Each activity built not only skills but also lead the way to deeper questions. Each Activity brought another aspect of being the teacher-librarian to light.

Activity 1: was an introduction to ourself and the school we work at. I would answer some of the questions differently now and certainly with more authority as I’ve learned to see things from a broader perspective both as I have worked through this course and begun my training to become the teacher-librarian in the Fall. I really didn’t have that much knowledge about how the technical services were carried out in my school except how to pick up and drop off textbooks and locate the necessary resources for my course. Where the librarian and the technician roles began and ended were a mystery. How resources were cataloged and processed wasn’t even in my scope. The technician does the majority of the work at the school but with the course and concurrent training I have learned what types of decisions are being made to make materials more accessable to the students and why these choices are made. The private system of which I am a part of, has now become like a district with the sharing of a destiny group. I now see how places can pull together but also still have desires to follow their own past set up. If a book already catalogued is changed on the Destiny program, it is changed for everyone. There is discussion about how this makes it difficult for other schools but wanting to remain true to the vision of accessability each school has for the material for the students. This is an interesting issue to overcome.

Activity 2: was the first look at cataloging that made me have concern for my knowledge as I didn’t have a  clue what I was looking for or how to evaluate it when I found it. I have to admit that I started out reading what others posted and visiting those sites over to try to glean what it was I was trying to accomplish. This was by far one of the most growing aspects for me as I heard the voices of my peers and learned through their experiences. I began to become more familiar with the vocabulary and realized that there was a plethora of  materials available to help me. I recognize the value of this activity even more so at the end of the course as I have all these links of resources to help me continue to grow and store for future reference when the knowledge is practiced on the job. I’ve begun several files of library resources that will support me as I take over my new job. I think this activity built my confidence in the end and gave me direction on how to continue to grow as I finish my Masters and courses. My concern with finishing has been – how to keep up to date and on the cuting edge, but there are great sites to help a person do this.

Activity3: was the cataloging of 10 books with DDC and Subject Headings. I recall the trepidition I had while doing this. I didn’t know the DDC at all in depth. This certainly helped me understand the meaning behind all the numbers and letters! I also gained insight – realizing students will never really desire to understand DDC to the depth it is used – thus how incredible the  help of a teacher! Again there was a new familiarity with language developing and a sense of the purpose of the organization of the library. I realized the necessity of being comfortable with so many significant number groups to give meaning to the label at a deeper level and give quick direction to what resources are helpful for specific topics. Most of the books in our library do not go beyond 5 digits though so now it is my job to reflect on the numbering in the library and how helpful and accessable it truly is. I think experience will give me direction there as well as dialogue with the technician in the library.

Activity 4: was the review of school library webpages. I found it interesting how many reflections of my colleagues thought that private schools all had the resources the one we evaluated had. Those private schools are ususally academic icons and have backing from millionaires. Most of the schools I have worked at do not have the deep financial support that those ‘types’ of private schools do. Never-the-less I found it inspirational to try to continue the line of excellence sought by- all I’d say. We all desire to serve our communities well and reflect high expectations. Most of my courses have pointed to the importance of an on-line presence. When I was going to write a paper my research was on creating a library page that teachers could use to guide their in-class activities using the library. I plan to continue this venue on Assignment 3. There is no question that a good website makes the library a place that any student can use and be a part of when done well. My question for my school- is what is it going to look like to be ‘done well’ to serve my community?

Activity 5: was to become familiar with cataloging issues for teacher librarians and it was also a growing experience. As I walk into the role for the Fall I was mostly concerned with getting a grip on daily routines, teaching library classes to middle school and making connections with high school teachers to encourage joint units. I began to realize I had a lot more to think about in a broader scope. It is encouraging to me to see so many stepping back from their jobs pressing urgency and reflecting on the purpose and goals they are setting for the impact of information on students and the role of education. Of course you know it is that way, but to experience it and share it is by far a greater encouragment and influence. It was exciting to see new types of styles of books directing dialogue about appropriateness, value, organization etc. It really made cataloging a living issue rather than a dichotomous key that is set in stone. This section reflected to me how culture is changing, morphing, and growing and how this makes us percieve those around us and the events as well.

