Reflection: LIBE 437

When looking back and reflecting on the past three months, I recall Anne's comment in her fist announcement: "First, I'd like to take a moment to emphasize that LIBE 467 is probably not the most "sexy" of the required Diploma courses. But it is truly essential, and will really represent a lot of the "meat and potatoes" of your practice as Teacher-Librarian" (May 5, 2011). I would have to agree that the reference section is not necessarily the most exciting section; students do not normally congregate around it, pouring over it's books for fun. However, it is a necessary part of the library, as students require it for research and learning of those critical information literacy skills.

Not knowing a lot about reference resources before this course, other than the general usage through my years as a student and teacher, I have come to appreciate how much the world of reference has changed and is still evolving more and more from print to electronic resources. Prior to this course I did not see the value in libraries purchasing printed materials when the resources are, for the most part, readily available in electronic form or online. However, through the lessons, readings, and assignments I can now see I was biased towards electronic resources. Now I see the importance of maintaining a balance and availability of the two in the library, as well as, teaching students the necessary information literacy skills using the both. One of my favourite citations that I used during this course dealing with the situation of print vs non print, was when Susie Allen quotes Andrew Abbott in her article as saying “the key thing to understand is that good researchers use more of both" (p.1). As TLs we need to emphasize this!

Another important piece of knowledge I acquired from this course was the introduction to the various research models. Being a TOC I have not had the opportunity to construct and teach a research project. All of the models were all new to me, with the exception of Focus on Inquiry which I was exposed to during my BEd degree at the UofA. I must say I was most intrigued by the Big Six because of the language used and the fact that there is also a similar model, the Big Three, which can be used with the primary students. I have been teaching for four years and one may find it surprising that I was unaware of any of these models. I think the lack of exposure has to do with the fact that schools are not necessarily using a research model with their students. When I obtain a TL position, this is something I am definitely going to try and establish, as I am now a firm believer that students must be taught information literacy skills directly and a research model is a natural and productive way of doing this.

Overall, this course's content may not have been as "sexy" as others, but it was informative, practical and well valued.


Works Cited:

Allen, Susie. "Mansueto Library Celebrates Books in Digital Era." The University of Chicago 
                     Library News. 16 May 2011. Web. 01 June 2011. <http://news.lib.uchicago.edu
                     /blog/2011/05/16/mansueto-library-celebrates-books-in-digital-era/>.

The Importance of Currency: Printed Atlases

Fiona mentioned she "searched [her] library catalogue for atlases only to discover that all of the atlases in the library would be considered historical" (July 14, 2011). I am assuming Fiona was referring to what Riedling (2005) states that "a five-year-old atlas is considered historical" (p. 76).  I too searched my library catalogues and came to the same conclusion. Although there was a range of types and publishers of atlases, Junior Atlas, Scholastic Canada, Beginner's World Atlas, Historical BC Atlas, the most current one was published in 2000, a whopping eleven years old! The AIL Standards do not state a specific date in which geographic sources such as atlases should be replaced. They only suggest that "every effort should be made to ensure the currency of atlases" (p. 28). In my opinion, I don't think they would consider eleven years to be current.

I wondered if there was a more concrete number out there. I referred to the weeding guideline our TL uses, the California Department of Education pamphlet Weeding the School Library (2009). The only feedback it gave on atlases was under the Dewey classifications 000, which suggests should be weeded every 2-10 years. This a a huge range of years, and thus not much help in this particular situation, except to provided additional support that yes, these atlases are too old.

I referred also to The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's General Weeding Guidelines (2007). I like this document as it breaks the different sections of the library down even further than any other resource I have come across and provides weeding advice and guidelines for all of them. I was curious what it would have to say about atlases. The document did not provide a specific number of years but stated  to "weed superseded edition[s] and those that do not reflect current conditions, even if new edition is not available.  A limited number of atlases may be needed for genealogy and historical purposes and, therefore, should not be weeded" (p. 5). Even though it is not a concrete number to follow, this makes more sense. This guideline requires a TL to look through the resource and make an educated judgement on how the current the information is in respect to the current conditions of the date in time. Some time periods, where major shifts in political lines have occurred may require atlases to be updated more frequently; for example, during the end of the Cold War in the 1990s. I laugh, because I can still remember using atlases in elementary school during the late 1990s and believing the USSR was a country even through I knew Russia and the other countries of the former USSR existed. It is hard to ignore the huge USSR lettering across Eastern Asia and be able to replace it with the current labeling, especially as a child. This is another reason why keeping resources current is so important. As adults we are aware of the current conditions and it is easy for us to look through the inaccuracies and adjust them in our minds. For a child it is much harder and could very easily lead to confusion.

Unlike encyclopedias, atlases are not published on a regular basis. However, specialized encyclopedias are not updated yearly either and should not be replaced until a superseded edition becomes available. This is similar to what the Carnegie Library suggests for atlases; unless the content, according to the opinion of the TL is to outdated.  This makes the weeding process a little easier at least.

Susan also framed an example of the ever changing world and the need for currency of atlases when she posted that "Sudan split into 2 countries just a few days ago" (July 12, 2011).  Although, it would be nearly impossible and not economically viable to update printed atlases every time there was a political change of boundaries in the world or a shift in the physical geography, I think it is necessary for the TL to use her best judgement when to replace the resources and not let it slip off her list of priorities. Sure online geographical sources have the advantage of keeping their resources up to date and current without requiring extra cost, however as a teacher, a past student and a user of maps, there is something wonderful able flipping through pages, locating, and learning and teaching how to locate information on the printed maps that can not be duplicated in electronic form.


Works Cited:

California Department of Education. "Weeding the School Library." California Department of Education
                           Library. 27 Apr. 2009. Web. 11 June 2011. /lb/documents/schoollibweedng.pdf>.

Canadian Association for School Libraries. Achieving Information Literacy Standards for School 
                          Library Programs in Canada. Ottawa: Canadian Association for School Libraries,
                          2003.

"General Weeding Guidelines." Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh District Library Center,
                          Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Regional and Statewide Role, Jan. 2007. Web. 25
                          June 2011. <http://www.clpgh.org/about/DistrictServices/>.

Riedling, Ann. Reference Skills for the School Library Media Specialist: Tools and Tips.
                          Worthington, OH: Linworth, 2005.

Databases: An "Ah-ha Moment"

I look back on my University experience with a sigh. I received my BEd from the University of Alberta. Their program is a four year degree - two years of general arts or science courses, and two years of education courses. I remember stumbling through my research for history and earth science papers unaware of the library's databases. At first, most of my research was done through printed resources. I remember one time in particular going home to Kamloops to pull books on JFK for my American history paper from the public library. I was too intimidated by the enormous unknown campus library. Oh geez. Later my research turned more and more towards the web. It was not until my third year of university that I learned about the wonders of databases! During my laws and ethics education course, our professor took us on a "field trip" to the education library. The teacher-librarians walked us through the databases and directly taught us those much needed information literacy skills. My research world was changed. I look back on it now and am grateful the professor took time from lecturing to bring us to the library, but I was a little bitter that I was not equipped with these skills earlier on in my school career.

Now with taking these Library courses, educating myself further, and having this experience of being the lost student, it only motivates me that much more to ensure students have these vital skills before they reach the post secondary level.

It was only during this course did I become aware of the numerous databases our district subscribes to. It makes me wonder how many classroom teachers are also not aware of these, or if they are, how many of them are still not using them.

http://www3.sd73.bc.ca/general/content/district-digital-reference-library 

I am curious to know how much our district spends per year subscribing to these databases. However, like many people mentioned in their postings, this is not something companies make public or district's divulge. While I could understand many people's reactions of this being, as Chris put it "doesn't seem very fair" (July 4, 2011), I could not help but think, that this is a common way things are done in our society. When we go buy a car, we as a consumer have some room to negotiate. One person may walk away with a better deal than the next person on the exact same product. The company is not going to advertise the original deal as it sets a precedent. Later, Lori (July 5, 2011) was able to eloquently place into words what I was thinking.

First, as a former sales person I understand the need to keep prices confidential. While it is not "fair" to everyone concerned, businesses exist to make money. Incentives offered to some customers are often subsidized by others who either cannot reach the same economies of scale (discounts for very large orders), or lack the same skill at negotiating their contracts. No matter the reason, each district/school will make its decisions based on what they are prepared to pay or are able to pay. From the buyer's perspective, a true belief that they have reached the best price available (and every buyer wants to think they have) means that they'll "keep the supplier's price secret" in order to secure their price.

This is one of the reasons why I think it is wonderful that our district negotiates and pays for these subscriptions instead of leaving it up the the individual schools. Firstly, library budgets would not be able to afford it, especially this many databases, and secondly, it makes more financial sense to pool users in able to secure a better deal.

In closing, I think electronic databases are wonderful. When I went back to University for my Special Education Diploma, they helped me out immensely as a lot of research was required for the various assignments and papers and don't know what I would have done without them. Better late than never!


Works Cited:

School District #73. "District Digital Reference Library." Kamloops Thompson School District No. 
                    73. Board of Education of School District No. 73, 2009. Web. 05 July 2011. 
                    <http://www3.sd73.bc.ca/general/content/district-digital-reference-library>.

Encyclopedias

The great debate of:  if, when, how, and where to use Wikipedia has been going on ever since its creation. I remember many of my teachers in high school banned the use of it. They preferred printed resources or electronic encyclopedias. On a similar note, one teacher during my practicum advocated for the use of Wikipedia as she saw it as more authentic and reliable than the traditional encyclopedias. Her thought was traditional encyclopedias are written by a select few, while Wikipedia is continually being edited by millions of users, so it should be more authentic. Much like what Aaron referred to as a "collective human brain" (June 26, 2011). Although I can see the justifications behind both these frames of minds, I do not fully agree with either of them. One thing is for sure though, Wikipedia is widely popular. Yes - even I use it for some things.

Hillary shared a very common experience, one I have encountered myself, one that I have discussed with my TL and one that was mentioned in Chris Harris' (2007) article Can We Make Peace with Wikipedia? Hillary states that she tried to keep her students away from Wikipedia by providing them with alternatives, but she often found them going directly for it anyways (June 19, 2011). My TL does not allow her students to use Wikipedia at all, as she feels the information is unreliable, however she still "catches" her students using it. One day she got frustrated and challenged the student to see if he could find the information using World Book, since he said he tried already and could not. She of course was right, he could; not necessarily the best way to promote the use of World Book to her students though. Harris states that by "continually bad-mouthing Wikipedia to the very people who use it successfully makes us look a bit daft" (p. 2).  So is there a middle ground? Harris also states that "it would be much more productive to teach colleagues, students, and parents how to best use Wikipedia... Librarians can foster educated, high-end users who verify Wikipedia entries using the history and discussion tabs" (p. 2). This is something I need to teach myself how to do first!

I agree with one point that Jennifer says that "Wikipedia offers a great starting point to discuss accuracy and authority as well as the need for several sources" (June 18, 2011). This is an entirely different information literacy lesson, apart from allowing students to begin their research for their projects and assignments using this resource. I do not agree with Chris in using Wikipedia as "a starting point for an inquiry" (June 19, 2011). True, Wikipedia does give a good overview of a topic, but so do many other resources that have authority. I would rather my students start with one of these resources and be assured they are accessing reliable information. They can then go back and use Wikipedia, if they chose. At this point the students will hopefully be better equipped with a general understanding of the topic in order to analyze and critic the validity of the information found on Wikipedia.

