1/7/10: Savannah Arts Academy and Charles Ellis Elementary
Today I met with Vivian Scott at Savannah Arts Academy. This first meeting was primarily to go over the syllabus and sort out the projects that might work best at SAA and which would work best at another level. Vivian was very interested in the Reference Section project as she is still in the process of weeding and building that section of her media center. A social science teacher happened to be in the media center while I was there and was interested in working on the collaboration project - especially when I offered to give him my official Tommy Smothers Yo-yo Man Yo-yo as a thank you gift for his help - seems he had just lost his yoyo. I think he may be a fun, out-of-the box type teacher to work with. (1.5 hours)
Vivian offered to call Rebecca Cummings at Charles Ellis to set up a meeting with her. She was willing to meet with me that day, so I went over after finishing at SAA. Rebecca was very helpful and aggreeable. She was interested in the Reading Enrichment project and excited about teaching the middle school teachers how to create and use WebQuests. She has also written grants and offered to help me in that area. Before I left, Rebecca suggested I get in contact with Susan. (1 hour)

1/12/10: Jenkins High School
I met with Susan Smith at Jenkins High School. Susan has been working as the Media Specialist there for two years and just completed her masters through GSU last year. I met with Susan today. She is going to be a huge help, not only because she understands the process and the projects but because she is more knowledgeable in technology and seems to use on a regular basis. She went over her portfolio with me today and showed me some interesting new internet resources. (1.5 hours)

1/26/10: Savannah Arts Academy and Charles Ellis Elementary
Today we tackled the Reference section. When Vivian inherited this Media Center, it had just been renovated and books had been boxed and divided with another school. She has spent years getting the center to its current condition. Some of her books are old and need weeding, some are very new. The one section that needed the most work was the 500 section. The students here are well above average. They are studing new innovations in science along with the basics of Biology and Chemistry. We wanted to update the reference section with books and sites that would not only be more current, but enhance the studies of Genetics, Psychology, Health, Global Warming, Alternative Energies, Forensics and Ethics. (1.5 hours)
When I had completed the survey on existing books and we had discussed ordering issues such as trusted vendors, discounts, bid numbers, purchase order policy and the ABC book, Vivian gave me a quick lesson on entering books and running reports on her system. SAA uses Safari which seems like an excellent system. From what I have seen, it seems to offer more in a more user friendly fashion than Spectrum which is the system I am used to. (.5 hours)

1/27/10: Home
Tonight I worked on the Reference Collection Project. After listing the books currently in the SAA media center, I decided to weed five units based on age and condition. This represented roughly 1/3 of the collection. I used the catalogues that Vivian had suggested to select 8 new units for her collection. Four of these (from the Salem Health and Science Series) come with free access to the online versions. I also found an interesting online resource through Gale that offers a free trial introduction called Global Issues in Context. This site offers international news and views on subjects from health and the environment to cultural and economic reviews. It was highly recommended by Choice. I suggested the school order the trial version and retain enough of the budget to purchase this site should it live up to its reviews and prove an interesting and appealing alternative resource. (4 hours)

1/12/10: Jenkins High School
Met with Susan at Jenkins High to go over portfolio and other websites