Digging Deeper into Reference Materials

As LIBE 467 comes to a close, my learning about reference materials has increased exponentially throughout the course.  There are so many aspects of reference materials which I did not know about.  I also learned how reference materials and services apply to learning in the Learning Commons.  When I look back on my own years of schooling in elementary and secondary school, the main reference material that was used was the encyclopedia.  As I entered university and was required to do more research, that is when I was exposed to more databases and periodicals.  I look at my first experiences at the university library and feeling completely overwhelmed of not knowing where to start or even who to ask.  Thinking back to that time, makes me realize even more the importance of having teacher librarians in elementary and secondary schools to help students develop the skills and confidence to effectively navigate the reference materials available.  Throughout university, the internet started to emerge as an additional resource for students to use.  Our students now have to have even more advanced skills to navigate the endless amount of resources at their fingertips.  

Throughout this blog post, I will reflect and share some of reference materials which I tried to dig deeper into and how they may apply to my specific school situation.  I will also share some reflections on what I learned and want to learn more about. 

I had never heard of OER Commons before this course.  The idea of a free online library of educational materials for teachers sounded very appealing.  Unfortunately after just a few basic searches, I became disappointed. I went under the STEM resources and went to look for different STEM text sets. The most recent searches that came up were dated 2012 and 2013.  Although the resources were about Building Text Sets , I find this very old and am probably more likely to find better text sets and information regarding curating text sets through reading popular blog posts or even through Twitter or Pinterest. 

Maybe I do not fully understand the possibilities of the OER Commons and this is an area I need to explore further.  if any of my readers have any additional suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it.  Additionally, I found the same with Listservs.  In a previous course, I had to take information found from a Listserv and post it.  The Listserv did not seem very well used, difficult to navigate and was not updated often.  Again, I wonder if individuals are looking elsewhere to obtain the information such as more common platforms like Facebook Groups, Twitter, Pinterest and blog posts.  

I spent some time looking at The Children's Literature Web Guide.  There is some great information in some areas such as Authors on the Web, but again you can tell this site is older and not updated regularly.  

The Deep and Dark web are areas I had never really been exposed to or thought about until this course.  I feel like I have a better understanding thanks to the information shared on Dark Web News.  I found the article Deep Web: What is it and how to access it?  The Ultimate Guide  very beneficial in helping me learn more.  I do wonder how best to explain this information to elementary students or even if it is necessary.  Maybe it is something to explore with upper division two students.  This is an area which I feel requires more reflection on my part. 

Being a grade one teacher in the classroom for many years, I was exposed to some databases, online encyclopedias and reference materials which were specific to that grade level through our Online Reference Centre on the Learn Alberta site.  However, being in a Teacher Librarian position this year has expanded my use of this site and my experiences in using databases to become more familiar in what is available for our students.  In Alberta, the Online Reference Centre is where databases are accessed for all schools.  After speaking with Aaron our course instructor during one of our hangouts, he suggested that some schools supplement these types of features by purchasing a specific school license.  I found this very intriguing as I had never thought about doing this before.  Since a grade group at my school was looking at learning more about biographies, I decided to look into the Gale - Biography in Context.  I was able to get a free 30 day trial.  Although there is a lot of information on this site and seems to be kept very current in biography content, it was not a good fit for our elementary students.  The reading level was too high as well as it does not offer the ability to read it to them.  I would recommend it for junior high or older. 

A reference resource recommended throughout this course was Culture Grams.  This resource is available through our Online Reference Centre and I have shared this with a few classes within my school.  A feature which I really appreciate on this database is the Kids Edition.  The Kids Edition reads to the student.  As mentioned earlier, this is often a deciding factor in trying to convince a teacher in my building to use the resource.  

An aspect of databases which I never considered until this course was looking into what was offered from my public library.  In Strathcona County all residents can get a library card for free.  This is a great way for students to access additional databases.  I will consider highlighting Strathcona County Library's features more in the future.  On the public library page, they have a complete section devoted to research.  This section has online journals, databases and encyclopedias.  When I narrowed the search to just Kids, the available choices were limited but it did however offer some which we do not have at school that many students might find beneficial.  My personal favourite was World Book Kids.

An area from this course which I feel I have focused on more than any other area since taking over as Teacher Librarian, is having my students use the school library catalog.  A feature discussed in this course is the ability for students to use the school library catalog as a starting point for bibliographies.  Prior to me taking on this new role, students at my school had never logged into the school library catalog or even knew the features and possibilities.  I have worked hard with each grade level to introduce them to the school library catalog and how to use the information available to support their learning.  I have even done a Breakout EDU with classes focused on them using the school library catalog to solve various challenges.  

Atlases were an area of interest to me and I explored this in Assignment 1.  However, I think Google Earth has an abundance of possibilities which are not being used effectively by many teachers and teacher librarians.  Five years ago, I attended a Google Summit session on Google Earth and I left the session in 'aw' with the information available on one site.  Since then, Google just continues to improve its features.  Most recently, Google released, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Although this is in its infancy stages, I think the concept and ideas gets to the heart of Riedling (2013) saying how stimulating geographic materials are for the imaginative mind (p. 84).  I would like to explore more lessons with my students using Google Earth to share with them the capabilities.  

This course has opened my eyes on the vastness of reference services and materials available for the Library Learning Commons.  Although I have learned about many different services and materials, I feel like I have really only scratched the surface on what is out there.  There seems to be an abundance and that is the most difficult part in narrowing down what to offer to students in a way to not overwhelm them.  Even though there is an abundance, I do feel there are limited reference materials available for elementary students.  From Riedling (2013) many factors have to be considered when evaluating a resource - this includes the format, ease of use and accessibility.  Many resources available are too difficult for my audience which hinders their ease of use and accessibility.  As I prepare for Assignment 3 and continue building our school's reference collection this will be something I will continue to keep at the forefront of my mind.  I will continue to look at ways to try out different reference materials before purchasing by asking for free trials or previews.  I hope to also continue to utilize social media and Facebook groups to ask others for recommendations before purchasing.  Digging deeper into reference materials has opened my eyes to the possibilities in the Library Learning Commons. 


References:

Cuthrell, S. Deep Web What is it & how to access it (Ultimate Guide 2019). Retrieved from https://darkwebnews.com/deep-web/

Google Earth. (2019). Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego? [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJRMplV9SpA

Google for Education. (2018). EDU in 90: google Earth in the Classroom [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWq8nhocU5M

Google for Education. (2019). EDU in 90: Innovate with Google Earth [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrJy8ectHNc

Riedling, A., Shake, L., & Houston, C. (2013).  Reference skills for the school librarian(3rd ed.).  Santa Barbara, California: Linworth, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC.