I consider myself an advocate of intellectual, physical, and digital access to resources by staff and students. We do not charge fees for printouts. However, we do not have a photocopier in the library. If students want to photocopy a page out of a Reference book, we allow them to do so at the office. We do not usually sign out dvds to students very often, but if a student asks to sign out a video resource, we usually allow it. Students have access to resources before and after school, and at lunch. They are allowed to sign out as many books as they can carry in their packsack. All grade nine students have a library Orientation at the beginning of the new school year. Students have physical access to all learning resources. There is some restriction, such as if there are two or more classes working on a similar project and needs access to the same material, there is a time limit of a few days where students may not sign out the materials. They are put on a trolley. After a reasonable amount of time in the library, then students are allowed to sign the books out for personal use. Excellent access to digital resources is supported. There is a computer lab with access for one class in the library and there is a mobile lab with 32 netbooks. Classes may use the netbooks in the library along with print resources or in the classroom.
LIBE 467 has definitely helped me improve reference services in my school library resource centre and has enhanced my perception of the important role of the teacher-librarian. I am also very appreciative to the professor for bringing to my awareness even more resources to enhance life-long learning and critical analysis for students and staff.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Familiarity with Budget Processes
Since this is my first year in the library, I read the Year End Report to help guide me with this year`s budget. I am a member of the Learning Resources committee and at the first meeting, we went over what was spent last year, and what we had left to spend for this year. We get requests and then the committee discusses the requests. We also make long-term plans for curriculum changes, such as the new Math program coming in to effect. I have also discussed costs of databases and licenses with the DRC pricipal, as a result of one of the discussion questions for this course. The Business manager also goes over costs of resources and licenses to make sure that they are used for the amount of money that we pay for them. I am also aware of the costs of fiction books through ordering from Baker and Taylor and I have attended a book fair put on by Saunders at our DRC. My clerk does the ordering and POs, so she has a better idea of exactly how much money we have spent this year. She told me that we have approximately $5000,0 left, so we are making the most important purchases left for the year and then we will start to build up carts for next year. I am sure that there is a lot more to learn, but that is as much as I know right now.
Role Description Reflection
I would say that I get to most of the roles described for the teacher-librarian. Time is a huge constraint, but I try as hard as I can to get to all the teacher-librarian roles. The part of the role description that I am guilty of not spending time on is developing the potential of parent and student volunteers. We have TOCs help if the teacher they are covering for has suggested tohey help out during a Prep block. We also have TOCs job shadow so that they can get called in for teacher-librarians who need a TOC.
The role that is absolutely essential regardless of time and budget is working cooperatively with classroom teachers in order to assist students in developing skills in information retrieval and critical thinking so that they may become informed decision-makers and life-long learners.
The role that is absolutely essential regardless of time and budget is working cooperatively with classroom teachers in order to assist students in developing skills in information retrieval and critical thinking so that they may become informed decision-makers and life-long learners.
Periodicals
I have relied on the EBSCO databases for most of my research papers. It takes me a very long time to find just the right article that I want to use; sometimes I feel very overwhelmed in the searching process. Since I have attended the ERAC training session I, I have learned to use the limiters, such as Full text, Peer reviewed, and recent dates, more efficiently to reduce the number of results. I can use Ebsco through my school library, UBC library, and the public library, so it is easily accessible. I have not searched under the Education heading before, but I definitely will for the remainder of my courses. The Education heading is going to make the subjects I am looking for so much more relevant to my studies. I look forward to using this in the near future.
I checked out all the other index interfaces and typed various topics in each one using the advanced search option. Wow, just amazing when one takes the time to play around. Imagine the time saved with saving notes, emailing, printing, and citing icons. Very impressive.
I typed in nutrition and nutrients because a Foods class is in the library studying this topic right now. There are many articles at various levels of difficulty. Students might find the level of difficulty of some of the articles a little overwhelming; however, with practice will find the article that will suit their purpose. I also pulled books and reference material for this topic.
