Category Archives: Libraries

New Website to Offer Big Discounts to Educators

CEO Greg Michaels of Michaels Associates LLC announced today that the company will soon unveil a new website www.teacher-books.net. The new site represents a complete re-design of www.michaelsassociates.com. Visitors to the old site will be automatically redirected to the updated site.

The company, founded in 1986, had its first website in 1995 and specializes in professional resources for K-12 educators and administrators. Michaels Associates LLC has been named “distributor of the year” three times by the International Reading Association. They are also one of the nation’s leading distributors for resources from Scholastic, Pearson, Maupin House, Sage, Shell Education, Guilford, NCTE, ASCD, and many others. Also sold on the site will be leveled books for guided reading and reading recovery as well as school supply items.

The new website will feature new, best-selling, and classic professional titles from over 30 publishers – at a discount. There will also be a button on the homepage that will take administrators and librarians to a page that offers deep discounts on topic-based professional libraries and multiple copies of the same title.

Via EPR Network
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Debatepedia Documents All Pros And Cons Of Merit Pay For Teachers

Debatepedia has developed the world’s most extensive article on the pros and cons of merit pay for teachers. The article draws over 30 pro and con arguments and quotations from over 20 of the most outstanding editorials, opinion pieces, essays, and political statements on the issue. And, it structures these arguments and quotations in Debatepedia’s unique pro/con “logic tree” structure. The structure helps separate the primary sub-debates (and arguments and counter-arguments) in this debate, which are represented by some of the following questions: Does merit-based pay improve education? Does it improve the quality of teaching by incentivizing hard work? Does it help attract and retain quality teachers? Does it help weed out bad teachers? Does merit pay distract teachers? Does it create undesirable competition between teachers? Does it discourage teachers from going to needy schools? Can teacher merit be successfully measured? Or does varying student performance get in the way? Is merit pay fairer to teachers? Does it fall pray to principal cronyism? Does it encourage teachers to cheat? Does the market demonstrate the importance of pay for performance? If teachers should be paid more in general, is merit pay the best way to do it? What do past examples of merit pay around the world demonstrate? Debatepedia’s community has outlined the pros and con arguments and quotations that fit within and respond to the above sub-debate questions, making it truly the most comprehensive breakdown of the debate available.

President Obama has repeatedly stated his support for merit pay for teachers. Yet, with many priorities on his plate, it would appear that the debate will continue for some time, and even after any policy decisions are made, the debate is likely to continue for years to come, in the United States and abroad. For this reason, Debatepedia’s pro/con structure is particularly valuable in helping walk citizens and decision-makers through the many arguments and quotations so that they can effectively deliberate, make decisions, and make the policy that will guide education in the 21st century.

Debatepedia is a wiki encyclopedia of pros and con arguments and quotations. It is essentially “the Wikipedia of pros and cons”. Started in 2006 by Brooks Lindsay and William Wnekowicz out of Georgetown University, Debatepedia subsequently merged with the International Debate Education Association in 2007. IDEA is a 501c3 non-profit piloted initially by the Open Society Institute in 1999. While IDEA promotes debate in all of its forms around the world, Debatepedia fits within its mission to expand a new industry in journalism – what it calls the “in-depth journalism of public debates”.

Related links:

*Merit based pay for teachers:
http://wiki.idebate.org/index.php/Debate:_Merit-based_pay_for_teachers
* Home page: http://wiki.idebate.org/index.php/Welcome_to_Debatepedia!
* Media kit: http://wiki.idebate.org/index.php/Debatepedia:Media_Kit

Via EPR Network
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CD/DVD Dispensing For Libraries Gets Smarter

Library Automation Technologies, Inc. (LAT), a leader in library automation products, is pleased to announce the addition of the LAT-AllAccessPass™ capability to the allCIRC™ product line, which allows multiple machines to act as one, virtual device.

This capability provide a seamless, integrated environment for patrons to be able to use any allCIRC™ machine, regardless of its physical location in the library, for any item, even if that particular item is not physically stored in that particular machine.

Oleg Boyarsky, President and CEO of LAT commented “Since our allCIRC™ machines are already a center point of any library by allowing patron self-checkout and secure media dispensing all in one portable device, with the addition of the AllAccessPass™ we can now make multiple machines act as one. This further enhances the patron experience and delivers unprecedented value to our library customers.”

allCIRC™ is a revolutionary new product, a new way of thinking, a paradigm shift in library security and self service, especially when it concerns media protection. Designed specifically for libraries, allCIRC™ provides both secure CD/DVD/BluRay/PS3… media dispensing as well as a complete book self check system all-in-one highly portable machine at a cost of less than any standard book self check! Because of its unique concept, libraries no longer need spend on security devices, gates, tags, staff, RFID …etc., to protect their media, while simultaneously providing self-service to patrons. allCIRC™ is installed in various libraries across the country.

For more information about LAT’s technology and all library products, jump to:www.LATcorp.com For more information about allCIRC™ product line, jump to: www.allCIRC.com

Library Automation Technologies Inc., (LAT) founded in 2001 has installations in hundreds of libraries throughout the United States. LAT’s sole mission is to help libraries and data centers to work better, smarter and more securely. LAT’s innovation earned the firm the coveted “#1 Fastest Growing in South Jersey, 2005” by the Philadelphia Business Journal, as well as a “Finalist in the Family Business of the Year, 2006” award presented by Farleigh Dickinson College. LAT further continues its growth expanding into automation by delivering media dispensing line of products solely dedicated to library operations.

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If you’d like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Oleg Boyarsky / CEO, please call Robert Baker at: 856-566-4121 or e-mail Robert at: Bob@LATcorp.com

Via EPR Network
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