Theme 2: Managing and Evaluating Reference Services

Reflections

Reference Interviews

Every time a new module comes along I am reminded of the complexity of the job as a teacher-librarian and how many different hats we wear/will wear. I am also increasingly aware of how small a taste I had in the teacher-librarian world as my first and only contract was 10 weeks at a small elementary school. I had two days a week in this 0.4 teacher librarian role at a school whose kids were not able to participate in your typical library program. A reference interview didn’t happen happen but I did start to work with small groups on building computer literacy skills. If I had the chance to stay on in the role I would have loved to continue to work in small groups to develop information literacy skills and provide support with individual inquiry projects.

It was eye opening in Chapter 9 of Riedling’s text, Reference Skills for the School Library Specialist: Tools and Tips, to read that every reference request, big or small, informal or formal is a chance to teach information literacy skills. And though I don’t think I have much experience in reference services, I am sure I have taught some ‘in the moment’ valuable informal lessons. This particular quote captures this well ...
‘Many successful interviews conclude without the student actually finding the necessary information. This may occur because the information does not exist, the school library media center(s) cannot provide the information, or even because the student did not require information in the first place. Regardless, a successful reference interview is one in which the student feels satisfied that the school library media specialist has given personal attention and accurate information. (p.102)
This is an important take away for me, because a successful TL is not just there to direct students to resources, we are teaching students to be lifelong information literate learners. Aaron’s quote from Module 5 sums this up perfectly. “Success should be measured in terms of the acquisition of information skills that are learned during the process.”

The beginning of Chapter 9 had me thinking about the disposition and personality of a teacher-librarian and the overall ‘vibe’ that you want to put out in the school. In my future library vision I hope to have students come to the library and say something like ‘Hey Miss Wilson! On the weekend I was at the beach with my family and we saw some sea otters eating and playing in the water. I want to know more about sea otters. Why do they live here in Victoria? Can you help me find some information?’. I imagine that in elementary schools these reference interviews happen sometimes organically like my make believe sea otter enthusiast or sometimes a whole class is working in the library and meeting with me 1-1 for support.

As outlined in Module 5, there are the three types of reference requests:

1. Ready-Reference - questions that can be answered with short and factual information;
2. Research Projects - in-depth coverage of a topic often requiring the use of multiple sources of information;
3. Readers' Advisory - recommending good leisure reading.

I wasn’t aware that advising students about leisure reading can be thought of as a reference request. So in that case I DO have some experience in reference services! An idea I had in an earlier course was to have students participate in a reader personality quiz (either a homemade one or an online one like https://abookandahug.com/reader-types/) . This would be a great thing have a student do before you conduct a readers advisory interview. You then have a good idea of what their interests are and can recommend books based on that. You could also have an entire class complete this type of quiz. In one of our discussion posts, a fellow 467 classmate told me about her beginning of the year surveys and how she has everyone do them so she has a good idea from the start how to help them select books of interest. I love this idea!

In reference to one of my wonderings in my Theme 1 post about how TL’s find time to work with everyone...would you prepare materials for each of these types of interview so you are well-prepared and efficient? For example you would have a typed up ‘interview’ with some basic questions written out. You could then grab that particular sheet and have access to quality questions and a way to record information about who you have helped and what advice/resources you recommended.

In the Lesson 5 discussion forum I asked my classmates if there were any elementary school teachers out there who could share a bit about their experiences with reference interviews. It was great to hear some different perspectives and to know that what I imagine this process is like was pretty accurate. Angela replied to my post and made a very interesting point that she thinks the interview process is more about teaching teachers how to effectively help their classes. I think this is a valid point and is worth thinking more about as two teachers helping is far more efficient than one.

With more experience I will gain the reference interview skills but in the meantime here is a laugh with this not so good reference interview …

Managing the Reference Collection

It was interesting to read about the challenges of maintaining a ‘balanced’ resource collection in the lesson notes from Module 6. It has me continuing to reflect on the current state of our reference resource collection and how tiny it is. The information from Vancouver School Board about the approximate size and value of elementary reference resource collections was surprising to read.

They suggested the average elementary library has:
Total Number of Volumes: 100-200
Total Value of Reference Collection: $3,000-$7,000

I did a rough count in our library and estimate that our reference collection is around 45 total number of hard copy volumes. I am unsure of the monetary value but out of the 45 volumes I found the most recent from 2001. This is a huge indicator to me of how often our hard copy reference resources are used. But I also think it indicates how often this library has had a new librarian which has left this part of the collection dusty on an unused shelf.

