Westhill Library Catalog 

You can access the Westhill Library catalog from home! Use our catalog to find out if we have what you're looking for. Want to know if a book is currently available? Use our Westhill Library Catalog. 

Let Ms. Dunnewind know if there's a great new book we don't have yet! Click on Westhill Library Catalog above to access our school library catalog.
 

Westhill Library Birthday Book Program

Celebrate your child's birthday or other special occasion by donating a new book to our Library! The Birthday Book Club is a way for the library to increase its collection of books while commemorating your child's birthday. The program also helps promote the lifelong love of reading. Alternatively, you can choose to honor a teacher or staff member.

HOW DOES THE PROGRAM WORK? Go to Westhill Library’s Amazon.com Wish List (directions below), choose a book and buy it from Amazon or your favorite local book store. Fill out the Birthday Book Form  and turn it in when you donate the book to the library (or have the book mailed directly to the library). A special book plate will be placed inside to commemorate your child’s name, birthday, and age. Students will also have the option to check the book out first, once it is catalogued and covered, including a special birthday bookmark. Summer birthdays, past birthdays and upcoming birthdays all welcome!

WHY CAN’T WE DONATE A BOOK OF OUR CHOICE? All books go through an evaluative purchasing process to meet student and teacher needs. The list includes fiction and nonfiction books for elementary readers at different ages. The Birthday Books are almost all hardback books because those last longer and hold up to wear and tear. Very high-demand books will be purchased immediately and won’t be placed on the Birthday Book list. Additionally, many educational/academic books are purchased library bound through Follett, a library book supplier.

FINDING A BOOK: At Amazon.com, click on “Wish List.” Search for “Westhill Elementary.” Titles may be purchased from any bookstore. Westhill Elementary Amazon Wish List

QUESTIONS?:  Please feel free to email Ms. Dunnewind with any questions at sdunnewind@nsd.org.

The normal limit is 5 books for 5th grade, 4 books for 4th, 3 books for 3rd, 2 books for 2nd and 1st, and 1 book for Kindergarten. If anyone with a good record for returning their books needs more than that for a project or during a vacation, we can work it out. 

There are no overdue fines. There ARE fines for damaged and lost books, however. If a book is lost or damaged (watch those water bottles in backpacks!), parents can pay the replacement cost or buy a copy of the same book in the same format (i.e., a new hardback book to replace a lost hardback) to give to the library. Students with overdue books may not check out additional books. Fine payments go to Patty Wimmer in the office, not to the library.

You can check your (or your child's) library account from school or home.

Just follow these simple steps:
1. Click on the Online Catalog link from the library home page.
2. In the top right hand corner of the page, click the "login" button
3. Username: student ID #
Password: Ask your student or their teacher for your child's unique password.
4. Click on the "My Info" tab

On bookshelves with the books you own, under beds, behind dressers, in cars, in classroom book tubs, in classroom book boxes, and in brother/sister's bedrooms. 

No.  We have 12,000 books in our library and we serve 500 students.  All students are allowed access to all areas of the library once they demonstrate they can effectively use a shelf marker. Often, parent volunteers check out books to students, and some older students can check out their own books.  I am not able to read every book in our library or see every book that goes out with each child. State-endorsed librarians selected books to cover a wide range of interests and reading levels and vetted titles with professional reviews before adding them to the library. Part of library education is learning how to choose a "just right" book.   

The best way to make sure your students are checking out books that are just right for them in reading level and content is to check their backpack and read with them. We encourage students to share what they are reading with their families.  If you do not believe a book is appropriate for your child, he/she can return it and trade it for another before school starts the next day. Please feel free to contact me. 

The American Library Association's Bill of Rights states, "The school library media program plays a unique role in promoting intellectual freedom. It serves as a point of voluntary access to information and ideas and as a learning laboratory for students as they acquire critical thinking and problem-solving skills needed in a pluralistic society. Although the educational level and program of the school necessarily shape the resources and services of a school library media program, the principles of the Library Bill of Rights apply equally to all libraries, including school library media programs.  Under these principles, all students have equitable access to library facilities, resources, and instructional programs . . .

Major barriers between students and resources include but are not limited to imposing age, grade-level, or reading-level restrictions on the use of resources; limiting the use of interlibrary loan and access to electronic information; charging fees for information in specific formats; requiring permission from parents or teachers; establishing restricted shelves or closed collections; and labeling. Policies, procedures, and rules related to the use of resources and services support free and open access to information."

(http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/accessresources)

Our goal, made possible by a combination of district funds and book fair proceeds, is to replace about 5% (approximately 500) of our collection each year with new books.