I think Assigment 2 was the most shocking and difficult experience for me. I evolved from completely overwhelmed and insecure to having more confidence and assurance in what I was doing and how to access help. I realized I was not alone and that this is such an important activity to make true access for the population to the most up to date and available information.

I am looking forward to attempting Assignment 3 which I began working on in other courses, my paper and preparing for my interview. This assignment is deeply reflective to me as it will inspire me to learn that skills needed to be able to create a webpage that speaks to my community and guides them to grow and love learning.

I was wondering if this would be more useful on a social bookmarking program like delicious rather than a webpage. I guess it would depend on both the use of the material collected and who it is collected by and who can modify the collection.

From the course here are useful sites I want to keep track of.

Teaching Information Literacy Skills: There are several online tutorials and webquests available to teach the concepts of Information Literacy.

One of the best sites on Information Litracy can be found in Canada: Media Web Awareness Network found at http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/index.cfm

There are numerous websites of interest related to Information Literacy. The following sites offer examples and guidelines for teachers.

• National Forum of Information Literacy (2004). Definitions, Standards, and Competencies Related to Information Literacy. http://www.infolit.org/definitions/index.html
• Information Literacy for those that teach it http://www.librarysupportstaff.com/teachlib.html
• Bellingham School District Online Research Investigations Based on the Research Cycle model for information literacy and Essential Academic Learning Requirements http://www.bham.wednet.edu/studentgal/onlineresearch/newonline/online.htm
• From Now On. The Educational Technology Journal. Educational Technology for Engaged Learning. Educational Technology for Literacy

http://www.fno.org/

Guide to Effective Searching of the Internet

This is help to help catalogue the Internet (from LIBe 465 UBC)

The DCMI has a set of 15 core elements and a total of 70 identifiable elements that can be used on a website.The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set.[4]

Through the choosing of these articles I’ve tried not only to update myself about the issues facing libraries and cataloging but also remain true to the questions I have and becoming more literate about these areas.

Article Reviews

The getting of wisdom: reflections of a teaching librarian–by Mandy Lupton

http://alia.org.au/publishing/aarl/33.2/full.text/lupton.html

Lupton, Mandy. “The getting of wisdom: reflections of a teaching librarian.” Australian Academic & Research Libraries 33 (2002). Australian Library and Information Association. June 2002. 21 June 2009 <http://alia.org.au/publishing/aarl/33.2/full.text/lupton.html>.

I chose this article as I think that collection development and cataloging must not only deal with attracting readers for pleasure reading, supporting the curriculum, and teaching information access, but it must also lead the students to grow personally and with wisdom. In the conversations about not restricting students too much leading to censorship, teaching students to access and analyze all types of information, there often seems to be little reference to the responsibility of the knowledge- the wisdom gleaned from reading. I looked forward to learning how this is incorporated into the library ethos in other places.

This article’s purpose is to encourage librarians to view themselves as educators and to take leadership in this manner in the library. The article defines information literacy as knowing “how to learn because they know how knowledge is organised, how to find information, and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them’ (p. 1).

I particularly appreciate the introduction of the 7 faces Information Technology represented in the article in the following copied chart.

The Seven Faces of Information Literacy

Adapted from Bruce[9] (see references of article)

Another powerful statement that I see living in the emergence of the courses I am taking during my education for library and literacy is “This shift from a narrow library centred paradigm to a broad learner centred paradigm is a huge conceptual leap that many academic librarians have still yet to grasp (p. 1).”  This statement offers up the idea that what we think about the library and the educators roles are truly becoming revolutionary as the digital age is as much a paradigm shift as the development of the Gutenberg press was.

Literacy teaching, information technology use must reflect more than finding the right answer or finding a balance of information. That is merely information retrieval. True learning shows the comprehension to create the right answer. This step shows a relationship between the learner and the information. Finding it is not where library skills stops. The following chart exemplifies the view.

