Monday Media Center Medley for September 8, 2025

 

  Photo by Zoshua Colah on Unsplash

Database Updates

Several days ago, the Boston Public Library announced that access to Hoopla will be discontinued on September 30, 2025.  If you are an educator using this service to access content in support of your curriculum please know that I will work with you to find alternatives.

This discontinuation of service follows the previous cuts to statewide database access that was announced by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners back in May 2025. View a list of databases that have been discontinued as well as a list of resources that have been maintained.

The High School Media Center does subscribe to additional databases that support the high school curriculum. In addition, Boston Public Library continues to offer a variety of databases, eBook/Audiobook platforms and streaming services that can be used by educators and learners at the high school level. In the upcoming weeks I will be highlighting department specific resources that can be used to support the curriculum. In the meantime, you can access the North Reading High School Media Center's Database page. If you hover your cursor over any of the icons on the page you can view a description of the resource. Some of the resources on the page are provided by Boston Public Library and require logging in with a BPL eCard. The link for signing up is available as a link on the database page.

Summer Professional Development Opportunities

We all need a break after the last 14 months. We need fresh air, sunshine, and time away from the stress that has accompanied being an educator in the midst of a global crisis. At the same time, we should probably spend some time reflecting on what practices we would like to continue to implement in the classroom and/or what new skills we would like to have, moving forward. When you find yourself ready to engage in professional development  these are some opportunities to consider. 

• Matt Miller has put together an extensive Wakelet collection of free summer PD opportunities.

• Check out the two Global GEG free summer bootcamp opportunities if you have ever considered amping up your Google skills and becoming a Google Certified Educator. 

• EdWeb a free learning community with professional development opportunities for educators in all disciplines. Check out this post to read more.

• Log into Hoopla Digital using your BPL eCard and read one of these books from renowned educators: titles by Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc;  titles by ASCD; titles by International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE); and titles by Solution Tree Press. Read this post to learn how to sign up for your eCard and create a Hoopla account. 

• LinkedIn Learning (BPL) Be sure to log in through the Boston Public Portal to keep your data private!!  With courses in diversity and inclusion, creativity, skills building,  and more, there is something here for any educator who wants to learn.
(Please note that you MUST log in using the link provided by Boston Public Library using your BPL eCard in order to take advantage of learning opportunities for free.)

• KQED Media Academy for Teachers offers free hands-on professional learning opportunities focused on media literacy. The first upcoming course, Video Production for the Classroom starts June 7th. 

• Earn Badges, Certificates, and Accreditations from various EdTech companies. Rachel Coathup, a Global GEG leader and Google Certified Innovator, curated these BadgEdTech resources as part of her innovator project. 

• Not ready to engage in Educator PD yet? With a FREE BPL eCard and a Kanopy account you can check out The Great Courses and learn a new skill or explore one of your hobbies or passions! Some courses contain supplemental materials (available as a PDF download) See Course to locate supplemental resources (not available in individual videos. See Learning French as an example to view supplemental materials. 

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Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

 

Monday Medley: Very Short Introductions

 

Recently while browsing through some of the online resources that are available through Boston Public Library, I stumbled upon something that I hadn't noticed before.  The Very Short Introductions (or VSI for short) series, published by Oxford University Press, provides users with an introduction to a wide variety of topics, all  written by experts within that particular discipline. 

665 VSI eBook titles are currently available online through BPL.  Topics include Applied Mathematics, Architecture, Computer Science,  Contemporary Art (December 2020),  Music (February 2021), Renewable Energy (February 2020), Theater,  and The US Supreme Court (published in July 2020).  Sign in using your Boston Public Library eCard and PIN to start exploring this resource. Don't have a BPL eCard yet? No problem, it's easy to sign up! Anyone who is age 13 or older and lives, works, goes to school, or owns property in Massachusetts can sign up for a card. Here is the link to sign up.

 New titles are added on a monthly basis. Browse or search by entering keywords to find books or information on a topic. Entries will contain diagrams, political cartoons, and photographs to accompany the text when appropriate for the subject matter .  Toggle between full books and chapters with information related to your topic. You can email book and chapter links to others but they must also have a BPL eCard in order to view the title. Create a personal profile to save annotations, links to chapters, and lists of search results. Below is a short video that explains the most helpful features of the resource. 

Here is a slidedeck that also explains the resource: Very Short Introductions Tour

Monday Medley: Print Books, eBooks, and AudioBooks

Good Morning and Happy Monday!

In case you haven't heard, students and teachers now have the ability to request print titles from the Media Center.  Want to check out a book from the HS Media Center but don’t know where to begin? Scan the QR code on the doors to the Media Center or go to http://bit.ly/NRHSBookForm to get started.

Please spread the word about this!

High School students and staff also have access to a collection of bestselling eBooks and Audiobooks from Sora, the student reading app. The app is available via CLEVER log in and works on a Chromebook, laptop, and desktop computer. You can also download the app to read/listen on your phone. Attached is a one page direction sheet you can share with your students to get started. This collection is built on the one book, one user model. This means that it's not possible for all of your students to be reading the same title simultaneously unless the title is part of one of the special collections in Sora that allows for an unlimited number of users.

Students and staff who sign up for a free Boston Public Library eCard have access to eBooks, Graphic Novels, Movies, and Music. This collection supports an unlimited number of simultaneous users for all materials. Users can borrow up to 10 titles each month. Attached is a directions sheet for getting started with Hoopla.

Last of all, students and staff have access to a new collection of reference titles available from Infobase. Please contact me directly if you need the username and password.