Category: ETL503 Resourcing the Curriculum

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ETL 503 Reflective Analysis

I previously believed resourcing the curriculum entailed the teacher librarian (TL) choosing resources they thought appropriate for supporting the curriculum and reading for pleasure. I now know there are several steps in collection development and management and many elements in each. The processes are selection criteria and evaluation, collection evaluation and deselection (weeding). There are also ethical, budgeting and censorship issues to consider.

An important aspect for the collection is balance. This is more than a balance of fiction versus non-fiction or physical verses digital as I thought. Selecting resources incorporates learning styles, pedagogy, student abilities and backgrounds (IFLA, 2006, p.34). The collection also needs to be balanced in that it is diverse and inclusive of all students and perspectives (National Library of New Zealand, n.d.).

I am now aware of different ways of evaluating the collection (user and collection centred) to identify usage and gaps (Johnson, 2014, p.302). This is evident in the forum post ‘Using output measures as tools for purchasing’ (Silver, 2020a) and my reply to another student’s post in ‘Collection Analysis’ (Silver, 2020b).In the future, I will be able to use a larger range of strategies to gain more in depth evaluation of collection usefulness.

Curation is an important aspect of collection development to help users access useful resources. (Oddone, 2019). Curation can be equally applied to digital and physical resources. The TL can assist resource integration of cross-curriculum priorities (CCP) into programs through annotated bibliographies of available resources.

From my learning I was able to discern areas to build upon previous experiences in collection development and management. Some of these are detailed in the blog post ‘Resourcing the curriculum – collection development process’. (Silver, 2020c)

A librarian’s job is to provide information and multiple perspectives (IFLA, n.d). Many librarians self-censor to avoid controversy (Dawkins, 2018, p.9). One way to overcome this is by including the issue of censorship in the collection development policy (CDP). This allows the TL to raise the issue with the principal and gain their views and support (Dawkins, 2018, p.9). I will definitely use this strategy in the future.

Digital resources require a balance of infrastructure and accession costs (licences, fees etc) within the budget. Whilst digital resources can be evaluated by several of the same criteria as print, they also require specific evaluations. These need to take into account elements such as accessibility (indexes, interactivity) and features for users with special needs (read aloud, highlighting etc) There is also a need to consider factors such as technical issues, budgeting costs (initial purchase and on-going), legal and licensing issues and access (how and for how long, how many users at once, effects of cancellation).(IFLA, 2006 p.34).

A reluctant weeder in the past, I have come to the realisation that weeding is important to increase a user’s ability to find relevant, current material (Morgester, 2018, p.27). There are many ways to weed, other than appearance (the main criteria I used to use). Date and relevance to curriculum and user needs are important (Vnuk, 2015, p.6). It reflects badly on the library and undermines user’s confidence and work if resources are outdated in information or attitudes (National Library of New Zealand, n.d).

Increasing digital resources usage and their ability to be shared raises many copyright issues (Moody, 2018, p.10). The TL can use Creative Commons to educate staff and students on how they can responsibly share, and remix work. I have furthered my knowledge about copyright and school exemptions as outlined in the Educational Licencing agreements. By studying the regulation outlines on the Smartcopying website (ref), I was able to apply these to common school situations (blog post, forum copyright questions). I now feel more confident in aiding the school community in this area

Reflecting upon the readings the future of the library looks exciting with the library being a multi-faceted place of learning in the areas of study, reading, collaboration and creating (Loh, 2018, p.4). This supports and extends student learning in a variety of ways from individual study to collaboration. It is a case of not only providing digital resource for information but tools (physical and electronic) as well to help the school community to create and communicate their own knowledge (School District of Palm Beach County, 2019). A virtual presence for the library can be achieved with consideration to budget and access. Libraries can create libguides, databases, curate free web resources, embed instructions and provide access to digital resources (Boyers, 2016, p.6).

