The Internet offers a multitude of websites for school librarians. Several of my favorite websites are listed in the "School Librarian Websites" section of my blog. In my search for a credible website relevant to my blog topic, I used an advanced search for "school librarian role" (no parentheses) and specifyied the .org domain on the Google search engine.
I ultimately chose the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) website for the purpose of this competency. While the American Library Association (ALA) website is probably the most comprehensive website for librarians in general, the American Associan of School Librarians website, which is actually linked from the ALA website, is designed specifically for the school librarian. The title of the webpage retrieved in my initial search was Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning: Roles and Responsibilities of the School Library Media Specialist. This article outlines and summarizes four key roles of the school library media specialist: teacher, instructional partner, information specialist, and program administrator.
The AASL websites provides many resources and useful links for its members, parents, administrators, and school librarian students. From the home page, there are links to information about the American Association of School librarians, issues and advocacy, conferences, guidelines and standards, continuing education, and research and statistics among others. A particularly useful link to the school librarian is the link to publications and journals which takes the user to a page with more links categorized by user and interest. Especially helpful is the "Essential Links: Resources for School Library Media Program Development" described as a wiki that "offers bibliographies of resources arranged alphabetically by frequently used topics." From the main page, topics of interest to the school library media specialist, including censorship, privacy, literacy, professional publications and many others, are listed in alphabetical order in the table of contents link.
I chose this website for inclusion in my blog because of the valuable resources it offers not only current school librarians but for anyone entering the profession. It's link to other related websites and publications makes this website an essential tool for the proffessional school library media specialist.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Competency 8: Research Visual/Multimedia
A simple advanced Google Image search using the .edu domain retrieved an interesting article titled "Computer Use in K-12 Setting." The website is a publication of the San Diego State University Departmental Technology. The chart below included in the article illustrates the collaborative role of the school library media specialist in planning and implementing a lesson plan using technology in the classroom.
I chose this graphic image because of its clear representation of the important role the school library media specialist can play in technology education. This graphic illustrates the area of expertises of the classroom teacher - content and standards; the computer educator - technology and software and the library media specialist - research materials, technology and processes. By combining the skills of each professional by brainstorming a learning unit, a complete technology lesson plan including goals and objectives and learning activities can be developed. This model is best used, according to the article, when multiple computers are available in the classroom.
Too often the school library media specialist is overlooked as a resource in the development and implementation of technology in the classroom. By using this model, the collaborative role of each professional plays an equal part in technology education.
Copyright information: The Encyclopedia of Educational Technology (EET) is a collection of short multimedia articles on a variety of topics related to the fields of instructional design and education and training. The primary audiences for the EET are students and novice to intermediate practitioners in these fields, who need a brief overview as a starting point to further research on specific topics. Authors are graduate students, professors, and others who contribute voluntarily. Articles are short and use multimedia to enrich learning rather than merely decorate the pages.
©1994-2009 by San Diego State University. All rights reserved
<http://coe.sdsu.edu/EET/articles/computersk12/index.htm> accessed 25 April 2009.
Too often the school library media specialist is overlooked as a resource in the development and implementation of technology in the classroom. By using this model, the collaborative role of each professional plays an equal part in technology education.
Copyright information: The Encyclopedia of Educational Technology (EET) is a collection of short multimedia articles on a variety of topics related to the fields of instructional design and education and training. The primary audiences for the EET are students and novice to intermediate practitioners in these fields, who need a brief overview as a starting point to further research on specific topics. Authors are graduate students, professors, and others who contribute voluntarily. Articles are short and use multimedia to enrich learning rather than merely decorate the pages.
©1994-2009 by San Diego State University. All rights reserved
<http://coe.sdsu.edu/EET/articles/computersk12/index.htm> accessed 25 April 2009.
Competency 7: Image
This image is a picture of a book fair at one of my K-4 elementary school libraries.One of the primary roles of the school librarian in the district where I work is to hold at least one, preferably two, book fairs at each campus per year. This year, I held a total of six book fairs at four campuses.
