Improving my Reference Services

Analysis

My district in currently undergoing a shift from the traditional library settings to Library Learning Commons. A part of this involves having a district team work with all of the schools in our district over a period of three years to assist in making plans to have physical changes (shelving and furniture), administrative changes (flexible schedules, increased collaboration) and policy changes (material circulation and cataloguing) addressed in all levels of schools. This is year two. My middle school underwent the conversion last year but there were some difficulties. There were many transitions last year including a new administrator and a TTOC in the library for half the year. The result was that any planning and/or discussions that occurred were not communicated or documented and I stepped into a half-converted LLC with no knowledge of what had happened or where it was going. I have since been in contact with the district team and have requested a re-do of the planning stages but with a tight schedule for this year’s conversions, it has been sporadic to get help and answers.

One of the most shocking changes for me in these conversions was a policy change of removing all non-circulating materials from the library. Teacher-librarians in our district are being directed to no longer catalogue literature kits/novel studies or teacher resources, and to absorb reference materials into regular circulation. When a conversion happens, these materials are taken out of the library catalog. The idea being that any materials found on the shelves of our LLC should be able to be signed-out by students and teachers alike. The reasoning behind this is that with several years of cuts to TL time in our libraries, the administrative tasks of our job have taken a toll. In our district, library assistants are only at the high school level. The thinking was that if a TL had their load lightened by not having to keep track of lit kits and teacher resources, this would open up time for them to be able to focus on direct collaboration with teachers.

In this conversion as well, a deep cull is being done at each school to ensure materials are up-to date and old materials are discarded. While I am in agreement for weeding, the monetary reimbursement for undergoing the conversion has not accounted for the replacement of all of the lost material. The results have been a more up to date LLC but with much less materials on the shelves. Rebuilding of resources will take several years at the very least.

Rationale

The changes in the LLC means that our reference materials are now housed among the non-fiction books relative to their subjects and are no longer in a separate “Reference” section of the library. The repercussions of this has been two folds:

1)   Some materials have gained use as students discover them located on the shelf near other materials related to their research topic. This includes many of our special topic encyclopedia sets.

2)   Some materials are underutilized as they become hidden on obscure shelves and students no longer know where to find them. This includes many of our dictionaries, atlases and any specialized books that are not located directly next to popular topics.

Though there may be some gain for putting reference material on general shelves, overall, without a straightforward reference section, students are not fully using specialized materials due to not knowing they are available or not being able to locate them easily. If specialized reference materials are no longer being shelved in a designated “Reference” area, then they need to be otherwise highlighted to ensure they are used and accessed. Due to cuts to my TL time, I currently only have Fridays in the LLC and though I do open the library at lunch three days a week for students, it is not optimal to fully service a school of over 500 students. I am not always available to conduct full reference interviews (Riedling, 2013) to ensure that students’ needs are met.

I need a way to highlight specialized reference materials in a meaningful and accessible way so that students can find them even if I am not in the library. My solution is to create a digital collection of our specialized materials in our library catalog so that students can learn about them and know where to find them. I would also like to include these materials in any other digital collections specific to topics being studied during the school year (example, our Renaissance Encyclopaedia in our Renaissance collection).

My Plan

·      How the change will take place

a.    I will acquaint myself with the specialized collections. As these materials were removed from Reference priorto me coming into this position, I will need to browse the shelves and make a list of all the items I wish to highlight. 

b.   I will identify the titles and their current location.

c.    Digital collections will be created for the following:

                                               i.     Atlases

                                             ii.     Biographical sources

                                            iii.     Dictionaries

                                            iv.     Factbooks

                                             v.     Subject Encyclopaedias

d.   Each entry will include cover image of book, description of content, use and location.

e.    Collections will be added to our school’s Destiny library catalog.

f.     If there are topical collections already made, relevant materials will be added to them.

