SCHOOLS Howland media specialist touts automated library

INFOhio has become the state's K-12 virtual library.
HOWLAND -- Pupils here and across Ohio have access at their fingertips to all sorts of online library resources.
Kathy Hatton, the school district's media specialist, told school board members on Monday about the efforts and accomplishments of the school district's automated library program, INFOhio.
INFOhio provides access to 13 electronic resources for all Ohio pre-K-12 schools, as well as access for pupils, teachers and parents across the state. There are 2000 schools in the state of Ohio that are also on this system.
The electronic library has capabilities to find the research or book needed located at another library, and information can be e-mailed or faxed to the pupil. There also are couriers who bring books from one library to the other.
When pupils read a book, they have the opportunity to take an electronic test about the book, if they want. The points are accumulated to be used as extra credit.
Assistance
The Northern Ohio LIbrary Association assists with schools that have this system by letting teachers view books to see if they want to buy them for their library.
INFOhio began in 1989 as a dream of a few educators who wanted to make it easier to share resources within their districts, Hatton explained. It evolved into a grass-roots effort to provide all Ohio pupils with equal access to online resources and to promote statewide information sharing through a single library automation system and union catalog.
A decade and a half later, INFOhio is the state's K-12 virtual library.
Available free to pupils, parents and teachers are online references such as atlases, almanacs, encyclopedias, dictionaries and newspapers. Also available are primary source documents such as speeches, essays, landmark court decisions and full texts of articles.
The state provides the funding for INFOhio until June 2005. The Ohio Legislature would have to renew its support for the library automation system next year to help keep the program going.