The CDP is an important documented library plan. It supports the school’s vision and values (ALIAS & VCTL, 2011, p.8) and provides a framework for achieving this (Gregory, 2019, p.29). The CDP ensures efficient guidance of resourcing by matching user needs to the collection to support teaching and learning (Agee, 2019, p.6). It can be used as a reference for issues regarding selection, acquisition, deselection decisions and material challenges (Johnson, 2018, p.86)

By regularly reviewing the CDP it will remain a strategic document to future proof the collection. This allows for changes in pedagogy, curriculum and technological developments to be accommodated. There is a need for the TL to keep up with trends and changes in technology within library services and schools. Sources such as the Horizon Report (2015) outline these trends which can influence the direction of the CDP.

Changes in the information landscape such as increasing use of digital resources and the internet influence what the CDP includes. For example, increasing use of mobile technologies widen the digital divide as more resources are available online (IFLA, 2016, p.8). Libraries can create more equality via provision of internet access, digital skills, an understanding of digital issues (privacy etc) and combating fake news (Robinson, 2018, p.14).

Changing curriculum needs within digital technologies needs consideration in the CDP to support teaching and learning. Both students and teachers will need to be able to access resources that are relevant to the curriculum. Keeping abreast with changes in the Australian Curriculum and relevant state syllabuses can influence the CDP. Knowing the changes allows for planning of resources to accommodate new curriculums, which can be listed as a curriculum goal or priority in the CDP.

The major realisation from this subject is that resourcing the curriculum is not the sole responsibility of the TL, it is a collaborative effort. Teachers as subject experts need to be involved in requesting resources (IFLA, 2006, p.34), the deselection process (New Zealand Library Services, n.d.) and curriculum mapping (Gregory, 2019, p.39). There are many other opportunities to involve the school community in the collection including patron driven acquisitions, surveys, and selection committees.

 

 

 

References:

Agee, S. (2019). Curate a digital collection for all learners. Knowledge Quest, 48(2), 6-7. www.knowledgequest.aasl.org

Australian Library and Information Association School, & Victorian Catholic Teacher Librarians. (2007). A manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resource centres. http://www.asla.org.au/policy/policy-development-manual.aspx

Boyer, B. (2016). Meet Your Learners Where They Are: Virtualizing the School Library. Internet@Schools, 23(1), 4–6.

Dawkins, A.M. (2018). The decision by school librarians to self-censor: The impact of perceived administrative discomfort. Teacher Librarian, 45(3),8-12.

Johnson, P. (2014). Fundamentals of collection development and management.

Loh, Chin Ee. (2019). Envisioning the School Library of the Future: A 21 st Century Framework. https//.doi.org./10.13140/RG.2.2.32524.36489

Moody, G. (2018). Libraries are Under Attack: Here’s How They Can Fight Back. IFLA Trend Report.  http://trends.ifla.org

Oddone, K. (2020, April 6). Digital content curation: How to do it right! [blog post]. https://scis.edublogs.org/tag/collection-development/

Robinson, C. (2018). Libraries Matter. IFLA Trend Report.  http://trends.ifla.org

Silver, T. (2020a, April 16). Using output measures as tools for purchasing [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://iteract2.csu.edu.au

Silver, T. (2020b, May 9). Collection analysis [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://iteract2.csu.edu.au

Silver, T. (2020c, April 27). Resourcing the curriculum – Collection development process [blog post]. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/learningawaits/2020/04/27/resourcing-the-curriculum-collection-development-process/

Vnuk, R (2018). The weeding handbook: A shelf-by-shelf guide. ALA Editions.

 

 

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Creative Commons – lets share that creativity!

 

Share your ideas“Share your ideas” by tiachachat is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

You know when you see something really cool – a poster, infograph, music or artwork that just explains a concept really well and you just want to share it around? Before you do, stop and think, that will have a copyright. A great way to find resources that you can reuse are to search for ones that have creative common licences. Under this licence the creator still has copyright but has given permission to users to share the resource. There are different versions of the licence as detailed in the infographic below.

‘Creative Commons: free photos for bloggers – the ultimate guide by Foter.com’ by Foter is licenced under CC-BY-SA 3.0

If you would like more details, Sara Hawkins (2014) explains Creative Commons in an easy to understand manner on her website here.