Conceptions of information seeking and use

Adapted from Limberg [22] see article references (p. 1)

The article again quotes a very powerful statement by Bruce, “Teaching specific skills and knowledge is fundamentally at odds with the very idea of information literacy which suggests that knowledge and skills are quickly outdated, and that information literacy involves being able to learn and relearn in the face of constant change. [31]“

It is easy in the face of such inundation of information to forget the real goal of the skill teaching. Collection development and cataloging must be done in such a way as to foster this kind of learning and teaching. Further, critical reflection must be built into the teaching process as a powerful for developing literacy skills. Reflection can be build in “a larger context, seeing it in the light of broader experience, ‘seeing the information historically, temporarily, socioculturally and so on’ (p. 1).

This can be done with the use of blogs and wikis etc which can allow for students to document the learning process as well as the facts. There are many technologies becoming useful for the development of reflective literacy skill. It would be wise to keep this broader image of the teacher-librarian role in mind as collections are built and access to material is catalogued.

Build it and they will come: Graphic Novels for your collection – Kerry Ireland

http://www.cla.ca/casl/slic/SLICVol23issue3.pdf#page=14

Ireland, Kerry. “Build it and they will come: Graphic Novels for your collection.” School Libraries in Canada 23 (2004): 1-42. Canadian Library Association. Canadian Library Association. 20 June 2009 <http://www.cla.ca/casl/slic/SLICVol23issue3.pdf#page=14>

I’ve chosen to look at this article as graphic novels are still a matter of discussion with many interested in literature. There are a number of questions about their impact as literature. One question that does not exist is- are students interested in them?! Many different types of readers are fascinated by their publications and for many different reasons. Why should ‘picture’ books stop at elementary school? Science and other non-fiction books are infiltrated with pictures that have context to the writing. It seems a natural step for publishing. The real questions are how to chose them, what to do with them and how to handle them in the library?

The graphic novel has been defined by several in the last 20 years. This article states that a graphic novel, “ Simply put, …rely on a mixture of words and pictures to tell the story (p. 14).” The graphic novel has also expanded from the fantasy genra, to include a broad scope of genra.

The graphic novel is a print bridge for the generations growing up that may not have been read to or for some reason have not developed imagination without the use of visual clues. This of course is enhanced by the use of TV and movies in culture to tell stories. It is enhanced with the use of the Internet and video camera clips. More and more of the population is becoming accustomed to visual cues for literacy. The reader must still decode and internalize the text to understand the meaning of the story in a graphic novel. Comprehension is still a requirement so it can be viewed as augmenting traditional literacy.

I think one of the strongest statements in the article is the quote, “There is justification for any books read for pleasure to be included in a school library with its emphasis on the development of reading skill and literacy (p. 15).” Literacy in our culture is returning to a more visual status with the use of computers which include art, music and other symbols for communication. Without undermining or devaluing word driven literacy, it is important to expand, include and practice other forms of literacy so that the student is fluent with that. We should celebrate differences of strength in pursuing literacy in our culture. Equality comes from using all strengths of communication not from elevating one form at the cost of all others.

So if we are going to include graphic novels what are the criteria for choosing them? Like many other books, suggestions from teachers and students help guide the usage issue in the library but broader guidelines and principles have been developed by others. The standard sources of book reviews are listed: Booklist, School Library Journal, Horn Book Magazine, and Publishers Weekly, and VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates). A recommended resource in the article is “101 Best Graphic Novels” by Stephen Weiner. He does a review of all the books mentioned. Also mentioned in the website is the Graphic Novels in Libraries’.

The suggested criteria for the development of the graphic novel collection remains very similar to that of the general material of the library such as: age appropriateness, lack of race, age and gender biases. Graphic novels can be found that fit this criteria by reviewing the books nominated and winning the awards designed for this group of books: the Eisners and the Harveys awards. The article further quotes a list of 10 things to examine in a graphic novel by DeVos (p. 16) that can help give direction to building the collection. These are:

• Is the book physically well produced and attractive?
• Is the storyline coherent, imaginative, interesting and well written?
• Is the language accessible and appropriate?
• Do the illustrations provide a subtle commentary on the printed word and move the story forward?
• Are the illustrations of high standard, both artistically and technically?
• Does the cover illustration do justice to the material inside?
• Are the words and pictures interdependent?
• Does the book treat race, gender, and social class positively?
• Is violence part of the nature of the story or is it gratuitous?
• Is the text legible or is it obscures by illustrative matter, making it difficult to read?