I am very excited to show this resource to the students. Teachers and parents are equally awed by the vast amount of information included in these indexes. I feel that the research process has improved to a new level at the school.
I checked out all the other index interfaces and typed various topics in each one using the advanced search option. Wow, just amazing when one takes the time to play around. Imagine the time saved with saving notes, emailing, printing, and citing icons. Very impressive.
I typed in nutrition and nutrients because a Foods class is in the library studying this topic right now. There are many articles at various levels of difficulty. Students might find the level of difficulty of some of the articles a little overwhelming; however, with practice will find the article that will suit their purpose. I also pulled books and reference material for this topic.
I am very excited to show this resource to the students. Teachers and parents are equally awed by the vast amount of information included in these indexes. I feel that the research process has improved to a new level at the school.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Geographical Resources
Evaluation of Geographical Resources
Print Atlas
National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition. (2005).
Publisher consideration: National Geographic Atlas of the World was first founded in 1915; Alfred H. Bumstead had a reputation as a genius Chief cartographer from 1915 – 1939. Sally Summerali and Allen Caustl are the Chief cartographers for the eighth edition; they used up-to-date satellite data to create atlas layouts. They use GIS and GPS, technology which helps to provide precise, detailed information.
Scale of Maps: Scales vary on each page. On one page, the scale is 1: 5,321,000; 1 centimeter = 53.2 kilometers; 1 inch = 84.0 miles (page 42).
Currency: Copyright is 2005. There are 15,000 changes from an earlier version. Since the world is in constant flux, there is a link to each political map to a direct internet address that provides updated information. The eighth edition includes a map of the ocean floor and Martian landscape. The host of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games is mentioned under the heading of British Columbia, Canada. National Geographic Atlas of the World, eighth edition (2005) includes a web site with a user name and password – www.nationalgeographic.com/maps/atlas/
Format: Large (on a map stand in the reference section), appealing to students, and easy to use. Pictures are colourful and vivid. Intended audience is grade nine to adult. Place names occur on physical, political, thematic, and city maps, as well as in summaries of the world’s 192 nations and other territories. Everything from political upheaval to remote forest trails is recorded. Before the index are brief profiles of the nations and their flags, which features geographical information about countries, including physical and cultural statistics as area (size), capital, population, religion, language, literacy, life expectancy, currency, economy, and GDP per capita (measurement of income per person).
Index: There are more than 140,000 names designate places on 72 maps and in the 134 page index of this Atlas. It is very easy to locate places. The maps include latitudinal and longitudinal lines. I looked for Prince George, BC, Canada (42 N7) in the index. The page (42), and grid reference - N (vertical reference letter) 7 (horizontal reference letter) were very easy to locate.
Print Atlas
Morrow, Robert. (2004). Pearson School Atlas. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada.
Publisher consideration; Pearson Education is a very reputable publisher for educational material.
Scale: Scales vary throughout the book. An example for Canada Political is 1: 17 500 000.
Currency: World Statistics are provided from World Fact Book 2002. Canadian Statistics are from Statistics Canada (latest dated is 2002).
Format: Colourful, appealing, and easy to use. Intended audience is secondary students. Contents consist of Canada thematic, political, and physical; Canada Regional – each province political and physical; World thematic, political, and physical; World Regional – political and physical; Atlas Skills; Canada Statistics; World Statistics; Glossary; Thematic Index and Gazetteer. I really like the Glossary and the instructins on how to use the Gazetteer.
Index: Gazetteer in alphabetical order by most appropriate page on which the name appears. Next is the alphanumeric reference, followed by the latitude and longitude.
Overall, both print atlases are easy to use for educational and interest purposes. I do not know if I would have noticed this before I took this course, but I saw someone using the National Geographic Atlas. I also notice a lot more students who are signing out the Pearson Atlas'. I found the National Geographic Atlas very intriguing and was very impressed with the Internet link keeping the resource as current as possible.
