Assignment #1- Evaluation of a Reference Work
The resource that I have chosen to evaluate is a set of print encyclopedias belonging to our school library. Specifically, The World Book Student Discovery Encyclopedia1. This set of encyclopedias was published in 2002 and had been stored on a rolling cart in the back corner of our library space. I have since moved the collection to a shelf in our Teacher Resources section. I put them there because I wanted to keep the books easy for teachers to access, but it made it clear that they were not available for students to be able to sign out of the library to take home.
The World Book Student Discovery Encyclopedia 2020
In order to create an evaluation rubric that would be relevant to my personal school library, I referenced our District’s ‘Learning Resource Evaluation Form’2. This is a checklist that is available to us in order to evaluate new resources that are being purchased, and it was recently updated in January 2020. Some of the criteria didn’t really apply to encyclopedias though, so I only used parts of that checklist, as well as the information in ERAC’s ‘Evaluating, Selecting and Acquiring Learning Resources: A Guide’3, as reference points while creating my rubric.
Our current set of encyclopedias scored a 10/18 on the rubric.
School Use (2/3)- This resource is used once a year by 3 teachers in the school. Not enough to be considered ‘well used’ but definitely important to those that do use it.
Relevance / Currency (1/3)- This resource was published 18 years ago in 2002. Some of the information is standard and will not change (eg: the definition and description on what a Novel is), but other information is out of date and not correct any more. (eg: the population numbers of states and provinces are incorrect, and death dates of some famous people have not been added)
Social Considerations (2/3)- This resource actually has quite a few images of ethnically diverse people. As I looked through the books, I saw photos of both older and younger people, as well as a variety of cultures represented. However, most of the photos depicted traditional family and stereotypical gender roles. (eg: nurses are female; families are mostly mom, dad, and 2 children- a boy and a girl)
Curricular Fit (2/3)- The reading level may be a little high for the grades that are planning to use this resource, but there is information available covering all of the topics that teachers would need.
Technical Design (1/3)- Students find it hard to relate to photos that were taken in the early 2000s. While the situations in the photos may still be relevant, the clothing, hairstyles, and context are dated.
Space (2/3)- Each encyclopedia is fairly slim, so the set only takes up one shelf in our Teacher Resources section.
A family depicted in the World Book 2002
At first, I had planned to just weed the set of encyclopedias and not replace them. Our school district already has access to the online World Book Suite of Resources, including World Book Early Learning, Kids, Student, Discover, Advanced, and Science Power through Focused Education Resources (formerly ERAC). These online resources more than cover all of the research needs that our students would have. However, after speaking with our staff, a few teachers requested that we keep a physical set of encyclopedias. These teachers were mostly in grades 2 to 4. They wanted their students to be able to complete research projects using paper book sources that could be referred to at times that their students didn’t have access to our shared school iPads. They also felt that with the younger students, it took up a lot of their research time just dealing with technical issues. The teachers wanted to use their class time doing research and not helping with issued like logging in and helping students with spelling search terms and typing support.
As I began researching to buy a new set of encyclopedias, I was hoping to find something published in Canada. Unfortunately, due to the advances in online references, it seems that The World Book is the only company that still publishes a physical hard copy print set of encyclopedias. While it made my purchasing decision easier, I was a little sad to see that the print books were a thing of the past.
I looked at the 2 most recent versions of The World Book on their website. Both the 2020 publication4and the 2021 publication5 would suit the needs of our school. The cost breakdown of each set is as follows:
The World Book 2020
Cost- $799 USD ($1048.23 CAD)
Taxes- $39.95 USD ($52.41 CAD)
Shipping- $0
Total- $838.95 USD ($1100.64 CAD)
The World Book 2021
Cost- $999 USD ($1310.62 CAD)
Taxes- $49.95 USD ($65.53 CAD)
Shipping- $0
Total- $1048.95 USD ($1376.15 CAD)
I also received an email from World Book after I had enquired online that gives me 10% off my purchase, so that would lower the cost even further.
I am leaning toward the 2020 set, simply because the information that our teachers would use (animals, provinces) would still be current and relevant. In the website’s description of the 2021 update, much of the new information appears to cover American topics such as “coverage of results and information from the 2020 United States Presidential election; expansion of the Donald Trump and Joe Biden biographies”5 and Covid-19 information from Dr. Anthony Fauchi. The 2021 publication will also not be available to ship until December of this year.
Overall, I think it will be a worthwhile investment to replace our outdated set of encyclopedias with a new set of print books. Even though we are moving towards a more digital era, it still feels like good educational practice to have physical hard copies of books for students to use in order to expose them to a variety of informational resources and mediums.
Bibliography
1 The World Book student discovery encyclopedia. (2002). Chicago, IL: World Book.
2 Mission School District. (2020). MPSD Learning Resource Evaluation Form. Mission, BC: MPSD.
3 Evaluating, Selecting and Acquiring Learning Resources: A Guide. (n.d.). Retrieved 2020, from https://bcerac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/ERAC_WB.pdf
4 World Book Encyclopedia 2020. (2020). Retrieved October 5, 2020, from https://www.worldbook.com/world-book-encyclopedia-2020.aspx
5 World Book Encyclopedia 2021. (2020). Retrieved October 5, 2020, from https://www.worldbook.com/world-book-encyclopedia-2021.aspx
I can relate to those teachers that spend an enormous amount of time dealing with technical issues with their younger ones! Even with my grade 5s I am sure that 50% of our research time is taken up by these issues. I am wondering though if the money wouldn't be better spent on good quality non-fiction books that complement the curriculum. It seems as though you could get a lot more "bang for your buck" this way.
ReplyDeleteAs an early primary teacher, with only access to an iPad cart sometimes, I agree that it's helpful to still have physical encyclopedias. I think its also important that students still learn how to research from physical books, and not just online sources. A physical World Book sounds like a good investment. There are also some great small encyclopedias that are geared to certain topics, like animals or rocks and minerals. You can find them on Chapters, or Scholastic, and their prices are extremely reasonable.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your rubric! It looks like a great way to assess if a resource is useful in a library. Thank you for sharing it.
Ms. Armstrong