The article then goes to list 5 graphic novels the article author recommends with reviews.

I haven’t listed Kerry Ireland’s choices as the point of the article for this course was the methodical way in which to incorporate graphic novels and how to find or choose the novels. There are strong references to further research and develop your own list of important features to help purchase books in general and specifically graphic novels for the collection. I found this article a great place to start to investigate purposing purchasing books for the collection as I will be new to the library in the Fall and want to purchase books for the collection that broaden the collection, support learning and are chosen based on purpose rather than availability or personal preference. This article articulated well the reasons for inclusion of graphic novels in the library and how to have a great collection.

What Children Can Teach Us: Developing Digital Libraries for Children with Children–Allison Druin

http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/428691

Druin, Allison. “What Children Can Teach Us: Developing Digital Libraries for Children with Children.” The Library Quarterly 75 (2005): 20-41. Chicago Journals. 2005. 20 June 2009 <http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/428691>.

I’ve chosen this article as relevant to the course due to the urgency of the library to deal with the need to address digital material and both its relevance and interaction with students. This study impacted “collection development, cataloging and information access”.

Students tend to have a positive view of technology and often include it in the defining of themselves so it is becoming essential to address this mode of information exchange in a positive and guiding manner. There are problems inherit with attempting to create a digital library such as intellectual property, the rights of information access balanced with the dangers of the Internet.

One of the interesting aspects about the article was the statement that students think quite differently than adults about organization (at least the younger age group the study was looking at). The libraries are organized according to adult’s rather than children’s worldview. The interesting factor was there was no reflection on growing the children into a new worldview. The study did show that children want books shelved together in the way that makes sense to them, like anyone they want information easily accessible to their approach. An example is that young children do not make distinction between fiction and non-fiction. Is it not important that they begin to understand that concept rather than catering to that unclear division?

Young children most often organize books through visual cues such as color, size and shape. They will often describe a book by describing the pictures on the cover and the colour. From experience, this aspect remains all the way up to high school, although less predominantly.  A students will often look for the book on the shelf by remembering it’s location, the colour of the book and the imagery of the cover. Those that are more visual will often do the visual search, rather than search for the book location with the catalogue system.

The need for children to both speak as an adult and think like an adult is multiplied on the Internet while searching for material to use. There is a real need for customization and visual tools for young readers and struggling readers. These can also be more useful for those who use visual memory a lot as well. During the study the teams produced a collection development criteria and a ideas for how children like to search for information.  Interestingly these are a list of the priorities that emerged for children when choosing books in a library: “books about children from other cultures; children from other times in history; animals, real and make believe; books that are sensitive to other cultures; and books that are in good condition (p.11).”

The project then created two new interface digital library interfaces for trial at libraries. The found that 65% accessed the Basic style of interface but they found that together 1.5 million books were read in the experiment. One hundred and sixty-eight countries were represented in the experiment. They found that 90% of the time users used the graphic search tools rather than the keyword searches.

The importance of this article to the course is to remind us that although we say ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’, the reality is that in the visually driven generation that is more than likely what is happening. Having old styled, damaged books does not draw the reader to the material. We still want to teach depth, thought, analytical choosing etc but in a visual world ‘looks count’. Further we need to continue to develop our on-line expertise to make materials accessible to students in ways that make them both comfortable, their preferred mode of organization as well as stretching them into new worldviews.

Scotch College Library

Access to information enhancement: Advantages and Disadvantages

The library resource material access is enhanced tremendously but the use of the webpage. All students can easily retrieve guidance whether at home, at school in another location than the library, or even in the library while the T-L is busy or unable to help at that moment. It does put many students on an equal footing provided they have the ability to work with a computer and have the skills to navigate on the interface.

The types of information that was immediately apparent at this site were the library blog, a bibliographic school standard, resource recommendations, research skill training, the library vision, literature links, a page for teacher development and information, and the school calendar.

