Do We Really Need to Cite our Articles?

That's my final question of the blog. If we need to create a citation page, I certainly will. If James or Sandra can email us through Vista to tell us one way of another, we'll have an answer to that question (which, by the way, I wouldn't classify as ready-reference).

Do We Really Need TL's in our School Libraries?

I have to admit, ever since the first lesson where we had to read the glossary of Riedling's Reference Skills for the School Library Media Specialist: Tools and Tips (second edition), I was intrigued by the terms 'ready-reference questions' and 'reference interview'. I had questions myself, ready-reference or not. Did we really need terms to identify the simple act of asking a question? Was someone needing more of a challenge in their life that they created these terms? Knowing that students ask ready-reference questions in our school libraries one would actually make the assumption that a school librarian exists. Not so in our school library since May 2008, and not so in all elementary schools in our district as our libraries are only staffed 0.4-0.6 FTE. Most school aged kids know how to get onto the internet. Won't the internet provide an answer to any ready-reference question they have? Most likely, yes. Can't the classroom teachers teach the students how to access information? Hmmm. . . some would think the disappearing act librarians are doing in town would lead us to believe that it's all for good reason, that they are, indeed, redundant.
So I appealed to Catherine Sheldrick Ross and her article 'The Reference Interview: Why it Needs to be Used in Every (Well, Almost Every) Reference Transaction' to find out the answer to my biggest question - Do we really even need teacher librarians?
Among other information, Ross discussed why it's more important now than ever before to have librarians. With the mass volumes of information available, the fact that most initials queries are unfocused and the vocabulary of the information systems, the likelihood of students being able to clarify their question and get to the answer without alot of frustration is slim. Ross says that "...for many users entering a library is like going into a foreign country, where a foreign language is spoken. So rather than ask the user to use the librarian's language and fit their questions into our systems, we should ask them questions that allow them to describe their information need in their own terms and in their native language.".
Students depend on librarians to help them find what they need, and a good librarian will also show a student how to use the system. Developing global thinking students depends on them being able to access global information on their own, but they have to be taught how to use the systems available and most classroom teachers are not as fully qualified as the librarian to teach students these skills. The librarian is the professional and the library is their home ground where they are the experts, Ross says.
With fewer librarians in the schools in this district, at first glance one might believe that it may be because they aren't needed. However, Ross' collected data "...repeatedly showed that the librarian is the key to the information seeking process for users. The solution to current stresses on library systems is not to reduce the human element but to make it stronger, more efficient, and more effective." Students cannot easily use encyclopedias, almanacs, bibliographies, periodicals and other reference materials without having first been taught. Without a librarian, who would fill that gap?
It didn't take reading an article to convince me of the value of teacher librarians. All I need to do is look at the information seeking skills of the students I've taught in recent years. The level of their skills seem to be declining in direct proportion to the decline in teacher librarian FTE's in our district. And while the resources on the shelves and on the computer are vital to their education, as Ross says, "The most important resource of a public or academic library may be the staff who link people with collections, virtual or otherwise." Amen.

It's Difficult to Remember it All

There is so much information in this course and so many interesting and informative postings, it leaves my head a little fuzzy! And that's without the cold one (which I keep on tap until after I'm finished my entries . . . unlike some of my classmates it seems, but who's judging?). I feel the need to put lots of the information into a more easily accessable format for reference. I was perusing Riedling's textbook and saw the great value to a T/L of the evaluation and selection charts scattered throughout the manual. As I will always have the text for future reference (another good reference source!) and to get details when needed, I decided to outline which of the criteria is most important for each of the categories of reference sources detailed. I can always quickly refer to the outline and then use the text to more closely examine what it is about the criteria that is so important to refer to.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Authority
• Frequency
• Organization
• Scope

DIRECTORIES, ALMANACS'

YEARBOOKS, HANDBOOKS

• Accuracy
• Scope
• Currency
• Format

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

• Accuracy
• comprehensiveness
• Cost
• Currency
• Ease of Use

DICTIONARIES AND

ENCYCLOPEDIAS

• Authority
• Accuracy
• Currency
• Format

GEOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

• Authority
• Currency
• Format
• Indexing
• Scale

For me, this format makes the process of evaluating and selecting any of the resouces listed an easier procedure.

My New Wonder For Wikipedia

Up until I completed lesson 6, I had a hate-on for Wikipedia, the general online encyclopedia that crops up at the top of most search engine information search.

I've listened to many of my collegues over the past several years and learned that Wikipedia is open to absoluely anyone and everyone and every single person can edit whatever post exists on the site. Well, doesn't that mean that the entire site is likely full of misinformation?

Not so, according to Wikipedia itself. When I logged on to their site, they informed me, through their extensive "About Wikipedia" section, that because all their submissions are written collaboratively from people all around the world, there are likely to be some blatant vandalism and invalid information, but that they have experts checking and verifying information, setting facts straight, and that the older the submissions, the more comprehensive and balanced the information is likely to be.

So now I'm learning that Wikipedia has value. Yes they present facts on topics too numerous to consider for most print encyclopedias, yes they admit that not all their facts are correct but that they do there best to catch and correct those bits of misinformation and that very fact, in my opinion, is a perfect reason to suggest to my students to go ahead and check some information out on Wikipedia. Then, of course, recheck it on another site that is known as a nonbiased and well known authority.

After reading through Chris Harris' article, Can We Make Peace With Wikipedia?, I've come to the conclusion that it's a well used reference tool by 50% of college students and many parents of school aged students turn to Wikipedia to help their children with reference questions as well. If that many people are considering Wikipedia that authentic, there must be some validity, and I'm going to stick to the rules Harris lays out for using this reference service in order to enhance the next research assignments for my students:

1. "At least three sources are required to verify research.
2. General encyclopedias like Wikipedia are a great place to get started, however...
3. Serious research projects cannot site general knowledge encyclopedias."

With this new knowlege, I've more faith in the value of Wikipedia and won't be steering my students away from using it as a reference tool. Instead, I'll teach them the pros and cons of it's use and institute Harris' three rules of use, and suggest it as a ready-reference source.

New and Improved Reference Library

I really liked the picture of the library reference section I get when I read the description classmate Tosha D. gives as "The new and improved reference section should have subscriptions to online reference services, current newspaper subscriptions and class sets of handheld electronic dictionaries."
I'm as far from electronic as a person can get but still be in this world (I must be on the edge) as I don't use any electronic services to find information in the library. I do the dewey. I find the correct category, go to the shelves and peruse. However, I know that I wouldn't stock the library with just my own personal tastes if I were a TL. I know I need to consider the school community and their needs, both curricular and for pleasure reading and I know that we need to be the leaders in keeping current and global if we expect the same from our students.
The thought of so much readily available info online that Tosha suggests, is very intriguing and I certainly see the value. Having enough computers available in the library, or nearby, for students to access the info would be an obstacle at my school, but for future consideration, I'm going to keep the picture of the new and improved reference section of a library close by.

The Importance of Focusing the Purpose

Classmate Gloria P. states the importance of focusing the purpose of the research in order to search productively is "...narrowing the topic and formulating a good question..." For me, this comment summed up the entire challenge of getting students to research effectively. If they can't create a good question, they'll likely produce a regurgitated or plagiarized product, leaving them very little synthesis of information and a lot of disinterest.
In the article Assignments Worth the Effort: Question are the Key, Koechlin and Zwaan state that "Teacher-librarians can help the students develop their metacognitive skills by providing them with checklists in the form of guiding questions that they can use throughout the ressearch process." The authors provide some examples of guiding questions such as:

• "What is the purpose of your research?"
• "What do you think you will discover?"
• "What is important if you are to be successful?"

With these questions as a start, I think students can at least begin to make the connection between creating a good question, focusing research and developing a personal understanding of a topic.

Sept 2 The Newness of it All

Why is it that the first day of school for the teachers and students is also the first day of school for teachers as students? After a full day of waking up to an alarm clock - yuck! - meetings, new people, striking committees, a staff meeting and various other preparations for students, I sit down to my computer and review my on-line course and work on lesson one and it's assignment. What I knew - most of the terms, except for Geographical Source and others I posted a comment about under discussions. And also - the big "new" is setting up a blog and having to figure out that my hotmail address won't suffice for the 'existing address'.







Sept 10


After reading many entries from fellow students regarding the glossary terms, the 4 almanac addresses Roberta McQ shared was valuable. The world Almanac For Kids Online, for example is chock full of facts and its very user friendly in that it is divided into numerous chapters all clearly labelled with terms kids use such as Animals, Birthdays and Holidays, Books, Environment and Technology to name a few. Clicking on Animals takes the student to an outline with information divided into categories such as Animal types, Animals A-Z, Endangered Animals, Fun Facts and Working With Animals. This kind of explicitly labelled and organized setup helps students to find what they're looking for efficiently. As a classroom teacher and future teacher/librarian, completing a research project on animals would be extremely easy when beginning with this website, and the students wouldn't only learn about a particular animal, they'd develop research skills, computer skills and the usefulness of an almanac.