Search and Reflect: Locate a library curating on Scoop.it, Pinterest and LibGuides and write a short review of this curation channel and the content that has been curated.

Scoop.it – School Library Advocate

(https://www.scoop.it/topic/school-library-advocacy)

Karen’s page is visually appealing, I like the clean look of it and her content is interesting and useful. There is a search function (a torch icon at the top of the page); clicking on this brings up her list of tags which you then need to scroll through. Keeping it tucked away helps keep the page’s clean look, but it wasn’t obvious that the site enables tags etc. and I almost didn’t look there.

Pinterest –  School Library Activities

(https://www.scoop.it/topic/school-library-advocacy)

On her Pinterest board, Deirdre Jameson has curated the topics of ‘library lesson plans’, ‘library skills’, ‘school librarian’, ‘school library lessons’ and ‘teaching reading’. I personally find Pinterest a bit too busy and there’s just way too much ‘stuff’, I feel overwhelmed. Unlike Karen Bonanno’s carefully curated page (above), Pinterest is more the place for grabbing and ‘pinning’ things you find that are of interest, for yourself; other viewers are secondary. There’s nothing wrong with that, but how often would you go back over it and weed it? I’ve looked through Pinterest for library display ideas (and birthday cakes for my kids) but rarely find anything useful. It seems heavily dominated by U.S. educators and so less applicable to our curriculum needs.

LibGuides – Brisbane Grammar School Library

(https://libguides.brisbanegrammar.com/libraryhome)

I may have heard of LibGuides before but, like Scoop.it, I’ve never ‘visited’ before – this was an interesting one. I found Brisbane Grammar School’s page in the site’s list of school library examples; it seems fairly popular with posh private schools? As far as I can tell, BGS is using it as an intranet site, as they have linked resources such as their OPAC, ClickView etc. here. It is a busy-looking page which is a bit off-putting, but it’s clearly used as a ‘one-stop shop’ site.

One thing it allows is for schools to have sign-in pages to access subscription services. This is a problem we have: we’re currently using the state education department’s Canvas site to host our library intranet page, and while free it has limitations (and doesn’t look super appealing). LibGuides looks much better equipped but it also looks expensive – possibly why no Australian public schools are using it!