Category Archives: ETL503 – Resourcing the Curriculum
Forum Reflection 6.2 – Censorship
In my subject on Resourcing the Curriculum we were asked to creatively demonstrate what we have learnt about censorship. This was my response:
I had to explain the concept of ‘redacted text’ to my eighteen year old daughter. What followed was a conversation that highlighted the blind faith that teenagers have believe they are getting the full story when they find information. They believe that all the information is available you just have to find it. The concept of search engines tailoring their results to what you may be interested in going by past searches and how this ‘filtering’ is in essence a form of censorship is going over most internet users’ heads.
Do this experiment – google ‘buttons’. Now open DuckDuckGo (a search engine that does not keep prior search history) and do the same search.
Interestingly, my google search returned a myriad of ‘buttons’ related to education (guess what I’ve been doing lately!!), whereas DuckDuckGo returned sites about sewing type buttons.
Censorship is inherent in our lives, we just need to be able to recognise it.
The necessity of collection assessment and evaluation post Gonski 2.0
KERBSTONE / Pixabay
As the sharpened blade of Gonski 2.0 starts cutting at the budgets of independent schools, libraries in this sector need to be more mindful than ever of the value of their contribution towards the school community (Koziol, 2018). We are looking at even tighter budgets, possibly restricting not only our collection, but the staff that is expected to manage it. So why should we invest our time and effort into assessment and evaluation of our collections when many of us are running on a skeleton crew? The answer is evidence-based practice (EBP). It is only through providing the statistics, figures, public responses to surveys that the people who hold the tightening purse strings of the rapidly shrinking school budget will see our value. Like it or not we are in the service industry and if our ‘product’ is not of use we need to find out and make the changes necessary to ensure that we have repeat customers.
Assessment of our collection and evaluation of its usefulness using both quantitative and qualitative methods is necessary to ensure that we are fulfilling our purpose in the education process (Hernon, Dugan, & Matthews, 2014, p. 9). No one method is flawless and at the heart of all assessment methods stands the staff of school libraries.
Usage data, although valuable, can be skewed. It is useful when ‘culling’ the collection to know when it was last borrowed, but this can only be considered with the knowledge of how your patrons use the collection. For example, our non-fiction section may rarely be ‘borrowed’ but the useful section is often scanned by our patrons for ease of use at home without restriction. Similarly, many of our patrons sit and read our physical magazines while in the library, yet rarely ‘borrow’ thus preventing them from being included in the usage data.
Seeing where there is overlap in your collection is important in a fiscally tight budget. In areas where the knowledge base moves quickly we need to ask – Are there free websites or do you subscribe to databases that cover the topic more cheaply that purchasing a physical book that will quickly be outdated? Mapping the curriculum through the use of Assignment Help pages in our Libguides gives our library staff a ‘user’s view’ of our collection to constantly ensure that we are providing material of use and relevant to the users’ needs.
Talking to the students throughout the research process and surveying their needs when selecting reading for pleasure material is a simple yet effective method of keeping in touch with our users’ needs. Allowing a recommendation process often points to areas where our collection may be lacking.
We engage in ‘benchmarking’ our collection when we attend network meetings and compare our collection to those schools who have a similar demographic. This collaborative nature of teacher librarians is essential when dealing in a rapidly changing educational environment, to help guide resource decisions.
‘Focus Groups’ for us include consulting the various departments for feedback on the value of our collection. When suppliers bring books for approval, we ensure that what we think is relevant is previewed by the department heads. The only problem here is ensuring that the book makes it to the library floor and is not seconded to the bookshelf of the teacher in charge.
Our library needs to be a necessary expense. We want our customers to feel their opinions are valued. We want them to feel that we provide a learning environment that meets their needs. To do this we need to ensure that our ‘product’ not only looks good, but is useful, needed, and available at the right time.
References
Hernon, P., Dugan, R. E., & Matthews, J. R. (2014). Getting started with evaluation. Chicago: American Library Association. Retrieved from Proquest Ebook Central
Koziol, M. (2018, February 1). States cut funding for private schools as public system reaps Gonski rewards. The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, New South Wales. Retrieved from https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/state-funding-for-private-schools-declines-as-public-schools-reap-gonski-rewards-20180131-p4yz4g.html
The practical task of evaluating the collection
Wokandapix / Pixabay
In today’s climate of evidence-based practice, fiscal accountability and strategic planning, evaluation of the school library is crucial. If we as teacher librarians are to ensure that our libraries are valued within the school context, we need to ensure our collections are meeting the needs of our users, even before they know what those needs are, building towards our visions of where our library will be. Consistent collection assessment and evaluation helps us keep on track of our mission towards our vision, by showing us the changes that need to be made (Hernon, Dugan, & Matthews, 2014). Matthews (2014) upholds that evaluation methods fall within two broad categories: Library Centric or Customer Centric (p. 110). These same two categories are reflected by Johnson (2014) in her use of the terms ‘Collection-based’ and ‘Use- and User-based’, however, she breaks them down further into ‘quantitative’ (counting/statistical) and ‘qualitative’ (opinion based) (p. 302). Of the many methods of evaluation that fall under these two broad categories there are only a few that I feel are suitable and practical for the often understaffed school library team to conduct, that I myself would use.
