Conversations with district colleagues

I had a very practical response (see below) from our district support teacher librarian and want to share it. In the busy world I asked the question asked of us, of a TL how are professionals choosing and selecting resources and what issues are there? It was refreshing to see that new REVIEWED books are coming out, the ministry document has books that are 5 years old plus listed. It makes sense about the Canadian content and our market being smaller hence a smaller selection of books. Perhaps with Worldbook online we will see more reference tools to support the Canadian curriculum. The shame is even if they exist, can our system afford them and afford the technology support to maintain them.


Re selection of Canadian materials.   There are a couple of magazines/journals that specifically focus on Canadian resources - "Resource Links" and "Quill and Quire".  Teacher-librarians would also be checking the catalogs of Canadian publishers to see what new titles are coming out.   The Association of BC Book Publishers puts out a catalog each year of books that are recommended for schools - the titles are reviewed by BC teacher-librarians for quality and appropriateness to support the curriculum.  I have also found it useful to attend publishers' displays (usually at conferences) to look over items in person.  If someone sees or buys something that looks great they will tell others - word of mouth works well!

The main issue would be that as Canadian libraries and, especially, Canadian school libraries are such a small market that publishers can not afford to produce selection tools targetted just for them.  Also, to be realistic, there is less money going to school libraries to even buy resources.  I think most teacher-librarians make an effort to have Canadian titles in the collection.

The role of technology- What if?

               Technology is only a tool (Henry, 2008)

I have been curious about digital reference services.  I know they must be available for students but I wondered what known benefits and drawbacks exist. I read two articles on the topic. The first titled Just Curious: Children’s Use of Digital Reference For Unimposed Queries and Its Importance in Informal Education (Silverstein, 2005) and After School and Online (Thompson, 2003). Each article stated that students accessed the services when they were available but that they needed assistance formulating questions, students were motivated by some topic areas more than others and provided valuable findings for software developers to create user-friendly interfaces.

The study After School and Online, focused on chat based live digital reference services, and outlined a trial project that provided online support for students. I found it interesting to read about some of the barriers of online reference services. For example, they questioned whether students were able to evaluate information because of using this service. When a librarian helped a student narrow their topic and formulate a question, the study asked the question “was the student able to do this independently in the future” and the findings indicated that it was hard to track. Another finding in both studies was librarians found that students constantly disappeared and felt that it could have been because of connection issues but also stated that students reported that would get bored or distracted. Both articles pondered how Internet savvy the audience was.

In the last eight years the world wide web has advanced more than I can describe, I wonder if there are specific interfaces set up now for teacher librarians to accept questions without the pressure to respond at all times of the day, or if there is a peer system established so that students can help each other. Perhaps it would be worth creating a support page of useful reference links  (maybe a wikki) for students so that they can access the page from home and go to an external support like AskJeeves etc. After reading these two articles I have jumped forward a year to when I start in a school library and I have started to think about whether I will provide electronic reference support.

The final article I read was titled Another Opinion: Can’t We All Just Get Along? Technophiles and Bibliophiles in School Libraries? (Henry, 2008) and it was a good article to read this week as we discuss online resources. The discussion question presented in the article is “are we creating readers or learners?”  Henry (2008) reminds us that technology is only one of many tools used to teach students how to effectively use information. He says, “Do not be afraid of new formats, after all books were new once upon a time. [He reminds us to] use new formats to help kids become life long learners, adapt, change, grow” (p.44).  I like the idea of posting a sign that says technology is only a tool in the library. The following quote ties into Anne’s question of the week surrounding purchasing book and electronic resources and it made me chuckle. “ At times there seems to be an undercurrent of hostility between those who love technology and those whose love is reserved for the printed word” (p. 44). Isn’t that the truth and doesn’t it come down to adequate training and resources for educators to begin to be comfortable in the electronic world? It is not just a matter of training; training and time to apply learning is critical for educators if we are ever going to support information literacy development in the 21^st century.

References

Henry, R. (2008). Another opinion: can't we all just get along? technophiles and bibliophiles in school libraries. Library Media Connection , 27(2), Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=34928333&site=ehost-live

Silverstein, J. (2005). Just curious: children's use of digital reference for unimposed queries and its importance in informal education. Library Trends, 54(2), Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=20486704&site=ehost-live

Thompson, J. (2003). After school and online. Library Journal , 128(1), Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=8939517&site=ehost-live

Electronic Literacy

Developing Electronic Literacy: The opportunity of mass storage and specific retrieval is both a “blessing and a curse” (Reidling, p.101).  This is a perfect analogy because I am sure everyone has experienced the frustration of trying to find something- weed through the net, but also the satisfaction of finding exactly what you needed without having to go anywhere.