That all being said, I agree with Harris that Wikipedia should not be banned, but used as a research tool. I also agree that students need to be taught directly those information literacy skills required to verify Wikipedia sources. Because many of the students that I have encountered do not have these skills, some I have even found cutting and pasting Wikipedia entries into their own work, I would not feel comfortable allowing them to access Wikipedia as their starting point.  While it is still important to continue to teach the older students about verifying information, it may sometimes seem like a loosing battle, especially with less and less library time available to teach them. The TL at one of my schools is trying to battle this problem with teaching these skills early. Although she spends time teaching all grades information literacy, she spent a great deal of time this year with the grade two class. She wants to see if this will make a difference in the student's research skills by the time they are in the intermediate grades. Already she has noted some of them are more effective researchers, or at least make better reference choices, than many of the grade sevens.

In closing, one more thought to ponder...
I my experience with using Wikipedia for research is a lot of the content is directly cut and pasted from other sources; this I have found is usually the case in terms of academic entries. I have found that popular culture or current events entries contain more originality in their prose. The editors are more likely to write the entries themselves and cite their sources instead of cutting and pasting directly.


Works Cited:

Harris, Chris. "Can We Make Peace with Wikipedia?" School Library Journal 53.6 (2007): 26.

Reflection: Evaluation of a Library Reference Collection

This was a tough assignment for me to begin. I found myself overwhelmed at the prospect of evaluating the entire reference section, but also a bit confused of which individual section to select. After visiting the elementary library and actually seeing how small the reference section was, I was again dismayed. The entire section needed an overhaul. However, I recognized this would be impossible to do financially for any TL in a year's time, not to mention that the TL at this school places a lot of emphasis on electronic reference resources.

I decided to narrow my focus on encyclopedias - specialized encyclopedias to be more precise. The rationale and process is described in greater detail in my assignment so I won't repeat myself again here as this is merely a reflection of my experience.

I was quite proud of what I accomplished. I enjoyed looking through Tittlewave's catalogue and selecting encyclopedias that correlated with the provincial learning outcomes. I am a visual learner so I decided to incorporate the book covers in my annotated bibliography. It is an attractive document that would grab a teacher's attention and pull her in to read more, which is great as teacher input is what I would want to achieve.

I appreciated Anne's suggestion of adding a set of Eyewitness Books to the collection as well. I will look into it for sure. I too agree that most of the books I selected tend to be ones that kids enjoy and "drool over". This is the biggest reason why I made the contingency in my plan to purchase duplicates of the most popular resources to add to circulation.

Overall the experience was eye opening and rewarding. It has helped me to be less weary of the reference collection, as well as, motivate and prepare myself to advocate strongly for the printed section.

How are we managing to stay afloat?: A.I.L. Standards

I must say I was pretty disheartened when I read the Canadian Association of School Libraries' Achieving Information Literacy standards. From reading the postings of my fellow classmates I gather I am not alone in my dismay. While I am a TOC and not affiliated with any one library, I draw my comparison from the two schools I have spent a great deal of time at, in particular the libraries.

 While the library's collection size is acceptable, with an average of 30 items per student, the ratio of fiction to non-fiction including reference does not align with the A.I.L. recommendations. They state "for both primary and high school grades, the ratio of fiction to nonfiction including reference should range from 15-30% fiction and 70-85% nonfiction/reference" (p. 28). I would say the ratio of these particular libraries is 50-50. Some of the rationales I came to for this difference are: these are elementary schools, so the picture book section alone is a large contributor to the fiction percentage; the schools have turned to electronic reference sources, so the demand for print nonfiction by students and teachers is less; and more likely, the budget is only $13.50 per student/per year. When taking into consideration that the average price of a hardcover nonfiction book is around $30.00, soft cover fiction books are considerably cheaper. More bang for the buck?

 On the topic of budget, it did surprise me to see the acceptable funding standard for school libraries is $26.00-$35.00 per student/per year and below standard is anything below $25.00. Well that being said, $13.50 per student/per year seems disgraceful and almost unmanageable. I was than surprised again when Joanne mentioned she "got $1000 for 130 kids this year - that's less than $10 per kid" (June 11, 2011). How does a library and its collection flourish with such a low level of funds? 


When it comes to weeding resources, the TL uses the California Department of Education's Weeding the School Library pamphlet for her guidelines.

Dewey Classifications
000      2-10 years         500      5-10 years
100      10 years            600      5-10 years
200      2-10 years         700      5-15 years
300      5-10 years         800      flexible
400      10 years            900      15 years

Biographies                  flexible
Fiction                          10 years
Encyclopedia                5-7 years
Reference:                    evaluate on individual basis
Periodicals                    5 years
Almanacs/Yearbooks    3 years in reference, 3 additional years in circulation

While the A.I.L. explicitly states encyclopedias should be no older than 5 years. This has of course become a lot easier to maintain with the online versions being continuously updated. But what about the printed versions? My TL stated she would never consider spending "half her budget" on a set of printed encyclopedias.With a budget such as hers, I really don't blame her.

 I think Hilary made an interesting point when she said "I also think that many of the standards in AIL are rather high. I’m wondering if it needs to be updated to reflect some of the changes that have occurred in libraries since its last printing in 2006" (June 4, 2011). With district budgets being cut, teacher-librarians' FTE being lessened as well, and print resources being replaced with electronic resources are these numbers actually realistic and obtainable anymore?


Works Cited:

California Department of Education. "Weeding the School Library." California Department of 
                          Education Library. 27 Apr. 2009. Web. 11 June 2011. <http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr
                          /lb/documents/schoollibweedng.pdf>.

Canadian Association for School Libraries. Achieving Information Literacy Standards for School 
                          Library Programs in Canada. Ottawa: Canadian Association for School Libraries,
                          2003.

