The Sacred Heart Cathedral School library was completely remodeled in 2000 nearly doubling the floor space, plus, adding offices, AV storage, conference room and a courtyard with an amphitheater. Two librarians and two separate areas allow the library to be open throughout the whole school day for research, independent study, and to exchange books while scheduled classes are being taught.
The SHCS Library boasts over 22,000 books, over 13,000 audio-visual materials, and over 1,150 pieces of software. In the summer of 2007, all-new computers were installed as well. The library’s catalog has been completely automated for 15 years and for the 2007-08 school year and beyond, will be affiliated with the new electronic catalog system, “InfoCentre.”
The librarians are both certified and licensed by the state of Tennessee with a combined total of 43 years of teaching experience and 23 years library experience. One librarian is primarily responsible for library instruction in grades K-4 and one for grades 5-8 although both do assist all students and staff.
The library hosts annual fundraisers including the Scholastic Book Fair and the QSP/Reader’s Digest Magazine Drive. In fact, you can purchase music, DVD’s and magazines anytime throughout the year at the QSP website and SHCS will receive 40% of those sales!
SHCS is also affiliated with the Accelerated Reader program. The AR program is a curriculum-based assessment tool that provides a summary and analysis of results to enable teachers to monitor both the quantity and quality of reading practice engaged in by their students. Students administer comprehension tests voluntarily themselves, and the system is intended specifically to have strong formative effects on subsequent learning.
A student who uses the program selects a book from the more than 25,000 titles on the AR list. Each book is assigned a point value based on the number of words it contains and its reading difficulty.
After reading, the student goes to the computer and takes a multiple-choice comprehension test on the book's content. The computer scores the test, awards the student points based on the results, and keeps a complete record. Students select their own books and read at their own pace.
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