Tag Archives: selection strategies

ETL501: Critical Reflection

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I undertook ETL501 in order to understand more about effective design choices. My school is currently modernising our library space (Hahn, 2021, July 3). Assessment 1 allowed me to identify solutions to the pain points. Main changes now planned are the creation of distinct zones and use of half-height shelving to delineate those spaces and to act as traffic-management devices. Nicole Bolden (Bolden, 2021, September 21) suggested that signage should be prioritised: a solid idea because, not only does it allow library users to locate the resources they need, but the process of creating it also assists the new TL to become more familiar with the collection – a vital understanding to develop, teamed with an understanding of the needs of the school community.

Resource selection for my Library Resource Guide needed to be teamed with presentation. I needed to consider how to present content in a way that is open enough to encourage emerging independent inquiry skills, but structured enough to provide quality, engaging resources for content learning (Kuhlthau et al, 2015). In order to achieve desired depth of understanding, I needed to significantly narrow my scope of content. Some students would have limited independent reading skill. This presented significant challenge. Using the readability tester from Webfx, I was repeatedly reminded that, often, texts present more challenge to students than expected, highlighting the difficulty students have in negotiating the online (and print) environment, underscoring the importance of digital curation in the role of TL (Cherrstrom & Boden, 2020). By including commentary on difficulty, expected content and suggestions for integration of new knowledge into existing schemas, skills of source selection, analysis and critical thinking were developed.

While inquiry learning aims to develop skills for independent and lifelong learning (Kuhlthau et al, 2015), most students in Stage 2 could be expected to need significant teacher support. Consequently, I chose to create my Library Resource Guide to include information for teachers and to present sources that would provoke discussions, allowing the teacher and TL to model and explicitly teach needed skills. Scaffolding and developing information literacy skills is a vital component of the role of the TL (Aisah et al, 2018) and so, as well as narrowing the content focus of my Guide, I also narrowed the information literacy skills taught to allow students to deepen their understanding and familiarisation with each skill in order to overcome the superficial use digital resources described by Coombes (2019).

Creating digital learning resources is an important aspect of the work of a TL. In the Module 5.2 forum, I commented that specialised and nuanced subject knowledge required to create effective research guides for secondary libraries is different to primary school libraries, where the subject content is less technical. This is not, as Jodie Lednor (Lednor, 2021, October 1) suggested, to say that secondary TLs cannot or should not create such resources, rather articulate the importance of collaboration with subject specialists. One of my 2022 learning goals is to develop my skill in reference interviews. I believe these techniques could establish exactly what a teacher requires students to do and understand as a result of their inquiry, and therefore guide the development of resources. Ross et al (2019) offer guidance on this topic and I look forward to implementing their strategies and learning others during ETL507.

References

Aisah, M. A., Abrizah, A., Idaya Aspura, M. K. Y., & Wan Dollah, W. A. K. (2018). Development of an information literate school community: Perceived roles and practices of teacher librarians. Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science, 23(2), 63–75. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.22452/mjlis.vol23no2.4

 

Bolden, N. (2021, Spetember 21). Effective Information Service. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_57506_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_114042_1&forum_id=_241160_1&message_id=_3804327_1

 

Cherrstrom, C. A. & Boden, C. J. (2020). Expanding role and potential of curation in education: A systematic review of the literature. The Reference Librarian, 61(2), 113-132. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1080/02763877.2020.1776191

 

Coombes, B. (2009). Generation Y: Are they really digital natives or more like digital refugees? Synergy, 7(1), 31–40. https://search-informit-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/doi/10.3316/aeipt.178236

 

Kuhlthau, C., Maniotes, L., & Caspari, A. (2015). Guided inquiry: Learning in the 21st century, 2nd Edition . Libraries Unlimited.

 

Lednor, J. (2021, October 1). Re: Creating Resources. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_57506_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_114042_1&forum_id=_241159_1&message_id=_3808932_1

Ross, C. S., Nilsen, K. & Radford, M. L. (2019) Conducting the reference interview: A how-to-do-it manual for librarians, 3rd edition. ALA Neal-Schuman. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/detail.action?docID=5850100

ETL402 Module 2.1 Professional Knowledge of Children’s Literature

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The introduction to module 2 cites Cremin, Mottram, Bearne, & Goodwin (2008) who argue that teachers in the UK (and presumably Australia, too) rely on a fairly narrow selection of children’s authors and creators due to a lack of time for keeping up with publishing. Certainly, I would agree. Before I started this course and working in the school library, I had relied heavily on those authors I was familiar with, most of whom I had enjoyed myself as a child. Having worked now for two years in the school library, my knowledge of children’s literature has expanded somewhat, but I still believe I am barely scratching the surface of what is available. Currently we rely heavily on the Australian Standing Orders for collection expansion, along with student and staff (rare though this is) requests. I do not think this is good enough.

Two things happened this term in the school library that cemented my view on this. Firstly, the teachers of the OC classes, two ladies for whom I have enormous respect and personal connection with, asked our fully qualified TL to purchase for them a collection of books for their new classroom libraries for next year. The TL and I spent a good deal of time and energy seeking out the texts we would recommend. This was both a positive learning experience and a wake up call. On the one hand, we employed a number of strategies, which I will detail below, to search for appropriate literature and I was able to learn about and practice these strategies. On the other hand, meanwhile, it quickly became obvious that neither one of us really had a good grip on the state of the children’s literature playing field. My knowledge is very poor and needs expanding desperately. This need led me to sign up for this elective in the hope that I could move some way towards addressing the problem. That I would become more familiar with and develop stronger strategies for exploring, the latest offerings.

The second happening was that our Principal allocated the library an additional and unexpected $8000 to expand our collection of class novel sets. Christmas had come early to the school library and the TL and I were overjoyed and excited as the present collection is very little-used, out dated and generally dodgy. Some sets are falling apart from over use, but most of it has never been looked at. What, then, should we do? Should we spend some serious dough replacing the Roald Dahl collection that is falling apart, and use the remaining funds for new texts? Or should it be the other way around. The fact that the Dahls are so overused seems to indicate that the teachers are relying on him (as suggested earlier by Cremin, Mottram, Bearne, & Goodwin), that they know him and are perhaps time (and inclination) poor and choose not to expand their repertoire. What then to select… and how to select it?

Together we looked through a variety of selection aids: Goodreads, SCIS, NESA Suggested Texts, The PRC reading lists, CBCA shortlisters, favourite reviewers such as Barbara Braxton’s The Bottom Shelf, and various websites such as kids-bookreview.com. What became clear is that, in order for teachers to choose and use a text, they needed to be familiar with it and like it themselves. Having a huge selection of curriculum relevant texts in a dusty storeroom only hits half of the issue. Once good texts are selected, we need to get the teachers interested enough to read them. It is my hope that part of this subject will teach me some effective ways of doing this.