Have you heard about BookFlix? This resource, provided by the state, is a wonderful tool to recommend to parents and teachers. BookFlix offers a fun way for young readers to practice their skills and gain confidence in their reading ability.
The resource, created by Scholastic and geared toward readers in pre-K to grade 3, offers a variety of categories to choose from such as Animals and Nature, People and Places, and Music and Rhyme. Within each category, there are a variety of books to choose from, and there are multiple titles offered in Spanish. Each picture book is paired with a related non-fiction book. Young readers can either watch the story or read the book. Included are activities to reinforce comprehension such as Word Match and Which Came First.
For more content, parents and teachers can click on the Resources and Tools button to view the Title Library, which lists books by Grade Level, Lexile, and GRL. The Title Library also offers links to lesson plans with learning objectives, important vocabulary words, and before- and after- viewing activities.
As many of you know, in an effort to contain ballooning eResources costs, in Fall 2024 we instituted several changes to our lending limits in Libby and Hoopla. (An overview of those changes can be found here.) Despite our valiant efforts across the county, our January 2026 Hoopla bill was more than our August 2024 bill, which was right before we implemented our current checkout limits. Unfortunately, this is simply not sustainable and requires quick action.
Starting April 15, we are implementing a daily spending cap. This sets a dollar amount limit that, once reached, will pause Hoopla checkouts until the next day. The daily cap resets at midnight local time. Unfortunately, managing the expense of a cost per circulation model cannot be effectively done through loan limits alone. The spending cap is the only way to establish a predicable cost while still continuing to offer this popular service.
Patrons will encounter new messaging in the app and browser experiences. This is a collective limit, not to be confused with the personal check out limit, which remains at 5 per month.
This is what it will look like:
Please encourage patrons to use the Favorites button so they can build a curated collection to choose from quickly. The best times to borrow, according to other library systems that have made this change, are just after midnight or before 8am.
Currently, there are limitations on our ability to change the wording of this message and the timing of the daily reset. We will continue to advocate for more control over both of those settings.
We know this is not an ideal solution and that you and patrons will have many questions. Drop-in sessions to share more detailed information and for questions and answers are scheduled for staff:
We will also be modeling our communication and support resources after the September 2024 changes. An FAQ will be provided for staff, and clear and transparent information will be shared with the public.
Following this change, we will monitor the daily turnaways and gather information about the patron and staff experience. Simultaneously, we will continue to explore alternative or additional long-term solutions. Those efforts will include gathering input from stakeholders.
Please reach out to Hilary or Mary if you have any questions.
At our library, we are constantly in search of tools that make the journey of reading discovery enjoyable, meaningful, and accessible. NoveList K-8 Plus stands out as one of our top choices for supporting students, caregivers, and educators!
What Is NoveList K-8 Plus?
NoveList K-8 Plus is an online readers’ advisory and book recommendation database specifically designed for children in Kindergarten through 8th grade. This fantastic resource helps young readers—and the adults guiding them—find books that they will love, whether it’s the ideal next read or titles related to classroom subjects. You can easily access it via your library’s website using your library card, providing free access to curated reading support from the comfort of home, school, or the library.
What Makes It So Helpful?
Here’s how kids, parents, and educators can benefit from NoveList K-8 Plus:
Discover books by reading level and interest
Search by grade range, genre, or topics like “friendship,” “superheroes,” or “mystery” to uncover books that match both reading ability and curiosity.
Receive read-alike suggestions
Loved a book? Find similar titles, authors, and series recommendations that keep kids engaged and excited.
Explore both fiction and nonfiction
Whether it’s picture books, chapter books, or informational texts, NoveList K-8 Plus encourages reading for enjoyment and learning.
Browse curated, theme-based reading lists
Searching for award-winning titles, seasonal reads, or books related to classroom units? There are hundreds of ready-made lists to explore.
Why It’s Great for Libraries
As library staff, we appreciate how NoveList K-8 Plus aids reader advisory in a kid-friendly manner. Its user-friendly interface and expertly curated content simplify the process of:
Answering questions like “Can you suggest books similar to this one?”
Creating reading lists for display or instruction
Assisting families in finding books that align with their interests and abilities
Supporting classroom teaching with age-appropriate, curriculum-aligned recommendations
But I’ve already blogged about that. What I’m here to blog at you about today is how the tools in the new Novelist experience can support you when building diverse booklists to use in Bibliocommons, printed booklists, display inspiration, and more.
Novelist’s advanced search has lots to offer, but I am going to focus on the author facets. You have to scroll down a bit to find them, but here you can see options for the author’s gender identity, cultural identity, and nationality. Lots to choose from!
For instance, let’s say you want to make a Black History Month fiction display in your Teen space, you can select “Black” as the author’s cultural identity.
Then you can select “Teen” as the Audience, and “Fiction” to return a list of novels.
Using just those three facets, you’ll get a list of more than 1700 titles! That’s a lot! Maybe too much! So, to go a step further, you can also use keyword searches. Here, I’ve used “secret societies” because secret societies are cool. You can see the results have narrowed down to a manageable list of 55 results.
From there, you can use the “Check the Library Catalog” button to be whisked away into our collections in Bibliocommons, find read-alikes, save items to lists in your Ebsco account, and all the other good stuff Novelist can do with its results lists.
Our collections are built to reflect the vibrant, diverse communities we support. Take a cruise through Novelist’s author facets to find out how they can help this vital work.