·      Who it will involve

a.    Teacher-Librarian

b.   Interested teachers

c.    Library monitors

d.   Administrator

·      Timeline for improvement (April to June + recap in September)

a.    Identify titles and location (2 weeks)

b.   Create five digital collections (5 weeks)

c.    Add materials to existing collections (2 weeks)

d.   Present to all students and staff (3 weeks)

·      How to communicate change

a.    Once the collections are created, I will share the resources via email to the staff and also ask for time during an upcoming staff meeting.

b.   By virtue of being the Digital Literacy teacher (one of our explorations cycles), I have had the opportunity to walk ALL of the students in the school through our library system this year and every child learned how to build a personal collection. It will be very easy to point them towards these new additions.

·      Other considerations

a.    Due to limited LLC time and my other teaching load, I would like to be realistic in what I can achieve, even with help.

b.   With a completion date in June, it may be more practical to hold-off presenting the resources until September as it will likely be better received at the start of the school year when everyone is fresh and looking to plan ahead.

References

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

Two Heads are Better Than One

Goal:To work with a teacher to evolve their pedagogical practice with the use of reference resources.

Teacher A - Mrs. Sunshine

Situation:

Mrs. Sunshine is a Gr. 1/2 teacher in the English program in a French immersion elementary school. She would like to engage her students in a focused inquiry study on an animal of their choice. She would like their primary source to be informational (non-fiction) books from the library. The aim is to have the student work on this project over the period of one month during their science time. Teacher wishes for their students to be able to locate and extract information on: physical characteristics, habitat, diet, adaptations and offspring. The collected information will be further used as students develop an understanding on animal groupings.

Experiences and Methods: 

This is a project that Mrs. Sunshine has done for a number of years but the first where she is giving students more choice for the task. She has some concerns as her students’ reading levels are across a wide range and many will not have learned the skills of locating and extracting information independently. As well, in the past, instruction has been from packages where the information was laid out in steps and it was uniform instruction to the class. Mrs. Sunshine has previously only experienced dropping students off in the LLC for prep coverage and has not had collaborative time with the Teacher-Librarian.

Design: 

Working with the classroom teacher, the TL and teacher will collaborate in creating a variety of lessons to support student learning in the LLC. In Part I, students will work through a series of stations (scavenger hunt style) to familiarize themselves with informational books and how to navigate them. 

We will examine the following attributes of the books:

1)    Title and author

2)    Table of contents

3)    Headings

4)    Bolded vocabulary/Glossary

5)    Diagrams

6)    Index

The books being used are a part of a series “Blastoff! Readers”, they are at varying reading levels but all have the same consistent layout and design. This will ensure we can pair the student with a book they can read so they can focus on the activities. Students will be able to choose an animal from the books provided. Part II will have the students going into their particular book and locate and extract information specific to their animal.

From Bellwether Media

Levels of Use (Concerns-Based Adoption Model)

Orientation – Meet to determine need and to elaborate on the assistance TL can provide

·     Set a time to discuss the project and the type of assistance the teacher wants

·     Suggest resources that would meet the needs of the students and the teacher

·     Answer questions regarding concerns – variety of materials needed, student reading levels

Preparation – Ready materials and ensure teacher is comfortable with it

·     TL to pull the book series to be used: Blastoff! Readers – variety of animal titles

·     TL to verify with teacher if variety and levels of books are appropriate to needs

·     Allow time for teacher to familiarize themselves with material and layout of information

·     Clarify keywords/vocabulary to be used for consistency; supply teacher with list

·     Go over activity stations

Mechanical – Run the stations in the library during collaborative time, team teach with the teacher, support as needs arise

·     Set-up the activity stations

·     Teacher and TL deliver instructions at the stations and circulate as students work, assist in answering questions 

·     Teacher and TL to compare notes at the end of Part I sessions to assess instruction and learning and ensure students are ready to move to Part II.

