School Library System: Home

Genesee Valley BOCES serves 22 rural districts between Rochester and Buffalo.

Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES serves 9 districts on the west side of Rochster, NY.

The Rochester City School district serves approximately 32,000 students in over 80 schools in the city of Rochester.

Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES serves 25 districts between Rochester and Syracuse including, in large part, the Finger Lakes.

                 SLS NewsBlast 2024.09.20

Welcome back, and congratulations on making it through the first couple of weeks of the new school year! 

Changes, Changes!  There are many new faces in the school libraries across the Monroe One region this fall:

• In Penfield, Beth Kois will retire a little later this fall.  Lisa Edborg has moved to the High School from Harris Hill Elementary.  Michelle Thibodeaux is the new school librarian at Cobbles Elementary, Abby Carsky is the new school librarian at Harris Hill Elementary, and Emilee Williamson is the new school librarian at Scribner Road Elementary.
• In Pittsford CSD, Brian Regan, the Pittsford Sutherland HS school librarian retired last June.  Tami Frocci (Holihan) has moved from Park Road ES to Sutherland to replace Brian.  Martha Sullivan, the former part-time school librarian at Mendon Center Elementary is now at Park Road Elementary, and Christine Tenhaeff is the new part-time school librarian at Mendon Center.
• In Rush Henrietta, Stephanie Harney has returned to the district as the school librarian at Winslow Elementary.
• In Webster, Julianne Westrich is the new school librarian at Plank Road South Elementary, replacing Janet Bresin who retired in June.
• In West Irondequoit, Michelle Flood will be in the library as a teacher on special assignment, replacing Julianne Westrich.

Congratulations to all our retirees, and to our new (and not so new) school library colleagues!  We look forward to working with each of you in the coming years!

Upcoming Statewide Professional Learning

The  School Library System Association (SLSA) is holding a statewide day of professional learning. The Joy and Science of Reading,  for school librarians focused on the role of school libraries in implementing NYSED’s Literacy Initiative centered on the Science of Reading and Literacy Briefs.  The event will take place on October 22, 2024.  In the Rochester region we will host it jointly at Monroe 2 BOCES in Spencerport.  Please see the attached flyer for more details about the program and registration information.

SLS and Regional Professional Learning Opportunities

Please see below for a listing of our upcoming professional learning opportunities.  We will add to this list as new opportunities are scheduled.  Please click on the links for more details and registration information:

• Wednesday 9/25 - 3:45 - 4:45pm AI and Media Literacy
• Monday 10/7 – 4:00-5:00 pm Get Started with LibGuides
• Monday 11/18 - 3:30 - 4:30pm Manga for Secondary Librarians who Don't Read Manga
• Ongoing Asynchronous Book Party! (2024-2025)
• Asynchronous - Starts Friday, October 4^th and goes into December -Rediscover the Joy of Reading: A Book Study

Other local learning opportunities:

• The Monroe One BOCES Model Schools Team invites you to end their Fall STEAM Open House on Tuesday 10/1 from 2:00-4:00 pm.  See the attached flyer for details and registration information.
• The Mid-West Regional Bilingual Education Resource Network (RBERN) offers a number of professional development opportunities.  More information about the Mid-West RBERN can be found at Their full listing can be found at https://www.monroe2boces.org/mid-westrbe-rn_home.aspx.  A full listing of their professional development opportunities can be found in the center of the black bar at the top of that page.  Two upcoming opportunities that may be especially meaningful to school librarians are:
  • Wednesday’s 10/2 and 10/30  Seneca Culture and Current Issues Workshop for Educators
  • Tuesday 10/9 and Tuesday 11/19  Indigenous Peoples' Day and Beyond - Culture, Values, & Literature

NOVELny is back and fully funded for the 2024-25 school year, and hopefully beyond. 

Please see the attached for a listing of the new Gale resources available through NOVELny and check out this complete list of NOVELny offerings .  The New York State Library provides access to the NOVELny collection to all citizens of New York.   Training on a variety of NOVELny resources this fall.  Check here for a complete list of the offerings and registration information.

The NYLA/SSL Conference is coming to the Rochester area, May 1-3, 2025, at the Woodcliff Hotel. 

Save the date on your calendar.  We will share more information as details become available.  For this year only, the Monroe One SLS will offer competitive grants for attendance at this conference to librarians our SLS, rather than offering our usual SLS Mini-Grants.  If you had a great idea for a Mini-Grant, please hold onto it for next fall.  As we come closer to the date of the conference, we will share more information on the application process for these conference grants. 

RRLC Grants.  The Rochester Regional Library Council has several grants available for libraries in the Rochester area. In the past few years, some of our schools have received the grants listed!  To view available grants please visit: Grant Opportunities (rrlc.org)

Quick survey.  From time to time, we are asked questions about libraries and facilities in the Monroe One region, or we may need to assess interest in a potential programs and programs.  In this quick survey we are attempting to determine the percentage of school libraries that are air conditioned and to gauge interest in applying for a grant/scholarship to the SSL conference mentioned above.  Kindly take a moment to complete this survey.  Thank you!

Wishing you a successful and rewarding 2024-25 school year!

Your Monroe One School Library Services Team

Monroe One BOCES SLS has purchased additional audiobooks and ebooks for simultaneous use. These titles will be available for one year, and potentially more. This collection holds over 600 elementary titles, and over 170 titles at the secondary level.

Simultaneous use (AKA "Always Available") ebooks/audiobooks are those that can be borrowed by more than one person at a time, so if you want your whole class to read the same book at the same time, this is a perfect solution.

Katie Bertrand
Director of Library, Media Services & the Arts
Phone 585-249-7219
katie_bertrand@boces.monroe.edu

Liesl Toates
Library Media Specialist
Phone 585-383-2215
liesl_toates@boces.monroe.edu

Sally Bailey
Library Automation
Phone 585-383-6601
sally_bailey@boces.monroe.edu

Barbara Born
Electronic Databases
Phone 585-383-6627
barbara_born@boces.monroe.edu

Wendy Petry
ILL and Arts in Ed
Phone 585-383-6623
wendy_petry@boces.monroe.edu