The Great Debate: Print vs Non-Print Resources

It wasn't until after I finished my blog entitled Another option for "The Way of the Future"? that I started reading through lesson four. I was quite concerned since there seems to be such pressure nowadays to move away from printed reference sources towards electronic sources it was refreshing to read through a list that included the disadvantages of electronic reference sources. Here are some of my thoughts on the two lists:


Problems with Electronic Reference... and my comments/questions


Lack of acceptable authority on many sites

• Do students have the skills required to differentiate between valid, reliable, authoritative sources/websites, and ones that are created by amateurs, which could be unreliable, invalid information and biased?

Overwhelming amounts of material

• Students often get frustrated easily when they cannot find "exactly" what they are looking for.

Lack of consistency in ways in which to search sites

• Each resource is navigated through differently. So students need to be taught and reminded how to search through each of the different resources.

Need for broader band width to access some Internet information

• This may not always be available within your school.
• May not be cost effective.

Advertising on sites

• Trade off for free resources.
• Issue with advertising being kid-friendly
• Kids are exposed to so much media etc already in their day to days lives outside of school, should they be exposed to it in school as well?

Student tendencies to surf through information too quickly

•  In my experience observing students "research" if a page has too much print/information to read through, it is often closed quickly.

Confusing graphical layout on some electronic  encyclopedias and databases

• If the tool is not straight forward and user friendly the students will not want to use it.

Possibility of accessing inappropriate sites

• Hope Masterson-Krum conducted a study on how safe kid-safe search engines are. She concluded that "kid-safe search engines are 99 per cent porn-free; however, because of keyword blocking or failure to recognize part or all of the query, access to information and relevancy [are] greatly compromised" (p. 7). Granted, this article is ten years old now.

Lack of student skills to distinguish best site from among many

•  In my experience, most students typically at the most visit the first two or three search results.

Searches limited to number of computers in school library or lab

• Computer lab time is usually booked up quickly in schools. This puts a restriction on the time students are able to spend researching.

Teacher-librarian time in trouble shooting and monitoring the sites and the search terminals

• Time is of the essence. With FTEs dwindling, do TLs have the time to effectively monitor and troubleshoot electronic resources. Not to mention, what do students and teachers do when their TL is not at the school on a particular day they require assistance?

Ongoing (annual) cost of some commercial data bases

• We are fortunate that our district funds these subscriptions, otherwise they would not be available with such a tight school library budget.
• EBSCO
• Worldbook Online
• Encyclopedia BC
• Passport to the Internet
• Reality Check

Ease of plagiarizing by cutting and pasting

• Unless students are explicitly taught the rules about plagiarism they may naturally believe it is okay to cut and paste information. It is a lot more time consuming and requires more effort to copy word-for-word out of a printed resource.
• Even if explicit instruction has been given, monitoring of this requires time as well.

  
Advantages of Electronic Reference... and my comments/questions

Ability of students to quickly access information with little or no direction

• Quickly maybe, but probably not effectively.
• Ian Brown a wrote an article entitled “Don’t discard the librarians". he defended teacher-librarians by making the argument that “Human knowledge is now thought to double every five years. The need for a guide through that morass, for a knowledge concierge…is critical” (p.1).

Speed of access is increasing

• Yes, but is the school's technology able to keep up? It is not financially viable to upgrade computer labs yearly. So even though access may be increasing, it does not necessarily mean the students can take advantage of that.

Internet access is becoming less expensive

• Yes it is, but again the hardware is still expensive to continually upgrade.

Allows a variety of ways to search for information

• The students still need guidance and direct teaching of information literacy skills in order to be effective researchers.

We are not worried about the organization of the data since it is searchable in a variety of ways

• This is a definite benefit as it increases the probability that  the student will be able to find the information that they require

Information can be kept current

• Since printed encyclopedias have to wait a entire year to be reprinted and only revise a small percentage of their information, electronic encyclopedias have an obvious advantage over them
• If errors are found within the article, it is not a big deal to go in and fix them.

 Students can access information from a variety of places in the school and in their homes

• Huge advantage over printed resources, especially those that are not in circulation. 
• Students can do research in their classroom and at home
• Not limited to waiting for a printed resource to be returned to access the information.

Allows for multi-media within the reference source including video and graphics

• Media is a great motivator for students as it is visually appealing. The majority of them would rather watch a video clip than read through an article

Information retrieved is printable

• Somewhat defeats the purpose of electronic information. I find that when I am assigned an article to read, or am searching for an article to review, I have not been able to train myself to comfortably read and analyze the article on the computer screen; I have to print it out. It is something to do with being able to make notes in the margins and the tactile feeling of the paper as I flip through the pages. Also, the ability to take it with me, whereas a computer is not always available.

Students are still required to read the information

• As they should be, it is part of the research and learning process. However, author Nicolas Carr (2010) makes an interesting point. He states "the shift from paper to screen doesn’t just change the way we navigate a piece of writing. It also influences the degree of attention we devote to it and the depth of our immersion in it” (p. 90). There is something about printed material that carries more authority.

Students can access many reference sources from one computer terminal

•  Ian Brown also interviewed a librarian, Carole Moore. She said "we know a lot these days; we just don't know where we learned it. The source of information you're using, the evaluation of that source, how you use it, how you respect it and cite it – that's all what we call informational literacy. It has been more of a problem in the information age then ever, because there's so much information out there, and it's hard to know where it comes from. On the Internet it all looks the same.” (p.1-2).  Students also need good information literacy skills to work through the sources and a guide, like a TL, to keep them on track.
• For a well rounded research experience I believe it is important that students know how to and use both electronic and print resources. Susie Allen quotes Andrew Abbott in her article as saying “the key thing to understand is that good researchers use more of both" (p.1).

It's more fun than traditional print references and therefore it motivates students to search more deeply

• Kids are naturally drawn to technology. However, if the assignment they are given to research for is dull and uninteresting, it doesn't matter what they use to find the information, it is not going to be a valuable learning experience and they will not be motivated to "search more deeply". 

