LIBE 467
Journey of Discovery: Reference Resources in our Schools - Print versus digital
Journey of Discovery: Reference Resources in our Schools - Print versus digital
Theme three focused on the various reference materials that are available to our students and staff. This had me reflect on my experience with reference resources. Growing up, I recall using print dictionaries and thesauri to help me improve my spelling and writing. Is there anyone out there who wasn’t frustrated with the teacher’s return of our “fabulous stories” to “fix” vocabulary use or spelling? Surely enough, bit by bit, my spelling and use of vocabulary improved. I remember going to a family friend’s home and being in awe at their shelves of encyclopedias.
My brother and I would pore over the pages for hours, scouring for the most interesting facts. Now, with the advent of technology, I find myself rarely picking up some of these reference tools. If I misspell a word, Google (or Word or autocorrect) fixes it for me; if I need a better word for “good”, I can Google that; if I want to find out more about famous ballerinas, I can google that. With information at our fingertips is there a need for print reference materials anymore?
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| Image courtesy of: amazon.com |
We started with an exploration of digital resources; in particular, the deep web, grey literature, blogs and listservs. The statement (Beaudry, lesson 8), “Fundamental search skills are important on the reference desk and in assisting in the development of information literacy skills in schools. But more importantly is the teacher-librarian's mastery of search strategies that he/she can help students build effective search strategies.” stood out for me. There are several issues with searching due to people’s varied language use and the computer’s inability to infer. In addition, through this lesson, I realized there is so much more information on the web than what we “Google”.
It is overwhelming to think that the information we generally search is just the tip of the iceberg. This led me to realize the need to teach our students effective searching techniques. If we expect students to become 21st Century learners who can navigate digital technology, they need to be taught how to do so well. As TL’s we can show them how to use more in depth search questions. In addition, I was glad to learn of Open Educational Resources (OERs) which are freely accessible resources for teaching and learning. I am excited to share this amazing resource with my colleagues, and I am enjoying exploring this website myself.
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| Image courtesy of: warhawknews.com |
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| Image courtesy of: Darpan Magazine |
As the web has so much un-vetted and unreliable information contained on it, there is a need to address the common practice of “just Google it”. Although it serves its purpose for “quick searches” and can be a great starting point, as educators, we have a responsibility to teach students how to use more appropriate reference tools than just the Internet. This led us to the next lesson about indexes, abstracts and databases. I thoroughly enjoyed examining the databases our school district offers and how the public library databases can supplement that which our schools may not have. I see now why “electronic databases are priority resources in the eyes of users” because:
-Electronically accessed resources are considered to be more reliable than Web pages
-they are convenient to search because they are in electronic format
-They are intuitive to search because of format and seamless linkages to other Web resources
-They may be accessible from home
-As well, they save staff storage space and reinforce important search skills in an information environment students will likely face at university or at work.
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| Image screenshot from SD 68 Destiny |
Teaching our students how to use the databases available in our schools (EBSCO) is one very effective way to go beyond “Googling it”. In fact, in reading about them, I have asked my TL to show my students how to access our school’s various databases, how to navigate them, and why they are a better alternative to random Google searches.
The discussion about abstracts reminds me of a wonderful tool available to teachers and the public in general: the Strong Nations website (https://www.strongnations.com/). The store itself provides materials that support knowledge about First Nations and has a section that provides an abstract about the books available for purchase. This is an excellent tool for teachers, in particular, in that it provides a summary of the content in the various books available, grade levels they are suitable for and other categories/content areas that the book could be used for.
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| Image screenshot from: www.strongnations.com |
It has also been enjoyable perusing the webliography at the end of chapter 8 (Reidling, 2016), giving me interesting sites to explore and share with my students. I’ve actually started using the World bank youthink! website (https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/youth) to have my students explore global issues. They have enjoyed exploring the videos, blogs and articles to learn about the various social justice issues around the world (poverty, climate change, urban development, etc.). Wonderful sites like these provide students and staff with excellent sources of information that can be used to enhance the print reference material in a school LLC.
