What I have learned and where to next....

I feel like I have learned so much so far this term. I feel this blog is an excellent assignment and the course readings have been very useful. The textbook is one that I will be keeping close by after the course. The blog helps me look back at each week and then I have to summarize what has happened and by doing this I feel like I am really taking in the information that we have discussed in the postings. 

I feel like I was doing many of the actions discussed during these first five weeks but I did not have the technical language behind them. For example, I did not know the term "reference interview" even though I am doing them daily with the students and weekly with the teachers. I did not know the different steps in the evaluation process, even though I was doing them. But to write them down and have an educated discussion on them before this course I would be embarrassed. The research methods were also new to me. Again I was doing the Big 6 method, but I feel like I am more open to teaching the research process now and I also have a little background knowledge on these steps and feel far more confident in talking to teachers about this issues. Knowing these terms makes me feel so much more professional at my position. 

I have learned about wedding before, but it was nice to hear the same information and have the same ideas and thoughts said to me again. I feel that since they have come from a few different sources and they all say the same things that this must be the best way to complete the task. 

All in all, I have learned lots so far but I know I have so much more to go in order to look much more professional and speak with far more experienced librarians in a language that they can understand and make me look like I know what I'm talking about. Learning this information is a way for me to transition from a young inexperienced librarian with lots of energy and willing to do it all into a more well rounded librarian with a broader knowledge of the industry.  Learning the professional terms and the issues around them will also help me in my next interview for a position in the library. Like I mentioned, I was already doing many of these things we have discussed. I just did not know the terminology. 

Where to next.... Wedding is the number one job that has to get done in my library this year. It has been a few years since this library has had it done. Mostly because of lack of TL time at the school. It was hard having 2 school libraries and 2 days at each and coaching team sports, plus my own life and team sports. This year I am very happy with how my library is finally set-up and I have 4 days at this school, so I have 4 afternoons to work with. Along with wedding the inventory also has to be done at my school. From what we learned from wedding I will have a good starting point.

Research.... I have been making much more of an effort to help the teachers and students do research at school. Again it really helps being at the school for 4 days and I have an idea of what is going on all the time, plus it is easier this year as I really know the library collection and I have set-up my library and helpers and I have a fantastic system working. It is easier for me to bring in guest speakers and teach information sessions as I have more time. Last week I brought in the public librarian to do book talks and talk about database searching to the students for the Egypt unit coming up. All of the little things are starting to fall into place and with each course I take in the library diploma I feel like I am adding more and more to the library. I have also added a blog to the library this year in order to help the students with library updates and with online database searching. I'm hoping the page will become the first place students want to go for information when they are doing their homework. 

Week 5

The Reference Interview

At the start of this lesson I was leaning towards the teacher being responsible for starting the reference interview. This way they can help the TL by telling them their needs for the class and the TL can assist them by finding the information. I fully agreed with Cristal's answer to the posting for question #5 where she also stated that the classroom teacher starts it.

I put out a suggestion about the TL approaching the teacher and creating a unit together based in the TL starting the reference interview....perhaps asking the teacher what units they have coming up and then starting a co-teaching unit from there. However, nobody seemed to bite on this.

After going back and reading the chapter again, I think it is equal on who starts the reference interview. It can happen with the TL, teacher, or the student. The textbook talks about how the students approach the TL asking for help and yes it is usually much smaller of a demand then a teacher asking for unit supplies, it happens far more often on a daily basis in elementary schools. The students are always asking where a certain book is, either fiction or non-fiction.

So, I'm changing my opinion to be more open and that the reference interview can start from any of the 3 parties involved, they just have different degrees in depth for the needs to be met.

Week 4

The Web

While the question for week 4 was about the Alberta webpage resource there was a lot of other information given out this week. Looking at the webpage from Alberta I was no overly impressed, but sometimes it is the time you are looking at something or your frame of mind at the time. Jennifer commented on Feb 6 about being blogged down with all the online stuff I think posted how I was agreeing with her at the time.

Taking 2 online classes that both look at many online webpages, running a blog on my own and dealing with report cards (soon - creating the comments now) it felt like an overload, nevermind the part time work and soccer I fit in and I'm sure others all have similar issues with busy families etc. Time was a big issue of conversation for question #2 when Anne put out the lack of comments to her question that week. This week there were lots of great links given out in the text book that will be very useful in the future. It was then I was starting to realize that the textbook should be a useful tool even after the course is over and not many classes can say that. Joyce actually brought this up in a posting on Feb 2 and I totally agree with her.