Conclusion

Again, like in my previous blog, I think a balance of both printed and electronic reference sources is important in the library. They both have their advantages and disadvantages.  But like in the real world, students will be exposed to both and need to be equipped with the tool necessary to access the information they require.

Something fun I stumbled across...

Works Cited:

Allen, Susie. "Mansueto Library Celebrates Books in Digital Era." The University of Chicago 
                     Library News. 16 May 2011. Web. 01 June 2011. <http://news.lib.uchicago.edu
                     /blog/2011/05/16/mansueto-library-celebrates-books-in-digital-era/>.

Brown, Ian. "Don't Discard the Librarians." Globe and Mail. 20 May 2011. Web. 28 May 2011.
                     <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/dont-discard-the-librarians
                     /article2030514/>.

Carr, Nicholas G. The shallows: what the Internet is doing to our brains. New York: W.W. Norton,
                     2010. Print.

Masterson-Krum, Hope. "SEARCH ENGINES: How Safe Are Kid-Safe Search Engines?." Teacher 
                     Librarian 29.1 (2001): 20. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts.
                     EBSCO. Web. 10 June 2011.

Riedling's Approach to Evaluating Reference Sources

Initially I agreed with what Ben's critic of Reidling's Approach, that the first step should be to "define or describe the context in which the resource will be used. Who are the patrons? How old are they? What is the curriculum or areas of interest that are most in need to be addressed or supported? Once this is established then the other evaluation criteria can be more productively applied" (May 23, 2011). But once reading Reidling's Evaluation Process through a second time, I questioned this, as she states  "the scope should reflect the purpose of the source and its intended audience" (p. 19) under the heading content scope. She also touches specifically on appropriateness for the audience in her evaluation criteria of:

• biographical sources under cost: "always take into account the needs of the school and student population" (p. 48)
•  encyclopedias under scope: "the scope should be appropriate for the age group it claims to serve" (p. 68)
• geographical sources under scale: "the scale should be clearly defined and appropriate for the intended audience" (p. 76).

On another note, I would hope as educators we are already putting the needs of our students first and making decisions around what would benefit them the most unconsciously; we should be hot wired for this, or at the very least make a definite effort to train ourselves to be. However, an additional step at the beginning of the processes that reminders the TL of who the audience is, what areas of the curriculum will be addressed and supported, reading levels, etc. would only positively focus the search/evaluation not harm it in any way.

I examined the BC Ministry of Education document Evaluating, Selecting, and Managing Learning Resources (ERAC) upon Joanne's suggestion (May 27, 2011). It includes much of the desired attention to the student's needs that was discussed at great length as lacking in Reidling's Approach on the  "Riedling's Approach" discussion board. The ERAC includes easy to use checklists to use when evaluating, however they are not tailored to the different types of reference sources as Riedling's Approach is. There are only two types of checklists: a general  Learning Resource Evaluation and one for videos. I still think these checklists are valuable to help focus your search on your students' needs, especially since it takes into consideration the curriculum, students with special needs, aboriginal students and multiculturalism. However, because of its generic nature and lack of specificity to the different sources within the library, I would use it in conjunction with a more comprehensive and source specific guidelines, such as, Riedling's Approach. 

Additionally, to make Riedling’s approach easier to read and more accessible to refer back to as I move through the course, I created a matrix of the evaluation steps and criteria. So instead of having the information spread over several chapters, it is all on two pages.


Work's Cited:

"Evaluating, Selecting and Acquiring Learning Resources: A Guide." Educational Resource    
               Acquisition Consortium - ERAC. Educational Resource Acquisition Consortium - ERAC,
               2008. Web. 04 June 2011. <http://www.bcerac.ca/proLearning/documents/ERAC_WB.pdf>.

Riedling, Ann. Reference Skills for the School Library Media Specialist: Tools and Tips. Worthington, 
               OH: Linworth, 2005.

Another option for "The Way of the Future"?

Wow, pretty amazing. The University of Chicago have spent a fortune investing in preserving their printed resources. This library is thus proof that libraries are not obsolete in terms of the printed resource and is not conceding completely to the digital world. Susie Allen's article on the new library entitled "Mansueto Library celebrates books in digital era" (2011), makes an interesting argument for this:

In spite of the abundance of resources online, most researchers have not turned away from printed works. Indeed, when sociologist Andrew Abbott began a study of library use at UChicago, he discovered a strong correlation between the use of print and digital resources. “The model that people have in their minds is that the world is made up of conservatives who don’t use electronic stuff and radicals who do, but that’s not true at all,” says Abbott, the Gustavus F. & Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor in Sociology and the College. “The key thing to understand is that good researchers use more of both" (p.1).

This idea resonated with me because after reading many of the discussions about Reference Materials, I found many posts were either pondering the economic value of purchasing print reference materials vs. online materials or outright saying "why would we bother spending money on print reference materials?" (Jennifer P., May 28, 2011). For myself, I would feel that a library without a print reference section to be incomplete. Sure, I agree that accessing information from electronic sources, such as online dictionaries, has its benefits like ease of use, storage, continual updates, accessibility outside the library and multiple users at a time, but I still think it is important to have a current set of printed dictionaries as well. We should also take into consideration, that if we do not have a printed reference section we are not able to teach our students how to access information from any source other than electronic. This would be a disservice as locating information from print is a skill they will require later on in life. Some examples I can think of right now would be, finding something in a phone book, locating somewhere on a map, reading through a contract, accessing information from university textbooks, finding information about your car in its manual etc. Sure many of these examples are available in electronic form as well, but for the majority of the time they are still used primarily in print form , so students need to know how to access and use the information.

