THEME ONE: The foundation of reference services

Theme 1 Blog Post - LIBE 467

Reflections …

I really enjoyed reading, discussing and reflecting on the introduction to this course as I have very little experience with the reference specialist aspect of our job. When I think about Teacher-Librarians as reference specialists I automatically envision this more in a high school or middle school setting. I imagine in this age group that students come to the library looking for support in an assignment or project they are currently work on and the TL will help them hone in on some useful resources. In my 10 weeks as a teacher librarian this aspect of the librarian role was not exercised or required at the time as I was in a small unique school whose needs were quite different than what we might typically expect. I know this course will be useful for me as I will be in a new role in the future that does require these reference skills. This blog post is a collection of thoughts and reflections as I have gone through our course readings, lessons and discussions.

One thing that is a huge reminder to me is that even though students can use google at the click of a mouse it doesn’t mean they are not in need of specific teaching when information gathering. Supporting students in becoming information literate is such an important aspect of our role. Before I began this librarianship diploma I was TOCing in a grade ⅘ class where the students were working creating expert books. They each chose a topic that they were an expert on and some students felt they wanted to do a bit of research to support their writing. I came to check in on a student who was using the computer to research more about her topic of soccer. In her book she had copied word for word the first two lines of the first web page about soccer that came up in a google search. I had her stop so we could talk about finding good information and so I could teach her how she could read something and turn it into our thoughts and words. I am interested in learning more about how to approach teaching these kinds of skills. A fellow TL was telling me about this great site she uses to teach website literacy skills and how to find good reliable sources. The endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus is a very well laid out and engaging site. I can definitely see how children would come across this and become curious in an animal they have never heard of before. Here is a link to the site and a screenshot of the site below.

As I read Chapter and Module 1 of our course, I liked the Research Process model the most, where you do a broad overview of the topic before you narrow it down. But then as I moved on to the second week of our course work I learned more about the BCTLA’s Points of Inquiry research model and could see the benefits of using the model more than any other. I reflected in a discussion post that the difference that I think makes it stand out the most from the other models is that it "allows for messiness and recursivity in the inquiry process by enabling students, on reflection, to move to various points in the process." (p. 6)

This quote from Pitts in Reference Skills for the School Library Specialist: Tools and Tips (p. 23) stuck out to me as one of the most important things to remember when supporting students in learning the research process. “There are many different, acceptable paths to the same end. Every . . . [student seemed] to have a different approach to working on a research assignment and organizing information. Each system worked well, but if everyone had been ordered to use one specific approach many students would have found themselves incredibly frustrated”. We always need to remember that every child is different and we are there to support them in finding a method of information gathering that works best for their learning style.

In Chapter 2 of our text, Reference Skills for the School Library Specialist: Tools and Tips, Riedling discusses what we need in terms of the reference selection process. She places huge emphasis here on the Teacher Librarian’s knowledge of the curriculum. The biggest reflection for me here is that I need to become much more familiar with the BC curriculum in order to ensure my future library is well equipped with useful resources. I spent the first three years of my career learning and teaching the Alberta curriculum. The next three years I started this process again learning the Ontario curriculum (but delivering it in Bangkok). I did the education program in BC and became familiar with the BC curriculum in this setting but while I was gone the new curriculum came to be. So here I am in my seventh year of teaching, learning about becoming a teacher-librarian with some serious ground to cover in learning this province’s curriculum. Good thing I am up for the task!

I am looking forward to chat more with my network of TL’s about reference sources and see what they recommend when looking for new reference materials for an elementary school library. In our district the library resource page and electronic reference list is managed by a team of teacher librarians and used throughout the whole district. They do ask for feedback and any new ideas to be added. I love that this is a district wide site that means all elementary TLs are working with the same great resources. It is especially handy for people like me who are new to all of this.

The idea of pulling out, evaluating, and potentially replacing reference materials in a library feels pretty overwhelming. But I love Riedling’s advice on page 25 in terms of what to think about when select reference materials.

• know the school, the school community, and the student population
• continually collaborate with teachers
• keep a record of questions asked or research requests

I most definitely have lots to learn in terms of evaluating and selecting reference sources at the elementary level and you can find me tackling this in upcoming assignments I will post here. In the meantime, I liked this quote from Chapter 2 of Riedling’s text as it makes me feel a little better about the tiny reference section in our school library. “It is more important to have a small but relevant and up-to-date collection of materials than a large collection that is neither useful nor of good quality.” (p. 23)

While searching for the Evaluating, Selecting and Managing Learning Resources: A Guide, I came across a new section of their webpage. This could be a good site for me to find reference materials that might be worth purchasing. Here is a link to the site and a screenshot of the search filter options and site layout.

In Module 4 it was really interesting to read about how search engines work and the way that different sites yield different results. I naively thought that google searches were an effective way to find information and that using solely google would be acceptable. But after reading Chapter 10 in our text and finding out that google searches often bring in high recall and low precision results I realize I need to get to know other search engines and online reference sources better. Reflecting on our schools currently library schedule and collaborating, I realize we need to devote more time to focused lessons on using technology effectively and how to search for information. I need to think more about this and how to bring about this change (maybe Assignment 3 can involve this plan!).

