I read chapter 7, researching the case study approach to explore the potential of genrefying the library collection, considering the numerous benefits it could bring.

Advantages 
Genrefication, a current trend in most libraries, is a relevant and significant topic that could greatly benefit our library collection. The abundance of literature on this subject provides ample resources for comparison and reference. The data collected through case studies, both qualitative and quantitative, could further enrich our understanding.

Disadvantages
Under the positivist paradigm, the researcher is to remain objective. This could prove difficult if you are leaning towards using the genrefication method of classification. Completing visits to other libraries to see their collection or completing interviews with their staff may be timely and costly. The process of case studies is long, having to complete a well-written report. Is this worth it? Should the library collection be genrefied and see how the students like it. Or would there be another approach that would give us the answer to the question quicker and easier?

Upon reading an article in this subject, I found it interesting to find that students don’t find books interesting when they are recommend it by a teacher librarian. In completing this module it now makes sense as to why. How do we know the students reading ability or their reading age – and what we could be recommending is either be to hard or to easy. 

Physical arrangement of the fiction genre is an important aspect of the library layout. Our school library is just white wooden shelves that hold the majority of fiction books. Junior fiction is organised into red tubs. Senior fiction is on the other side of the library and arranged alphabetically. Having not worked in a library for many years, I do often look at the current school library and it hasn’t changed in the last 5 years that I have worked there. It really frustrates me, because the library could be such a vibrant space if we just moved some shelves around. 

The topic of genrefication was suggested in the module. In one of my subjects I completed an assignment on genrefication and by the end of it, I was on the fence about it. I think that it would be interesting to try that model and see if it makes a difference to our library. I too often see students walking up and down to find a book. Also our Accelerated Reader books are intermixed with the fiction and this is my biggest bug bear. I feel these books should be on their own and in levelled shelves so that students can quickly find a book in their level. 

In one of the articles in this module, it was mentioning about students being in the library and reading – I don’t see that often in our library, I think because it is the same and quite boring. We had students come in to play games at lunchtimes but apparently they were hiding chess pieces so the games cupboard is now locked and the library is quite quiet. I think our library needs to be rearranged and made more exciting so that students want to come in and read. 

I need to investigate what e-resources we have access to in the library as this is another aspect of the collection that I don’t know much about. 

Censorship and challenging fiction 

From ETL503 I know that students should be given the right to access all books but for some schools this may not be the case. I highly believe that as TL’s we should read books to ensure we are happy with the content and make the decision as to whether we would like to include that book. I know this may go against students access all books, but we did need to be confident and knowledgeable about what is on our library shelves. 

This module covers the vocabulary used when locating resources. When searching the terms controlled vocabulary and natural vocabulary come into play. Also keyword searching is another relevant term. All three terminologies play a part in helping the search link with terms used by the author to find the resource they are searching for.

Several websites were investigated, such as the Library of Congress, SCIS and ScOT. It is very interesting to begin to understand the process of searching and what vocab is used to help the user find what they are looking for. On the other hand it is very full on to understand and I feel out of my depth and really need to see how this works in action in the library. 

The Library of Congress website will still take me some time to understand. I am finding that it is very American based and the resources on there show that focus. I was completing searches regarding ‘flamingos’ and they are predominantly American. I even used the Thesaurus for Graphic Materials (TGM) and there were only 14 results and all based on American pictures, artworks and statues. 

I like the use of SCIS and how well the results are presented. ScOT was an interesting website to use, it doesn’t seem as easy as SCIS, but really it is only needed to find the headings that could relate to the topic searched for. These ScOT headings are also displayed in the SCIS results, so I question how often the need to use the ScOT website is needed. 

Overall I need to investigate further into how our library uses this in order to aid in searches. I know that we use the SCIS data with our records and it automatically makes the new record easier to input, but do we use ScOT of the Library of Congress? What keywords are recorded on the record, if any, to help make the search process easier? Do teachers and students complete searches, or do they just come to the library and ask – do you have this? 

There is so much that was changed and updated since I last looked into copyright. Change and updates are a good thing in moving forward as the rules and regulations can make it easier (hopefully) to follow and apply. 

With the enhancement of technology there are many different licences that cover what we are able to research and present in the classroom. When I was first teaching if we wanted to play a video we were told that it had to be in our planning and then it could be justified that we were able to have the students watch it. Today with the Co-curricular licence we are covered. 

It was always the rule that we could only copy 10%, and whilst this still seems to be a good guideline, there is now a little bit of leeway in that you can copy a little more provided it doesn’t cause harm to the owner. There are certainly more changes with copying in that if a book is out of print or unavailable to buy, you can certainly copy more. 

Something to certainly remember and get into the habit of doing is providing attributions. This is something that all teachers should be encouraged to complete so that if the school gets audited, it may make the process easier. The Smart Copying website is a handy website to refer to when needing to find out information about copyright. 

Creative Commons has changed the way we are able to use images. It is a great way to find an image whilst giving credit to the person who took the image. I was able to use quite a few images for my assignment in ETL501 in 2021, so I was familiar with the process and how to credit the author. This is not something that we would use in Prep to Year 2, but I can see its value in teaching older students how to use this correctly and not having to reinvent the wheel.