Online Catalog Destiny is used for the Polk County Schools district library catalog. If you want to check out a book, contact your media specialist with the title, author, and call number. Obligations / Fines Click here to view obligations / fines. User Name: ( your six digit Student ID #) Password: rules

MISSION
The mission of the library media program is to support the curriculum and to provide the resources to “build a learner who can thrive in a complex information environment.” Based on: AASL’s Standards for the 21st-Century Learner

STAFF
Mrs. Darby, Library Media Specialist
Contact the media center at: 863-499-2900 ext. 2580

HOURS
Monday-Thursday: 6:50am–2:30pm
Friday: 6:50am -2:15pm
Students are also welcome during all lunch periods.

RESOURCES
The Media Center offers an extensive collection of print and non-print resources including: books, magazines, newspapers, online reference sources and more. The Media Center resources have been specifically selected to support the school’s instructional program. The online resources may be accessed by clicking here. Some of these resources require an ID and password. Please see the media specialist for the ID and password.  PCSB Online Resources

PRINTING
A copy machine is located in the Media Center for student use. The cost per page for copies is $.10. Students may also print from the many computers located in the Media Center. The cost of printing documents is ($0.10) ten cents per page for all printing/coping.

COMPUTERS
The Media Center has computers available for student use. These computers may be used for Internet access and word processing. Computers are for educational purposes only. A 35 station computer lab is also located in the Media Center for instructional use.

CIRCULATION POLICY
Our circulation system is computerized. Students may check out books by either using an ID card or by using the Biometric Scan System.. Students may check out 2 books at a time. Books may be checked out for a period of 10 school days. Fines will be assessed for overdue books at a rate of $.10 per school day per book.

Search Engines

Altavista - Indexes both Web sites and Usenet Newsgroups. Simple and advanced search options are provided. Searches can be limited to images, sounds, and videos. A good source to find pictures on the Internet.

Ask.com- Try this search engine if you like to search using “natural language” rather than key words.

Dogpile - A fast meta-search engine that obtains results from up to 14 different search engines.

Google - Google is the largest search engine of the web. It ranks results based on popularity of sites and high relevancy.

Google Scholar – Provides a search of scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources, including theses, books, abstracts and articles.

Metacrawler- Searches major search engines, eliminates duplicates and summarizes results.

Yahoo! - Yahoo is a subject directory created by people rather than computers. Contains many commercial and personal links submitted to Yahoo.

Citation Sources

Noodle Tools – Simple MLA bibliography tool for our students. Create a full bibliography.

Citation Machine - Citation Machine is an interactive web tool designed to assist high school, college, and university students, their teachers, and independent researchers in their effort to respect other people’s intellectual properties.

OWL – Purdue University Online Writing Lab: This resource offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, end notes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.

Citing Government Information Sources using MLA – Citations to legal information sources.

The Writing Center University of Wisconsin-Madison – How to create MLA parenthetical citations and how to create a MLA works cited page.

Quick Study: Library Research Guide University of Minnesota- An online lesson that describes and gives citation examples for the most common types of information resources.

Teen Reading / Book Web Sites

American Library Association – Outstanding Books for the College Bound -Provides reading recommendations to students of all ages who plan to continue their education beyond high school.

Best Books for Young Adults – A list that presents books published in the past 16 months that are recommended reading for young adults ages 12 to 18. It is a general list of fiction and nonfiction titles selected for their proven or potential appeal to the personal reading tastes of the young adult.

Teen Reads – Teenreads.com brings teens info and features about their favorite authors, books, series and characters. Teenreads.com is part of The Book Report Network, a group of websites founded in 1996 that share thoughtful book reviews, compelling features, in-depth author profiles and interviews, excerpts of the hottest new releases, literary games and contests, and more with readers every week.

Polk County Schools Approved Reading List- A list developed to help teachers find reading materials appropriate to the maturity and interest levels of their students.

Other Libraries

Lakeland Public Library – Search Lakeland and all Polk County libraries.

Internet Public Library – Provides library services to Internet users. Activities include: finding, evaluating, selecting, organizing, describing, and creating information resources; and direct assistance to individuals.

Library of Congress - The Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections.