MVRHS Library
MVRHS Junior Cal Howard has designed and built a full-immersion virtual reality prototype inspired by the Oculus Rift.
Cal gave a presentation on how he designed it and what he hopes to accomplish next. He had his prototype that he’s built using, among other things, a Kindle Fire, tin-foil, a mining headlamp, and a Pop-tart box.
Want to see? We should have a video of his presentation posted soon. Stay tuned.
Sponsored by: MVRHS Innovation Lab
Are you interested in something? Maybe you think you know a little about it already? Wouldn’t it be cool to know more? Maybe you can take it a step further and become an expert yourself.
The question is, where do you start? Anyone can Google it, or read some background about it on Wikipedia. What will make you stand out?
The Virtual Reference Library is a great place to start. It gives you articles about topics written by experts themselves. Anytime an expert writes about their topic they will mention the big issues and controversies surrounding it. There is where you’ll find an interesting question to answer and something you can look into investigating yourself.
Questia School is another virtual library, but the difference is it gives you access to 80,000 full-length, published books that you won’t find otherwise online. So, it gives you more depth on your topic. See Mr. McGrath for help logging in, and using Questia School to your advantage.
Books in the MVRHS Library: Use the blue search bar above (check “books”) to see if we have something you can use.
As a citizen of the state of Massachusetts, you have access to all of the electronic resources in the Boston Public Library. In depth sources including JStor give you access to thousands of published sources. To access them, you’ll need a BPL Library card number. If you don’t have one, you can get it for free, practically instantly, by visiting their ecard sign-up page.
Login to Easybib using your MVRHS Google Docs account to access their awesome note-taking and expanded citing features. It literally makes it easier.
Ask about your topic. After all, it’s something you’re interested in learning about, right? Tell people what you know, and ask for help. You’ll be surprised what you’ll learn just by asking.
On January 8th, MVRHS students were surveyed during their advisory period. We received 520 survey responses. We wanted to find out what the feeling was about the library, what students thought needed to be changed, if anything, whether they felt the library was helping them, and how often they visit. The original survey instrument is here.
More than any other comments, students identified better computers as a need (the word ‘computer’ was mentioned 185 times). Opening access to wifi was mentioned many times (45). A theme throughout many of the comments were suggestions for improving the space and furniture. Some of these were what may be described as ‘creature comforts’ ‘comfy’ / ‘comfortable’ (48), ‘couches’ (48), ‘beanbags’ (31), ‘chairs’ (55).
What is clear is that the library is seen serving multiple, sometimes conflicting purposes. Survey respondents identified the need for a broad spectrum of social and academic activity, along with quiet spaces for individuals and groups to read.
A total of 520 students responded to the survey, roughly 75% of the total student population.
Since student schedules rotate every day, and each period meets every other day, it can be reasonably interpreted that responses of “Every day” (5%) and “Every other day” (36%) are habitual library users who go to the library instead of their study halls (“learning centers”). That means over half of the school visit on an as-needed basis, or rarely use the library.
The overwhelming response to the question was “my schedule”, which is not surprising. It will be interesting to see how many of the students who rarely or infrequently visit the library answered this question as opposed to those who are “regulars” as indicated above.
Based on the difference of 58 to 12, a majority of students cited the noise as a detriment.
The “Other” category was long enough (135) to interest some closer inspection. Many of these responses were related to crowding, the pass system, and the amount of space.
Students were asked if the library has helped them become a more successful student. Since the answer was more or less split down the middle, this along with a similar 50-50 split of students who frequently vs. infrequently visit the library points to the possibility that further analysis correlating these two trends might prove meaningful.
21st century libraries strive to become a place where activities centered around creativity, innovation, and critical thinking (in their many interpretations) come together in a sort of melting pot of ideas, people and subjects. This question was meant to serve as a dip-stick into attitudes among students whether the library was serving this intended purpose. Clearly the library is not seen as fulfilling this role currently.
As mentioned, the open-ended part of the survey provided some rich information. Most of the responses are on display in the library.
Among all of the many comments, here is a list covering most of the unique ideas:
This word-cloud gives a bit of a view from above:
This question helped us both in identifying students who might be willing to participate in a focus group or further surveys, as well as giving us an overall sense of how many students generally felt “invested” in the library.
Ever found something and wondered “what the heck is this?” We’re going to have some fun by bringing in some UFO’s (Unidentified Found Objects) into the library for inspection.
This weeks UFO, pictured above, was found a few months ago on Martha’s Vineyard.
Take a look at it. Do some research! Ask around! Think you know what it is? Put your answer with your name in the “Say Something” box below. Whoever is the first to correctly identify (or at least offer the best explanation for) the object, wins that weeks prize. Also, you will be invited to supply the next UFO. Good luck, aliens.
If you’re interested in playing around with SketchUp (which you can download for free), here are some files you can use to redesign the school library! Please share if you come up with something you’re excited about.
> MVRHS Library SketchUp File (.skp)