Routine – Using learned vocabulary from station activities and with teacher direction, students will locate and extract information on their animal

·     Teacher will review attributes of informational books with students in the classroom

·     Teacher and TL will assist students as they navigate their resources to find target information

·     Student learning will be assessed throughout and any necessary review/instruction provided

Teacher B - Mrs. Harmony

Situation:

In converting our library into a LLC space, our collection was massively culled. Many floating shelves were removed in order to make room for flexible furnishings and some materials (such as textbooks and novel kits) are to be relocated.  Many teachers were shocked and appalled by the number of books weeded, however, upon closer examination, it was apparent that it needed to be done as much of the collection was dated, worn, or no longer relevant to our curriculum. As a result, the shelves are looking very bare and teachers are upset and worried that there are no longer enough resources for our student population.

One of the solutions is the creation of digital Collections within our library catalogue, Destiny. TLs are being asked to create vetted collections of websites, images, activities, books (print and electronic), and multimedia resources to supplement topics of importance. In particular, beginning last year, our school is on an A/B/C year for social studies and science (subjects are in a three-year rotation and is being covered by all grades). This means that the whole school is now vying for limited books and resources. Of interest this year is the Renaissance Fair that the whole school is participating in.

Now that a number of relevant Collections have been created, it would be beneficial for the teachers to put them to use and even better if they would collaborate in the building of future Collections. Many teachers in my school, including Mrs. Harmony, have no idea that these Collections exist, let alone how to access them. 

Experiences and Methods:

Mrs. Harmony has taught at grade 8 for a number of years. The Renaissance has been a large chunk of the grade 8 curriculum for social studies in past years, this will be the first year where resources are in high demand. Mrs. Harmony will also be joining other teachers in organizing a Renaissance Fair. For most of the other teachers, this will be the first time they teach the Renaissance and they will likely appreciate any expertise that Mrs. Harmony can offer. Teams (4 classes) will be working together to develop their part for the Fair and it will culminate in a school-side presentation day in the gym.

Design:

TL has created digital collections on the “Middle Ages” and the “Renaissance”. These Collections will be shown to the staff as a whole at a staff meeting to build awareness of the resource. Interested teachers will attend a workshop to navigate and build a Collection of their own. TL will invite these teachers to collaborate in building future Collections on upcoming topics of interest.

Levels of Use (Concerns-Based Adoption Model)

Orientation – TL will request time in a staff meeting to showcase Destiny Collections and offer follow-up workshop to those who are interested to learn more

Preparation – TL to provide a workshop (Lunch and Learn) to give a guided overview of Destiny Collections

·     TL will model step by step instructions for teacher to sign-in to their Destiny account, locate Collections, navigate existing Collections and begin building a private collection

·     TL will create a “Renaissance Fair” Collection and “invite” teacher participants to join in building it – teachers like Mrs. Harmony will be able to share reliable sites and resources they know of

Mechanical – Teachers will be able to access and retrieve reliable information, share expertise and cooperate via the Collections to prepare for the Renaissance Fair

·     TL to facilitate the building of the Collection and offer help as needed

·     Mrs. Harmony will build confidence in using the PLT and possibly open up other Collections she builds for future collaboration with her colleagues

Referenced

Huang, Po-Sang. "Levels Of Use - Concerns-Based Adoption Model". Sites.Google.Com, 2011, https://sites.google.com/site/ch7cbam/home/levels-of-use.

Percevault, Eleana. "The Middle Ages". Collections.Follettsoftware.Com, 2019, https://collections.follettsoftware.com/collection/5babb0c14b2c270011dcfae8.

Percevault, Eleana. "The Renaissance". Collections.Follettsoftware.Com, 2019, https://collections.follettsoftware.com/collection/5badbe8489c797001193ef50.

"Prek - 3". Bellwethermedia.Com, 2019, https://bellwethermedia.com/k-3.html?top_level_subjects=783&dir=desc&reading_level=400-401&p=1&imprints=526. Accessed 27 Feb 2019.