As you are winding down the 2006-2007 school year, the SUNLINK Project and their vendor, Brodart Automation, are busy re-mastering all the SUNLINK school library collections.

Districts that have their own library union databases have already sent in their files that allow us to completely replace the holdings for each school with the current records from the districts. Your records on SUNLINK in August of 2007 will reflect what your district sent us in March!

Schools in districts with no library union database sent their records of "adds" and "deletes" to us in January. Vendors that handle library media purchases from these schools, sent in those holding files in March. Your records on SUNLINK in August of 2007 will reflect what you and your vendors have sent to us in January and March!

Along with the updated SUNLINK database in August, get ready to check your updated "age of collection" statistics and graphs. This continues to be a great way to compare your collection to others in your district and across the state and brag about the progress you've been making.

In addition to changing the database records, other changes are in the air at SUNLINK!

Dr. Donna Baumbach, the guiding light and visionary for SUNLINK from its very beginning in 1988, will be retiring in early May. We wish her a wonderful (and well-deserved) retirement and we know you do as well! Thanks, Donna! It's been great working with you and you have been great for SUNLINK!!

Linda Miller, the project manager in charge of details, details, details will also be retiring at the end of June. She is ready to spend time with her family, her grandchildren and her new puppy and do some of those things she’s been putting off so that SUNLINK work would be done on schedule and under budget. There is no doubt that she will be missed! Enjoy every minute of your retirement, Linda. "Dance like there's no one watching!"

We will have more staff changes to tell you about at the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year.

We've started mailing out the ILL statistics forms for this year's (2006-2007) interlibrary loans. It should take less than 5 minutes to complete the form and send it back to us. Please fax or mail it in by June 1, 2007--it is important that we collect the data.

Remember:

• An ILL is an ILL whether or not SUNLINK was used to generate it, and
• If you have no ILLs to report you should just enter zeroes and return the form

Thank you for your help!

Did you know there has been a task force of dedicated district media contacts from districts across the state lending a guiding hand to SUNLINK over all these years? The members change periodically and the most current list is on our web site at: http://www.sunlink.ucf.edu/about/who.html#taskForce

This group of dedicated library media professionals has done an admirable job at making sure that SUNLINK is most useful and moving in the right direction in years past. They met recently and will continue to provide this guidance as our staffing changes and the project direction takes into account the increasing number of district library union databases.

SUNLINK will be at the 2007 Lexile National Reading Conference this June. We will be showcasing SUNLINK search features, more specifically how students are able to locate information on the topic of their choice and at their own reading level. Of course, teachers, parents, and library media specialists can search SUNLINK too, by Lexile Level, general reading level, interest level, subject, date, and more!! The conference will take place June 18-20 at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort, Lake Buena Vista, Florida. If you're attending, stop by the booth and say hello. Bring a fellow teacher or administrator with you!

For more information on the conference go to: http://www.lexile.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?view=ed&tabindex=4&tabid=88

As always, we hope you have a great summer break! Do whatever gives you the most rest and pleasure: from traveling the world to swinging in a hammock in your own backyard. But we know you well enough to bet that whatever you do, you'll have a good book to read close at hand! Enjoy!!