Book fairs are a great way for school libraries to raise unbudgeted funds for the library and promote reading by placing affordable books in the hands of our students. Funds raised through book fairs are mainly used to purchase prizes for our Accelerated Reader stores which are held each semester to reward students for meeting reading goals.
Throughout our book fairs, we also hold drawings and award free books to students and teachers in an effort to promote the library and to give books to students who can't afford to buy them. At one of my low-income elementary schools, we hold a "Dollar Book Fair" in which all books are sold for $1.00. We purchase books by using "bonus points" earned through book fair sales, so all money raised is pure profit, and students who could not otherwise afford even book fair prices are able to own a book of their own.
While book fairs can be extremely time- and energy- consuming, the rewards to the school library and its students and faculty are well-worth the effort!
Competency 6d: Databases: Successive Fractions Search: ERIC
The successive fraction search strategy starts with a broad search and narrows the search by addding limiters such as specific facets, Boolean operators such as "AND" and "NOT," and date, author, or title limiters among others according to the database's IR system.
Using the search topic "What effects have the USA Patriot Act had on libraries?" I conducted a Successive Fractions Search using the ERIC database. Using the query facets "Patriot Act," "libraries" and "effects." I constructed the following strings for my search:
S1 = effect* (263, 403 hits - way too many!)
S2 = S1 and librar* (7,821 hits - getting better, still too many)
S3 = S2 and Patriot Act (1 hit - not quite enough)
S1 Screenshot:
S1 + S2 Screenshot:
S1 + S2 + S3 Screenshot:
Hit:
Since my last search was far too limited, I would modify my search by including other search facets. Some descriptors, or facets, offered by ERIC in the abstract I retrieved included: Internet, privacy, computer security, and federal legislation. A query expansions combining additional facets and appropriate Boolean operators would produce even better results.
Using the search topic "What effects have the USA Patriot Act had on libraries?" I conducted a Successive Fractions Search using the ERIC database. Using the query facets "Patriot Act," "libraries" and "effects." I constructed the following strings for my search:
S1 = effect* (263, 403 hits - way too many!)
S2 = S1 and librar* (7,821 hits - getting better, still too many)
S3 = S2 and Patriot Act (1 hit - not quite enough)
S1 Screenshot:
S1 + S2 Screenshot:
S1 + S2 + S3 Screenshot:
Hit:
Since my last search was far too limited, I would modify my search by including other search facets. Some descriptors, or facets, offered by ERIC in the abstract I retrieved included: Internet, privacy, computer security, and federal legislation. A query expansions combining additional facets and appropriate Boolean operators would produce even better results. 
Competency 6c: Databases - Building Block Search: Library Lit
According to Chu (2003), the building block search is "highly recommended to users." It allows the user to modify searches without completely re-doing them until the desired results are accomplished.
Using Library Lit database, I constructed a building block search for the question, "What effects have the U.S. Patriot Act had on libraries?" I identified my component facets as "usa patriot act," "libraries," and "effect." I then combined my terms with Boolean logic to come up with my keyword search strings as follows:
S1 = (usa and patriot and act) or uspa
S2 = librar*
S3 = effect* or impact*
S1 and S2 and S3 (14 hits)
Using Library Lit database, I constructed a building block search for the question, "What effects have the U.S. Patriot Act had on libraries?" I identified my component facets as "usa patriot act," "libraries," and "effect." I then combined my terms with Boolean logic to come up with my keyword search strings as follows:
S1 = (usa and patriot and act) or uspa
S2 = librar*
S3 = effect* or impact*
S1 and S2 and S3 (14 hits)
Selected Hit:
I was very pleased when my initial query produced fourteen articles, most of which seemed to be very relevant, on my chosen topic. Since I want to include more current information, I might consider limiting my search by including a date limiter to produce more current articles. Having learned this search strategy, I would prefer it to other strategies such as browsing because of the organized specificity of combining identified facets without being too restrictive.
