By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Union City Middle School teacher Abby Cruce and Obion County Public Library Director Carolina Conner have teamed up to help broaden the horizons of sixth graders at the school.
Cruce enlisted the assistance of Conner to make available the many resources of the library by helping students obtain their online library card.
Students may then use the free mobile Libby app to access the many library services, including class reading lists and other books and publications that are of interest to them. The app can be used on laptops and smartphones.
Both Cruce and Conner stressed the importance of the library cards in conjunction with opportunities for learning.
“This way, they don’t necessarily have to have a physical presence, but they can still take advantage of all the resources the library has to offer,” Cruce said. “And with Union City being a one-to-one school (laptop-per-student), the accessibility should be easy.”
Conner said the volume success of Libby app – which became popular during COVID – is illustrated by more than 3,500 check-outs via the app last month.
“In addition to the other benefits, it gives them a stake in the library, too,” she claimed.
Books are downloaded to the app when users are connected to Wi-Fi so that they can read them when they are offline.
Cruce believes the benefits of the app are multiple.
“First and foremost, it encourages students to read,” she insisted. “The app is a really good fit for sixth graders. It also addresses any fluency issue they might have. It was a need.
“I really think it’ll be a great help to both students and teachers over the summer break when there’s sometimes a lax period. Reading and the accessibility to read, gives them another option of something to do when there might not be as much structure.”
Cruce said she intends on implementing the plan in the fall at the beginning of the next school year.