The following reflection question was in our lesson notes … 'how familiar are you with your school district, school and department budget processes?' The answer is VERY unfamiliar! In my 10 weeks in that position I tried to get a sense of the library budget so that I could potentially purchase a number of picture books that had been requested by teachers and students. I got brushed off a few times but I was also temporary so I don’t think this was a priority. I am going to talk to our current teacher librarian and see if she has a good sense of the budget now that she is in a permanent position and more in a place to make big changes to the library.

This theme has me thinking about the idea of consultation when evaluating, selecting, and acquiring resources for your library which Riedling discusses in our text as well. “Remember, however, that selection is not completely the responsibility of the school librarian. It also belongs to administrators, teachers, students, parents, and community members. Input from these people is essential for a useful and appropriate reference collection.” (p. 18-19) The high cost of hard copy reference resources means that consulting teachers at the school would be essential. Talking as a staff about how the resources would be used is a great idea and I would be really interested in being a part of this conversation with our current librarian.

This list of key participants in the acquisition of learn resources from Section 8 in Evaluating, selecting and acquiring learning resources: A guide surprised me in it’s length. But I do think there are some good ideas here in terms of who to consult when going through the process of evaluating and adding to a library resource section.

• the district resource centre coordinator or learning resource manager
• teacher-librarian or school-based resource coordinator
• district or school-based library technicians or clerks
• curriculum consultants
• representative classroom teachers
• administrative officers
• a district technology consultant
• parents and students (as appropriate, dependent on the types of resources being considered)

If I was in the position of evaluating and purchasing new resources in my current library I would enlist the help of the network of teacher librarians I am currently in contact with. This network has already shared so many great activities and resources so this is one area I would really benefit from getting seasoned advice.

I thought this suggestion from the same ERAC document was valuable advice and worth trying. “Establish a separate budget for piloting digital learning resource formats and the associated information technologies.” When I was part of the teacher librarian email list for my school district I remember receiving emails about certain online learning resources that schools were hoping to try. I love this idea, that a school or number of schools could test a resource and evaluate it that way before a license is purchased.

Evaluating Reference Services

Lesson 7 had my mind jumping all over the place as I did the course readings and read and commented on the discussion forum. Let me try and organize my thoughts and summarize the important things I got out of this lesson.

I was surprised at the list of how many approaches you can take when evaluation the reference services in your library. I focused in on “An evaluation of the teacher-librarian's role as the person delivering the reference services” and began thinking of what might be a time savvy and useful way to have school staff tell you what is working and what is not in this area. My idea is to send a survey to staff to find ways to improve practice. I would create an anonymous google survey that teachers could fill out and provide constructive feedback without worrying that they might offend you.

This was another powerful statement found in our Lesson 7 notes ..
 “Often our reaction {to the idea of teacher-librarians becoming unnecessary}, and this may not be by choice, is to reduce our services, restrict student and teacher access and to try to show "them" (administrators? politicians?) what they will be missing when the teacher-librarian and library services disappear.”
This has me thinking about an inspiring conversation I had with a fellow teacher-librarian in my district who is doing INCREDIBLE work. I had been asking her about her role, how she started doing these amazing things in her library and how she connects with such a large staff. She told me that for her it was all about putting time and energy into showing the admin, staff and parents how essential she was for learning. That really stuck with me because I am sure it can be easy to feel intimidated when you are starting out in a new role and you often don’t want to step on anyone's toes or make too big of a splash. But on the flip side, if you don’t showcase your services and advocate for yourself, then you are doing a disservice to the staff and students.

One of the areas for growth in my libraries reference services is the organization and accessibility of reference resources which is identified in the accessibility statements on page 97-99 of the ERAC guide. “The need to provide accessible locations for learning resource storage.” Here is a current photo of our reference resource section. As you can see, it is rather small, and not well organized. What you can’t see in this picture is that it is located on the bottom of a shelf in a low traffic corner of the library. If some of these resources were better displayed maybe they would be used more and would seem more engaging to students.

Riedling discusses print reference materials in Chapter 2 of her book. “At the elementary level, reference instruction continues to use print sources because of the difficulty young children experience in navigating the Internet.” If this is the case, we need to ensure that these print sources are easily accessible and that we are equipping students with the skills to use them.

There are two more areas for growth that stood out to me when reading ERAC’s guide:

1. “The need for staff capacity and the opportunity to share all resources in the school.”
2. “The need to develop a process to fairly prioritize learning resource needs within the school.”

