Final Blog and Happy Holidays

Developing a reference collection for an information literate society

What does that look like? After taking this course I am now familiar with the reference process and different models of inquiry for problem solving. I think I like the points of inquiry model- the poster that goes with it is an added bonus.

I found my course mates contributions helpful on many levels. Katie shared the following link for points of inquiry, which is a handy bookmark: http://bctf.ca/bctla/pub/documents/PointsofInquiry.pdf.  And as Mark said in the discussion on research models, “ It doesn't get any simpler than the The Points of Inquiry model. Now that's something you could read and use on an iphone. Now what better criteria is there than that!? Less is more, and when something is straight-forward enough to be self-explanatory, it's more engaging too”.

Riedling provides a good overview of the components of a reference section as the “nuts and bolts” in chapter 3-8 and through reading the text and going to my mentor’s library I have become more familiar with the universal sections in most libraries. In evaluating Seaforth’s collection I found that the needs of students compete with the technology available and although we always strive to give our students what they need the match up just isn’t possible. I think it is the skills we teach in the library- not necessarily the materials we have available that is most important- my opinion of course. There was a good back and forth banter between people in this course about the need for paper resources or electronic materials. I believe balance is important.

I appreciated the comment about how I did not mention a globe in my reference review- to be honest it did not come up. She uses wall maps with her students and I did not see a globe. I will definitely keep it in mind when I am looking at a reference collection myself.

The web as a reference resource is still very intimidating to use as a professional resource. I hope that I can work with a group of TLs to create a Wiki for various elementary school needs- links that work, are valuable professionally and that we can share amongst ourselves. Maybe in the form of a blog! Although this is my last formal blog for this course I hope to continue to use it as a tool to reflect on my TL learning.