"My exploration of BookCarts began while I was working as the Library Media Coach for the Hartford Public Schools. I was assessing the HPS online learning resource subscriptions and mapping these to the curriculum needs by grade level. Most of the teaching staff was not aware of HPS online offerings."

"Several sessions providing an overview of the online resources including educator tools, such as BookCarts, were offered in the winter and spring of 2007. As a result, I started to create BookCarts, attempting to address the core curriculum needs of as many teachers as possible."

"The advantage of BookCarts over other products is that you can integrate a variety of both eLibrary and external content and also create your own quizzes. In the fall of 2007, I transferred to Noah Webster MicroSociety Magnet School as the Library Media Specialist. This enables me to have a closer collaborative relationship with classroom teachers."

"My plan for this spring is to introduce BookCarts to the grade level teaching teams who currently collaborate on lesson planning and instruction. This is an ideal environment to roll out this tool that targets digital resources to the specific learning and reading needs of students. It also provides sharing these BookCarts with other teachers in the school and district to maximize the teachers' efforts."

Donna S. Swarr
Library Media Specialist
Noah Webster MicroSociety Magnet School
Hartford, CT

Learn more about how you can join Donna and other innovative librarians who use BookCart lesson planning and sharing in our collaboration whitepaper.

"After being exposed to the capabilities of eLibrary BookCarts at a workshop for librarians in the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Library System, I was really excited. Having witnessed first-hand the amount of time students waste "surfing-the-web" looking for appropriate electronic sources, I could see how eLibrary BookCarts could help our students to use their time more efficiently."

"Since eLibrary BookCarts were introduced to students at Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton, Massachusetts almost two years ago, their use, which initially began with the History Department, is now also being utilized by members of the English, Science, Language, and Mathematics Departments."

"Both teachers and students find eLibrary BookCarts especially helpful because the BookCarts contain accurate, current, and authoritative resources that can be easily verified. While the students are finding access to the new citation tool helpful, teachers are excited at the wealth of curriculum-related information that is available for FREE."

"Best of all, it's easy to develop your own custom subject specific BookCarts. Or, it's even easier to "copy" from the 700+ ProQuest Carts model collection and then individualize them for the needs of our students."