Frequently Asked Questions
Media/Staff Devlopment Offerings
Each year the Educational Service Unit 17 Media Coordinator makes available Media/Staff Development opportunities for our member schools.
Offerings include: Visual Thesaurus Online Edition, World Book Web Power Pack, and PowerMediaPlus Media On Demand.
All that an interested school district needs to do to receive any or all of these Media/Staff Development opportunities is to contact the Media Coordinator at 376-1444, so that a date and time can be arranged.
No charge is assessed for any of these Media/Staff Development training's.
Copyright Policy for Educational Service Unit 17 Media Center
As a provider of non print resources the Media Center follows to the letter the Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines for Teachers, which was signed on November 2, 2002 by President Bush.
For additional information on the Media Center Copyright Policy, you can access the following Media Center Homepage link: ESU 17 Copyright Policy
On occasion school districts will ask the Media Coordinator to duplicate "off air" programs. These requests must be approved by the Media Coordinator ONLY and be prepared to show your copyright permission.
It is mandatory that the Educational Service Unit 17 Media Center set a good example relating to Copyright, as violation of the law is an ultimate reflection back on the Unit as a whole.
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Instructional Materials Standards Alignment
Instructional Materials Standards Alignment is a database that was created several years ago by the University of Nebraska and Educational Service Unit Media Coordinators.
The main purpose of the database creation was to link video resources held by Educational Service Unit Media Centers with the Nebraska standards.
WEB ADDRESS IS: http://esumedia.unl.edu/
Currently the Instructional Materials database holds the Language Arts; Mathematics; Science and Social Studies video collections that are held by the Educational Service Units across the state.
Upon access to this site, you may choose to view standards associated with a specific title or you may access titles related to specific standards.
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Media Center Custom Duplication Offering
In striving to provide resources that capture the "teachable moment", the Media Center offers a custom duplication service.
This service allows for DVD copy creations of COPYRIGHTED resources which can in turn make up media collections within area schools.
Custom duplication offering only applies to resources that make up the collection of the Educational Service Unit 17 Media Center.
Upon accessing the Online Media Catalog and viewing either YES or NO information within the Duplication Rights field, you will know which DVD titles are available for Custom Duplication.
Records will be kept of each requesting school district as well as educator name. Once the Media Center no longer holds copyright to any title, school districts will be notified.
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Media Center Selection Policy
The Media Center provides instructional materials in a variety of formats, wide range of curriculum areas and grade levels.
Resources are selected to support the curriculum and teaching styles of our member schools.
The criteria for selection incudes: Bibliographic information, Format or technical aspects, Content of resources, Organization of resources, Suitability of resource, Teacher's aids, Importance of the subject matter to the curriculum studied by member schools, Authoritativeness of materials, Copyright of the resource, Instructional material preview for quality, Duplication of materials already in collection, Ability to obtain duplication rights and Alignment to Nebraska standard.
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Media Center Homepage Links
The Media Center Homepage can be found on the Educational Service Unit 17 Homepage.
Links that make up the Media Center Homepage include: Announcements & Upcoming Events, ESU 17 Copyright Policy, Frequently Asked Questions, Media Catalog Format, New Titles, Professional Hyperlinks, Projects & Resources, Teaching Hints & Teacher Recommendations, Title Content and Selection, Media Catalog, Nebraska Access, PowerMediaPlus, Visual Thesaurus Online Edition and World Book Web Power Pack.
The Media Center Homepage is maintained by the Media Coordinator with many of the links updated on a monthly basis.
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PowerMediaPlus
PowerMediaPlus is a Media On Demand offering available to all educators of our member schools. Web address for PowerMediaPlus is PowerMediaPlus.com or use hyperlink on Media Center Homepage.
PowerMediaPlus has over 50,000 multimedia components including: Full length up to date curriculum based video titles, Core concept video clips, Curriculum oriented audio files, Educational photos, clips art images, illustrations and photo objects, Print resources, Teacher guides and Worksheets.
PowerMediaPlus Content is for all K - 12 subjects, Aligned to state and national standards, Includes a variety of media types and allows for editable media.
Curriculum Integrated Features include: Class creations, Lesson Plan creations, Assignment creations, Assessment creations, Media Lists - both Play and Image and Current Events.
For the past several years, all Nebraska titles purchased from Spring Buy and Special Projects included digital rights, in turn these titles are segmented and placed on PowerMediaPlus for your streaming, downloading or key concept viewing.
