LIBE 467-63D - Information Services
Theme #1 Blog - The Foundation of Reference Services
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| "Confused" |
I find that most of my courses start off in much the same way.....at first I am optimistic and eager to begin digging into the course readings and familiarizing myself with the schedule, quickly that fades to trepidation at the amount of work that needs to be done, and now is stage three: confusion. This is the point in the course where I have read enough of the course material to feel like I've done something, yet not quite enough to really make sense of what I'm learning yet.
As I'm typing this I'm aware that this parallels the research process I was reading about earlier today. First, students are eager (hopefully) to begin their research; next, they may very well become overwhelmed by the amount of information without knowing how to start sifting through it; and now, like me, they might feel a bit stuck. They have some information and they have to make something of it but aren't quite sure how to connect the dots yet -- in research model terms we would call this Construct if we are using a Points of Inquiry model, or Synthesize if we are taking more of a Big 6 approach (I am currently more familiar with the Point of Inquiry model - thanks Moira Ekdahl!, but am trying to broaden my horizons by including the Big 6). This is what I love so much about taking these Teacher-Librarian courses, they have brought me back to a student experience and forced me to recall how truly difficult that can be.
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| "Research" |
In my blog posts for each theme there is no way that I can adequately discuss each lesson with any degree of substance; or I suppose, there is no point simply summarizing the lessons that I don't have a whole lot to add to. Instead, I will choose to focus on the lessons that grab my attention for one reason or another -- again I am reminded of how students must feel when I think "I really hope I'm doing this right".
So, to round out this blog post I am going to venture into the print and/or online resource debate. Our instructor notes state that "General Encyclopedias, Atlases, Fact Books, Glossaries, Dictionaries etc. are all available on the web, but they should also be a major part the traditional print collection in a school library as they are important references to have available for the initial stages of research. " (Beaudry, Lesson 4) While I certainly agree that these resources are an important part of the resource collection, I don't think that they necessarily need to be in print form. Take the General Encyclopedia for example; in print form students need to go through the index to locate an entry and then flip to that page. In an online Encyclopedia a keyword can be entered into the search bar and the entry appears automatically. For some students this process is more familiar than using a print resource.
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| "Print or Online" |
I come from more of a Secondary background, so by this age students are familiar and comfortable with online resources; this isn't always the case in Elementary years and these libraries should be stocked with print resources as needed. However, when students are able to manipulate online resources, why would we stock it in print form where it takes up more space and becomes out of date more quickly? I do believe that certain resources always lend themselves better to print and should be stocked as such; these would include Atlases, and other large maps. In my very limited experience, virtually all other resources (at the Secondary level) can transfer to an online resource. This blog post even admits that Encyclopedias seem a "ridiculously obvious candidate for digitization" (Bell, 2012). Though I really do want to keep an open mind and I am very aware that I am biased here so -- please share! Do you think that it is still worth stocking something like print Encyclopedias? If so, please share your reasoning!
Thanks for reading!
Bibliography
Beaudry, R. "Lesson 4: Print and/or Electronic Resources". Canvas.ubc.ca, 2018. Retrieved January 15, 2018, from https://canvas.ubc.ca/courses/1667/pages/lesson-4-print-and-slash-or-electronic-reference-materials?module_item_id=65243
Bell, David. "What We’Ve Lost With The Demise Of Print Encyclopedias." New Republic, 2012, https://newrepublic.com/article/101795/encyclopedia-britannica-publish-information.
"Confused" Image: https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/10/08/confusing-words-quiz/ retrieved on January 9, 2018
"Print or Online Image": https://www.ebsco.com/blog/article/print-vs.-digital-can-both-formats-co-exist-with-popular-magazines - retrieved on January 15, 2018
"Research" Image: https://analyticsindiamag.com/iit-robert-bosch-centre-set-improve-ai-big-data-research-india/ - retrieved on January 9, 2018
Riedling, Ann Marlow et al. Reference Skills For The School Librarian. 3rd ed., Santa Barbara, California, Linworth, 2013,.
I agree it was difficult to write the blog and keep anywhere near the suggested length.
ReplyDeleteComing from secondary as well I find students more likely to use online references. Of course they don't always (often) use the ones we would like unless they are pointed in that direction. I very rarely have students using the limited general references we have in print. Subject specific print resources are another matter and they use those but again usually only if they are pointed in that direction.