What I have taken from this course – from the lessons, readings, discussions, and my own reflections.
1. It’s all about ACCESSABILITY!
o Digital access – catalogue (OPAC (Destiny), MARC records – more information is better – customization of subjects and additional information), library webpages, teaching information literacy skills – how to be effective searchers, utilizing web 2.0 tools (Delicious)
o Physical access – (organizing and maintaining the collection and space) Creating a welcoming and functional space – community feel. – Importance of teaching the Dewey decimal system, effective signage, furniture placement and scale, displays, weeding, acquiring, technology
3. Assignment 2, creating a mini catalogue, was one of the greatest learning experiences of this course for me. I thoroughly enjoyed meshing my too areas of interest – the library and special education. The MARC records, though intimidating at first became enjoyable to create, like a puzzle to piece together and a scavenger hunt to locate information. Accessing Information Cataloguing Guidelines for Manitoba and Saskatchewan School Library Personnel, 2011 I found was the most useful resource. After completing over twenty MARC records, I have come to appreciate the work the library technicians do in our district. However, I also realized there is a need for more information in our catalogues; the more the better. This information can be found from multiple resources, may it be bought, copied or original, but one has to remember to take time to make sure the subjects and additional information fits the needs of your school, library and patrons. It could be possible to delegate some of this data input to your library assistant, if you are lucky enough to have one. Using Weebly to create the website was a new experience for me as well, which I enjoyed because of its ease of use. I can see myself using this tool with students for a project because of this.
4. The importance of a school library website. Most of the discussions were in favour of a library webpage, although many expressed uncertainty about where to begin. Joyce Valenza’s taxonomy is a very useful tool as a guide/checklist. I myself do not have a library website, but have some experience creating one for my current position. I took to heart what Kimberly said in lesson 12: it is “important to think of [building a website] as a process, rather than a finished product. The website should and will grow and evolve over time” (March 23, 2012). So while taking into account all of Joyce’s Valenza’s ideas, it is still important to prioritize your library’s needs and not get overwhelmed.
5. Although the majority of the course was spent learning about the components of cataloguing and digital access, access to the physical space as touched upon in Assignment 3 is important too. You can have excellent digital access, but if the physical access to your library collection is a mess your patrons will have a hard time locating the resource they need, or have a positive experience being in the library. This is why I decided to include improvements to both the digital and physical access in my assignment. I would like to see these improvements occur and plan on sharing them with the librarian. I enjoyed reading through everyone’s postings of how they have improved their library’s physical space this year. I myself, did not have much to offer as I do not have my own space, however I was able to gleam so good ideas to lock away for later. Overall, you want a space that is warm, welcoming, easy to navigate, and a place where students and staff would like to be. I think the best library’s I have been in are the ones that feel like the “heart of the school”. Behind all of this, of course, is a dedicated and passionate TL.
6. This final assignment has been the most challenging for me to complete. I would rate my participation in the discussions as good. I contributed my own thoughtful postings to each lesson taking into consideration the readings, questions and my own experiences, and responded to a least one other person. One of the hardest parts was responding to others postings when it had to do with experiences in the library setting. Having not been a TL or in a classroom setting which regularly uses the library, I at times felt my lack of experience and insights limited. I felt I benefited far more from reading people with more real life experiences postings and comments than I contributed to others' learning through my own. I did enjoy the cataloguing discussions, especially the MARC records. I enjoyed helping others with questions about where to place information. This is where I felt I contributed the most.
My learning from others is evidenced throughout my blog with quotes from others' postings in the discussions and my reflections. I found the lesson journals to be a good way to reflect on the lessons, readings, my participation and others' postings as well as my interactions with other people’s thoughts and experiences.
Overall I take from this course the importance of accessibility and the gained confidence and knowledge to create, modify, adapt, improve digital and physical access of a library for the school, teachers and students once I am in a TL position.
No comments:
Post a Comment