Chu, Heting. Information Representation and Retrieval in the Digital Age. Medford, N.J.: Information Today, Inc, 2003.
Chu, Heting. Information Representation and Retrieval in the Digital Age. Medford, N.J.: Information Today, Inc, 2003.
Competency 6b: Databases - Citation Pearl Growing Search: World Cat
A citation pearl growing search is also known as a snowballing approach because the search results increase as the user builds on information he or she already knows by modifying the search based on information retrieved in the initial query. For my citation pearl growing search, I used World Cat and included the "Article First, List of Records" and ERIC database. Since my previous search facets had proven somewhat successful, I continued using them to retrieve an initial article to begin my pearl growing. I entered the following search strings:
S1 = (usa and patriot and act) or uspa
S2 = librar*
S3 = effect* or impact*
My simple building block search retrieved 53 articles, including some very interesting titles. I sorted the results by date in order to show the more recent articles first. After scrolling through the first two pages, I located the article "Should There Be an Expectation of Privacy In the Library? Online Treasures" which I had retrieved in my previous successive fraction search.
I then began my citation pearl growing search.
Some of the same descriptors, such as "Privacy," "Internet Security," "Federal Legislation," and "Computer Security," were linked to this article as were in my previous search. After clicking on a couple of the descriptors and finding nothing very useful, I returned to the primary source article and searched the fine print of the interface and located the "Find Related," "More Like This" link. When I clicked on the link and selected "source," "computer security," "federal legislation," and "librarians," I retrieved an additional article relevant to my topic.
Below is a screenshot of the two articles, my initial article and a second related article, retrieved using the citation pearl growing search.
The last screenshot is the description of the second article retrieved in my citation pearl growing (snowballing approach) search.
While I would have expected to find more relevant articles using this approach, I realized that several factors might contribute to the reason only one additional article was retrieved. The publication type and author may not have additional articles in print with the descriptors selected. I could modify my search and leave off "publication" and include other descriptors and possibly get additional hits. This approach requires a little more time since there are many ways to "grow the pearl."
S1 = (usa and patriot and act) or uspa
S2 = librar*
S3 = effect* or impact*
My simple building block search retrieved 53 articles, including some very interesting titles. I sorted the results by date in order to show the more recent articles first. After scrolling through the first two pages, I located the article "Should There Be an Expectation of Privacy In the Library? Online Treasures" which I had retrieved in my previous successive fraction search.
I then began my citation pearl growing search.
Some of the same descriptors, such as "Privacy," "Internet Security," "Federal Legislation," and "Computer Security," were linked to this article as were in my previous search. After clicking on a couple of the descriptors and finding nothing very useful, I returned to the primary source article and searched the fine print of the interface and located the "Find Related," "More Like This" link. When I clicked on the link and selected "source," "computer security," "federal legislation," and "librarians," I retrieved an additional article relevant to my topic.
Below is a screenshot of the two articles, my initial article and a second related article, retrieved using the citation pearl growing search.
The last screenshot is the description of the second article retrieved in my citation pearl growing (snowballing approach) search.
While I would have expected to find more relevant articles using this approach, I realized that several factors might contribute to the reason only one additional article was retrieved. The publication type and author may not have additional articles in print with the descriptors selected. I could modify my search and leave off "publication" and include other descriptors and possibly get additional hits. This approach requires a little more time since there are many ways to "grow the pearl."Competency 6a: Databases - Specific Facet Search: Books In Print
The specific facet first search is a search strategy in which it is assumed that the user can identify the most specific facet out of all the facets or concept groups available in a search (Chu 2003). For example, in the search group "effects of the USA Patriot Act on libraries," one might identify "US Patriot Act" as the most specific facet out of the three facets in the group, with "effects" and "libraries" being the other two facets. The most specific facet should retrieve the fewest results. Depending on the number of hits retrieved using the most specific facet, it may not be necessary to continue searching.
In the specific facet search using this example, I used the Books In Print database accessed through the TWU Blagg-Hughey Library online databases. I decided to do an advanced search using only the keywords "USA Patriot Act" and no limiters.
The results included 43 hits.
In the specific facet search using this example, I used the Books In Print database accessed through the TWU Blagg-Hughey Library online databases. I decided to do an advanced search using only the keywords "USA Patriot Act" and no limiters.
The results included 43 hits.
A quick glance through the titles convinced me that, while there were very many useful articles, it would be helpful to limit my results to only the books containing information about the effects the USA Patriot Act have had on libraries. Therefore, I would probably want to continue my search by either going back to a standard building block search using other facets, or I could try a successive fractions search.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Competency 5: Tagging/Cataloging
Helping Teachers Teach: a School Library Media Specialist's Role by Philip Turner
TAGS:
information literacy(1) instructional design(1) Leaning Styles; Instructional design; library Media specialist; education(1) lms(1) Loc:SERC(1) Media Program(1) office(1) professional(1) school library(1) School Media Center(1) student achievement(1) Teacher-librarianship; Teaching(1) Teaching(1) UWG Textbook
When I searched Librarything for a resource related to my topic, I did a broad search for "school library." Many books in the list of 485 hits were directly or indirectly related to my topic, "the role of the school librarian." However, the book, Helping Teachers Teach: a School Library Media Specialist's Role by Philip Turner seemed the most relevant. Since I have not read the book, I am relying on the tags of members who, presumably, have some knowledge of the book. If the tags are indeed relevant to the content of the book, I believe this would be a good resource for the school librarian. One tag in particular, "teacher-librarianship; teaching," reflects what I believe is a key role of the school librarian - teacher. According to Google Book Search, this book "describes the many roles of the school library media specialist." One review describes the book as: "an organized and comprehensive treatment of one of the roles of a school library media specialist-instructional consultant." (Reed Business Information (c) 20040). The reviewer, Beth Jones, further states that this book could possibly be used as a textbook for a library-science course. One tag, UWG textbook, indicates it is or has been used as a college textbook. I think it would be worth checking into!
Turner, Phillip. Helping Teachers Teach: a School Library Media Specialist's Role http://www.librarything.com/work/564638
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Competency 4: RSS Feed
This week’s competency requires me to select and add an RSS feed to my blog. The step-by-step instructions included in Course Documents were very clear and user-friendly. I followed the instructor’s suggestion to go to the
Google Reader Tour, video tutorial#1 or #2.
Her final instruction to her student was to create and post a blog about their experience. She tells them, “[If you don’t know what to blog about] think about these questions: What do you like about RSS and newsreaders? How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your school or personal life? How can libraries use RSS or take advantage of this new technology?”
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/learnRss (accessed 2/15/09, 1:20 a.m.)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/SchoolLibraryJournal-TechnologyNews (accessed 2/15/09, 1:30 a.m.)
http://schoollibrarylearning2.blogspot.com/2007/02/8-week-4-learn-about-rss-feeds-and-set.html(accessed 2/15/09 1:35 a.m.)
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Competency 3: Podcast
Competency three requires me to post a link to a podcast related to my blog topic. I tried all the podcast search links listed in the course documents and tried numerous keyword searches and never really found a serious academic podcast that I felt was relevant to my topic. I ultimately decided to include two podcasts I came across during my search on YouTube. The first link is:
What I found to be most obviously missing is the use of modern technology in the role of the librarians and services they offer. Also missing are reading programs, such as Accelerated Reader, which have taken over many elementary and middle school libraries. There is no mention of AR stores or Book Fairs which often consume the time and energy of the school librarian. I am in the process of holding my fifth book fair this year, and we're only in the fourth six weeks of school! I have also had three AR stores and am in the planning stages of three more stores for the spring. This leaves very little time for collection development, cataloging, and most disturbing to me, no time for collaboration with faculty or library classes for students.