The search bar was evident but the organization of the page kind of masked its location initially. As I worked with this, the unveiling of some of the hidden offerings, I began to see the depth of the organization but also the difficulty in prioritization that became apparent. There were almost too many access points and some were of course repetitive as they linked through other areas as well. The page itself was of high quality and reflected both skill in webpage making but also time or money given to construct such a gateway to the library.

Once familiar with the page, and comfortable with the navigation, the student body would have tremendous access to immediate help and direction no matter where from. The library is not only a part of the school but a part of the home as well. Learning now becomes less restrictive to school, school directed activities and students willing to venture into the library and students willing to ask questions. Learning is now opened up to a much larger variety of learner, personality and locality.

School Library:

North Elementary School Library Media Center

Access to information enhancement: Advantages and Disadvantages

My immediate response to the page was that it was identifiable. This is a good thing as it is focused on the elementary learner. The subsection headers were clear (blue) and the submenu material was easily identifiable with words and images for both the reader and early reader. Each grade level had a link to a resource page obviously created for the classroom teacher to use with his/her class.  Quick access to online data material was obvious. etc.

I didn’t really like the page layout. Even with familiarity it felt cluttered and the menu only was accessibly at the home page so navigation back was always necessary. Maybe it is my high school and science background but I found I would only use the page when absolutely necessary. It certainly made access better for parents and at home use but I’m not sure it is pleasurable. Maybe that is an unfair accessment?

The advantages are clearly the general ones of accessibility for all. The look and navigation for an elementary school must be very different than that for a high school and perhaps this page achieves it without being so young as to turn off all readers. I tend to like word lists with larger fonts (like the above site). I’ve viewed other pages that often seem focused on the youngest to use the page which seems to make it unappealing  for the older grades. This page might actually try to address that issue by having colour, images, visual buttons etc.

School Library:

Lord Byng Senior Secondary

Access to information enhancement: Advantages and Disadvantages

The opening page is basically a FAQ page which is very helpful for navigation but not very friendly and welcoming or attractive. The page does give direction to the location so I assume it is a large school, tells the hours of operation and gives guidance for tutorials for the use of the webcat. For a word driven, high school based library it answers obvious first time user questions but it is not really welcoming or directive to regular users- eventually this page feels like it is in the way. I would prefer to see this page as a link (FAQ) or smaller or more graphic and attractive as well as a welcome and directive to other users. This page makes me appreciate the Scotch College Library Page more as well.

It does however, give good links to other important school community events. There is an immediately available site search and the link pages for students and parents which are really adminitrivia for the school rather than library related. It does state soon to come but there is no date given. I am missing it’s helpfulness to the broader community.

The good news on this page is it’s blog and the link to the webcat.

I’m not sure that I could still do this activity without guidance. I found I needed the links previously mentioned (another blog entry) to guide me through the descisions and I still would check against the answers in the book as well as the LC and NExpress sight I was using. I will rely on that site the rest of my life! And I was thankful when I discovered that the key to finding the material I was looking for on it was to often find it at amazon and copy and paste their title and author layout. If I did this I almost always found what I was looking for immediately otherwise it would take a lot longer.

I would truly like to thank organizations like NExpress and the Kansis library and the 131 other libraries that have made their catalogues available for reference, of course this includes all the university and public libraries in general, but to have access to all these systems from one interface is incredible. I found the efficiency of my learning curve increase tremendously with the finding of this site.

I would have enjoyed this activity in a group with interaction more to hear the reasoning of others for all the tagging, as this is more the type of learner I am. The discussion board is helpful but not always timely as to when I was working on it or when I was able to be on line.

I did find the mapping excercise of ISBD and marc tags helpful as it helped me to gain a more global picture of what the main areas of information are as seen by the library practices. This did help me to read through the back of the books and the inside pages to look for information and organized it in a manner that was useful and transferred into the mark codes. I did struggle with the 300 and 500′s for a long period of time until I was helped to see that the one area was only used for non-book entries. That really helped to make sense of the material and stop what seemed like repetative information entries to me.

