Our library consultants Alexandra Komorowsky and Donna Kozlowski at the two computers that hold our library database (Destiny). This provides our faculty with access to tens of thousands of library databases throughout the nation so as to facilitate faculty research.

The nature of the Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound program is that teachers must have access to a broad variety of resources in order for them to plan innovative classroom activities that will complement the outside fieldwork. All such resources are now centrally located in our new Professional Resource Center.

The Professional Resource Center will allow teachers to first identify, and then develop, thought-provoking projects that will satisfy both the school’s and the state’s educational standards. Materials available to teachers will include reference books, sample lesson plans, and eventually thousands of books on a myriad of subjects that will enable teachers and students to examine expedition topics from a multi-disciplinary perspective.

We have also installed Destiny [583K PDF], a web-based library automation system from Follett Software Company, to catalog each book as it comes in and to allow teachers to search for books and check them in and out. As a supplemental element of the Destiny package, we now subscribe to “One Search,” which will gain teachers and students free access to 30,000 children-friendly websites and databases from either their homes or from the school.

In addition, we are so fortunate to have two part-time professional librarians who are available to guide and assist our instructional staff in any way possible. Since teachers must spend an extraordinary amount of time planning lessons.