We also have to take into consideration if books are to go the way of the dinosaurs, what is the next thing to concede to technology? Librarians? One School district in Ontario seems to think so. Ian Brown speaks of this in his article entitled "Don't discard the librarians" (2011). According to Windsor-Essex Catholic School District in Ontario, teacher-librarians are dispensable. They announced their decision to “shut its school libraries and dump all but four of its library technicians” (p. 1). As for the books and resources – they will be relocated into the classrooms. The reasoning behind the cuts were the budget and the belief that libraries are obsolete in a digital age. Brown goes on to defend libraries stating “Human knowledge is now thought to double every five years. The need for a guide through that morass, for a knowledge concierge…is critical” (p.1). May seem ludicrous to image a library without a librarian, but twenty years ago the same could be said about a library without printed materials. This makes a person ponder if printed materials are so easily rationalized away and replaced, how easy would it be to do so with TLs throughout all the schools?

In closing, back to the Mansueto Library, the architects and designers of it have found a way to minimize the need for space by incorporating the newest technology, but have not limited the access to printed materials. Not something we could ever hope to obtain, on this scale, within our school libraries but none the less a very futuristic look and design of a library.


Works Cited:

Allen, Susie. "Mansueto Library Celebrates Books in Digital Era." The University of Chicago 
                     Library News. 16 May 2011. Web. 01 June 2011. <http://news.lib.uchicago.edu
                     /blog/2011/05/16/mansueto-library-celebrates-books-in-digital-era/>.
Brown, Ian. "Don't Discard the Librarians." Globe and Mail. 20 May 2011. Web. 28 May 2011.
                    <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/dont-discard-the-librarians
                     /article2030514/>.

Spring Cleaning (Article Review)

Though I found this article a couple weeks ago, I was amused to see that is fits right in with this week's lesson on building a reference section. Terri Kirk's (2010) "Tough Love for Your Reference Collection"  is not an article on how to build a reference collection but is her account of how she weeded through her existing collection.

Kirk introduces her article with how much she hates reference. That statement automatically hooked me as I wanted to find out why. She than went on to say "what I hate about reference is that it seems to be a big waste of money. Today, with everything that we need available on our cell phones, a book that can't be checked out of the library is ludicrous" (p. 28). Yes, I can see her point. I new set of World Book Encyclopedias is priced at $1,044.00. Most schools in our district have access to WorldBookOnline now. The benefits of this being, it is accessible from home, it is continuously updated, it is available to unlimited users at a time and it does not take up space in the library. Which is the better deal?


The rest of Kirk's article discusses how she decided on what parts of her reference collection "lived" and which ones "died". Her regular weeding practices go by the acronym: MUSTY
                                
                              M-misleading information 
                               U-ugly, worn copies
                               S-superseded by another
                               T-trivial
                               Y-your collection has no use for the materials

Even though these guidelines have helped her in the past and did play some role in this latest weed, she said in terms of reference she had to go by some different guidelines which she made up as she went along.


The Big Weed:

• She removed most of the books with information containing statistics, as they can easily be found online. 
• Books of maps were also removed, because they were so easily outdated and again, could easily be found online. I don't know if I would removed atlases, unless they were extremely outdated because as a classroom teacher, they are good hands on resources to have in order to teach longitude and latitude. 
• She rid the library of dictionaries as well, with the exception of the unabridged dictionary and the foriegn language dictionaries. Her reasoning being that all the students in her school had recived MacBooks which included dictionarys. Not many schools are so fourtunate, so many dictionary collections would most likely remain in schools.
• Technical books were removed as they were outdated
• Art books were weeded with the criteria of "if the pictures, drawings or photographs were in black and white and the originals were colour, [she] got rid of them" (p. 28). 
• Kirk also went by the guideline, if teachers had not used the materials, she got rid of them. An example being, a complete set of critical analysis of American and British literature. 
• The history section was weeded according to the curriculum, as well as, by her MUSTY guidelines. This was the hardest section for her to weed as she confessed her love for history, but in the end weeded with her head instead of with her heart. I think because of this, and my love for books, weeding would be a difficult task for me. 

The Survivors:

• Two sets of encyclopedias
• Specialty dictionaries
• Two books of quotations
• One set of decades books
• One fourth of the original reference section was placed in circulation

After the weed Kirk describes the library that is "cleaner and neater...and the books that are left are ones that will be used by the students" (p. 28). And best of all? She can now spend money to update the reference collection with a better understanding of what materials will get used.

Overall I enjoyed Kirk's article as it is a realistic situation that Teacher-librarians are being faced with today. No longer do our reference sections have to be so large because of the compact nature of online reference materials, which are automatically and continually updating and are available from any computer with an internet connection.


Works Cited:

Kirk, Terri. "Tough Love for Your Reference Collection." Library Media Connection 29.2 (2010): 28. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts. EBSCO. Web. 16 May 2011.

"The World Book Encyclopedia 2011" World Book Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 May 2011. <http://www.worldbook.com/all_products/the_world_book_encyclopedia_2011/flypage.tpl.html>. 

Times Have Changed So Why Hasn't The Approach? (Article Review)

I can remember quite clearly my grade seven project on Egypt. It consisted of my teacher, who was also the teacher-librarian, going over the criteria and then setting us loose in the library. She had already diligently pulled all the books on Egypt and placed them on the library tables for us to find our information; independently for the most part. The internet was still a couple years away, so we were limited to printed sources and back then, this was the norm. I thought myself lucky to be able to supplement my research with our set of encyclopedias at home, as it would be information that no one else in my class would have access to; or so I believed. 

Today is different. With the internet students have access to enormous amounts of information, which is not always scrutinized and authenticated as it would be if published in a book. However, many teachers have not changed. Instead of diligently pulling books off the shelves relating to the topic, they set their students free in the computer lab, left to their own devices. No wonder students are getting frustrated and not learning a whole lot from these projects.