I think what stuck me the most was the importance of the access points. The need for breadth and depth in order for the largest part of the student body or public to find a route to the information, the complete information, not only what is sought but what is informing to what is sought. This of course varies with importance depending on what the need of the information is. If one is just looking for a ‘Friend’ DVD for an entertaining evening of viewing, excess information seems trivial. But, in many other cases of information, students/ public are searching for meaning, insight, worldview, full perspective etc. and in this case- more information linkages are vital in order to give a complete picture of the topic at that time in history.

Great PowerPoint notes on Cataloging: a list of helpful points from this

• The fields and subfields in the MARC 21 formats correspond to the “areas” of ISBD;
• Chapters in AACR correspond to ISBD sections
• SECTIONS OF ISBD AND MARC 21 FIELDS:
  1) Title statement – Field 245
  2) Edition statement – Field 250
  3) General material designation – Field 340
  4) Imprint statement – Field 260
  5) Physical description – 3XX fields
  6) Series statements – 4XX fields
  7) Notes – 5XX fields
  Standard numbers (ISBN, etc.) – 02X fields
• ISBD principles are incorporated as much as possible into the MARC data (punctuation is sometimes suppressed at data element boundaries, particularly between fields)
• Types of MARC 21 bibliographic records:
  1) Books and manuscripts
  2) Cartographic material (maps)
  3) Music
  4) Audiovisual material
  5) Films
  6) Software programs
  7) Periodicals (more accurately, a way of publishing and
  control of material)

ACCESS POINTS CORRESPOND TO AUTHORITY DATA ELEMENTS:

• Categories of headings in MARC:
  1) Personal name
  2) Corporate name
  3) Conference and meeting name
  4) Uniform title
  5) Subject/topical term
  6) Geographic name
  7) Genre/form
  Chronological
• 9) Classification

BIBLIOGRAPHIC ELEMENTS REQUIRED IN ALL MARC 21 RECORDS:

• 000 – Positions 05, 06, 07, 17, 18
  001 – Control Number
  003 – Control Number Identifier
  005 – Date and Time of Last Transaction
  008 – Positions 00-05, 06, 07-14, 15-17, 35-37
  040 – Cataloging Source ($a, $c)
  245 – Title Statement ($a)
  260 – Imprint ($a, $b, $c)
  300 – Physical Description ($a, $c)

• OTHER COMMON ELEMENTS:
  02X – Standard Numbers
  084 – Classification
  1XX – Main Entry (only one permitted)
  440 – Series Statement
  5XX – Notes (500, 502, 504, 505, 520)
  6XX – Subject Entries (650, 651)
  7XX – Added Entries
  852 – Location

OK guess there are no actually useful videos on cataloging! At least in my searches so far.

There is however another PowerPoint called Descriptive Cataloging of Monographs

ISBD Plus Marc

I also found this very helpful site with the list of MARC21 numbers- LILACS

A very helpful site with about ISBD is IFLA

Found this really cools site called biblios.net which is Marc cataloging for libraries to share

Found a GREAT site to help with AACR2r rules in Collections Canada

Map LC (LCC) to Dewey (DDC) Classification

Dewey Browse Created and Maintained by Gail Shea Grainger,Web Sites Classified by the Dewey Decimal Classification System for Grades K-12

Dewey for Elementary Students

An example of a school library website (ideas)

Dewey Decimal Media Tour

Dewey on-line training quiz

A catalogue of on-line resources Dewey style- webrary

The Dewey Decimal Hotlist for Librarians

The Internet Library for Librarians

Cataloging tools

The first thing I learned is that our teacher librarian is reliant on the technician for cataloging. She knew nothing about the resources I asked about and she is really quite busy getting ready to go on a three year missions trip so her time use is focussed that way for her spare time. The technician however, is very helpful and knowledgable and has helped me with finding some of the resources. I really look forward to building a friendship with her as I learn from her and with her in this adventure. I will be taking over from the teacher-librarian in Sept. and will be thankful for a well grounded relationship with the technician.

From this I have learned that the technician does most of the work with the books. There is discussion on how to organized the library but she is the one that knows how to do the daily work with the books. It will be good to learn about that aspect as well.