Online Geographical Resources
The National Geographic web site and the Lonely Planet Travel Guide are very appealing for a variety of reasons. Lonely Planet Travel guides and Travel Information is a great site for students studying tourism or for users contemplating a trip. Both sites have photo contests.
Atlapedia (http://www.atlapedia.com) is another easy site to navigate. All of these sites are very colourful, interesting, and easy to use. These geographical resources are intended for secondary to adult users. Students at our school love Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/index.html) and Map Quest (http://www.mapquest.com/). I would love to direct students to use these other geographical resources, as well. Advertisements can be a little distracting, but they are not overwhelming.
National Geographic www.nationalgeographic.com/maps/atlas
Users can zoom in and out or move up and down on the page on the National Geographic maps. The satellite view would be appealing to students who like to use Google Earth. Users can click on related links. There is a large variety of thematic, political, and topographical maps. There is a Kids Link. Younger students would enjoy playing games and putting together puzzles.
Atlapedia http://www.atlapedia.comAtlapedia is not as up-to-date as National Geographic. There is a large variety of information for each country; however, when I clicked on Canada, the latest information was from 1993. The information from this site could be used for comparison purposes as to how things have changed since then. The A-Z format is easy to use.
I will give the print version and online version of National Geographic 5 stars for meeting the criteria in Reidling's book. I love the Lonely Planet site; this is a site I would use for peronal use in the future, as well.
Print Atlas
National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition. (2005).
Publisher consideration: National Geographic Atlas of the World was first founded in 1915; Alfred H. Bumstead had a reputation as a genius Chief cartographer from 1915 – 1939. Sally Summerali and Allen Caustl are the Chief cartographers for the eighth edition; they used up-to-date satellite data to create atlas layouts. They use GIS and GPS, technology which helps to provide precise, detailed information.
Scale of Maps: Scales vary on each page. On one page, the scale is 1: 5,321,000; 1 centimeter = 53.2 kilometers; 1 inch = 84.0 miles (page 42).
Currency: Copyright is 2005. There are 15,000 changes from an earlier version. Since the world is in constant flux, there is a link to each political map to a direct internet address that provides updated information. The eighth edition includes a map of the ocean floor and Martian landscape. The host of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games is mentioned under the heading of British Columbia, Canada. National Geographic Atlas of the World, eighth edition (2005) includes a web site with a user name and password – www.nationalgeographic.com/maps/atlas/
Format: Large (on a map stand in the reference section), appealing to students, and easy to use. Pictures are colourful and vivid. Intended audience is grade nine to adult. Place names occur on physical, political, thematic, and city maps, as well as in summaries of the world’s 192 nations and other territories. Everything from political upheaval to remote forest trails is recorded. Before the index are brief profiles of the nations and their flags, which features geographical information about countries, including physical and cultural statistics as area (size), capital, population, religion, language, literacy, life expectancy, currency, economy, and GDP per capita (measurement of income per person).
Index: There are more than 140,000 names designate places on 72 maps and in the 134 page index of this Atlas. It is very easy to locate places. The maps include latitudinal and longitudinal lines. I looked for Prince George, BC, Canada (42 N7) in the index. The page (42), and grid reference - N (vertical reference letter) 7 (horizontal reference letter) were very easy to locate.
Print Atlas
Morrow, Robert. (2004). Pearson School Atlas. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada.
Publisher consideration; Pearson Education is a very reputable publisher for educational material.
Scale: Scales vary throughout the book. An example for Canada Political is 1: 17 500 000.
Currency: World Statistics are provided from World Fact Book 2002. Canadian Statistics are from Statistics Canada (latest dated is 2002).
Format: Colourful, appealing, and easy to use. Intended audience is secondary students. Contents consist of Canada thematic, political, and physical; Canada Regional – each province political and physical; World thematic, political, and physical; World Regional – political and physical; Atlas Skills; Canada Statistics; World Statistics; Glossary; Thematic Index and Gazetteer. I really like the Glossary and the instructins on how to use the Gazetteer.