After working on an assignment for another course (reviewing book reviews) I found it interesting that this week’s lesson focuses on electronic resources because I used all electronic sources for my reviews because of time and convenience. Who has time to drive to the library and pick up the journals or magazines anymore? Sad but true.

 In an age where we turn to the computer or google for everything I think it is critical we focus on building the skills students need for working with information and applying it. To put it in perspective I subscribe to a bunch of mother’s online magazines, I receive articles via email and although they may not be the most accurate, they are convenient and easy to access. I imagine when students leave our libraries and educational buildings they will sign up for things like this- interest and convenience based.

They need the skills to look at many things when wading through the massive amounts of information on any topic including the: date and age of information, the biases presented (because most likely there will be something) and the target audience the material was intended for and type of material presented- fact, fiction, editorial, study etc.  Maybe it is back to the basics. We ask the kids to reverse their approach and use pieces of text to teach bias and stereotype and then hope they apply it? I think I will jump into the rollercoaster of the online resources and attempt to teach students wading skills, detective skills, and application skills.  

When reading Chapter 10:  The Web in Today’s Reference Services, I felt a bit overwhelmed with the section discussing search engine options because I am not too familiar with any search engine other than- can you guess? GOOGLE. I wonder how many search engines are used in schools? TLs if you are reading this- what do you use in the school library?

In response to the question posed by A. Letain, “Are those of us who support both print and electronic reference sources fighting a losing battle? How do student preferences for electronic resources affect your purchasing?”

I have to say that because I am not purchasing yet, have no prior biases about past budgets etc. but instinctually I would still like to see a balance. Our school district subscribes to world book online- that is our district supported reference resource. When looking for answers to questions I think students look electronically if given the choice. Thinking back to the section on weeding it is also hard to justify spending chunks of the budget on books that in theory are outdated in 5 yrs. So maybe we purchase fiction, subscribe to fact? Hmmm.

I am not surprised the conclusions of the study referenced on lesson 4 about the impact of electronic resources on undergraduate students mirrored some of my own thoughts about accessing information. It was no surprise to see students are “heavily dependent” on the web and convenient.  (ttp://www.epic.columbia.edu/eval/find09/find09.ppt, ppt slide 42)

Resources vs Reality

Reality vs Resources

In the big picture of Education we are selecting and evaluating reference materials to support the information literacy development in our students.  Ultimately our collections should “answer the questions” and provide a balance of direct information and referrals to other sources as Riedling (2005) outlines in chapter 2. 

What I found optimistic was the suggested weeding process and the appropriate timelines given for the accuracy of materials.  I agree that after 5 years the information may be outdated in a Science text, however I know that new texts are rarely purchased with school budgets. Staffing changes, tracks, and curriculum changes are also going to impact usage of certain collections.

I also thought the comment made about taking the books to the dumpster highly controversial. Why can’t students use the pictures in the book and at what point is something better than nothing? Is having a set of encyclopedias and doing a compare and contrast activity to World Book online appropriate, or learning about headings, sub headings, chapter summaries, pictures, bolded words being in the glossary not valuable lessons that can be taught with these outdates resources if there is nothing current available?

There are also so many subjective factors that go into how the resources are used. I think if the TL accesses student and teachers’ emotional domains and relationships are built; the library has more of a chance of being well used.  It is a subjective comment to make but I know in various schools I have worked in my library use was directly dependent on my relationship with the TL and the students relationship with the TL.

Linking one’s individual teaching style to reference sources is also a factor. Why purchase a magazine subscription if students aren’t accessing it and the TL isn’t promoting or engaging the students in it. Having said that perhaps time constraints don’t permit for extensive use of new resources, or integrating them into the existing program.

With regards to arrangement and presentation, I think that a library that is presented in an interesting engaging way to students is going to motivate them to access and use the library. Also library programs need to mirror resources. Battle of the books was an extremely successful program in one school I worked in. This was partly because the books were excellent but most importantly they were presented in such an interesting fun format. As districts employ professionals to purchase materials for all of the schools to create consistency they lost the vision that each school is unique in it's needs and teachers need a process to interact with the new materials or resources. 