PowerMediaPlus User ID and Password - Upon learning email addresses, each educator within the Educational Service Unit 17 boundaries is registered for a PowerMediaPlus account with a User ID and Password. To obtain your User ID and Password, you just need to contact the Media Coordinator at 376-1444.
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Online Media Catalog - Access
Access to the Online Media Catalog can be accomplished in two locations. Either by left side bar link on the Educational Service Unit 17 Homepage or by hyperlink on the Media Center Homepage. Open Media Catalog link and you will be taken to Full Media Catalog Search screen.
Either Firefox or Safari browsers can be used to access the Online Media Catalog.
When entering Keyword for Searching the more specific the better, plurals will make a difference in Search Results and Keyword Search entries do not need to be case sensitive appropriate.
Acquisition records are maintained by the Media Coordinator with complete updating conducted twice yearly.
Online Media Catalog server is located in Ainsworth, thus if at any time the Online Media Catalog is asleep you can contact Brenda at blibolt@esu17.org for resetting.
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Online Media Catalog - Search
Keyword - Will display resources per your Keyword request and that are part of the full record Annotation field.
Number - Will display resources per your Number or Format request and that are part of the full record Number field.
Title - Will display resources per your Keyword or full Title request and that are part of the full record Title field.
Subject - Will display resources per your Subject request and that are part of the full record Subject field. Subjects used are from the SEARS subject schedule.
Standard - Will display resources per your Standard request and that are part of the full record Standard field. Standard curriculum areas have been abbreviated, RW is for Reading/Writing, M for Mathematics, S for Science and SS for Social Studies.
Grade Level - Will display resources per your Grade Level request and that are part of the full record Grade Level field.
Within the Additional Details for the Search option you can provide multiple search strategies to narrow down the request.
Activate Find Records and you will be taken the Search Results screen. Ten records are shown per page along with Product Number, Level, Length, Duplication Rights and Title hyperlink. Keys to Media Type can assist in resource format clarification. Open the Title hyperlink and you will be taken to the Database Detailed Record screen.
Detailed Record Screen will display per resource: Product Number; Full Title; Subject; Standard Match; Grade Level; Length; Company; Duplication Rights and Full Annotation.
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Visual Thesaurus Online Edition
Interactive dictionary and thesaurus which creates word maps that blossom with meaning and branch to related words. Its innovative display encourages exploration and learning. You will understand language is a powerful new way.
Media Center homepage has hyperlink to Visual Thesaurus Online Edition (http://nnnc.visualthesaurus.com)
Contact Media Coordinator for Username and Password
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World Book Web Power Pack
World Book Web Power Pack: World Book for Kids, Students and Advanced, Discover, EEH Hispanic Student Encyclopedia, Hispannica, Living Green, Early People, Inventions and Discoveries, Dramatic Learning, Early World of Learning for Pre K to Second and French Encyclopedia.
Media Center homepage has hyperlink to World Book Web Power Pack
Username is neneb and Password is world
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Booking and Distribution Policy
Booking of instructional materials by all of our member schools will be every Monday, beginning August 29, 2011. The new booking email is bookit17@gmail.com.
If a school has a designated media specialist and they wish to be the main booking contact for all educators within their building, that will be good or individual educators may contact the media coordinator also.
So that our member schools have access to resources when needed the Media Center has put in place a Custom Duplication and Life of Tape offering. When schools request a DVD title, if the Media Center owns copyright on that title a copy will be made for your school which does not need to be returned to the Media Center. If the Media Center to longer owns copyright on the title a Life of Tape copy has been made and will be circulated to your school and does not need to be returned. The only instructional materials that need to be returned will be single copy titles and the due date will be identified on the date due slip. I new date due slip has been created and all circulation information will be notated.
Orders will be processed by the media coordinator and ready for distribution to our member schools by the close of each Monday workday. Requested titles can be picked up at the Media Center (for schools that are close to Valentine) or they will be distributed by ESU 17 staff as they visit our member schools on a daily or weekly basis.
Question: With only one ESU 17 staff member representing the Media Center, when that person is at meetings or absent requested resources can no longer be obtained.
Question: Since the Media Center can no longer offer a subject search and wanting that the educators use the online media catalog - what are we to do when the online media catalog is down for extended periods of time?
Question: With the new distribution policy put in place by the Educational Service Unit 17, I am disappointed at the timeliness of delivery. I placed an order for instructional materials over four weeks ago and I am still waiting on its arrival my designated distribution person was absent for over three weeks.
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Updated October 12, 2011