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The American Embassy School libraries support the AES Mission. The libraries encourage “inspired lifelong learning” and support all areas of the AES curriculum. Literacy, literature appreciation, inquiry, and collaboration are key components of the library programs. Both libraries’ welcoming environments provide access to current, relevant resources. |
This year AES joined a consortium with other international schools in India to increase our students' access to ebooks and audiobooks. We also increased the number of non-fiction titles available in Sora to assist students in research projects, and we purchased additional copies for language arts and English classes. Not surprisingly, the circulation of ebooks during this year of distance and hybrid learning was almost 3 times higher than last year.
While some things looked different this year, many things remained the same. The library - both physical and digital - is still the center of research at AES. The library staff worked with students in the library, in classrooms, and on Zoom to help them ask genuine research questions, choose and evaluate sources, and find the information they needed to answer their questions.
The largest expense for the MSHS library is books, with databases coming in second.
Choosing and checking out physical books was one of the things students were excited about when they returned to campus, but the decreased number of students on campus had a big impact on the total number of circulations. The annual statistic also usually includes checkouts to classes for research projects and reading units, which didn't happen much this year. As in the past, fiction circulates more than non-fiction.
The Libguides platform (where you're reading this report) is the library's home for digital content and resources. They are mostly used by our school community but are viewable worldwide. The AES guides have been viewed over 26,000 times this year! The most-viewed guides were:
Think about one time in your AES career when the school library really helped you. Write about the help that you got, and what you were able to do because of it.
It provided me a quiet place to work on my assessments and homework. Because of this, I was able to productively work for the classes.
In research projects, the library had all sorts of sources that were extremely helpful for my research and development of knowledge.
I remember how much Ms. Hoiseth assisted me with finding journals and articles for my EE, along with the help I received for gaining access to some of them.
The school library's subscription of all the databases such as JSTOR was incredibly helpful for my research off campus.
I feel like the library continued to help not only myself but many of the students in my grade by providing sources for our EE and IA research.
Emails offering resources. It was clear the library was still available despite not being open.
Each year we analyze database usage statistics to ensure we are getting the best resources for our students and to make adjustments to what is offered based on need.
We encourage our students to start most research projects by gaining background knowledge before digging into their specific questions, which is illustrated in the high use of Britannica. The social studies department (both in the middle school and high school) does a fantastic job of integrating information literacy skills into their courses, and the high usage of the Infobase history databases reflects that. JSTOR is a highly academic database that is used by most of the IB students. Newsbank was especially helpful for the 7th grade AES History Day project and the 8th grade PeOPle Project.
Keeping students safe while on campus was a high priority for the library team. We implemented some physical modifications in the library to ensure student safety. The students, who were so happy to be back on campus and in the library, did a fantastic job of following the safety protocols.
"I like that the library/team did its best to maintain function during the lockdown, and how I was able to check out books even when school was not open. I also enjoyed every moment I spent in the library during hybrid! I miss the library and the team and hope to see them next year!" - Grade 11 student
"I liked that how the library helped us to be connected with books in this kind of circumstances." - Grade 7 student
"I like that the library has so many books and so many different genres for everyone to read from, and that makes me realy happy knowing that I won’t be restricted to just a few books that I have to keep on re-reading." - Grade 6 student
"I like that the library is always peaceful and quiet." - Grade 11 student
"Smiles and greets you when you walk in but also helps you find a book whenever needed." - Grade 8 student
"is supportive, resourceful, and understanding not only when it comes to books but also to source-hunting (especially for research projects)." - Grade 11 student
"I like that the library is open for students to sit during their study periods, it's very calm and a wonderful study environment." - Grade 9 student
"Has a variety of books from anime books to young adult literature. I also like how the library team gives like a good amount of time to borrow a certain book and how the library is working in this COVID time." - Grade 8 student
"I like that the library team always tried to help and support my school work!" - Grade 9 student
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The library teams adapted as necessary to support the AES community during this challenging pandemic year. We were happy to be able to offer curbside checkout even when students could return to campus, and we were just getting rolling with Saturday library slots for family members. We are ready to welcome the community back to the library as soon as we can!