The Article:

Jennifer Branch (2002) wrote an article entitled “Helping Students Become Better Electronic Searchers”. She states “searching is difficult and instruction is becoming ever more important because such a large amount of information is available to students. School library programs must help students recognize, select and use information that best meets their needs” (p.1).  She also suggests that accessing information electronically requires new kinds of skills. Without directed instruction of research skills and a research model to follow, it is not fair to expect students to produce quality work and develop higher levels of learning. Branch quotes Marcia Bates (1989) who stresses “that effective searchers, rather than using a single search query, gather bits and pieces of information in a “berrypicking” manner” (p. 1). As discussed in my last article review, “To Google or not to Google - When is the question”, I have watched students countless times Google a topic, go to the first source listed, summarize the information found and hand in their competed work. This is not research.  Branch explains “the three main problem areas in the use of [electronic multimedia] are disorientation, navigation inefficiency and cognitive overload…Novice searchers lack the ability to form effective search plans and queries, cope with searching obstacles, assess, refine and select results and synthesize data” (p. 2).

 

The Study:

The purpose of Branch’s study was to examine the information-seeking processes by a group of middle school students while using CD-ROM encyclopedias,

 

The twelve participants represented different reading abilities, language and travel experiences, ethnic backgrounds, were between the ages of eleven and fifteen, and there was an equal gender ratio of males to females

 

None of the participants were familiar with the 1999 World Book encyclopaedia, while some had used the Microsoft Encarta encyclopaedia deluxe 2000 prior to this study. Each of the participants was given a brief introduction to the CD-ROM encyclopaedias.

 

The Process:

In the first session, the participants were given a list of questions to search for, such as, “Who was the first woman in space?” In the second session the three grades, 7, 8, and 9 were given there own sets of questions. For the third session the participants were asked to generate four of their own questions and answer them using the encyclopaedia of their choice.

Although Branch did not say why the grade levels were given different sets of questions in the second session, my guess from looking at the questions would be the degree of difficulty involved. The grade seven questions could easily be found by typing in the question into the search query, while the grade nine questions were more complex and involved inferring what the question was asking then typing in an appropriate search term, which may have lead to multiple searches to find the answer.

 

The Findings:

-          When faced with “no topics found” some students became confused and asked for help

-          The participants tended to follow three main processes

o       Entered search terms

o       Skimmed list of retrieved topics to find an article

o       Read, skimmed or scanned to find the answer

-          Practice over time improved confidence and navigation

-          There were factors that influenced the process

o       Finding the right key term

o       Knowing when to broader or narrow a search

o       Having enough time and patience to continue searching

o       Previous computer experience

o       Reading ability

o       Skimming and scanning skills

o       Having an understanding of what could be found in an encyclopaedia

-          More experienced searchers used different strategies to finding information, while novice searches used one strategy – simple search terms

 

The Implications:

Overall the findings of this study show that teachers and teacher-librarians need to explicitly teach research skills so students can access information efficiently and effectively. Branch provided three sets of recommendations to assist TLs.

Preparation

·         TL’s should become familiar with the works of Tenopir et al (1991), Kuhlthau (1991), Gross (1999), Todd (1995) and Bates (1991), as well as, the different research models.

o       Before beginning this course I was not familiar with any of the research models we have thus discussed in this course. The only one I was introduced to during my BEd was Alberta’s Focus on Inquiry.

·         Teach these models to your students and allow them opportunities to practice.

o       Researching should be fun and exciting and not a process so full of anxiety that the students turn off.  Teachers should give the students a chance to explore the process before assigning a project.

·         Aide students in developing strategies and skills to deal with the affective stages of the process, like frustration, confusion, doubt etc.

o       If the students do not understand that these feelings are normal and they can be resolved they are going to be more willing to give up or take the easy way out.

·         Give students the opportunity to search personal preference material at their own reading level.

o       This would provide motivation and the ability to succeed.

·         Introduce vocabulary before a project and encourage peer help

o       As teachers, we traditionally do this before starting any new chapter or assignment

·         Model skimming and scanning techniques and give time to practice.

o       Many students would think they have to read the entire article to find the information, and this could lead to information overload.

·         Explain the differences between databases, indexing and abstracting services, CD-ROM encyclopedias, and the Internet.

o       Going back to my previous blog on terminology, these terms are something that TL’s take for granted and use fluidly, but to someone new to the experience of researching, they could become very confusing.

Facilitation

·         Support small group and whole group discussions on search terms and strategies, as students can learn from one another’s experiences.

o       I have encountered this several times, where I have tried to explain something to a student until I am blue in the face. I then ask if a peer to assist in explaining, and voilà! they understand.

·         Encourage self talk, peer talk and talk with teachers and TLs during searches.

o       Everyone is definitely there to help.

·         Allow students with low literacy levels less work and extra time.

o       As a Special Education teacher, I laughed out loud that this needed to be included. Seems like common sense. 

·         Give students time to develop skills needed to help with the three main steps of searching – generating search terms, selecting topics/articles from a retrieved list and reading/skimming/scanning to locate information.

o       This goes back to the research models.

·         Focus on the three domains of human behaviour as discussed in Tenopir et al. (1999) – affective, cognitive and sensorimotor. Provide time for students to practice skills and strategies to apply at each step.

o       Kuhlthau uses these in her research model Information Seeking Process as well. Even if I did not necessarily chose to use this model, I would incorporate these within the model I choose, as I think it is important for the students to understand what they are thinking and doing is appropriate to the process.

Evaluation and Reflection

·         Support and encourage research projects in your school. Make your school available to enable researchers to carry out studies of importance to teachers and TLs.

o       This is not always possible and realistic and of course Branch has an invested reason to include this in her recommendations, as here paper is based on a study she conducted in a middle school.

·         Observe searching processes in your school and continue to test information seeking models in real life settings.

o       I thought this section of recommendations would be geared towards ways a TL can assist her students on evaluating and reflecting on their work, but instead it was more about reflection on how you will teach these skills and strategies.

