Frequently Asked Questions

Media/Staff Development offerings

Each year the staff of the Media Center make available Media/Staff Development opportunities for our member schools.

Offerings include: PowerMediaPlus - Media On Demand, I-Mat LEARNS Standard Alignment, Media Center Homepage and Media Center Online Catalog.

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.

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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 two Media Center Homepage links: ESU 17 Copyright Policy and Services.

On occasion school districts will ask Media Center staff 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 L.E.A.R.N.S. Standards Alignment

The Educational Service Units in Nebraska host a project to align Nebraska L.E.A.R.N.S standards with their instructional media holdings.

Nebraska educators are participating in a review process to identify standards addressed by these titles.

Upon access to this site (hyperlink on Media Center Homepage), you may choose to view standards associated with a specific title or you may access titles related to a 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 or Video copy creation 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 Media Center.

Upon accessing the Online Media Catalog and viewing either YES or NO information within the Duplication Rights field, you will know which 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.

Video tape or DVD supplies needed for Custom Duplication offering will be supplied by requesting school districts. Video tape needs to be of broadcast quality and DVD must be DVD-R

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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 includes: Bibliographic information, Format or technical aspects, Content of resource, Organization of resource, 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: About the ESU 17 Media Center, Media Center Staff, How to Contact Us, Media Center Format Codes, Projects and Resources, Services, School Distribution Calendar, New Titles, Preview Titles, What's New, Announcements and Upcoming Events, ESU 17 Copyright Policy, Teaching Hints and Teacher Recommendations, Title Content and Selection, Media Brochure and Frequently Asked Questions.

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, clip art images, illustration 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.

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

By accessing the Educational Service Unit 17 Media Center Homepage you will find the hyperlink for the Online Media Catalog. Open Media Catalog link and you will see CompleteVideoCatalog hyperlink. Open

With fields for Product Number, Title, Grade Level, Annotation, Subject, Standard, CONESU Number, Time, Duplication Rights and Company you can select any field or fields, fill in either keyword or other information that you are seeking media resource information for. We have found that searching within the Annotation field yields the best results.

Internet Explorer or Firefox are the best web browsers for Online Media Catalog searching. We DO NOT recommend that you use Safari, as media record format looks very different.

To increase the font size go to menu bar and access zoom.

Twice yearly the Media Coordinator updates the Online Media Catalog for placement on the ESU 17 server. This placement is conducted in August and January.

Question - What are some successful searching tips?

Answer - Keyword entry is very important for successful searching. Best to think in simple terms rather than advanced. Example - kangaroo rather than marsupial. By making keyword plural, search results will be different. You can place information in more than one field, such as identifying grade level and annotation fields.

Question - Who maintains the Online Catalog?

Answer - Media Coordinator's maintains the Online Catalog, with twice yearly updating to Educational Service Unit 17 server in Ainsworth

Question - Do the format numbers have a special meaning?

Answer - Upon receiving acquisitions, each item is given a format code and number (example VT for video tape). You can use the number to determine currency of an item. The higher the number the newer the item

Media Center Circulation Policy

One of the primary services of the Media Center is the circulation of its resources to our member schools. The Educational Service Unit 17 region has been divided into East and West areas for Booking and Distribution of resources. The East region takes in a small part of Cherry county, Brown, Rock and Keya Paha counties. The West region takes in the remaining part of Cherry county.

The Media Center Books and Distributes resources to its member schools on a bi - weekly basis. Booking is accomplished almost exclusively by e-mail. On the following day the Media Center delivers requested resources to its member schools. Time and geographical location will not permit on site delivery to all of our member schools and for those, different arrangements are made.

Circulation of resources is for a two week period of time with renewal all an option if others are not waiting for the resource.

With the Media Center acquiring resources that have Duplication Rights, we encourage that our member schools take advantage of our Custom Duplication offering. For more information on that service, please read about Custom Duplication in this FAQ section.

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Spring Buy Preview Process

The Spring Buy Preview Process participation by the Media Center allows our member schools to preview and evaluate new multimedia resources that they in turn can recommend for purchase by the Media Center.

Following a Preview Selection Cycle which allows for curriculum rotation, the Media Coordinator selects titles each Fall from recommended multimedia distributors.

When selecting a title the Media Coordinator looks for the following: Copyright date, Digital and Duplication rights, Nebraska Standard match and Curriculum area of interest by our member schools.

Upon receipts of the preview titles, the Media Coordinator places on the Media Center Homepage, under the Preview Titles link, a complete bibliographic annotation of each title. To select preview titles for evaluation, educators can access the Media Center Homepage for the appropriate preview number and or title.

Preview titles are circulated to our member schools from September through January of the respective school year. Educator that preview must fill out the Evaluation Form that is enclosed with the preview.

In the later part of January, the Media Coordinator submits for recommendation the preview titles that received a positive evaluation.

Spring Buy is held in mid March, when all recommended titles are voted on by Media Coordinators for across the state, majority rules during the voting process.

Participation with the Spring Buy Preview Process enables the Media Center to acquire nearly one hundred new titles each year. These titles are Specific Requests from our member schools, Aligned to Nebraska Standards, Current Copyright and have Digital and Duplication rights for between five and seven years.

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Updated on March 12, 2008