Making of the Most of What We've Got...

Courtesy of Leish. Blog. Hopefully a Librarian in the Making

I was reassured by the quote, trite as it may be, in this week's lesson on evaluating reference services: "It's not necessarily what you've got, but what you do with what you've got that's important."  The idea that it is our job to make the most of our time and budget in a limited references collection helps me to focus on what we have rather than what we don't.  It helps to keep the job from quickly becoming overwhelming and allows me to plod on rather than throwing in the towel. 

Last week I started to weed through our incredibly dated reference collection.  I am ridding our shelves of much of our thirty to fifty year old collection.  I've kept more than I might have if our budget and admin were willing to support a renewed print collection, and I've agonized over a few resources such as the award winning 1988 multi-volume Vietnam War encyclopedia set which is no longer in print. (Opinions are welcome here.  I've set it to the side for future decision making).  I've documented which resources we have and which I have taken out of the library.  These steps are some of the first needed in "analysis of the existing collection" ("Stages of Collection Development", Adapted from: Doiron, Ray. School Libraries in Canada, 2002. Vol. 21, No. 4 and Ministry of Education materials).  I've been thinking about not only what we have in our print collection, but also what is available in our digital collection to meet the needs of students and staff and BC's new curriculum, which is centered around student inquiry, student directed learning, "Place-based Learning", and the "Principles of Indigenous Learning." Our District Resource Center's digital collection supports many of our curricular needs, but does not provide "a wide range of resources in various mediums" (Resource-Based Learning). To complete some of the later steps in "The Stages of Collection Development" I will have to advocate for the development of a print resource collection, outline a wish list (after identifying sources for purchasing and selecting names of new resources for purchase), and ask that money be added to our scant library budget.  This will need to happen before any acquiring, handling, promoting, and maintaining can occur.

When thinking about Lesson Six, Managing the Reference Collection, and "The Role of the Teacher Librarian" as outlined by the Greater Victoria School District, I realize I need to do more in terms of collaboration with administrators, teachers, and district staff to develop a school library program, but this will take time and can only be accomplished in small steps.  One of my priorities will be the creation of a committee of all stake holders to create a vision for our Library Learning Commons and to establish policy to support that vision.  While I have already taken on some of the "Program and Instruction" and "Learning and Resource Management," I have only just begun to think about "Leadership in Resource Based Learning." My current strengths include the creation of a welcoming space, promoting reading and language development and literature appreciation, and organizing student and parent volunteers. There is so much to do and not enough time to do it, but I am taking baby steps. 

This week I presented a small workshop on our digital resources during our staff meeting and I've begun working with a couple of classes on research involving ready-reference questions. These classes were checking out some of the historical allusions present within their novel study, The Crazy Man, by Pamela Porter.  I generated interest and discussion about encyclopedias by playing the short video clip,"Teens React to Encyclopedias" and then I showed them how to use our digital World Book encyclopedias.  Students were excited to learn that citations are provided at the end of each World Book article.  It was the first time these classes had used the digital resources and they seemed to enjoy the experience of finding the answers to their ready reference questions using World Book online.  There was some discussion about the advantages of using this type of resource over sources found using Google.  

Next week I will begin working with a class doing a free inquiry project.  Their teacher is working toward having students narrow their topics and she will pass along that information to to me.  I have provided her with a list of questions from the "Research Quest" inquiry model to help students think about their topics.  Although I will have information about their topics on paper, I anticipate also needing to do some work with students one on one to further clarify their research needs.  

This takes me back to Lesson Five and the Reference Interview.  While I agree with much of the discussion from week five that there are many differences between a public library interview and that which occurs in a school library, I appreciated Riedling's discussion on the importance of making the researcher feel a sense of belonging and appreciation. This week a student came into the library to do research for his Careers class and I thought about the reference interview.  I helped this student to do some searching using our DRC's Ebscohost data-base.  It helped that I already had a strong relationship with this student because I had taught him last semester. 

I did a little research this week to see what I could find from other sources on the Reference Interview.  I watched a number of videos and thought these would be fun to include in this reflection.  I like how this video demonstrates a number of dos and don'ts when conducting the reference interview.  I am definitely sometimes guilty of not looking up as a student passes.  It's easy to become absorbed in administrative work on the computer on the library desk.  This video is a good reminder:   

The last three weeks have provided a lot to reflect on.  They've inched me closer to a more fully functioning Library Learning Commons by helping me better understand both my role as a teacher librarian and my reference collection.

Work Cited

Alwine, Hope. "Library 101: Reference Librarian." Online video clip. YouTube. 3 December 2017. Web. Accessed 9 February 2019.

"Article 2: The Reference Interview." slideshare.net.  14 July, 2011. Web. Accessed 8 February 2011. 

British Columbia.  Ministry of Education.  “Building Student Success –BC’s New Curriculum.” curriculum.gov.bc.ca.  Web. Accessed 3 February 2019.

Canadian Association for School Libraries.  Achieving Information Literacy Standards for School Library Programs in Canada.  The Canadian School Library Association and the Association for Teacher- Librarianship in Canada. 2003. Accessed 18 Janurary 2019. 

Doiron, Ray. School Libraries in Canada. Ministry of Education materials, Vol. 21 No. 4, 2002.

FBE. "Teens react to encyclopedias." Online video clip. YouTube. 12 July 2015. Web. Accessed 30 February 2019.

FNESC “First Peoples Principles of Learning.” First Nations Steering Committee. fnesc.ca. Accessed 08 June 1018. Web.

Germaine, Karla. "Weeding our FSS Reference Collection." February 2019. 

Libaryofdoom. "Chapter 3: The Reference Interview." Online video clip. YouTube. 16 August  February 2015. Web. Accessed 9 February 2019.

Liesh.  "Role of the Teacher Librarian."  Blog post. Hopefullyalibrarianinthemaking.wordpress.com. 2013. Web. Accessed 15 February 2019. 

Muller, Aaron.  “Lesson 5: The Reference Interview: Cooperative Program Planning and Teaching for Personalized Inquiry.” LIBE 467 63 C Information Services. Canvas. Web. Accessed 24 January 2019.

Muller, Aaron.  “Lesson 6: Managing the Resource Collection.” LIBE 467 63 C Information Services. Canvas. Web. Accessed 2 February 2019.

Muller, Aaron.  “Lesson 7: Evaluating Reference Services.” LIBE 467 63 C Information Services. Canvas. Web. Accessed 06 February 2019.

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

"What is Place-Eased Education?"  Promise of Place. promiseofplace.com. Web. Accessed 05 

  February 2019.  

School District No. 5 (Southeast Kootenay).  “District Resource Center.” Sd5.bc.ca. Web. Accessed 14 February 2019.