The annual report for the high school library program at Palisades High School. If the hyperlinks do not activate, sometimes going in and out of fullscreen view will help to activate them.

1. ANNUAL END OF YEAR REPORT
JUNE, 2016
Compiled and composed by:
Karen Hornberger, Library Media Specialist
Palisades High School
Library Media Center

2. PURPOSE OF REPORT
This is our 14th 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.

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
This chart represents scheduled visits to the library. While English decreased from last year
(187 visits last year), we very often have unscheduled drop-in visits from students in English
classes. We saw an increase in visits from the social studies department this year (from last
year’s 220). category “other” represents visits from health, guidance, world languages, etc.
119
288
96
Library visits by Dept.
English Social Studies Other

7. COMPUTER LAB VISITS
We saw a tiny (less than 10 per department) drop in computer lab
visits this year. The category “other” represents visits from health,
guidance, world languages, etc.
301
282
332
Computer Lab visits by Dept.
English Social Studies Other

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!


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.
This system was vital in allowing me to focus, without distraction, on
helping teachers and students. I no longer needed to worry about a
student who would like to sign out a book while I formally instructed a
group or informally worked with a student or teacher. I can remain in a
brainstorm session with another teacher to plan an upcoming unit. The
student helpers received community service hours and many, many
thanks.

10. OUR COLLECTION
In our collection, we have:
• Print books ( 21,410 titles)
• eBooks ( 31,008 titles total with 8,576 titles in the EBSCO High School
Collection & 22,432 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
• Video cameras
• 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 are two
slideshows: slideshow #1 and slideshow #2 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 9-10, 2016 in Tinicum Park or by
visiting Stover Mill Art Gallery located on River Road in Erwinna.

12. OUR CIRCULATION
Print represents the circulation of print materials along with AV materials and
remain the most popular way to use library resources.
eBook solely represents eBook accesses (and excludes access to electronic
articles from newspapers/magazines, interlibrary loan materials, etc.)
Trend: there is a narrowing gap between eBook and print book accesses
with eBooks seeing more usage.
Total Materials Circulated (print and eBook)
5,769
4,215
Total Book Accesses
Print eBook

13. OUR CIRCULATION
Total Materials Circulated by Genre
4019
1622
154 115
Fiction
Nonfiction
Biography
AV
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
2,015 searches performed within the database.
SIRS Researcher offers articles from national and global magazines and
newspapers. This year, there were 2,954 searches within the database.
NoodleTools is a bibliography/notecard/outline generator. This year,
there were 1,991 bibliographies created.
We only requested 143 interlibrary loans this year. In the past, we had
requested up to 350 annually. This significant drop indicates to us that
the rental of the eBook subscription is better serving our patrons
immediate research needs.

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

16. SKILL-SPECIFIC RUBRICS
Through collaboration, we have developed a system that scaffolds research integration.
However, I felt that lessons and resources were not totally cutting it in terms of every
student dedicating attention to each skill. We had a previous infographic rubric that I
worked hard to edit and enhance this year along with an annotated bibliography rubric
(which I edited mildly this year and modified for struggling learners).
Here are the skill-specific rubrics that were developed:
#1 Thesis Statement Rubric
#2 Outline Rubric
#3 Infographic Rubric
#4 Statistics Rubric
#5 Citations Rubric
#6 Annotated Bibliography Rubric
#7 Cultural Viewpoints Rubric

17. SKILL-SPECIFIC GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
In addition to the skill-specific rubrics, we have developed skill-specific graphic
organizers. I had to do this when it wasn’t easy to assign a grade to a task because it was
more of a process than a project. We had a graphic organizer already for using scholarly
journals, but I greatly revamped it this year.
Here are the skill-specific graphic organizers that were developed:
#1 Using Scholarly Journal Articles Graphic Organizer
#2 Researching using Social Media Graphic Organizer
However, we did actually develop a rubric for how students filled out the graphic
organizer. This allowed a teacher to ensure that students were taking the form seriously.
Rubric for Scholarly Journal Graphic Organizer

18. LAUNCHPADS FOR UNITS
Over the years, I have developed many resources. I housed them on the Library Google
Site and directed students towards the Site while teaching and, additionally, sent links out
to all students in an email group. While this was somewhat effective, what I have found
to be more effective is the creation of Google Sites for individual units.
After sitting down with the English department, we determined which skill-specific
rubrics would be used within which units. I am still creating Google Sites for the units,
but examples here are for our 9th grade Career Research project and the 12th grade
Dictator project.
I plan to do the same next year with the social studies department.

19. EDITING FEEDBACK
Many of us edit for students and we wanted to make the feedback
consistent. We shared shortcut codes and comment bank lists. The
comment banks help create consistency for students from teachers when
editing. It also helps to guide the editor through each focal point within
editing.
Here is an article on the editing work that we did.

20. EPORTFOLIO SUPPORT
Our school launched an ePortfolio program during last school year.
Now 9th grade and 10th grade students (and each class which follows)
will continue to add to and develop their portfolio each year, which
will then be reflected upon and presented at the end of their senior
year. I was asked to provide lessons and support to all 9th grade
students who were to complete this project. Lessons included
sharing how to embed within Google Docs, upload a PDF, etc.
Our ePortfolio is one which follows our students from middle school
to high school, however many new technology skills within Google
Sites and Google Docs were added. I look forward to helping to
offer input on how to further develop this product with students and
teachers.