In sharp contrast to the 1946 film represented in the previous podcast, this next 2006 podcast entitled "A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto" produced by a Danish group, takes librarianship into the 21st century and beyond with expressions such as "I will recognize that the universe of information culture is changing fast and that libraries need to respond positively to these changes to provide resources and services that users need and want." I'm not sure AR stores and book fairs are included in the services, but I believe we, as school librarians must recognize the changes, continue to educate ourselves, and not resist the changes necessary to meet the information needs of future library generations. (I must warn you, one slide contains brief nudity.) Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZblrRs3fkSU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smrrZpbvI20&feature=related
This podcast is a clip from a 1946 U.S. Government career training film which, according to the podcast description, was most likely shown to high school students. This podcast was presented by "travelinlibrarian" Nov. 22, 2006. Although the film was made over sixty years ago, assuming it is legitimately a 1946 training film, much of the stereotypical descriptions of librarians and the roles they play in academic and public libraries is still relevant. They even use the term "teacher librarian" to describe the school librarian. They include references to the reference, circulation, and cataloging librarians in the public and academic libraries. The jobs they describe are very much still jobs performed by modern day librarians.What I found to be most obviously missing is the use of modern technology in the role of the librarians and services they offer. Also missing are reading programs, such as Accelerated Reader, which have taken over many elementary and middle school libraries. There is no mention of AR stores or Book Fairs which often consume the time and energy of the school librarian. I am in the process of holding my fifth book fair this year, and we're only in the fourth six weeks of school! I have also had three AR stores and am in the planning stages of three more stores for the spring. This leaves very little time for collection development, cataloging, and most disturbing to me, no time for collaboration with faculty or library classes for students.
In sharp contrast to the 1946 film represented in the previous podcast, this next 2006 podcast entitled "A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto" produced by a Danish group, takes librarianship into the 21st century and beyond with expressions such as "I will recognize that the universe of information culture is changing fast and that libraries need to respond positively to these changes to provide resources and services that users need and want." I'm not sure AR stores and book fairs are included in the services, but I believe we, as school librarians must recognize the changes, continue to educate ourselves, and not resist the changes necessary to meet the information needs of future library generations. (I must warn you, one slide contains brief nudity.) Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZblrRs3fkSU&feature=related
Monday, February 2, 2009
Comptetency 2: Related Blog
In order to find a blog related to my chosen topic, I explored several blog search engines and ultimately used GoogleBlog: http://blogsearch.google.com/. After much time spent searching for “the perfect match,” I realized I would need to refine my topic and focus more specifically on how technology is changing the role of the public school librarian.
Although the blog I chose for this post was written two years ago, I immediately recognized its relevance to the topic of my own blog.
http://schoollibraryblogs.blogspot.com/
School Library Blogs: What's the Scoop?
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Lessons Learned: Implementing a blog in a classroom
The blog article was written by a school librarian who stepped into the “driver’s seat” while implementing a classroom blog for a teacher who had tried and failed at her own attempts. The following is an excerpt from her blog.
Do a short "How to Blog" workshop for all staff
Be sure to have coffee, tea and cookies (as always) and invite staff to watch blogging in action. After a short presentation on the basics, give them a chance to try it. I wish I'd made time at the start of the year to do a Blogging workshop for all staff. After the busy start of school and parent-teacher conferences, the holidays were upon us. I plan on returning to the school to do a workshop in January, but it would have been much more effective to introduce Blogging to staff, and let projects grow organically, stemming from their interest. Doing a workshop for everyone gives staff a common base knowledge. Then they can learn from each other's blogging experiences. This is a way to get you, the librarian, out of the drivers seat and into the role of consultant.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
LS 5013 Competency 1: Blog
The primary purpose of this blog is to meet course requirements for TWU’s LS5013 Information Storage and Retrieval class. Weekly competencies will be posted here in order to meet course requirements. These competencies will also serve as a compilation of professional ideas, websites, and articles related to my chosen field in library science.
I currently serve four public school libraries on the elementary and middle school level. My particular interest is in more clearly defining the ever-changing role of the public school librarian as it relates to serving students and faculty in the new technological world of public education.