This learning journey has led me to look into the need for ready-reference or quick-reference materials in our LLC. There is so much information that can be available to our students and TL’s need to vere students to the best tool to find the information they are looking for. Bibliographies (such as the library catalogue), list the collection of materials for students to use when researching special areas. As stated in our lesson, ”Bibliographies are essential sources where more advanced research is being done because they point to articles,books and more, according to subjects and topics.” (Beaudry, lesson 10). Biographies are used to tell about people, directories are used to help answer questions about contact information for people or organizations, and factbooks (which elementary students adore) provide information about quick facts that can develop into more complex searches.
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| Image courtesy of: Wikipedia |
Our next module exposed us to the pros and cons between the use of established versus free citizen-built encyclopedias such as Wikipedia. The fact that experts write the articles in established encyclopedias such as Britannica, is a huge pro in that readers can have significantly more confidence that the information is authoritative, unbiased, and reliable. Whereas, the fact that Wikipedia (for instance) is written primarily by volunteers, one cannot be certain the information is factual. That being said, Wikipedia is “self-cleaning” and when errors are noticed, they are often corrected by the community, so the information contained isn’t necessarily useless. This would be hard to do in the print versions of Britannica, but could be done on the online ones. I like the fact that Wikipedia is available in many languages, making it more accessible to a variety of readers.
A quote that stood out for me was Harris’ statement: “To be quite frank, continually bad-mouthing Wikipedia to the very people who use it—successfully—makes us look a bit daft. It would be much more productive to teach colleagues, students, and parents how to best use Wikipedia” The fact is that our students are digital natives and often turn to Wikipedia. We as teachers/teacher librarians need to embrace this and teach students how to navigate Wikipedia, how to spot flaws, how to double check their information, and how to use Wikipedia as a starting point that can lead them to more reliable sources of information. I found this great article on Edublog about how to teach students to use Wikipedia:
The final reference materials that we explored in our modules were dictionaries, thesauri, handbooks, yearbooks, and almanacs, as well as geographical resources such as atlases. Whether to have these in print or digital is a question many librarians can ask. I believe we as TLs need to provide our students with exposure to a variety of formats (print and digital) as there are benefits to both. As discussed above, using solely digital can cause the potential issue of not getting what information we need due to incorrectly searching (ex. incorrect spelling, too vague, not authentic or reliable,etc.). In addition, as stated in the discussion about almanacs, “By searching the almanac websites, students will locate the information that they are seeking, but unless they search for a variety of topics, the general information that is found in this rich source may not be accessed.” I think about myself as a learner and try to connect this to the experience my students may have. When I look for information about a topic on the internet, I find what I’m looking for, but am limited to what more I can learn from it unless I dig deeper. Whereas, when I look through a book, I find the information that I’m looking for, but in the process, am exposed to a lot more information (from flipping through the pages) that connect to my initial search and that may pique my interest. We can make parallels to student learning here too, in that, although digital reference materials may be appealing for students, the may “get more out of” perusing for information in print material.
Throughout this module (and course) I am constantly learning the importance reference materials play in student learning (and teacher lessons). Encyclopedias, atlases, dictionaries, thesauri, fact books and a variety of other reference sources should be present in our school LLCs and classrooms. It is important for students to continue to explore their wonderings and have access to both print and digital formats of information. The Internet has a plethora of resources that students can access anytime and should be priority for LLCs, but with it should come direct lessons on how to use databases, how to effectively search, and how to evaluate whether sources are authentic, current, and reliable. The use of print material should also be present to give students a variety of formats and to be exposed to a variety of information that Internet searches may not give them. I look forward to sharing with my staff and students the importance of our reference materials and sources.
Works referenced:
Berinstein, P. (2006). Wikipedia and Britannica: The Kid's All Right (And So's the Old Man) (Links to an external site.). Searcher 14(3), 16-26.
Harris, C. (2007). Can we make peace with Wikipedia? School Library Journal, 53(6), 26.
Katz, William A. (2002). Introduction to Reference Work - volume 1: Basic information services. (8th edition). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Riedling, Ann, Reference skills for the school library media specialist: Tools and tips, (Third Edition). Linworth.
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