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Text Box: videos we have available and use the collection more effectively. The Media Center staff is also working to purchase DVDs so that they may be utilized by the new multimedia computers that the corporation is purchasing. The boxes for these will be maintained in the media center as well. As this process is ongoing, many teachers have expressed interest in this and have been excited about being able to see what is available more easily.

Text Box: staff has worked to take the boxes that were kept at the Tech Center and bring them to the high school. Boxes with labels on them have been taken to the Tech Center to replace the boxes with visuals on them. This will better help the teaching staff determine what

Text Box: In an attempt to utilize the existing video collection more effectively, the media center staff is in the process of reorganizing the video collection. All VHS tapes remain in the media retrieval collection; however, the media retrieval system itself is not very easy to search if you do not know the exact item that you want. Just like when you go to Blockbuster, it is often easier to find a video by browsing the shelves and seeing what is available. With that thought in mind, the media center

Text Box: 20,933 Number of items circulated during the 2003-2004 school year. This is an increase of 13% over last year. 81% Percent of high school staff using services provided by the Media Center. This is an increase of 3% over last year. 47 and 107 Average number of students in media center during bonus period each day—highest number of students during bonus period in one day. 1127 Number of books purchased and added to the collection during the 2003-2004 school year. 736 out of 855 Number of periods the library was used by classes versus the number of periods it was open. This represents an 86% usage rate. (It does not include students who are in the media center from study hall.)

Text Box: In November, Robyn Young was asked to become the co-chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee of the Association of Indiana Media Educators. The purpose of the committee is to recognize exemplary school library media programs in the state of Indiana. The committee is currently working on creating a rubric that will be used to determine exemplary programs. The committee is also advising the Office of Learning Resources at the Department of Education regarding this new and exciting program. Additionally, the committee is coordinating with the American Association of School Librarians on this endeavor. It is hoped that a format for recognizing exemplary media programs will be in place by the fall of 2005.

In November 2003, Robyn Young presented “Getting Graphic: Using Graphic Novels in your School Media Center” at the Association of Indiana Media Educators Fall Conference. Approximately 100 people attended this breakout session.

Topics discussed were why graphic novels should be used in the school library, the history of graphic novels, what to look for in quality graphic novels, and how to strengthen the binding and maintain the collection.

The presentation was well received and Robyn was asked to present it again at the regional media specialists meeting for the Department of Education in February of 2004.