Research, Reference, and Resources, Oh My!

     The theme of our readings these past few weeks has really made me evaluate how I want to approach research activities on my library. Although I haven’t been in my current library long, so far I have mostly helped to find resources for teachers and students to use for their research projects, and have been less involved in the actual research process. I would love to be able to teach more research skills to classes in the future.  

While the actual job of a Teacher Librarian definitely encompasses all of the tasks that were covered in the Lesson 6 course reading about ‘Managing the Reference Collection’, this is the official job description that was included in the posting for my TL position-

• Collaborate with classroom teachers in the preparation, presentation and assessment of inquiry projects which utilize information resources
• Model instructional strategies and assist staff with the integration of technology with curriculum and other learning commons resources
• Create a supportive and enriched common learning space for inquiry, learning, collaboration and teaching
• Knowledge and understanding of multiple literacies, including assisting students as they access, manage, integrate, analyze, synthesize, evaluate and present information they get through various sources, including through digital tools and the internet
• Knowledge of learning commons management skills including but not limited to, creating and implementing procedures for selection, acquisition, organization, access to and use of learning resources
• Select, collect and organize materials, including digital
• Provision of instruction as required

(Job Description from SD75)

Unfortunately, due to budget cuts, the classroom support piece has been cut from the teacher librarian positions in our district. My job description used to include a 0.1 block of time that was allocated to Curriculum Support, working with and supporting classroom teachers. I used it to help run literacy groups with kindergarten, work with intermediate classes on ADST projects, and to help various classes with research skills. 

 

    ADST Project in our Library

Now, that 0.1 piece has been cut from the TL position. In smaller schools that meant the FTE of the position was cut. In larger schools like mine, the FTE has stayed the same, but I cover more prep time each week. I am still working with teachers in order to help them plan projects and get the resources they need for their classes, but the collaboration time has to found outside of instructional time.

     At this time, I feel my role has become less and less about supporting classroom learning, and more about just providing prep coverage and doing the best I can to get kids the books that they want from the library. I am currently travelling from class to class with a cart of books. I always do a read aloud to engage the students, and then have them complete a related activity on paper. I need that independent work time from them so that I can call them up in small groups to check out new books for the week. With grades 3 and up, I have taught them how to put holds on books through our online catalogue, so I bring those requests with me to each class. Any students who didn’t put a hold on a book (s well as grades K-2), can choose from the selection that I have brought with me on the cart. I don’t feel that I have the time/resources to do much teaching of library skills at the moment, and Makerspace/shared materials activities are on hold until we can get back into the library space. Hopefully this time can also be used in older grades to facilitate research projects in the future as their classroom teacher begins them.

Here is a quick overview of the Reference resources we have in our library-

Print Resources-

Outdated Encyclopedias

Outdated Atlases

Dictionaries (class set)

Guinness books

Almanacs

 

Digital Resources-

Focused Education Resources (formerly ERAC)

World Book online

Tig Tag (science)

Canoe Kids (Indigenous social studies)

 

     We would definitely fall into the category of having ‘enough’ print resources according to the Vancouver School Board recommendation of 100-200 volumes. However, I would argue that having that many resources is not worthwhile if they are outdated. I liked seeing the breakdown of the average costs of various print refence books, as well as the average library budgets from the BCTLA across BC. It is good to know where my budget falls on that scale, and hopefully it can be used to advocate for an increase in funding in the future.

My school’s library budget is $2000/year from the district. That budget is the same for each school, whether they are a small school with 6 divisions, a larger elementary school with 20 divisions, or a middle or high school. Luckily, the cost of our digital resources does not come out of my yearly budget. Those are paid directly by the district. I also have a very supportive PAC. They are willing to put money into updating our library and have been very open to any purchases that I have requested.

     Many of our intermediate teachers use the digital resources available to them, as well as non-fiction books in order to complete research projects. There are very few print reference materials that actually get used in our library, other than the ‘fun’ materials such as the Guinness books and Almanacs signed out by students. There are only 2 teachers in our school that request the printed reference resources, usually once each year. They teach grade 3 and 4 and want to introduce their students to research using print.

     When looking at the “Standards” described in Achieving Information Literacy: Standards for School Library Programs in Canada, I would say that my library’s collection falls mostly into the Acceptable category. I think that one area that belongs in the Below Standard category is the weeding process. When I first came into this school, there had been no weeding done for quite a few years. I have started to weed some of our oldest books, but there is a long way to go!

 

This is how the Reference Materials were previously stored. Dictionaries on a cart and Encyclopedias in a cardboard box on the floor.

Until now, I have been quite focused on getting these reference materials organized into a more useful and accessible storage system, but now that it feels like I can move on to developing more in depth instruction on research skills. That is an area that I am excited to explore with the students at my school!

 -------

Admin. (n.d.). BC Digital Classroom Access. Retrieved October 23, 2020, from https://bcerac.ca/bcdc-access/

Asselin, M., Branch, J. L., & Oberg, D. (2006). Achieving information literacy: Standards for school library programs in Canada. Ottawa: Canadian Association for School Libraries. doi:http://accessola2.com/SLIC-Site/slic/ail110217.pdf