Spring-Ford Area School District

WELCOME TO THE SPRING-FORD

MIDDLE SCHOOL MEDIA CENTER

THE MEDIA CENTER

 The Spring-Ford Middle School Media Center serves all of the students, teachers, and administrators of our school and provides a well-rounded, carefully chosen collection of materials selected to support and enrich the curriculum, to satisfy the individual needs of students, to encourage reading, to promote new areas of interest, and to stimulate learning.  

GENERAL RULES

Student Behavior:  The Media Center is a quiet place in which to read and study. Students are expected to cooperate in maintaining the type of atmosphere which promotes good reading and study habits. Those failing in this responsibility will have their media center privileges suspended and demerits for misconduct can be assigned.

Items NOT permitted in the Media Center:

       Coats, lunches and backpacks/book bags are not permitted.  Students bringing these items to the Media Center will be asked to return them to their lockers. Exceptions will be made if a student is in a cast or using crutches.

       White-out of any type is NOT permitted at any time and will be confiscated if brought to the library.

       Gum is not permitted in the library, either.  Demerits for defiance will be issued if a student is repeatedly spoken to about having gum.

 

 

 MEDIA CENTER HOURS: 7:40 A.M. – 3:30 P.M.

Before school   7:40 A.M. - 7:55 A.M.

       Students may go to the Media Center upon arrival if a pass has been secured the day before from a media center staff member.

Homeroom        8:05 A.M. - 8:20 A.M.

       Students are permitted to come to the Media Center with permission from their homeroom teacher.

       Students may come for the entire homeroom period if they are working on a major assignment or make-up work for a classroom teacher or the media specialist.

Sustained Silent Study periods (SSS)

A Media Center Pass is required from the student in order to use the Media Center during SSS

Media Center Passes are issued by the homeroom teacher in limited numbers. The student are responsible for completing the pass before presenting it to the homeroom teacher for a signature.

No coats or book bags are permitted during SSS.

Students who have overdue obligations are not permitted to use the Media Center during SSS.

LOAFING WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.  Violators will lose SSS privileges.

After school        2:40 P.M. - 3:30 P.M.

Students need to contact library staff to arrange to use the Media Center after school.

 

 

SIGNING OUT MATERIALS

       Most of the books in the Media Center may be checked out for a period of TWO weeks

       Books may be renewed for an additional two weeks as often as necessary.

       To sign out a book:

Take the book(s) to the circulation desk.

Give the book(s) to the staff behind the desk.

Give the staff either your computer ID number.

Stamp your book(s) with the date due.

HOW MANY BOOKS MAY BE SIGNED OUT?

       Students are permitted to sign out five (5) books for a two-week period.

       Students may also take out one (1) overnight book.

       If you have any overdue books or outstanding fines, you may not check out any materials until the books are returned and the fines paid.

 

 

OVERDUE PENALTIES

Media Center books may be returned anytime a reader has finished with them.

Books should be returned or renewed on or before the date stamped on the date due slip. After this the book is considered overdue.

If a student is absent on the date a book is due, no fine will be charged if the student returns the book to the Media Center Staff on the first day back to school, with the explanation that he/she was absent.

Overdue books are returned to the circulation desk. The fine for a regular two-week book is five (5) cents for every school day the book is late.

The fine for failure to return an overnight book is twenty-five (25) cents for each school day.

Notices are sent to homerooms on a regular schedule to inform students when they have overdue books or outstanding fines. If pupils do not respond, Media Center privileges are suspended until these obligations are cleared up. Letters informing parents of overdue obligations are mailed periodically.

LOST OR DAMAGED MATERIALS

       Students should report a lost or damaged item to the Media Center staff immediately.

       Students are responsible for all materials they check out and will be charged the full price of lost or damaged items.

       If the lost item is later found and returned, the student’s money will be refunded (minus the overdue fine).

 

LOCATING MATERIAL

The middle school has a computerized card catalog (OPAC). You are able to search for an author, title, subject, or a combination of all of these things.

1. Log on to the computer as you would in the computer lab.
    (Use your computer ID number and password.)

2. In the white box, type desired information: author, title, etc.

3. Using the mouse, click the category that you would like to search, e.g., author, title, etc.

4. A list of selected items will appear on the screen.

5. View desired titles by highlighting and double-clicking or pressing enter.

6. Additional instruction will be given as needed

 

BIBLOGRAPHY

REFERENCE BOOKS

The reference section includes books used to locate specific information on a wide range of subject areas. These books are marked with a "REF" or "REFERENCE" label above the call number, and they must remain in the Media Center during the day.

 

Reference books may be signed out for overnight use after 2:30 P.M. and they must be returned before first period the following morning. A fine of twenty-five (25) cents per day is charged for failure to return overnight books.

REPEATED FAILURE TO RETURN OVERNIGHT BOOKS ON TIME WILL RESULT IN SUSPENSION OF OVERNIGHT BORROWING PRIVILEGES.

Access PA Power Library Resources

(Access PA resources are available from home through your local pubic library site with a public library card)

EBSCOhost

A comprehensive periodicals and reference database including: MasterFILE Premier, Business Source Elite, Health Source Plus, Newspaper Source, and ERIC.

Grove's Dictionaries

Comprehensive resources on topics relating to Music and Art.

SIRS Discoverer

An interactive reference tool for young readers including: full text articles and graphics, country facts, World Almanac for Kids.

LitFinder

Complete coverage of world literature from antiquity to the present.  Includes over 70,000 full text poems and over 750,000 poem, essay, and prose citations and excerpts. 

AccuNet/AP® Multimedia Archive

An archive of more than 500,000 current and historical photographs that can be searched by date, place and subject. More than 800 photographs added daily.

Biographical sources

Contemporary Authors & Biography Reference Bank provide biographic and critical essay  information on historical and modern personalities.

Searchasaurus

Ebsco's colorful, graphical interface for elementary and middle school students makes research simple and fun.  These full text databases are searchable by keyword or by simply clicking on a subject of interest.

ACCESS PA

ACCESS PA is a web based bibliographic union catalog and resource sharing guide to Pennsylvania library collections.  Over 2,000 school, public, academic, and special libraries are searchable on-line.

COMMUNITY LIBRARIES

Montgomery County Libraries: http://www.montcopa.org/commerce/library.htm
Royersford Free Public Library

Chester County:  http://www.ccls.org/

Library System

E-BOOKS 

The media center owns the following e-books:

       Chemistry: Foundations and Applications

       Countries and Their Cultures

       Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Foods and Recipes of the World

       Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Physical Geography

       Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Holidays

       Science of Everyday Things

       U*X*L Encyclopedia of World Biography

       Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations