LIBE 467 Group Project

Reflection: (taken from my assignment 3 part I)

For our collaborative assignment, my partners were: Connie and Carrie.  Our communication was done mostly through email correspondence, but Connie and I did discuss and brainstormed ideas through a telephone conversation.  (Connie and I live close to each other, but Carrie lives further away and calling us would incur long distance charges).  Through our emails we considered how to approach the assignment, examined assignment details, discussed personal and collaborative plans for the assignments and offered each other support and guidance.  We had some difficulties determining the collaborative and independent components of our group assignment, as well as, the assignment’s requirements and purpose.  Eventually, we decided to approach the assignment differently depending on our individual needs and assignment interpretations.  As a collaborative group, we chose to use World Book Online encyclopedia as our reference resource, with each person focussing on a different online version.  Carrie chose to use the World Book Kids version, for young students.  Connie chose to use World Book Student, for elementary and middle school students.  I chose to use World Book Advanced, for high school students, as my reference resource.

LIBE 467 Lesson 13 - Evaluating Reference Services

Activity/Reflection: Open Access to Resources

Unable to access Evaluating, Selecting and Managing Learning Resources: A Guide.  The link is broken and doesn’t work.

I believe in open access to resources.  I think library resources should be accessible and available to everyone.  One of the purposes of a library is to provide information to it members; therefore, I think there should open access to its entire collection.  But with that being said, I think it’s the library’s responsibility to choose material that reflects its mission and philosophy for its collection.  The library needs to consider its members’ needs and if the material is appropriate for its members.  In the case of a school library, the teacher library and the district can determine what resources students have access to by deciding on whether or not the material is student friendly and suitable (i.e. content, readability, and format) for children’s learning.  In conclusion, I’m an advocate for open access resources, in a library collection, but not necessarily complete access to all information available.

LIBE 467 Assignment #3 Part I

My focus for this assignment is exposing the World Book Online: Advanced version to a high school Science teacher.  Using the CBAM we will try to collaborate together on a lesson or assignment to progress her 'change'. 

LIBE 467 Lesson 12 - Managing the References Collection

Reflection: Role Description of a Teacher Librarian

Since I don’t have my own library or school, I can’t say if the role description is indicative of the teacher librarian role at my school.  From my experience as a TOC, I know that not all positions have scheduled time to plan collaboratively and cooperatively with classroom teachers.  The teacher librarian I have substituted for only has prep time and if she would like to collaborate with teachers, it would need to be done on her own personal time.  I think the learning resource management is the most essential, followed by leadership in resource-based learning, then closely behind with program and instruction.  Ideally, we would want to fulfill all the responsibilities, but are limited by budget and time.  Without adequate time or money, collaborating with teachers, supporting the integration of instructional technology and media literacy, and developing the potential of volunteer is quite challenging.  Trying to fulfill ALL the responsibilities can be overwhelming.  To lessen the stress, I imagine these responsibilities as goals; we’re trying to strive towards them.  We might not finish them all in a week or month, but hopefully by the end of the year we have met our goals.

Reflection: Budget Process

The Coquitlam school district uses a formula when calculating school library budgets.  There is a flat site amount (depends on if it is an elementary, middle or high school) and then an amount per enrolling student at the school.  The school principle has the authority to adjust the final budget amount.  For additional funds, the teacher librarian can hold book fairs or fundraisers to supplement his/her school library budget.  The school PAC can also be helpful in supplying money for library equipment.  I’m not sure how much money is allotted specifically for the reference material.  The teacher librarian I asked was unsure.

LIBE 467 Lesson 11 - Grey Literature and the World Wide Web

No activity, discussion or reflection for this lesson.

LIBE 467 Lesson 10 - Bibliographies, Biographies and Directories

Activity/Discussion: Comparing and Contrasting Index Interfaces

I found this discussion/activity very interesting.  I noticed that most databases use similar search tools, like the ones I looked at, Elsevier and EBSCO.  They have the same format, comparable search parameters and show a result list layout.  Some searches are better than other, but overall I didn’t notice a significant difference.  The most challenging part is using our research skills efficiently and correctly to find what you’re looking for.  It can be overwhelming getting thousands of hits and having to sift through all of them to find one article.

LIBE 467 Assignment #2

I chose to improve the Encyclopedia section of the reference collection in an elementary school library.