SirsiDynix and INFOhio, the Information Network for Ohio Schools, have begun a project involving 140 librarians and educators in Ohio to create content for SirsiDynix SchoolRooms™. Developed by SirsiDynix in collaboration with INFOhio, SchoolRooms is a new online discovery portal for K-12 students, teachers, and parents, designed to meet both national and state education standards. SchoolRooms content will be completed in August 2006 to support all subject areas of the K-12 curriculum.

SchoolRooms provides a single, student-friendly interface to high-quality content from the school library’s catalog, other public library catalogs, online databases, e-content from publishers, popular Internet search engine results, and teacher-selected Web sites. Based on the SirsiDynix Rooms™ content management platform, SchoolRooms promotes exploration and learning to supplement any curriculum. Content is presented in virtual rooms that help students discover information, provide educators with access to quality materials, and enable parents to find appropriate resources for improving their children’s education.

The contributing librarians and educators, selected based on their teaching experience and credentials, will divide into teams and participate in workshops this summer to create dozens of virtual rooms for full coverage of the K-12 curriculum, including: Fine Arts, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. Additional virtual rooms for Children’s and Young Adult Literature, Career Exploration and College Preparation, Literacy and Research, Technology, and an Educator’s and Library Room will be created as well.

Theresa M. Fredericka, INFOhio executive director, said, “INFOhio is pleased that 140 librarians and educators from 70 schools in more than 52 school districts in Ohio will work together to develop content for the SchoolRooms product. The continued joint product development and enhancements planned for SchoolRooms will help make this a winning product for Ohio’s schools and will help INFOhio reach its goal to provide reliable and authoritative resources to students, educators, and parents through a state-of-the-art electronic environment. It is our hope that students will be able to discover information in a new and more engaging way, teachers and librarians will have access to a variety of high-quality resources from one easy and convenient search entry, and parents will be able to find appropriate resources to improve their child's education."

A successful usability study of SchoolRooms was conducted in partnership with the Kent State University School of Library and Information Science. In addition, a pilot of SchoolRooms was created for Earth Science, U.S. History, and parents at the elementary, middle, and high school levels in Ohio’s Shaker Heights City School District.