 

Conclusion:

Times have definitely changed from when the information for a report or project was limited to what could be found within the four walls of the library. Back then it was easier for a TL to be an expert on her collection. Now with the Internet, it would be impossible. The TL has to adapt their approach to teaching research skills because of this. Branch’s article reinforced my belief that students need explicit instruction on how to research electronically. But they also need time to explore, ask questions and become comfortable with the process before being asked to complete a project.

 

 

Works Cited:

 Branch, Jennifer. "Helping Students Become Better Electronic Searchers." Teacher Librarian 30.1 (2002): 14. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts. EBSCO. Web. 16 May 2011.

To Google or not to Google - When is the question. (Article Review)

Last Thursday I TOCed in a grade six classroom. The teacher left me a day plan that included going to the computer lab so the students could finish researching their project on Japan. She left me no outline of the criteria, so when discussing it with the students I found they were expected to write five paragraphs on the topics of, food, fashion, holidays, school and after school activities. We went to the computer lab and I was not surprised that all the students logged onto Google to continue they research. Kuhlthau states in Riedling (2005), “Living in the information age requires people to go beyond the ability to locate information and requires competence in seeking meaning and understanding. More is not necessarily better without skilful guidance from an insightful person” (p. 9). This relates to quantity versus quantity. Yes, a Google search will give you a large number of sources, but the searcher is not guaranteed quality. It requires a good understanding of how to obtain quality information from all the information out there. Using Google to find information for the more complex stuff can be both daunting and frustrating, like finding a needle in a haystack. On the other hand, students that have not received any research training and do not have a research model to follow, may feel doing a Google search on a topic and visiting only one or two sites is adequate research. The problem with this is not only the lack of higher level thinking and learning occurring, but also the real potential to plagiarise. I have witnessed countless times, students simply Googling a topic, going to the first page listed and at best changing the words found into slightly different passages, and at worst highlighting passages, cutting, pasting and claiming it as their own. Many of the students last Thursday ended up on sites like Wikipedia, where they did just this. Like I said I was not surprised, but I was not impressed. Although I had the chat with the class about plagiarism, I felt pretty helpless in stopping the cycle. Obviously these students had not been taught the skills needed to research effectively and were falling back on what they thought was appropriate and/or easiest.

With this week’s discussion of research models in the back of my mind and this experience in the classroom, I found an article entitled “Thinking and Researching – Don’t Just “Google It’” by Steven M. Cohen (2006). Cohen explains that he is not against using Google, as he does himself, but “the problem is that the search engines that we use to answer "ready reference" questions (the easy stuff) are the same engines being used by students who are writing a term paper (the harder stuff)” (p.29) and thus students are not developing the critical thinking/research skills needed later on in life. Cohen also admits that because using “Goggle to find the simple stuff becomes so easy [he] immediately uses it for difficult stuff that it was not meant to be used for” but he fights “the urge to use Google for every research task…for the love of research…[he] is not taking the easy way out” (p. 29). I agree with Cohen that Google is not the enemy, but students have to be taught the difference of when the appropriate time is to use it. Yes they can look up easy stuff that would be found in a almanac, like What is the capital of Brazil?, but should not relay on it solely to write their five paragraph project on Japan. The trouble is they have to be shown and taught how to use alternative means to locating information effectively.  

Cohen also outlines a few things that teacher-librarians can do to ensure they are not promoting and reinforcing the “Just Google It” approach.

• Make online searching mandatory in library school. Make it a core course.
• Not something that is mandatory at UBC as of yet, but something I would be interested in learning more about, however, an entire course, not so sure.
• Keep up with search engine news and how to use these tools to their maximum capabilities
• Absolutely – Professional Development. 
• Do not make Google the default page at your reference workstations. If you are going to do this, at least use the advanced page.
• Give students options and a model to follow. 
• Don’t enable. Not only should we teach better searching skills to our colleagues and users, we should practice what we preach. Don’t have a Google search box on your library Web page or blog. Don’t have canned Google searches on your Web page or blog that lead to atrocious results.
• If Google is all they see when they log in, of course they are going to be conditioned to use it. 
• Don’t forget the importance of using fee-based databases that your library pays for. Remember that “free is as free does”.
• I know a TL in my district who I have TOCed for in the past is trying to push her students away from Google and towards World Book. She is struggling with this because students just naturally turn to Google as their “research” authority.  

  I would also add:

• Talk with the classroom teachers and ensure they are on the same page. Many use the phrase “Google it” and “research” synonymously.

On another note…

Riedling (2005), touches on a quote taken from the American Library association which describes "information literate individuals as people who have learned how to learn. They know how to learn because they know how knowledge is organized, how to find information...They are people prepared for life long learning" (p. 6).

Riedling, also states later, “School library media specialists should foster information literacy, defined as the ability to access, comprehend, use, and evaluate information. School library media specialists must help students learn how to learn, to become lifelong learners” (p. 12).

These quotes remind me of Adrienne Gear’s Reading Power (2006), when she speaks of metacognition and “thinking about reading”. Gear’s approach to reading comprehension is by breaking the process down into different components, such as, visualizing, inferring, transforming, connecting and questioning. Although these components are not taught linearly like a research model, Reading Power does break the process down into manageable steps that students can relate and connect to – they are “thinking about reading”. We would never expect our students to figure out how to read on their own, so why would we expect them to know how to research effectively without ever being taught? We should then be teaching our students to “think about researching” as well. Without these skills, of course they are going to rely on what they know and are familiar with – and that is to Google it.  

Works Cited

Cohen, Steven M. "Thinking and Researching--Don't Just 'Google It'." Information Today 23.6 (2006): 28-29. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts. EBSCO. Web. 22 May 2011.

Gear, Adrienne. Reading Power: Teaching Students to Think While They Read. Markham, Ont.: Pembroke, 2006.

Riedling, Ann. Reference Skills for the School Library Media Specialist: Tools and Tips. Worthington, OH: Linworth, 2005.