Index: Gazetteer in alphabetical order by most appropriate page on which the name appears. Next is the alphanumeric reference, followed by the latitude and longitude.
Overall, both print atlases are easy to use for educational and interest purposes. I do not know if I would have noticed this before I took this course, but I saw someone using the National Geographic Atlas. I also notice a lot more students who are signing out the Pearson Atlas'. I found the National Geographic Atlas very intriguing and was very impressed with the Internet link keeping the resource as current as possible.
Online Geographical Resources
The National Geographic web site and the Lonely Planet Travel Guide are very appealing for a variety of reasons. Lonely Planet Travel guides and Travel Information is a great site for students studying tourism or for users contemplating a trip. Both sites have photo contests.
Atlapedia (http://www.atlapedia.com) is another easy site to navigate. All of these sites are very colourful, interesting, and easy to use. These geographical resources are intended for secondary to adult users. Students at our school love Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/index.html) and Map Quest (http://www.mapquest.com/). I would love to direct students to use these other geographical resources, as well. Advertisements can be a little distracting, but they are not overwhelming.
National Geographic www.nationalgeographic.com/maps/atlas
Users can zoom in and out or move up and down on the page on the National Geographic maps. The satellite view would be appealing to students who like to use Google Earth. Users can click on related links. There is a large variety of thematic, political, and topographical maps. There is a Kids Link. Younger students would enjoy playing games and putting together puzzles.
Atlapedia http://www.atlapedia.comAtlapedia is not as up-to-date as National Geographic. There is a large variety of information for each country; however, when I clicked on Canada, the latest information was from 1993. The information from this site could be used for comparison purposes as to how things have changed since then. The A-Z format is easy to use.
I will give the print version and online version of National Geographic 5 stars for meeting the criteria in Reidling's book. I love the Lonely Planet site; this is a site I would use for peronal use in the future, as well.
Article 3 - Informational Literacy - Learn How to Learn
Bruce, Christine. "Information Literacy as a Catalyst for Educational Change: A Background Paper," 2002, White Paper prepared for UNESCO, the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, and the National Forum on Informational Literacy, for use at the Information Literacy Meeting of Experts, Prague, The Czech Republic. Available at: http://www.nclis.gov/libinter/infolitconf&meet/papers/bruce-fullpaper.pdf
"Successful information literacy programs do not only focus on teaching information skills, they focus on designing learning experiences that require the use of information skills" (p. 14).
In such a dynamic information society, it is essential that students are information literate. Furthermore, the foundation for learning must start in primary school. The author notes that there are three critical elements of learning to be information literate: experiencing information literacy (learning); reflection on experience (being aware of learning); and application of experience to novel contexts (transfer of learning). It is not enough that students retrieve information from a variety of sources or have information technologies available to them.
This paper reviews three key models of information literacy and two sets of standards associated with information literacy and elaborates on the role of information literacy education in transforming our information society into a learning society (p. 2). It is interesting to note that one of the key models is Eisenberg and Berkowitz' Big6 information skills, one of the research models from our Riedling text. As most of the members in the discussion noted, students must continually practice the use of these steps when engaged in learning tasks. In order to be considered information literate, learners are encouraged to go beyond surface learning, be independent learners, and engage in lifelong learning. The author suggests that students need more active thinking and problem solving in real world situations, often from many disciplines and from multiple information sources, such as online databases, videos, government documents, and journals (p. 5). In addition, we need to create opportunities for critical processess on the learning process and to foster an awareness in learners of what they have learned. The author uses six case studies to illustrate her points that information literacy education has the power to transform the learning process into one that will empower learners, and give them the capacity to engage in self-directed lifelong learning outside the walls of the formal education process (p. 10).