Firstly quantitative evaluation of the collection through measuring the ‘Collection size and growth’, especially in our ‘genrified’ fiction collection is a practical and easy task to do. In our senior library when we reclassified all fiction into specific genre areas, it was clearly noted that our humour section was lacking, despite the popularity of this genre to our year 7-8 male readers coming through from the junior library. Using our ‘Circulation statistics’ shows us which genres and authors the boys enjoy and helps us find authors who write in a similar style to recommend to our readers of fiction.
Such quantitative analysis of our non-fiction collection, however does not work, as we have a process of placing lists suitable for assignment topics on trolleys that then are only available on a restricted loan. This action, although ensuring accessibility to the wider cohort, skews any statistical analysis of our non-fiction circulation statistics. It is for this reason that we use a ‘Collection mapping’ approach or a ‘Direct collection checking’ to ensure that the lists we create in our Oliver library management system meet the needs of the curriculum that the boys are studying. Throughout the research process, we check in with the students to use their opinion, in what could be termed ‘Focus groups’, to see if the information provided within our collection is meeting their needs. In our fiction collection we tend to ‘Survey’ our students looking for guidance in their recommendations. We publish these results to use as promotions for reluctant readers as many surveys suggest that parent, teacher and peer recommendations are the way 6-17 year pick their books (Scholastic Australia, 2015).
References
Hernon, P., Dugan, R. E., & Matthews, J. R. (2014). Getting started with evaluation. Chicago: American Library Association. Retrieved from Proquest Ebook Central
Johnson, P. (2014). Collection analysis: Evaluation and assessment. In P. Johnson, Fudamentals of collection development and management (pp. 297-343). Chicago: American LibraryAssciation. Retrieved from Proquest Ebook Central
Matthews, J. R. (2014). Research-based planning for public libraries: Increasing relevance in the digital age. Santa-Barbara: Libraries Unlimted. Retrieved from Proquest Ebook Central
Scholastic Australia. (2015). What kids want in books. Retrieved from Australian kids & family reading report: http://www.scholastic.com.au/schools/ReadingLeaders/KFRR/whatkidswant.asp
Using Creative Commons
Helping our teachers and students understand copyright is fundamental if we are to help our schools develop ethical digital citizens. It is easier than ever to ‘copy’ creative works, yet fundamental that we realise the importance of attributing the work correctly and checking that it can be used in the manner intended before we proceed. Copyright and fair-use can be very complicated and to help clarify, I have located some fantastic resources, available for reuse, which can be used for teachers or students.
Copyright and Fair Use Animation is a short video explaining the need for copyright and the terms of fair use. There are two levels of video discussion questions available from the Common Sense Education website for if you sign up as a member.
(Common Sense Education, 2014) 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Greg Lloyd’s YouTube video “Simple Creative Commons image search” helps visual students understand how to find images that have been labelled for reuse using various search tools.
(Lloyd, 2009) 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Creative Commons have also created a PDF for students and teachers called Finding CC materials using the Creative Commons Search Portal explaining how to use the search functions in the Creative Commons website which is available for distribution (ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, n.d.).
It is our role as educators to ensure that our students are equipped with the knowledge and understanding of how to be ethical digital citizens. Teaching them how to source their images, music, and videos without breaking copyright is part of this education.
References
ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation. (n.d.). How to find Creative Commons materials using the Creative Commons search portal. Retrieved from https://creativecommons.org.au/content/Finding_CC_Materials_CC-Search-_edu.pdf
Common Sense Education. (2014, September 5). Copyright and fair use animation [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/suMza6Q8J08
Lloyd, G. (2009, December 30). Simple creative commons image search [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/nfy21jx6X3E
Show me the money – Validating our collections for library budgets
Today, more than ever, school libraries need to show their worth to hold their ground in the ever-tightening budget that governs the school community. Evaluating and providing evidence-base practice for the use of funds has become the catch cry in every aspect of education, however, it is not a simple task (Smith, 2013).