Using Creative Commons is a great way to share ideas and resources and possibly recreate/mix and share again. They provide a great platform for students and teachers to use, reuse and possibly modify works to build knowledge, staying within the copyright laws.

You can learn more about Creative Commons in Australia on my blog post ‘Wait, I can’t just copy that photo?’ (Silver, 2018).

 

References:

Foter. (n.d). Creative Commons: Free photos for bloggers – the ultimate guide. https://foter.com/blog/how-to-attribute-creative-commons-photos/

Hawkins, S. (2014). Creative Commons licenses explained in plain English. https://sarafhawkins.com/creative-commons-licenses-explained-plain-english/

Silver, T. (2018). Wait, I can’t just copy that photo?. Library learnings. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/learningawaits/2019/03/14/wait-i-cant-just-copy-that-photo/

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Copyright – don’t be in the wrong

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

As a teacher I knew that there were copyright laws about the amount of work we were allowed to legally copy – 10% or 1 chapter of a book.

During this subject I have learnt that there is so much more to copyright in schools and it is the TL’s roles to make others in the school community aware of copyright laws. Whilst I used to teach students to acknowledge where they got the information from (that is, not to plagiarise) I used to wonder about copyright specifically for education. Questions arose such as:

  • can a teacher copy parts of the text book, commercially produced work and worksheets for tests?
  • is a student able to put licensed popular music in their presentations?
  • Can the school use music for the bell song?
  • Is it OK to copy class sets of worksheets?
  • can you copy parts of videos and music to incorporate into your own work off the internet?

I found these answers and more on the  Smartcopy website (National Copyright Unit, n.d.-a) , which  details copyright information specifically for education institutions in Australia.

My main takeaways from the site were that Australian educational providers have extra allowances to the copyright laws under two licences.

  1. The Education Licence A: Statutory Broadcast Licence (National Copyright Unit, n.d.-b)  which relates to the copying of television and radio programs;  and
  2. The Education Licence B: Statutory Text and Artistic Works Licence (National Copyright Unit, n.d.-c) which  outlines guidelines for copying literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works.

Schools are covered by extra licences relating to music and video files. These are the:

However, the licences must be read carefully as there are certain criteria to be met and some services/copying are excluded (for example, streaming services such as Netflix).

A copyright infringement I was unaware of was that schools are breaking copyright if they show/view movies unless it is for an educational purpose. If the viewing is for a non-educational purpose (such as showing on a bus trip, wet weather entertainment etc) the school must have  a co-curricular licence. This is not a blanket licence cover for NSW Department of Education schools. (National Copyright Unit, n.d. -g).

The rules of copyright can be complex, however, the Smartcopying website is relatively straight forward, easy to understand and has provided answers to my questions.

References:

National Copyright Unit. (n.d.-a). Smartcopying. http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/home

National Copyright Unit. (n.d.-b). Education Licence A: Statutory Broadcast Licence. Smartcopying. http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/copyright-guidelines/education-licences-(statutory-and-voluntary-licences)/education-licence-a-statutory-broadcast-licence

National Copyright Unit. (n.d.-c). Education Licence B: Statutory Text and Artistic Works Licence. Smartcopying.  http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/copyright-guidelines/education-licences-(statutory-and-voluntary-licences)/education-licence-b-statutory-text-and-artistic-works-licence

National Copyright Unit. (n.d.-d). Education Licence C: APRA Licence. Smartcopying. http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/copyright-guidelines/education-licences-(statutory-and-voluntary-licences)/education-licence-c-apra-licence

National Copyright Unit. (n.d.-e). Education Licence D: AMCOS Licence. Smartcopying. http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/copyright-guidelines/education-licences-(statutory-and-voluntary-licences)/education-licence-d-amcos-licence

National Copyright Unit. (n.d.-f). Education Licence E: AMCOS/ARIA/APRA Licence. Smartcopying.  http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/copyright-guidelines/education-licences-(statutory-and-voluntary-licences)/education-licence-e-amcos-aria-apra-licence

National Copyright Unit. (n.d.-g). Playing Films for Non-Educational Purposes. Smartcopying. http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/information-sheets/schools/playing-films-for-non-educational-purposes

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Resourcing the curriculum – resource selection criteria

Image by klimkin from Pixabay

Resourcing the curriculum, what does this mean?

