and instruction so that I could
better serve collaborations with social studies teachers.

26. CHANGES TO ENVIRONMENT
We tried to add some fun to the library this year and created a “match
the first line with the book” display along with a pop art display.
Additionally, I personally purchased some puzzles and games for the
cozy seating area so that the students could enjoy a little brain
challenging flair in the library!

27. SUMMER READING PROGRAM
I currently chair our summer reading committee which includes my
facilitation of the selection of books that students are required to read,
ensuring the availability of the titles, development and supervision of
assessments and makeups, and analysis of the program, etc.
Here is our current Summer Reading Program site.

28. MY BLOG
I took a break from blogging this year, however many posts remain
relevant/popular. Here are the statistics from the last year:

29. MY SLIDESHARE
I only added one SlideShare this year, however my former uploads
remain popular/relevant. Here are the statistics for this past year.

30. SCHOLARS’ BOWL, READING OLYMPICS &
DEBATE CLUB
I co-advised our Scholars’ Bowl team with Rose Lipton and the team
performed very well this year!On a Saturday in February, Palisades
High School Scholars’ Bowl students competed in the Phillipsburg
Academic Competition. Two teams represented Palisades very
well. We competed later during the year at Salisbury with a smaller
group and were happy to bring home a trophy.
Our Reading Olympics team that Amber Schlosser and I co-advise also
did very well this year, earning a red ribbon in competition.
There was interest in a Debate Club this year and Aimee Trieu and I
volunteered our time to put together some after school events for our
students to experience debates and get used to some new debate styles.
It was great fun and we look forward to seeing whether the program
will grow and formalize over the next few years.
We are so proud of our students!

31. GOALS FOR THE FUTURE
My goals are:
● to continue to develop the integration of research skills next year so that
consistency is perfect with a focus on the English dept.
● I hope to keep developing our high school collection and plan to genrefy.
● I hope to restart blogging - the work with the district wide department review
and the development of all of the research launchpads really took my focus
this year. I did enjoy blogging and plan to start doing so again next year.

32. IMAGES
SLIDE 2: REFLECTION BY ANDERSON MANCINI
SLIDE 3: COLORED PENCILS BY CHEVRE
SLIDE 5: LOCKERS BY TLPARADIS
SLIDE 22: Woman in Black Tank Top Holding an Umbrella in Front
of Yellow Concrete Wall by Unsplash
SLIDE 31: DARTS BY STEVEPB

33. THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO
READ OUR ANNUAL END OF YEAR
REPORT!
HAVE A WONDERFUL AND RELAXING
SUMMER!