Before you can evaluate anything, you have to be able to measure it first, and herein lies the difficulty. A school library is no longer just physical resources of books, teachers and resources available between 7:30am and 4:30pm, it has evolved to include the intangible resources that can be accessed 24/7 by the library users. To evaluate a library, you need both qualitative and quantitative data on the service or processes offered by the library (Matthew, 2018, p. 16). Historically, we used quantitative collection measures focussing on input, ratio of resources to students or circulation statistics, however, these measures show activity, but not the value of the resource (Genoni, 2007, p. 126). As a resource to the school community, we offer more than books, space and time, we offer programs and resources that can be accessed anywhere at any time and we need evaluative measurements to validate these programs existence. These output measures track where our programs and users meet and emphasise output. They can include: sampling/surveying individuals or groups; collection mapping; measuring student access (individual fill rates); potential curriculum support rates; and then compared to actual curriculum support rates (Kimmel, 2014, pp. 61-68). These measurement techniques, although time consuming are invaluable to teacher librarians to ensure that the collection they have developed is truly meeting the needs of their users. The reality of our situation as teacher librarians is that we a living in an economic time of open sources of information where many people will not see our worth unless we prove it to them empirically through statistics and data (Oddone, 2016; Novak, 2016).
References
Genoni, P. (2007). Current issues in library collection. In S. Ferguson (ed), Libraries in the twenty-first century: Charting new directions in information services (pp. 123-143). Wagga Wagga, NSW: Centre for Information Studies. Retrieved from https://linkinghub-elsevier-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/retrieve/pii/B9781876938437500089
Kimmel, S. C. (2014). Developing collections to empower learners. American Library Association. Retrieved from ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au
Matthew, J. R. (2018). Evaluation and measurement of library services. Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited.
Novak, B. (2016). It’s time: let’s improve schools’ perceeptions of teacher librarians. Connections(99). Retrieved from https://www.scisdata.com/connections/searchconnections?searchFor=the%20importance%20of%20school%20libraries%20in%20the%20google%20age&page=1
Oddone, K. (2016). The importance of school libraries in the Google age. Connections(98). Retrieved from https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-98/the-importance-of-school-libraries-in-the-google-age
Smith, M. (2013, March 26). Evidence-based education: Is it really that straightforward? Retrieved from The Gaurdian: https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2013/mar/26/teachers-research-evidence-based-education
Selecting your electronic resources (Forum 2.7)
Criteria for selecting electronic resources for school libraries incorporates the traditional criteria for selecting tangible resources with additional elements needed to be considered. The nature of a library’s collection has dramatically changed to include both tangible and intangible resources and our collection criteria need to reflect this change. Gorman (2000) redefined collection to include locally owned tangible material, tangible material owned in other linked libraries, intangible owned resources (eBooks) and remote intangible resources not owned but given access to by the library (Fieldhouse, M & Marshall, A., 2013, p 15). Criteria such as audience, accuracy, curriculum and student outcomes consideration, as outlined by the Queensland Government Department of Education (2018) are common among many collection management policies. These criteria remain important no matter what format the resource is delivered in if we are to maintain a collection that is both relevant and useful to our users. What I found interesting was not the common elements, but the uncommon elements I found.
Peggy Johnson (2014) outlined several criteria I have not seen written about in such depth in any other list. These uncommon elements when selecting e-resources included:
- The provider’s business model
- Is access time based or do you own the content?
- How is the cost determined? Access based, site licence, or pay per view?
- Do you have D.R.M (Digital Rights Management) to copy, print, save?
- What is the persistency of content?
- Does the content remain unchanged during license?
- Do you have permanent access to content after agreement ends?
- Functionality of User Interface
- Will users be able to use it intuitively?
- Can they search, bookmark, go to the table of contents?
- Ease of Authentication – protects privacy and allows control, but needs to be simple
- Username and password
- Single Sign on
- IP address Range
- Accessibility functions both technical (will it link to other resources and be available on different devices) and design (disability features)
- Local Service implications – Is there help or support?
- Does it have URL compliance?
- Output and delivery options – can you print, bookmark, highlight
- Compatibility – Does it work with different devices?
- Is it a duplication or a replacement?
- Can you access data to measure effective use – COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources) – econtent should be COUNTER compliant.
- Deselection – can you switch out titles? Are resources available elsewhere?
All libraries are aiming for “affordable, practical, perpetual, or permanent access to content” (Johnson, 2014, p27). To achieve this, within a budget, requires librarians to make decisions based on their particular library’s situation and the teachers and students who use it.