21. REGULAR SUPPORT
In addition to the collaborations featured in previous slides, I do
extensive work each year with our seniors as they conduct their senior
research projects and I also regularly support classes in smaller
segments (some which are indicated below).
 Support Amber Schlosser’s students with resources/presentations during the Julius
Caesar, Arthurian Legend, and nonfiction research units.
 Support Carole Lee Deemer’s students with resources/scholarly journals/annotated
bibliography during her 11th grade persuasive research unit.
 Support Kevin Ronalds’ social studies Modern World History class with Google
Sites/Infographic/Google Map/Prezi Timeline
 Support Erin Banas’ social studies 11th grade students with their Truman research
 Support 9th grade students with their career research
 Support Morgan Flagg-Detwiler’s students with their Civil War research
 …and more!

22. 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.
After an intensive program analysis last year, we worked to determine
which changes to the program we felt were best. In social studies, each
grade level now receives a non-fictional text. With regards to the new
program we designed, Morgan Flagg-Detwiler states, “…having all
students work on the same text, it will enable teachers to more easily
and readily use the text and the corresponding assignment within the
curriculum. Although there are different level students, the way these
assignments are set up enable the teacher the discretion to complete
differentiated/modified grading for lower level students while still pre-
assessing their skills in particular areas.”

23. STUDY GROUP
Professionally, my focus on research continued. This year I partnered with Amber
Schlosser, Morgan Flagg-Detwiler, and Aimee Trieu to continue the work that Carole Lee
Deemer, Erin Banas and Bob Schlegel (see page 32) initiated during the 2013-2014 school
year and Amber and Scott Antoni and I continued into the 2014-2015 school year.
Amber, Morgan, Aimee and I set and met goals
As a group, and individually, we:
 Incorporated scholarly journals and primary source documents into English
classes more successfully.
 Aligned our goals with the school improvement plan.
 Created consistency with editing feedback for students.
 Developed skill specific rubrics (along with modified versions).
 Created launchpads for units.
 Aligned summer reading assignments.

24. COLLABORATIVE NEWSLETTER
I was able to participate in the Tech Mentors group at the Bucks County Intermediate
Unit again this year and I attended meetings. Together we authored a collaborative
newsletter. We published four this year:
Newsletter #1
Newsletter #2
Newsletter #3
Newsletter #4

25. MY BLOG
I like to share the things that I do throughout the year with other
librarians and educators. One way in which I do this is through my
blog.
This year on my blog, there were:
 9,108 views 7,306 visitors
 20 new posts
The most popular new posts were:
 Thesis Statement Rubric: Post #1 Skill Specific Research Rubrics Series (posted in April) –
316 views
 Teacher Feature: Sarah and Natasha’s Makerspace (posted in April) – 289 views
Former posts that remain the most popular/relevant:
 Citing previous work (self-citing) – 5,313 views total
 Placing a portion of a YouTube video into PowerPoint – 3,342 views total
 Genrefying the Fiction Collection – 2,195 views total

26. MY SLIDESHARE
Another way in which I share is through my SlideShare. This year I
uploaded 6 new slideshows, making my collection a total of 22 in all.
The chart below shows this year’s activity.

27. MY SLIDESHARE, CONT.
New this year:
 Organizing Articles for Research – 8,128 views, 105 favorites, 312 downloads
 Expanding Upon Quotations – 1,500 views, 1 favorite, 5 downloads
 Brainstorming your Thesis Statement - 873 views, 1 favorite, 6 downloads
 Citation Generators: A Comparison - 955 views
 Social Media Research – 692 views
 The final one that is new was placed on SlideShare as a backup and was used for a
presentation at a conference. The attendees of the presentation were directed towards
a Google Doc versus the SlideShare, so I only have 25 views of this presentation on
SlideShare.
Remain popular/relevant:
 Citing yourself (self-citing) - 81,051 views total, 7 favorites, 60 downloads
 Reading and Writing Strategies for Scholarly Journals - 12,226 views total, 1 favorite,
11 downloads
 Annotated Bibliographies – 4,611 views total, 3 favorites, 32 downloads
 Annual Report 14-15 – 5,653 views, 26 downloads

28. SCHOLARS’ BOWL
I co-advised our Scholars’ Bowl team with Chris Hardin this year.
On Saturday, February 6th, 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 Central Bucks East with a smaller
group and it was the first time in a while that we competed in Bucks
County using buzzer systems.
We are very proud of our students!

29. HSLC BOARD OF DIRECTORS
In December, 2015, I completed a three year term on the HSLC Board
of Directors in which I served as Secretary. HSLC supports the state
interlibrary loan system along with the Power Library Databases. This
company is beginning to add new and exciting services to libraries
throughout the state.
It has been very interesting to see the connection between libraries
and a non-profit business which supports them.
My school, generously, provided me the time every month to serve in
this role.
I have enjoyed this process of seeing how a Board of Directors
supports an organization and look forward to seeing HSLC thrive.

30. GOALS FOR THE FUTURE
My goals are to continue to meet the needs of both students and teachers
next year.
I hope to keep striving to provide the best program possible for both by
providing quality resources and communicating how best to access and
interact with them.
I hope to continue to share good ideas with others to inspire them and I
hope to continue to be inspired by others!

31. IMAGES
SLIDE 2: REFLECTION BY ANDERSON MANCINI
SLIDE 3: COLORED PENCILS BY CHEVRE
SLIDE 5: LOCKERS BY TLPARADIS
SLIDE 30: DARTS BY STEVEPB

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