When I worked for a year as a temporary teacher in charge of the library (before beginning this masters) I thought resourcing the curriculum was providing resources for students and staff. This is in part true, however, my evaluation and selection of resources  were based on limited criteria. These were:

  • relevant to the curriculum
  • appealing to users – eye catching design (front cover, graphics/photos/illustrations in resource), useful features such as quick facts, easy to read ( level, style – such as graphic novel)
  • current
  • closing a gap in the collection
  • popular (for student literature)
  • from a noteable list (such as Premier’s Reading Challenge new book or Children’s Book Council Award nominee)

After readings in this subject I now realise that these criteria were a good start to evaluation and selection but there are elements I hadn’t considered when resourcing the curriculum. Referring specifically to collection evaluation and selection there are more criteria I could add. According to Australian Library and Information Association Schools and Australian Victorian Catholic Teacher Librarians (2017, p.12) these include:

  • respectful of all peoples – free from stereotypes and roles in society based on gender .
  • authoritative – the author is credible in this field of expertise.

Kimmel (2014) adds:

  • suitability to reader – the content is emotionally and intellectually appropriate for the user.

E-books were an area I was interested in but didn’t have the opportunity to purchase. When I do I will take into account Zipke’s (2014) criteria for evaluating e-books including navigation, sound, interactions and teaching specific skills. There is also the area of digital resource evaluation, with the below criteria outlined by Gregory (2019, p.56):

  • Does it have authority? Is it from a reputable source?
  • Do features make it more accessible to users than print resources?
  • Are there licencing costs and restrictions?
  • Can the library support the technology  – hardware and software?

When purchasing World Book Online (WBO) I unknowingly took into account Gregory’s criteria. It is a reputable source (having previously published hardbound print editions of encyclopedias). Features, including search functions and highlighting text to speech make it easier to access, especially for those students with print difficulties. I examined the licencing costs and restrictions and managed to negotiate a deal with the representative for the first year of fees. Whilst the library didn’t have the computers to support the use of WBO it was accessible to the teachers and students via online log in and therefore could be used on the smartboards in classrooms, classroom access to laptops and at home.

Knowing these extra criteria will help me to select the most appropriate resources in the future for user needs.

References:

Australian Library and Information Association Schools and Victorian Catholic Teacher Librarians. (2017).  A Manual for Developing Policies and Procedures in Australian School Library Resource Centres (2nd edition). https://www.alia.org.au/sites/default/files/ALIA%20Schools%20policies%20and%20procedures%20manual_FINAL.pd

Gregory, V. (2019). Collection development and management for 21st century library collections: An introduction (2nd ed). American Library Association.

Kimmel, S.C. (2014). Developing collections to empower learners, American Library Association. ProQuest Ebook Central. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/

Zipke, M. (2014). Building an E-Book Library. Reading Teacher, 67(5), 375–383.  https://doi.10.1002/TRTR.1221

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Resourcing the curriculum – collection development process

Image by klimkin from Pixabay

Previously whilst working as a teacher in charge of the library and having had no formal training in the collection development processes I found myself overwhelmed with where to start for resourcing the curriculum. I have since discovered there are several steps in the process. I will briefly outline these and what I did and didn’t do in the past.

  1. Know the school community – if there are wide variances in reading levels different resources on the same subject may need to be purchased (Stephens & Franklin, 2013, p.36). Being new to the school (and not wanting to make waves or be seen as pushy) I had no idea what the requirements were of the school community. It was only later in the year after I had had all of the classes for the year and built a rapport with some of the teachers that I started to find out different the different reading levels of students. One of the best sources for information was one of the learning support officers who I used to encourage to use the library for her services (much better than sitting in the cold hallways!). After discussions with her I was able to order in hi-lo books for some of the stage 3 students for her to use for individual reading with them. Without speaking to the learning support officer I would not have known of this need. In the future other ways I would get to know the school community is by consulting the school policy, NAPLAN results and asking to attend literacy meetings. I did rotate around stage meetings each week and this was a good way to get to know the teachers and what they wanted curriculum wise.