References
Fieldhouse, M., & Marshall, A. (2013). Collection development in the digital age. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
Johnson, P. (2014). Developing and managing electronic collections: the essentials. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
Queensland Government Department of Education. (2018). Collection development and management. Retrieved from http://education.qld.gov.au/library/support/collection-dev.html
Curating with Libguides
Libguides is a curating platform created by Springshare and used by libraries across the world to share content, curate websites, information and resources with their users. The possibilities are endless with how you can use this platform and only limited, really, by your imagination. Scotch College in Perth, Western Australia offers a fantastic example of the possibilities that Libguides offer their users.
When you first go to the Libguide you are greeted with a choice of libraries: Junior; Middle; or Senior. Working in a senior library myself, I was interested in how they use Libguides for their Senior Library. What I found was an extremely easy to navigate visual presentation of resources available for the lucky students of Scotch College. The Libguide offers a central portal to all material that the library has collated. Including: Best Books for Teens, eBooks/audio, Library Catalogue (Oliver), Staff Reading, Research Guides, Databases, Referencing. Databases are password protected, which is to be expected for licensing laws. Through this guide, there are many links to videos, websites and other curating tools such as Goodreads. The library management system used by the school, Oliver, is seamlessly integrated into the pages.
Viewing this Libguide has set off a myriad of ideas for how we can better use our own Libguide pages. Thank you Scotch college for allowing the public to access to your libguide.
Scotch College’s Libguides https://library.scotch.wa.edu.au/researchguides
References
Scotch College. (2016). library.SCOTCH. Retrieved from https://library.scotch.wa.edu.au/
Springshare. (2017). LibGuides – Content management and curation platform for libraries. Retrieved from https://www.springshare.com/libguides/
Must Read Article – Apps and eResources
I have just finished reading an amazing article on collecting and cataloguing electronic resources written by Kay Cantwell (2013) Living appily ever after in the library, and my head is buzzing.
This practical article sets out succinctly how to identify, curate, collect, promote and evaluate apps for your school library. The evaluation checklist compiled by Kay is a fantastic resource to have on hand for teachers to use before requesting the purchase or use of an app. Throughout the article there are links to google forms for the purpose of requesting purchase and evaluating apps purchased. The school I am currently working in uses a similar Microsoft product called Forms. Reading this article has reminded me of the ease at which we as librarians can get feedback and requests from our students and teachers. Utilising a library Pinterest page to promote recommended electronic resources is a brilliant yet simple idea.
Cantwell, K. (2013). Living appily ever after in the library. Connections, 86, 6-7. Retrieved from http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/scis/connections/issue_86_2013/articles/living_appily_ever_after_in_the_library.html
The changing nature of our school libraries
Photo by Tuur Tisseghem from Pexels https://www.pexels.com/photo/books-bookshop-bookstore-business-626986/
The trend of purchasing and viewing books through an online environment has had a profound effect on school libraries and their collections, changing both the nature of the catalogue of materials held and the user of the libraries themselves. School libraries, like all businesses involved in the production and sale of books, are corks “floating on a digital stream”, and as the digital world changes libraries adapt to the environment (Shatzkin, 2015, para. 6).
The school library catalogue was once the font of all knowledge, just as book stores were the primary place of purchase for printed media. Today, students can complete their assessment tasks without stepping foot inside the physical building of the library. We are facing the same challenge that books stores today face, where our quality resources are ignored for the simplicity of a google search (Shatzkin, 2016, para. 13). Our customers, students, want ease of access to quality resources. We need to be able to provide them with electronic resources, such as databases and online journals that meet their needs, and at the same time teach them to how to evaluate the information they find for ‘free’ and remind them of the value of printed books.
The way we purchase for our collections is having a profound effect on the reading environment of our society. Once you could find a bookstore anyway. Now you have to hunt for one, as they slip into the state of becoming endangered species. We have to admit that when we opt to purchase our books through online companies, such as Book Depository or Amazon, we are squeezing the physical presence of the little bookshop down the road out, even though that may be the very place that we were promoted the book before purchasing online (Shatzkin, 2016, para. 21). When these stores go, so does the passionate individual who has possibly encouraged many of our students to become readers in the first place by recommending the “magic book”, as Mem Fox terms it, to the parent of a reluctant reader that sets their children on a life long journey of the joys of reading.
References
Shatzkin, M. (2015, November 17). Big focus at DBW 2016 on the tech companies that are shaping the world the book business has to live in [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.idealog.com/blog/big-focus-at-dbw-2016-on-the-tech-companies-that-are-shaping-the-world-the-book-business-has-to-live-in/
Shatzkin, M. (2016, January 10). Book publishing lives in an environment shaped by larger forces and always has [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.idealog.com/blog/book-publishing-lives-in-an-environment-shaped-by-larger-forces-and-always-has/