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Locating high quality, age appropriate, digital resources for your virtual classroom this fall just got easier! The ERS Library Staff is excited to offer a CheckThisOut! Digital Resource curation service. When you sign-up for only the *Digital Resources from the ERS Portal* option (see image at left), you will receive an email each month containing links to standards-aligned digital resources from Discovery Education Streaming Video, TeachingBooks, World Book & Britannica Encyclopedias, ProQuest’s Culture Grams, SIRS Discoverer and eLibrary, Opposing Viewpoints and others. The ERS Library’s digital resources support learning in grades K-12.
Interested? Click the link in the top right corner to sign up today!
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The ERS Library & Multimedia Center offers its FREE CheckThisOut! service to our Library Media Services contracted sites; all staff members at these locations are invited to participate annually. Participants will receive up to 8 monthly CheckThisOut! kits containing materials specially selected from our collection, including: fiction/non-fiction books, graphic novels, book kits (8-30 copies of same title), big books, Professional Development titles, online content from the ERS Portal**, and more. Kit size options include:
4-6 item kit Material types, grade, reading level and topic customization.
8-10 item kit Material types, grade, reading level and topic customization.
Class Library kit 30 random books w/ grade & reading level customization. NO topics.
NO KIT For months when you don't want a kit delivered.
Our "Class Library" CTO! kits are a selection of 30 random, fiction & non-fiction books that correlate with both the grade level and class reading level that you request. We do not offer customization by Material Type or Lesson Plan with "Class Library" kits, they are random single-copy books only.
Our staff can accommodate "Class Library" kit requests for 24 teachers per month. Once those spots are full, the "Class Library" option will be removed from the CTO! sign up form.
CTO! customization is by topic/subject only. Kits are assembled 1-2 days before being delivered; the materials included are selected from what is available in the ERS Library at that time. If you want a specific title, you will need to reserve that item via our Follett Destiny online catalog.
How CheckThisOut! works
Sign up at any time during the school year and once a month the ERS Library Team will curate a kit of materials especially for you & your students, then deliver the kit to you (physically or virtually) We'll include extras like TeachingBooks flyers with links to lesson plans & author interviews, and links to extra content on the ERS Portal. Look the materials over, share them with your students and use them to support classroom or virtual lessons. At the end of four weeks, place the CTO! kit back in the designated location and request a pickup. Our Library Media Technicians will collect the old kit and drop off a new one! Digital resource links sent via email are yours to keep.
Kits are delivered on preset dates in August through November, and January through April. The confirmation email you receive after signing up will list the exact dates of your CTO! kit deliveries for the school year. Delivery and return dates are also noted on the packing sheet that comes with each kit. Please note: December and May are PICKUP ONLY months - all physical materials need to be returned to the library before winter & spring breaks.
--- VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION ---
The Friday mornings before your kits are due you will receive an automated “ERS Library -- Items Due Next Week” email. You must reply to this email. If you are done with the kit, reply with the word “PICKUP”. If you would like to keep the kit a while longer, the reply word is “RENEW”. A member of the ERS Library Staff will respond to your request with pickup confirmation, the new due date for your kit, or to let you know if any items must come back because they have been reserved by other educators.
When returning kits, be sure that they are in place for pickup by 9:00am on your assigned delivery/pickup day. If your items are due, but not in place for pickup you will receive an auto-generated overdue notice on the following Friday afternoon. Our drivers try to avoid interrupting teachers during class time to locate materials and will only do so if there is an item that is needed by another client. Your next kit will still arrive on its scheduled delivery date. Not sure which delivery day your campus is assigned? Click here. The ERS Library does reserve the right to place a “Hold” on your CTO! deliveries if items are excessively overdue or you are in possession of more than two Class Library kits.