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Library & Technology

Academics Library & Technology

The Farnsworth Library Media Center is more than just books. We do offer books, of course (more than 12,000!), but we are also a center of technology and a hub of learning and exploration.

Library staff members love to help students. It makes us feel useful. So please don't be shy about asking questions—we can recommend books, help with research, show you where materials are kept, teach you how to use a makerspace resource, troubleshoot tech issues, and maybe on a good day even help you figure out a math problem. Never be afraid to ask!

Destiny Discover
Research Hub
Chromebooks

Library Resources

You can use the big red button above to visit our catalog, or you can find it in the SASD Bookmarks folder on your Chromebook. Your login is the same as for Skyward. You can check out and read our ebooks online once you log in, as well as browse and place holds on paper books.

Every SASD student has access to the Mead Library's electronic resources through their Virtual Library Card (VLC). It's a great way to get books all year long, or to find books your school library doesn't have. Use Libby to get ebooks and audiobooks. Try Hoopla for a different selection of ebooks and audiobooks, as well as movies, TV shows, comics, and music.

Go to www.meadpl.org/vlc to get started. If a resource requires you to make an account and you need to choose your library, depending on the particular resource you may need to use either "Mead Library" or "Monarch Library System" (the larger consortium Mead is part of). Please call Mead for help if you get stuck.

Virtual Library Card 1 page flyer

At TumbleBooks, choose a Story Book to listen to a read-aloud video, or choose a Read Along to read and listen to a chapter book.

TumbleBooks logo

Use this "Request a Book" form to ask us to buy a book for our library. While we try to get as many requested books as we can, our collection policies and budget limitations mean we can't promise to get everything someone asks for.

FMS Makerspace table


Our Makerspace

Our makerspace program has several parts. First, in the center of the library we have shelves of quick creative activities:

  • Construction materials like K'nex, Legos, Strawbees, or Keva planks
  • Papercraft materials like origami paper, cardstock, score-and-punch boards, and fancy scissors
  • Robots like Sphero, Ozobot, Ollie, or Cozmo
  • Our Magnetic Poetry board
  • Google Cardboard 3D viewers (you'll need a cell phone)
  • Creative puzzles and challenges like BrainString, Hook'em, and sliding puzzles
  • A wide range of games, like Cranium, Anomia, Bonkers, Qbitz, and Blokus

We also have other materials which users need to check with a staff member in order to use. If you want to try these activities, don't be afraid to ask! These are ask-first activities because they are more intrusive (messy or noisy) or are fairly time-consuming, or take a little bit of an intro in order to do properly. These activities include:

  • Music (drums, bells, xylophone, Otomatones, whistles, music box mechanisms)
  • Video production (green screen and video camera, 360 camera)
  • 3D production (the 3Doodler pen is pretty easy; the 3D printer takes more time and effort but can produce nicer stuff)
  • Oculus Rift virtual reality system
  • Circuits and electricity (LittleBits, SnapCircuits, Makey-Makey, Cubelets, electricity box)
  • Advanced crafts (chainmail, cross-stitch, paracord creations, Kumihimo braids)

Makerspace Values

Exploration: Our goal is not that students learn to do everything well, but that they expand their horizons by trying out new things.

Community: Giving and accepting help is essential, and working together is encouraged. We aim for acceptance and appreciation for everyone.

Safety: Everyone who enters the makerspace has a responsibility to maintain safety and to respect the limits of their expertise.

Stewardship: Taking care of the makerspace and being frugal with materials is important. Users are expected to not just think about their own needs, but to plan so the needs of others can also be met.

Resources and Instructions

Music Box Maniacs

Test out your song ideas and hear your melodies online before you try to punch them. When you're ready, you can use the Publish button to save and print out your song, then use this as a guide to punch your paper strip.

VR apps for 3D viewers

Visit this site from your phone to find and download an app to use with the 3D viewers. The Google Cardboard app would be a good first choice.

Basic Kumihimo video

The first few minutes show how to set up the round Kumihimo disk and do an easy spiral braid. The second half shows a website for planning your braids and demonstrates a 16-strand "flower" braid.

Craft Design Online

This is the site mentioned in the "Basic Kumihimo" video. You can try out various color combinations before you start a real braid. You should set the "Threads" number in the middle to 8 first if you are making the braid shown in the video.

When you open a newsletter, mouse over the pictures. Wherever your cursor turns into a hand is an active link that will take you to a video or online resource. Click anywhere else to advance to the next page (or use the controls at the bottom). Be sure to try out some of the neat stuff on the Virtual Makerspace pages!

May 2021 Library Loop (Lesson: Summer Reading Program; Instructables Virtual Makerspace)

April 2021 Library Loop (Lesson: National Poetry Month doggerel; Wonderful Words Virtual Makerspace)

March 2021 Library Loop (Lesson: Rating & reviewing books in Destiny; String Stuff Virtual Makerspace)

February 2021 Library Loop (Lesson: Using search filters; Stress Relief Virtual Makerspace)

January 2021 Library Loop (Lesson: Review of getting books in the hybrid model; Paper Crafts Virtual Makerspace)

December 2020 Library Loop (Lesson & Virtual Makerspace: Hour of Code)

November 2020 Library Loop (Lesson: Getting paper books during virtual learning; Music Virtual Makerspace)

October 2020 Library Loop (Lesson: Censorship; Drawing Virtual Makerspace)

Call Number Games

Find the Book

Call numbers (and genre locations, where applicable) will appear at the top of the screen. Click the blue dot showing which shelf would hold each book.

Order in the Library

Use call numbers to shelve books. Includes multiple levels of difficulty. (Note: this game puts biographies in a special section with "B" as the top line of the call number. Our library puts biographies in non-fiction at 921.) You may need to click an icon in your address bar to enable Flash in order to play.

Call Number Sort

Sort the call numbers according to which library section each book belongs in. You may need to click an icon in your address bar to enable Flash in order to play.

Mission of the Library Program

Empower curious minds

  • Promote literacy and a love of reading
  • Teach information literacy skills (how to find, evaluate, organize, and use information)
  • Help students learn to use technology safely, ethically, and effeciently
  • Support students having difficulty with their technology (troubleshooting and repair)
  • Provide open and free access to a wide range of ideas and viewpoints
  • Offer students a friendly, non-judgemental place where they can feel welcome and valued

Circulation Policies

Students may check out up to 3 items at a time and keep them for two weeks. If you haven't finished a book when it is due, bring it in and we can renew it for you.

We do not have late fees. The worst we'll do for overdues is pester you with weekly email reminders. If you lose a book, though, or damage it so badly it must be discarded, you will need to pay for its replacement.

A few of the ways our library program increases student learning:
  • Providing books for pleasure reading and to support the school's curriculum
  • Recommending books students might enjoy
  • Assisting with research projects
  • Coordinating the 1-to-1 Chromebook program at the school
  • Helping students and teachers with technology problems or questions
  • Introducing students to computer science through the annual Hour of Code
  • Instruction in how to use online resources such as databases
  • Providing a welcoming space conducive to reading or study
  • Instruction in using libraries comfortably and confidently (catalog searching, using call numbers, understanding the Dewey Decimal System, checking out ebooks)

Explore the academics we have to offer!

Academics

Library Staff

Amanda Staron

Library Media Specialist

(920) 459-3867

astaron@sasd.net
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