Admittedly when I first read the term crowd-sourcing at the beginning of the lesson I had to look up more about it. Here is an interesting article about what crowd-sourcing references are and why academic libraries should consider using crowd-sourcing reference help as a service. http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/conferences/confsandpreconfs/2015/Stonebraker_Zhang.pdf

It was very ironic how we were reading about the pros and cons of using online resources so heavily in this day and age and then as I tried to use the web site links written in chapter 10 I found 5 out of the 7 that I clicked were not live anymore. Even our book about references is changing at a fast pace! But here is one of the links listed in the Useful Websites section of Chapter 10 in our text that did work and is worth checking out. In the teacher-librarian section of the site it explains that you can “build your own lessons from the examples and tutorials found on this site or use comprehensive resources that lead students to discover better ways to search, evaluate and cite information.” There are tools like search challenges and citation wizards that sound interesting to use with students.

The CBC special on e-books and the challenges with using this format in public libraries was an interesting listen! I have never rented an e-book from the library but I do love using my kindle for reading (after buying the books online). They mention in the special that one wonderful benefit of checking out an e-book is that in some cases you don’t need to leave your home to do so. I agree that it is very convenient to not have to go out and pick up new books and avid readers have so many books at the click of a button. The children at my current school use RAZ kids online for reading and it is very motivating for the classes I have seen use it. Using RAZ doesn’t replace reading hard copy books but they really enjoy this change of format once a week for their quiet reading time. I also like how there is a section where they are answering comprehension questions after the reading. The text being read aloud in some cases allows low readers to still find success in answering comprehension questions. Having e-books that can be rented from a school library is something I have never once thought about.  It would be so great if each classroom could have an e-reader loaded with different books that children are motivated to read.

My Wonderings …

There were questions that came up for me as I have gone through the first four modules and discussions of our course. I am hoping that by recording these wonderings and questions here I can then find answers throughout the course.

In Module 1 of our course LIBE 467 it touches on electronic resources and how some libraries may purchase this type of resource. I was wondering this as I read the first chapter and then I read Aarons notes on Lesson 1 and read that free material on the internet can result in some library budget cuts. I am curious what kind of electronic resources would be purchased in an elementary school library? There are no purchased electronic resources other than RAZ kids reading accounts and Tumble books that I am aware of. Is this typically seen more in middle and high schools?

My next question that came up for me is in regards to scheduling time to help individual students. Let’s say as a TL you are supporting a classroom teacher and her class in an individual student driven inquiry or research process. How do you find the time to support each student if they are looking into a different topic? Would the TL know these 20+ topics ahead of time and come equipped with ideas?

In our text, Reference Skills for the School Library Specialist: Tools and Tips (p. 9), we read about the AASL’s four main learner goals for developing lifelong information skills:

1. Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge.

2. Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge.

3. Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society.

4. Pursue personal and aesthetic growth *

The first three goals are crystal clear in terms of their importance but the fourth goal has me thinking and questioning. What do they mean by personal and aesthetic growth? Maybe one of the member in my blogging group or Aaron has some insight into this goal.

Helping students in research and inquiry projects that involves searching through online resources is the most daunting to me and an area I hope to become more comfortable in as this course progresses. Here are my wonderings in this area:

When students have a difficult time navigating the computers it can lead to frustration and too much time spent searching. How do we combat this? Does this mean taking time before hand to teach computer skills? I am thinking about the students at my current school and how low their computer navigation skills are. I am also thinking about the low reading levels of the students I had been working with. Are there useful online resources for younger students who are early readers?

This next quote that interested me was from Aaron’s second lesson for our course. ‘Much of our frustration can come at the first two steps where students are not well prepared for the research task or the question.’ This was interesting to read as I recently had a personal experience with this problem. In one of my other courses I took part in an inquiry based learning activity that had me out on a nature walk using an app that helps to identify local trees and plant life. We were also asked to wonder, and develop a few questions around possible traditional uses of the land including for the plants/trees that were identified. Using the app and identifying plants was fun and simple for me. When it came time to wonder and develop some questions around traditional land uses I struggled. I realized I had very little background knowledge and the next part of the inquiry process was difficult. I needed to know more before I could develop good questions and move on to the next research stage. This reflection will help me while working with students in the future as they may need support in a different stage of the research that may not be obvious at first. My question here is how can we help those students who are not well prepared for the research task or who are having a hard time coming up with a topic of interest?

When reading Riedling’s chapter about judging a potential new reference this quote stuck out to me. “Reference resources must be accessible to the entire student population regardless of linguistic or physical limitations.” (p. 23) How can this work in an elementary school with young students who are just learning to read? Finding resources that are accessible to our low level readers seems like it would be a challenge.

When reading about helping students in using suitable online information sources our text mentions that teacher-librarians need to anticipate students information needs through planning beforehand. Is this manageable when you work with multiple classes?

References

21cif.com. (2019). Resource Directory. [online] Available at: https://21cif.com/resources/products-services.html [Accessed 23 Jan. 2019].

BCTLA Information Literacy Task Force (January 2011). Points of Inquiry. Retrieved from https://bctladotca.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/the-points-of-inquiry.pdf

K-12 Resource Collection. (2018). K-12 Resource Collection. [online] Available at: https://k12.bcerac.ca/# [Accessed 23 Jan. 2019].

Riedling, A. (2013). Reference skills for the school library media specialist: Tools and tips, (Third Edition). Santa Barbara, CA: Linworth.

Stonebraker, I. & Zhang, T. (2015). Crowdsourcing Reference Help: Using Technology to Help Users Help Each Other. ACRL. Available at: http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/conferences/confsandpreconfs/2015/Stonebraker_Zhang.pdf

Zapato, L. (2018). Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. [online] Zapatopi.net. Available at: https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ [Accessed 23 Jan. 2019].