I think collection organization and maintenance is important, I am just walking through the personal biases I have about school libraries and thinking about how I will set up my own school library one day.

 Of course I would like it to answer everyone’s questions, have interesting displays and inviting opportunities with a healthy budget to weed as often as is recommended…

Lesson Plan for Research Quest with staff

https://www.vista.ubc.ca/webct/RelativeResourceManager/Template/Imported_Resources/lesson2_imswct/images/pic007.jpg

Creating a community of learners- Using Research Quest

½ day pro-d

9:00 a.m. start- on yellow sticky notes write why you like having a school library and teacher librarian-  to support building information literacy- with a def. of information literacy clearly posted on chart paper.Stick all notes to chart paper and read aloud when staff are completed task. 

On a blue sticky note write what you think would be the benefits of the entire school using the same research process- post all on chart paper and read aloud

9:30- Give everyone a copy of Research Quest (link for student guide above) and a task that can be used with a grouping of picture books. Begin by reviewing the five components (Focus, Find/Filter, Work with Information, Communicate and Reflect) and clarify any questions about the sample task.  Ask staff to get in grade groupings and work through the process using the questions as a guide. 

Sample task: are women represented equally in the workplace as men?

10:00-10:30 Come together and share findings.

Recess

10:45-11:30- in grade groupings discuss this process (pros/cons), how this process could be used in the curriculum and what support your team would like from the teacher librarian. 

11:30-12:00- Share results with rest of staff, on a calendar plot out how the TL might be involved in this

My Comments: 

I find that when everyone has a sticky note to write on each voice is heard. It is also a visual reminder  when posted in the staff room.  It is an active way of participating with new terms as well. 

My introduction and thoughts about reference services in the information age

This is my first blog and my second course in this program. What a learning curve setting up a blog- as an online reflective journal. I feel a bit like I am standing in my undies! I have a few different hats on when I approach coursework. I was a classroom teacher for 5 years and during that time I completed a Masters of Arts in Leadership and Training at Royal Roads (amazing program!). I learned how to work with larger groups of people where I also learned some very valuable group process skills such as building a shared vision. I completed my thesis on motivation and looked at how working in the public sector impacts teachers' motivation to participate in extracurricular. Then when I completed the program I moved into a non enrolling teaching role and I became a community school coordinator for several years, a job that I loved. However, I have had two children in the last two years and I am pursing this role to work part time in school for the next decade.

 I thought being a teacher librarian meant collaborating with staff and working with students to achieve the curriculum. The farther I get into this program I see that my impressions were correct but that there is a hidden curriculum of Information Literacy that needs to be addressed. I am not sure I fully understand what information literacy is but I hope to discuss it for the remainder of this course. In my notes from a previous course I wrote down, "To be information literate a person must be able to recognise when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information". I think this a definition that will continue to work as the digital age we live in evolves. 

When I signed up for this course I wondered how relevant it would be to learn about various reference services when we live in such a "google" everything age. I am now starting to look at this course as part of the foundation for a successful journey, a foundation to build upon. 

A point I am going to try to shape my blog around is how all this relates to the big picture. "In order to provide successful reference services and support teaching (knowledge of the library media collection, effective conversation skills and competence in selecting and acquiring and evaluating resources to meet student needs) and given the realities of our time, I think that we need to embrace that we are life long learning educators and think about the big picture- supporting information literate learners." (Kristi's entry- Module 1- reference services)

When I posted this I was hoping for some conversation about others "big picture" ideas . Janice added, " Life long learning and the willingness to listen and communicate seems big to me" and I have to agree the listening piece is an entire course itself. When relationships are built collaboration will be a smoother ongoing process between members. 

Our instructor added the point in another thread that "we educators can't even decide who takes on the vision/responsibility for Information Literacy. Perhaps there are too many "literacies" around to confound our colleagues - cultural literacy, basic literacy, info literacy, media literacy..." and I agree that no one wants to take responsibility and leap forward, I see the "not enough time, training, motivation" as blockers to educators coming together with a shared vision. 

I think we have an opportunity as teacher librarians to shape some pro-d around various topics. I am going to "blog" about how I might work with my staff about adopting a school wide research process for my next entry.