A balanced collection should also include resources representing groups of the school community, such as indigenous, English as second other language (ESOL) and other special interest groups (National Library, n.d.,  building an inclusive collection). For the school I was at I would also include more resources on indigenous culture (resources in this area were lacking in number and some  were outdated and /or disrespectful using ancient terminology and views. I did purchase some indigenous game cards which were popular in NAIDOC week.

2. Consult collection management policy (Evans, p.83). This was non – existent or well hidden because I did not find one. Having viewed some collection management policies (such as this one from Windsor High School Library) I now have a better idea of what to include or be thinking about for collection management.

3. Examine current collection to identify gaps; weed any unsuitable resources. Weeding is essential, however, like some of the librarians described by Morgester (2018, p.27) I had trouble letting go of some of the collection. However, in the back of my mind, I held beliefs similar to Sawyer (cited in Matthews, 2010, p.54) that deselection makes the library more credible and increases circulation of the current and relevant resources. There was a lot of deselection to be done, with many resources being over 10 years old or no longer relevant to the needs of users. Some posters were even from the 1970s  and sets of encyclopedias from the 1980s. I spent a lot of my time just collecting items from the shelves to weed, so much so, and one of my greatest regrets was that I had to leave the actual deselection process on the system (Oliver) to my successor.

4. Consult selection aids to discover high quality, appropriate resources. In Australia reviews can be found at magpies.net.au and from various publishing houses such as Scholastic. I used to do a lot of my collection development from new titles available from Scholastic (as this was the easiest for me to order through). I did also consult the numerous catalogues that were sent to the library. Since starting this course I have also discovered the SCIS website (www.scisdata.com.au) that provides a searchable database for resources and is very handy for resource selection. I also used to use User request or patron driven acquisitions, which according to Zmuda & Luhtala ( 2017, p22) can also be valuable for increasing the collection. I know a lot of students were ecstatic to have a book in the collection they had requested and these books were often popular and borrowed frequently.

5. Compare resources against evaluation criteria. The TL or collection committee decide on resources to purchase. The collection will be more diverse if there is collaboration between staff and students who use the resources (Hibner & Kelly, p.5). Evans (2015), also suggests that at least one parent be involved in the committee (p.96). I was solely responsible for purchasing resources and as I was new to the school I didn’t really know the school community. I think given more time I would have liked to establish a library committee to better represent a variety of views and represent the school community.

There have been many things I have learnt so far in this subject that have built upon what I have done in the past and will dramatically improve and broaden my future practices .

References:

Evans, G. E., & Saponaro, M. Z. (2012). Library and information science text: Collection management basics. ProQuest Ebook Central. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Hibner, H., & Kelly, M. (2013). Making a collection count : A holistic approach to library collection management. ProQuest Ebook Central. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Magpies. magpies.net.au

Mathews, B. (2010). Weeding Grows the Garden. American Libraries, 41(5), 54.

Morgester, A. (2018). Transforming my perspective. Knowledge Quest, 47(2), 22–27.

New Zealand National Library (n.d.) Building an inclusive collection [webpage].   https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/school-libraries/collections-and-resources/building-an-inclusive-collection

Schools Catalogue Information Service (SCIS). https://www.scisdata.com/

Stephens, C. G., & Franklin, P. (2013). School library day-to-day operations : School library day-to-day operations. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Tait, C. (2016). Windsor High School Library: Library collection management policy. https://windsor-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/doe/sws/schools/w/windsor-h/localcontent/whs_library_collectionmanagementpolicy.pdf

Zmuda, A., & Luhtala, M. (2017). Turn up the volume in the library through personalization. Teacher Librarian, 45(1), 21–25.

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