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.