NC WiseOwl has been providing online resources for North Carolina public schools for the past decade with very little change in the lineup of resources. The current economic climate has forced us to reduce personnel and face new challenges. Ironically, we have been able to substantially increase the number of online databases that we can offer. Several factors account for the latter development: first, our database vendors have been willing to cut their prices in order to help us weather the current crisis; and second, we have entered into a collaborative effort to share funding commitments with the State Library of North Carolina, through their NC LIVE program. As a result, we have added an extensive collection of EBSCO databases to our array of resources.
We realize that change always brings a certain amount of disruption to our lives, but as you make the effort to deal with the updates in WiseOwl, please understand that the new arrangement of navigation buttons is dictated by the addition of so many databases to our collection. The end result is an online tool that will be far more useful in addressing the research needs of our K-12 students and educators.
Because of restrictions on travel and cuts in personnel, we are in the unfortunate position of being unable to offer the traditional staff development training that would assist our users in learning to access and use the expanded collection. For this reason I am adding this "blog" section in order to provide the information you need to move forward. We also plan to offer regional workshops that will make the most effective use of our very limited funding. Keep an eye on this section, as I will be adding information in the coming months to assist you in the transition period.
As I cope with the departure of numerous colleagues, and work with teachers who are dealing with substantial reductions and hardships, I would like to thank the two people most directly responsible for allowing the WiseOwl program to grow in the face of uncommon adversity. It is the vision and collaborative spirit of Neill Kimrey of the Department of Public Instruction, and Tim Rogers of the NC State Library, that have allowed us to expand the scope of our online databases. Without NC WiseOwl, our individual school systems would have to spend thousands of dollars of local money to provide critical online resources, and hundreds of thousands of students in less affluent districts would have no access at all to these quality research tools. The economy of scale we have achieved through this collaboration is a boon to both the taxpayers and to quality education in North Carolina.
Dan Sparlin
Internet & Copyright Specialist
NC WiseOwl Webmaster
Instructional Technology Section
NC Dept. of Public Instruction
