PA Cyber Charter School launches online school library

MIDLAND, Pa., Oct. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School has created an online school library, possibly the first K-12 cyber charter school in the nation to do so.

"PA Cyber has always been an innovator. This is a great accomplishment for our staff, and promises to grow into an important educational resource for our students, their parents, our staff and faculty," said Dr. Michael J. Conti, CEO.

Dr. Conti said the online library has print books that users may borrow by mail, as well as downloadable ebooks and a license agreement allowing users to access a large searchable reference database used by public and college libraries.

Diane Donatella staffs the library as part of her duties in the Student Achievement Department. "Any PA Cyber student, parent, staff or faculty member can access our school library by logging in with their school username and password," said Donatella.

Mark Narad is the research and development specialist who designed the PA Cyber Library website. His research found no other cyber charter school with its own online library.

Opened on the first day of classes Sept. 4, the PA Cyber School Library website logged 1,833 visitors in its first week, Narad said.

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was the most requested ebook the first week with 110 copies downloaded, followed by "Dracula" (108), "The Jungle Book" (98), "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (70), and "The Iliad" (70).

Donatella said class reading assignments of classic books will be a major use of the library, but users may request books to read for pleasure in print or digital versions.

The library offers an Academic Resource Center offering help with research papers, compositions, school projects, and the student's everyday school work. The website has self-help videos, audio books, links to 100 resource websites, a faculty room for resource sharing, and downloads of important PA Cyber publications including the parent handbook.

Users can tap into EBSCOhost, a multidisciplinary, searchable database providing access to many thousands of reference books, periodicals, newspapers, articles, images and other primary source materials.

Designed specifically for public libraries, this multidisciplinary database provides full text for more than 2,000 general reference publications with full-text information dating as far back as 1922. Covering virtually every subject area of general interest, it contains more than 100,000 primary source documents and 592,000 photos, maps and flags.

The PA Cyber Library website also houses the PA Cyber Resource Center, a self-help website created last year by Mark Narad to answer common how-to questions students and parents may have about technology assistance, curriculum, and navigating Schoology, Blackboard and other education management programs.

PA Cyber is Pennsylvania's first, largest and most successful K-12 cyber charter school, with an enrollment of 11,000 students and local offices throughout the commonwealth. PA Cyber is fully accredited by the Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges, the nation's premier accrediting organization. For admissions and information, people may visit the website, www.pacyber.org, or call 1.888.722.9237.

Contact Jill Valentine, 724.643.1180 x1036

SOURCE PA Cyber Charter School