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| LIBE 465 Word Cloud "Wordle" from URL: http://kristiandearlylearning.weebly.com/ |
In January when I began assignment one I created a 465 blog to document my key learning each week. When I finished the 13 lessons I generated a ‘Wordle’ to guide my final synthesis. Wordles are formed from all of the text (any kind of text such as a document, website, blog) and then generate an image (known as a word cloud) of the key words, adding size and colour to the higher frequency words used in the text body. www.wordle.net/
Library, Access, Resources, Information, Students, Cataloguing, Time, Learning, Find, Headings, and Use are the words that stand out in the above wordle. I also feel Selection, Censorship, Digital, Information Literacy, Reflection and Inquiry should be included; they are some strong themes that stand out as personal key learning in this course. After I add this written piece to the blog it will be interesting to see if the words are more prominent. I have framed this summative piece in two sections: Digital Access and Organizing a School Library.
Digital Access
From reading my blog and discussion postings I can see my early thoughts focused on how subject cataloguing could be more effective and access was primarily “physical”, digital access was a great concept but not necessarily my job (so I thought!). I have had a great shift in this mindset; students do turn to Google first. As Loertscher suggests, The Learning Commons is an interesting concept requiring a “paradigm shift” moving from user-centered relationship to a community relationship creating increased access. The library should be the hub and through creating more digital access students will themselves have a paradigm shift of what information literacy is and how the library can support it. This is also consistent with competencies for teacher librarians suggested in sections 1.8 and 1.9 of the document Students’ Information Literacy Needs in the 21st Century: Competencies for Teacher- Librarians. http://www.cla.ca/casl/literacyneeds.html
Conners (2008) introduced the term “ knowledge organization” in the article A Ghost in the Catalog: The Gradual Obsolescence on the Main Entry and it resonated with me for several reasons. We are not housing physical items anymore; we are housing digital items, which are just not available with main entry organization. It was wonderful to be introduced to the OCLC (Online Library Computer Center) and World Cat (global library) that gives users access to a wide range of materials and records. Amicus is great for our French Immersion schools and Z39.50 is bookmarked for finding records.
Organizing online resources will support resource based teaching and promote inquiry. The four areas of a good School Library website suggested by Joyce Valenza are excellent. She suggests that a school website should promote:
-information and access to delivery
-teaching and learning
-supporting books and reading
-program administration
http://schoollibrarywebsites.wikispaces.com/
Creating a website (actually 2) is something that I am excited I learned how to do. I think it is a good communication platform and I love the idea of attaching a library blog my school one and other resources that would work for my users. Teaching the students how to create a website will be really exciting, I am sure I will learn much more than they do in the process:) I still wonder about how to attach Powerpoints and other presentations to a Weebly website but I am sure I will learn as I go.
Creating a website (actually 2) is something that I am excited I learned how to do. I think it is a good communication platform and I love the idea of attaching a library blog my school one and other resources that would work for my users. Teaching the students how to create a website will be really exciting, I am sure I will learn much more than they do in the process:) I still wonder about how to attach Powerpoints and other presentations to a Weebly website but I am sure I will learn as I go.
I think the physical environment in the library is critical to improve access to learning resources and many of the suggestions and examples provided throughout the course. Low, evenly spaced, spaciously filled shelves, workspaces that allow for inquiry, reliable online access to materials (online, centralized cataloguing), appropriate signage and natural light with mixed media are a few personal dreams for my library!
Throughout this course I am reminded that we have integrity and obligations to uphold selection and censorship of digital materials as much as we do with print materials. In fact, it is a gift we have librarians in elementary schools and as TL’s in the 21st century we need to guide our practice to support our youngest learners finding appropriate materials without removing their fundamental rights as citizens. Being mindful of the search devices we have, and impose, over the Internet is critical. Throughout this course this topic was raised several times and interesting discussions emerged. I participated in discussions every week, but I was mindful not to repeat discussions. I questions and responded to others in a clear succinct manner.
School Library Organization
Some of the more technical aspects of this course stand out and will serve as the base for my knowledge about how resources are organized in the library and how we find things when online searching.
Taylor (2003) introduced the term “metadata “ in the article An Introduction to metadata. Understanding metadata schemas, the structured data, which describes characteristics/elements of a resource, is a skill we must build for online searching. The various web crawlers produce different results and how search results are ranked is a system that we will have to work with.
Our district follows the cataloguing rules AARC2, which dictate what bibliographic info to include when cataloguing various materials. Our libraries are organized using the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) scheme; a numeric system that works well and it is consistent in our school district.
Our district does not purchase cataloguing; a cataloguer said in an email “it isn’t typically of high quality and it is not tailored for our collections. We also never rely on CIP as it changes too much from prepub information to the finished product. We subscribe to Alliance + and through Follet we use Z39.50 links to find record. … we do a lot of original cataloguing. “
Personally, I learned a lot about MARC (Machine Readable Cataloguing) records (reading and creating them) in this course. I now know to look up Library of Congress/Sears subject headings, understand the need for controlled vocabulary (how to code the bibliographic rules) and can interpret the ISBD (International Standard Bibliographic Description) 8 areas of description (Eureka!).
I found the differences in MARC records (from library to library) astounding if you look at the delimiters etc. but found the general framework consistent. The 5XX where additional notes can be added is really useful to find additional information about the material. Although our system appears to be rigid, the rules “always put a book where it will get the maximum assuage” and “bend the rules to suit your local needs” will certainly guide my decisions about where to place material to ensure maximum usage.
I thought a lot about access and organization and it reminded me of the debate, which comes first, the chicken or the egg? I believe in access but eventually access is limited if resources are not organized as the Fritz (2006) Cataloguing Correctly Using AACR2 and MARC 21 article highlighted. The ability to attach books to the union catalogue alleviates the time lapse of cataloguing and getting the resource to the user, hence improving access.
There is no question online catalogues increase user access for students and staff and can increase user independence. Therefore, it is critical that resources are added consistently. Having said that I have a few resources lent out because the teacher really needed them before they were processed in automation. I see greater access occurring as resources are collocated for staff and students. West Van library does this and it is really handy when unit-planningJ Thinking about collocating resources leads me to think about Subject Cataloguing and using controlled heading and user generated headings.
In conclusion, I have a lot of work to do in the technical area of school library organization. I would like to become more familiar with the Sears and Library of Congress subject headings (controlled headings) and learn more about social networking online search tools such as delicious.com that use user generated search terms. I loved natural language tags in the program Library Thing at the West Van Library because it seems to highlight natural language and included the traditional headings.
Final Wordle with this entry added and a different style, enjoy!
References
A WebQuest about School Library Websites http://schoollibrarywebsites.wikispaces.com/
Achieving information Literacy: Standards for School Library Programs in Canada. (Canadian Association of School Libraries)
Adamich, Tom. (2008). RDA (Resource Description and Access): The New Way to Say, "AACR2"Personal Knowledge Quest, 36(4), 64-9. Persistent link to article at UBC library: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=33061350&site=ehost-live
Conners, D. (2008, September). A Ghost in the Catalog: The Gradual Obsolescence of the Main Entry. Serials Librarian, 55(1/2), 85-97.Persistent link to article at UBC library: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=35048300&site=ehost-live
Taylor, C. (2003). An introduction to metadata. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/iad/ctmeta4.html
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