In the end this week, I will take away all the great webpages the text offered and make use of some of them in the future some way some how.

Week 3

Evaluation Process

In the book Riedling gives us 6 steps to go from, p19/20 in evaluating the materials:
1) Content Scope
2) Accuracy, Authority, Bias
3) Arrangement and Presentation
4) Relation to similar works
5) Timeliness and Permanence
6) Cost

The general talk in the posting is what I echoed in my posting when I commented on Tammy's post. She used the word "springboard" as a way for these suggestions to start us out as beginners and get in in the right direction. Riedling fails to mention things like looking at the school. Cristal's comments on Feb 2 sum up most of what the class was agreeing on. The school's mission statement needs to be considered and is that item still being used. So Riedling was correct on basic starting points, but was missing the detail that depends on the individual school.

Week 3

Reference Materials - Weeding

This week we read about selecting and maintaining your library collection and while I don't have a problem with selecting materials I do have a problem with wedding. Selection is the easy part, the fun part. Staff give ideas and suggestions. I have my own ideas and from looking at the collection and listening to what is going on in the literature world. Students also put in suggestions.

Weeding on the other hand is different. So hard to throw out books, especially when we spend so much money on them. Trying to find suggestions and guidelines has been helpful for me this year as this is a job that will be started after I'm done with coaching the basketball team.

In reading Riedling, Chapter 2 page 21, gives some suggestions to this. She gave some useful suggestions that I commented on during this week of our class discussion. The part that stuck out with me on this was the 5 year rule. If that was the case there would hardly be any books on the shelves in the library. I can understand things like computer books change so fast (therefore maybe not buy them) but other topics such as pioneer life in BC won't change much and a student in grade 4 will still get the same info if the book is 4 years old or 9 years old. Perhaps Riedling is setting the 5 years as a rough bench mark and then you can adjust from there.

Once I posted that comment, Tammy also agreed with the 5 years being too quick noting that science textbooks don't even get replaced that quickly. However, Tammy talked about buying online encyclopedias which I thought was a great idea. I have a blog for my library and I am trying to create it into a place with book reviews and an online source for my students to visit and because of her comment I started searching and I added a few of them to my school blog.

In reading through the comments from the class online it seems as though many are in the same spot as me. A beginner weeder and with some time and practice it will become easier. We all had the same comments about lack of funds to weed that often which is a big concern for many of us. One of the online papers I selected for assignment #1 part 1 was also about weeding and it gave a number of ideas to help support me when I begin.

Anne, you also gave us some useful pointers in a message on Feb 2 about weeding and I responded with commenting on how I have heard very similar pointers from others in the industry. It is good to hear it from a school side, a work side, and a professional side. Most of these people are saying the same thing which is good and will be helpful when I start weeding this year.

Week 2

The Research Process


When I started out reading this chapter at the start of the course I was pretty sure I was all about the Big 6 model. I had to take in what was being written and discussed within our class. I then asked a couple teachers at school some of their thoughts on the topic too. I'm working in an elementary school.

What it took for me was to switch my head from student to teacher. When I am a student I prefer the Big 6 model. Tammy Le said it best in her posting about it, "it gives them the most flexibility within each step" and as student I like this. I think if I was teaching in high school I would also prefer this.

However in an elementary setting, the students really need their hands held in going through step-by-step on doing anything. This is why I think I have changed my view point over to the Research Process. There are so many other issues in the class, behaviour, ESL, learning disabilities, mixed grades etc. That giving the students a slow step process where they can check off each step as they go through them. That visual of the steps on the board or on a hand out would really help some of the learners in a class. This way the teacher can also help them with the next step with ease, less explaining to do.

Depending on the grade, I would even change some of the wording. Instead of "formulate question" I might use "create question". I feel the Big 6 is good for more mature learners, but the vocabulary would be too hard for elementary students. As a teacher I would get tired of having to explain over and over again "task identification" or "synthesis". Younger students or ESLs would never understand this. Some younger students sometimes have troubles just copying from the whiteboard to their notebooks. So, from a teaching standpoint I would also use what is easier for me in order for the students to learn and I feel that the language used in the Research Process would be better for an elementary school setting.