These are potential ideas to explore for Assignment 3 when I am coming up with a plan to increase accessibility and use of the reference resources.
One accessibility area that we are doing well in is centered around district sharing of learning resources. We have a system for resource sharing at the district level on our elementary library webpage. All of the online reference resources are well organized and easy to find on every school webpage in the district. At a recent Greater Victoria Teacher Librarians Association meeting we discussed this resource database and the TL’s were asked to give feedback about which resources were used and which were not. I think it’s fantastic that they are involving working TL’s in these discussions and maintenance of the online database.


Wonderings

How do you conduct reference interviews with the lowest readers in elementary school who are not yet able to access information online without finding and reading it for them?
Riedling talks about the balance between providing enough information to be useful and scaffold learning but not to do the searching for them. Again I am wondering about this scene in an elementary school library, especially with low readers who would find it extremely challenging to find resources without 1-1 support. But maybe that is the reality of an elementary TL. Maybe our role at that young age is to provide them with useful resources and work on a different element of information literacy like taking information and turning it into our own words and thoughts.

This quote from Teachers and Librarians: Collaborative Relationships. was thought provoking for me and has me wondering about starting off my career and the temporary nature of TL positions as you build seniority. “Each partner fulfills a carefully defined role; comprehensive planning is required; leadership, resources, risk, and control are shared; and the working relationship extends over a relatively long period of time.”
How do you achieve strong collaboration when you are in a temporary position? 
I believe in some ways I did find this in my short library gig but there were so many more things I could have done if I had more time.

“Teachers with experience in collaborative planning and teaching view the role of the library media specialist more positively and welcome continued collaboration.” This has me thinking about those teachers that are less experienced in inquiry and collaboration. How do you connect with them in a way that doesn’t say ‘you really should be using the teacher librarian time to your advantage’?

In my Theme 1 blog post I had a wondering about finding time to work with so many different students and as I went through Module 5 I found myself thinking about how TL’s find the time to collaborate and meet with teachers. Russel’s article gave me some answers when I read about using a flexible schedule to meet the needs of so many different students and teachers.
"Library media specialists with flexible schedules are able to devote more time to planning and working with teachers (Callison, 1999). While media specialists on a fixed schedule spend up to five minutes planning with a teacher, a media specialist on a flexible schedule spends more than 30 minutes (Haycock, 1998). Media specialists with flexible schedules also develop four and one-half times as many integrated units of study than do those on fixed schedules, as well as teaching more information skills lessons integrated with classroom instruction (Tallman & van Deusen, 1994).”
I think in my own school setting, having the scheduled book exchange time could easily be more flexible and allow more time for collaboration. I know a few elementary schools with this flexible scheduling and I would definitely consider it when I am back in a library of my own.

The comparison in the number of reference resource volumes from elementary schools to high schools is massive. I am curious about the use of reference resources in high school and how much more the internet is used now instead? It would be interesting to talk to a high school teacher librarian in my district and hear a little bit about the use of hard copy reference resources.

While reading the Evaluating, selecting and acquiring learning resources: A guide document I came across some information that I remember reading in a previous module about approved learning resources. I have to admit that before taking this specific course I was unaware that learning resources had to be approved before it was used in a library or classroom. I am wondering what is the process of getting a resource approved? This is probably answered in one of these documents or lesson notes and I forgot. But if anyone has that bit of information feel free to direct me to it!

This weeks discussion forum had me stumble upon a video that a fellow 476 Owl member, Janet, posted.

It had me thinking outside the box in terms of reference resources and I found myself wondering about some resources in our library and whether or not they would be considered ‘reference resources’. In my reply to Janet’s video post I wondered aloud whether the coding resource Cubetto could be considered a reference resource? My students were very interested in robots and we had been learning about them all week. Using Cubetto will be the perfect way to tie in the use of a resource to help us learn more about a topic (and have some cross-curricular connections with math). Isn’t this what a reference material is all about, helping students learn more about a topic?

I will end this post on a happy note with a good reminder for all of us.




References

A Book And A Hug. (2018). Reader Personality Types. [online] Available at: https://abookandahug.com/reader-types/ [Accessed 5 Oct. 2018].

ACLWeb2. (2009). Not So Good Reference Interview [video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Niac-sIGd8g

Educational Resource Acquisition Consortium. (2008) Evaluating, Selecting and Managing Learning Resources: A Guide. Vancouver BC, Educational Resource Acquisition Consortium (ERAC).

Primo Toys. (2016). Meet Cubetto [video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp1p2lh2D64

RichmondSD38. (2019). The Evolution of the Library [video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sadWGKFs4k&feature=youtu.be

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

Russel, S. (2004) ERIC Digest.Teachers and Librarians: Collaborative Relationships. Available at: https://www.ericdigests.org/2001-2/librarians.html