Library

In Hicksville, we are proud of our commitment to maintaining full-time libraries in each of our elementary buildings. The links below will take you to the webpage of each of our elementary librarians where you will be able to get more information about the library program for your child's school.

• Ms. Linda Neptune -- Burns Avenue
• Ms. Jennifer Coady -- Dutch Lane
• Ms. Susan Peterson -- East Street
• Ms. Christine Janda -- Fork Lane
• Ms. Veronica Sylivia -- Lee Avenue
• Ms. Corinne Mikulin -- Old Country Road
• Ms. Christina Pietras -- Woodland

Hicksville Middle School Library

HMS Librarian, Ms. Claudia Lasurdo, facilitates the HMS library program and the HMS Makerspace, collaborating  with our educators across subject content areas.

The library subscribes to a number of databases that are available remotely for students and staff to access 24/7. Students may access electronic databases that provide them with current research in professional journals and other periodicals across the curricula, from the sciences to the arts to literature. Links to the databases are posted in the library’s Google Classroom. If students are not in the library Google Classroom they can see Ms. Lasurdo or Ms. Parente for login information.

In addition to the library's physical print collection, the HMS library has an extensive e-book & audio book collection through SORA. Students can login using their @hicksvillepublicschools.org account and read on any mobile device.

The library is open to students during lunch and after school, if not scheduled for academic purposes.

The HMS Makerspace is a collaborative learning space for teachers to explore Project Based Learning(PBL), using various technology tools and materials. 3D pens and codable Ozobots are among student favorites, and are incorporated into various student projects. Teachers often combine a library based research project with scheduled time in the makerspace to allow students to demonstrate their knowledge in another format. The makerspace also holds a weekly club where students have the opportunity to try their hands on building, coding, and creating. For those interested in digital media, Ms. Lasurdo acts as co-advisor of the HMS Express Digital Newsletter and students are encouraged to join the club and contribute to the student publication.

Hicksville High School Library

The Hicksville High School library, under the guidance of librarian Ms. Christine Anderson, has become the intellectual and research center of the high school.

In addition to print resources present in the library, including daily copies of the New York Times, students have both in-school and remote access to electronic databases that provide them with current research in professional journals and other periodicals across curricula. The HHS Library offers information covering the sciences to the arts and spans the world of humanities and language. Students who wish to use these databases simply need to see Ms. Anderson for usernames and passwords and work collaboratively with their teachers to take advantage of all the library has available to assist them in their educational journey.

To guide students' research, Ms. Anderson also provides them with a documentation guide based on the format set out by the Modern Language Association (MLA). She has also worked closely with the District's Supervisor of Science and Technology, Mr. Michael O'Connell, to compile a bibliography of titles for the high school sciences. Additionally, the library has recently partnered with the Supervisor of Social Studies, Mr. Sarandrea, to compile an up to date list of Holocaust material to be readily available.

Themed tri-fold brochures are prepared to highlight books available in the library for particular genres. One example is a historical fiction brochure that focuses specifically on warfare across history. Other tri-fold brochures include Dystopian novels and "Books with Bite," a collection of novels about vampires, werewolves, and various "otherworldly" creatures. Book talks and personal recommendations based on their interests help foster a lifelong love of reading for our high school students.

The Hicksville High School Library also houses the WINGS program after school and acts as an important meeting place for students, teachers, and administrators throughout the year. It celebrates both academics and community building. We encourage all students and faculty to visit and use the library!

Electronic Databases

Resources

Online Databases

See Ms. King for usernames and passwords to access the databases.

• EBSCO
• ProQuest
• ABC-CLIO
• NOVEL Gale (inc. Opposing Viewpoints)
• Health Reference Series
• Soundzabound (Volumes 2 & 3)
• Teaching Books

Owl Purdue Online Writing Lab is an excellent resource for the writing process as well as how to document sources.

View MLA 8th Edition video by Kyle Stedman for a quick review on formatting your citations.

Wide Array of e-Books Now Available to Hicksville Students

A new partnership between the Hicksville Public Schools and the Hicksville Public Library has been launched. This collaboration will be a welcome resource for our students to easily access books electronically through the use of electronic library cards that will give them the ability to borrow books and use resources from the Hicksville Public Library, as well as all of the public libraries in Nassau County. In addition, students will also be able to borrow books from the over 300 e-books that are part of the Hicksville Public School District’s collection of e-books.

In all elementary schools, the school librarian will distribute an electronic library card, an e-card, with a unique ID number for each student. School librarians in all elementary schools will be providing lessons to all classes, in all grades, on how students can use his/her e-card to borrow books through the Hicksville Public Library. These lessons already began in all grade 5 classes during the week of January 11-15, and will be followed by lessons in all K-4 classes during the week of January 19-22. Once completed, students will be able to borrow books from the Hicksville Public Library, as well as our Hicksville Public School District collection of over 300 Juvenile e-books. For students who attend school remotely, his/her e-card information has been mailed to homes.

Our librarians are excited to offer this opportunity to students. The feedback from our librarians and students has been overwhelmingly positive. As of this date, students in the elementary schools have borrowed 257 books from our District's collection of e-books as well as from the Hicksville Public Library. In addition, middle school students have borrowed 160 books. The enthusiasm of students has been noteworthy with librarians reporting as follows:

"The students at Lee Avenue are really excited that they will be able to check out e-books and utilize the Hicksville Public Library from their devices." - Lee Avenue

"Many of the students were excited to know that they could use this outside of school hours." - Woodland

"I introduced ‘Sora’ to our fifth graders, and they were immediately engaged and excited to discover new titles to read independently. They were instantly able to navigate the app to successfully search for and borrow books - some students even placed titles "on hold" and are eager to begin their next new "read." The following day, I was elated to discover that many of the students were reading independently on their Chromebooks during their indoor recess time."  - Jen Coady, Librarian at Dutch Lane.

From three students at Dutch:

"Sora is very good, I really like that we get to take out books because we can't do it in our regular school library since it's a classroom this year. I like the books and I get to take out a couple at a time and I can search any book I want. I can even go on it after school hours. Sora lets us read any time we want - it is also very easy to learn how to use it."

"It is a good website, it has almost all the books you can imagine. I recommend it. It also has all sorts of non-fiction books about history and it has a bunch of fiction books like one of my favorites- the ''Dog Man'' series."

"I like Sora because it has a lot more books than other websites. Also unlike in-person websites you don't have to worry about returning books late. The website automatically returns it for you in 14 days."

In addition to our elementary school students having access to e-books, the same opportunities are available in the middle school where this week over 150 books were borrowed from our middle school collection of e-books.

Fostering a love of reading is a worthy mission and this new initiative combining the resources of the Hicksville Public Schools with the Hicksville Public Library will surely result in fostering a new generation of readers and writers. We look forward to the growth of this initiative.