In order to implement information literacy education, the author suggests that we develop change in educational values, such as adopting best practices; establish policy and guidelines regarding basic levels of information technology infrastructure (role of the teacher-librarian has been shown to be very important for building information literacy); develop professional education and staff development promoting life-long learning; and develop partnerships between key personnel, such as students, information specialists, IT specialists, curriculum designers, community organizations, and teachers.
The author outlines four critical componenets of an information literacy program: resources to facilitate the learning of specific skills; curriculum that provides the opportunity to learn specific skills; curriculum that requires engagement in learning activities that require ongoing interaction with the information environment; and curriculum that provides opportunities for reflection and documentation of learning about effective information practices.
Overall, an engaging article reiterating the points in Riedling and discussed in the posts by others in the class.
"Successful information literacy programs do not only focus on teaching information skills, they focus on designing learning experiences that require the use of information skills" (p. 14).
In such a dynamic information society, it is essential that students are information literate. Furthermore, the foundation for learning must start in primary school. The author notes that there are three critical elements of learning to be information literate: experiencing information literacy (learning); reflection on experience (being aware of learning); and application of experience to novel contexts (transfer of learning). It is not enough that students retrieve information from a variety of sources or have information technologies available to them.
This paper reviews three key models of information literacy and two sets of standards associated with information literacy and elaborates on the role of information literacy education in transforming our information society into a learning society (p. 2). It is interesting to note that one of the key models is Eisenberg and Berkowitz' Big6 information skills, one of the research models from our Riedling text. As most of the members in the discussion noted, students must continually practice the use of these steps when engaged in learning tasks. In order to be considered information literate, learners are encouraged to go beyond surface learning, be independent learners, and engage in lifelong learning. The author suggests that students need more active thinking and problem solving in real world situations, often from many disciplines and from multiple information sources, such as online databases, videos, government documents, and journals (p. 5). In addition, we need to create opportunities for critical processess on the learning process and to foster an awareness in learners of what they have learned. The author uses six case studies to illustrate her points that information literacy education has the power to transform the learning process into one that will empower learners, and give them the capacity to engage in self-directed lifelong learning outside the walls of the formal education process (p. 10).
In order to implement information literacy education, the author suggests that we develop change in educational values, such as adopting best practices; establish policy and guidelines regarding basic levels of information technology infrastructure (role of the teacher-librarian has been shown to be very important for building information literacy); develop professional education and staff development promoting life-long learning; and develop partnerships between key personnel, such as students, information specialists, IT specialists, curriculum designers, community organizations, and teachers.
The author outlines four critical componenets of an information literacy program: resources to facilitate the learning of specific skills; curriculum that provides the opportunity to learn specific skills; curriculum that requires engagement in learning activities that require ongoing interaction with the information environment; and curriculum that provides opportunities for reflection and documentation of learning about effective information practices.
Overall, an engaging article reiterating the points in Riedling and discussed in the posts by others in the class.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Databases
Our school district subscribes to the EBSCOhost package for approximately $1.00 per student. I was surprised to read the postings that teachers did not know how or where to access the databases at their schools, which also means that the teachers and students are not taking advantage of being able to work from home either--an expensive resource if not being used to its full potential.
I went to an EBSCO workshop held at our DRC so I would learn how to use these databases better and then teach the teachers and students how to use them. I went into the computer lab the other day and I was very happy to see that every student was using either EBSCO, World Book Advanced, or the Biography database for information for their Social Studies research essay. I learned that not all districts have a DRC. Our district is so fortunate to have such a proactive principal at our DRC who arranges workshops, such as EBSCO.
The public library in Prince George includes the same EBSCOhost package that our school subscribes to, plus many more databases. I have recently accessed the Prince George Library databases because the teen librarian comes to our district teacher-librarian meetings once a month and she showed us the Tumble Readables, audio book downloads. Although, I teach secondary students, I love to use this site for my grandchildren. I also used the BC Library to Go audio book download database. I was interested in this site because I ordered four MP3 Players, so that we can download audio books for visually impaired, struggling readers, or reluctant readers for Independent or class novel studies. I was very surprised to see such a variety of databases covering a wide assortment of topics, such as Global Road Warrior; Hobbies and Crafts; PubMed Central Canada. I can see several ways to use many of the public library databases matching them with certain classes, such as Law, Tourism, Planning 10, and Textiles and Crafts, just to name a few--making the teachers aware of the vast amount of resources that they can access for their lessons.
