High School Partnerships

• In 2005-2006 the College Library trained more than 1,000 high school students in Library and information skills.

• In recent years, the College has implemented a number of programs designed to help high school students achieve the academic qualifications required for college entrance. To support these programs, Library faculty have assembled services designed to meet the special needs of this population. We deliver Library instruction to students from schools such as the East Family Academy, Tilden, Midwood, Murrow, the High School at Erasmus (also known as the Science, Technology, and Research (STAR) school), and our on-campus Brooklyn College Academy. juniors and seniors have borrowing privileges in the Brooklyn College Library; occasionally we allow access or borrowing privileges to students from other borough high schools.

• Librarians Jocelyn Berger-Barrera, Martha Corpus, Beth Evans, and Irwin Weintraub present workshops in print and online resources targeted to high school curricula. Popular e-resources that support these students are MAS-Ultra and InfoTrac Junior (both geared to high school pupils), Lexis-Nexis Academic (for newspapers), and Academic Search Premier. Jane Cramer offers workshops covering the uses of microfilm, periodicals, and government documents. Honora Raphael introduces students to music resources, and the New Media Center’s Harold Wilson provides an overview of technology and software.

• Science librarian Irwin Weintraub participates annually in Brooklyn College High School Chemistry Day, an event hosted by the College’s Chemistry faculty which attracts hundreds of science students. Professor Weintraub holds six workshops throughout the day, covering both online and print chemistry resources.

Annual Report 2005-2006 High School Partnerships, contd.

The STAR Program at Erasmus High School

Because STAR students place the greatest demand on Library services and collections, this program deserves more detail.

• The Brooklyn College Library has been involved with the STAR High School program since July 2003, when Provost Roberta S. Matthews invited students and their parents to come to campus for an orientation session.

• Presently STAR enrolls 299 students in grades 9-11; next year enrollment will rise to 400+ and the school will cover grades 9-12.

• STAR eleventh and twelfth graders are enrolled in Brooklyn College courses as non-degree candidates and carry Brooklyn College IDs.

• They receive both Blackboard training and Library instruction, as well as full access to our licensed e-resources. On Fridays, students come with their teachers to work on research projects.

• In the summer months, librarians provide tours, orientation, and Library instruction for teachers in the STAR program.

Annual Report 2005-2006 High School Partnerships, contd.

The Brooklyn Transition Center

• For more than ten years the Library has worked with students and teachers from the Brooklyn Transition Center, an alternative high school that prepares students with learning disabilities for the workforce. This program broadens the Library’s engagement with the Brooklyn community.

• This year the Library had a record number of students, thirteen, who worked alongside Library staff performing various jobs in the building. The students assisted by picking up books left lying on tables, placing them on book carts, and sorting them by classification number. Their work helped move our books back to the shelves more quickly and enabled us to maintain a cleaner, neater Library.

• Transition Center students also helped to open the many packages the Library receives each day. They distributed intra-Library mail, and wrapped and sorted outgoing mail.

• The Library serves these young people by providing a setting which gives them a sense of productivity, builds their self-esteem, and enables them to learn how to conduct themselves in the workplace.

• The Brooklyn Transition Center’s goal is to place each of these young adults, after graduation, in a paying job he or she is capable of performing. Their teacher Luis Benalcazar does an excellent job of supervising the students and interacting with the Library staff.

Annual Report 2005-2006