Gale Group has won awards for being the best research database for two years in a row (http://www.galeschools.com/media.htm). EBSCO and Gale are easy to use.
I am more familiar with Ebscohost for students grade 9 - adult. On the righthand side, students can click on full text and peer reviewed, then update results to narrow down the number of hits. Students can choose the earliest dates of articles for a particular subject by sliding the bar or typing in the year. On the left hand side, students can choose source type, or choose another search term from the thesaurus list. Students can save their results by clicking in a box to add to a folder, they can email, print, make notes, get the proper citation format, etc. A Lexile number is given to most articles to indicate the reading difficulty. When the student clicks on the title of an article, they get an abstract. Searchasaurus is for elementary students. Students can use words or icons to search. It is important that teachers provide multiple opportunities for students to practice their research skills, so that they become familiar and use with ease all the functions in the databases.
While searching for articles, I found the following article of an evaluation of online databases, such as World Book etc. and some other online sources not mentioned in the evaluations of online books. I will check out these sources later when I have more time. Looked very interesting.
Troutner, J. (2009). Online Textbooks: An Opportunity for Teacher-Librarians. Teacher Librarian, 37(2), 60-61. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
I went to an EBSCO workshop held at our DRC so I would learn how to use these databases better and then teach the teachers and students how to use them. I went into the computer lab the other day and I was very happy to see that every student was using either EBSCO, World Book Advanced, or the Biography database for information for their Social Studies research essay. I learned that not all districts have a DRC. Our district is so fortunate to have such a proactive principal at our DRC who arranges workshops, such as EBSCO.
The public library in Prince George includes the same EBSCOhost package that our school subscribes to, plus many more databases. I have recently accessed the Prince George Library databases because the teen librarian comes to our district teacher-librarian meetings once a month and she showed us the Tumble Readables, audio book downloads. Although, I teach secondary students, I love to use this site for my grandchildren. I also used the BC Library to Go audio book download database. I was interested in this site because I ordered four MP3 Players, so that we can download audio books for visually impaired, struggling readers, or reluctant readers for Independent or class novel studies. I was very surprised to see such a variety of databases covering a wide assortment of topics, such as Global Road Warrior; Hobbies and Crafts; PubMed Central Canada. I can see several ways to use many of the public library databases matching them with certain classes, such as Law, Tourism, Planning 10, and Textiles and Crafts, just to name a few--making the teachers aware of the vast amount of resources that they can access for their lessons.
Gale Group has won awards for being the best research database for two years in a row (http://www.galeschools.com/media.htm). EBSCO and Gale are easy to use.
I am more familiar with Ebscohost for students grade 9 - adult. On the righthand side, students can click on full text and peer reviewed, then update results to narrow down the number of hits. Students can choose the earliest dates of articles for a particular subject by sliding the bar or typing in the year. On the left hand side, students can choose source type, or choose another search term from the thesaurus list. Students can save their results by clicking in a box to add to a folder, they can email, print, make notes, get the proper citation format, etc. A Lexile number is given to most articles to indicate the reading difficulty. When the student clicks on the title of an article, they get an abstract. Searchasaurus is for elementary students. Students can use words or icons to search. It is important that teachers provide multiple opportunities for students to practice their research skills, so that they become familiar and use with ease all the functions in the databases.
While searching for articles, I found the following article of an evaluation of online databases, such as World Book etc. and some other online sources not mentioned in the evaluations of online books. I will check out these sources later when I have more time. Looked very interesting.
Troutner, J. (2009). Online Textbooks: An Opportunity for Teacher-Librarians. Teacher Librarian, 37(2), 60-61. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
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