Competency 6: Successive Facet on WorldCat

Search 3 of 4

For this search, I decided on WorldCat and used the successive facet search. I had tried, to no avail, using Project Muse for this search originally. I realized that WorldCat would be a better database for the search.

Naive Question: I'm writing a paper on Emily Dickinson and her contemporaries. Can you help me?

The facets I chose to explore using World Cat's subject search were:
Dickinson, Emily - 5,316 results
Contemporaries - 3,443 results
American women poets - 3.075 results
Peers - 299

My subject search was: Dickinson, Emily AND contemporaries.
This resulted in 20 records. Below are the citations that I would provide to the patron.

Citations:
Dobson, J. (1989). Dickinson and the strategies of reticence: The woman writer in nineteenth-century america. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Petrino, E.A. (1998). Emily Dickinson and her contemporaries: Women's verse in america, 1820-1885. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.

Bain, R. (1996). Whitman's & Dickinson's contemporaries: An anthology of their verse. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.

Garbowsky, M.M. (1979). Emily Dickinson's literary community. Thesis: Drew University. Retrieved from WorldCat Database.

Reflection:
WorldCat was a much more appropriate database for my search query than Project Muse. This yielded more search results from which to select titles from. These are book titles that the patron could hopefully check out from the library. I was relieved to see better results on this database after many frustrations and lack of results on other databases.

Competency 6: Specific Facet First on JStor

Searching 4 of 4

For the fourth searching task, I chose to use specific facet with JStor.

Naive Question: "I'm doing a study on teacher preparation programs and their implications and effects on teacher quality. Can you help me find some research on this?"

Facet 1: teacher preparation programs. I used the 'full-text' default search option since there are no subject headings. I located the following records for my facet and synonyms:
"teacher preparation programs" (1051 records)
"teacher training" (23555 records)
"teacher certification" (2188 records)
"student teachers" (5240 records)

Facet 2: teacher quality
"teacher quality" (1126 records)
"teacher effectiveness" (1903 records)
"quality teachers" (505)

For my specific facets, I chose to use "quality teachers" AND "teacher preparation programs" for my first search using the 'full-text' default. I retrieved 39 hits. Several of which are relevant or worth perusing:

Citations:
Zientek, L.R. (Dec. 2007). Preparing high-quality teachers: Views from the classroom. American Educational Research Journal, 44 (4), 959-1001.

Boyd, D., Goldhaber, D., Lankford, H., & Wyckoff, J. (Spring 2007). The effect of certification and preparation on teacher quality. The Future of Children, 17 (1), 45-68.

Bain, C. (May 2004). Today's student teachers: Prepared to teach versus suited to teach? Art Education, 57 (3), 42-47.

Hoffman, J.V. (Jan.-Mar. 2004). Review: Essay book review: Achieving the goal of a quality teacher of reading for every classroom: Divest, test, or invest? Reading Research Quarterly, 39 (1), 119-128.

I was happy with these results, but also wanted to see if I could have higher recall. I chose to conduct another search, only using subjects with higher individual results.

Second search (using 'full-text'): "teacher training" AND "teacher effectiveness"
Record retrieval was 534. This yielded a higher return, however once I started browsing, I noticed the results weren't as precise. The records in this search, at least on the first few pages, dealt with education training in other countries. If the patron wasn't concerned about country, then this would provide more records to sift through.

Reflection
After some unsuccessful attempts with this database, this search question seemed to work better than my previous tries. I was able to identify and explore more facets that also, when combined, produced desirable results. JStor seems to be an appropriate database to find articles within research journals that databases such as ERIC or WorldCat likely do not hold.

Competency 9: Internet

The website I selected is School Library Journal, which can be accessed here: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/.

I chose this site since it is specifically for school librarians, K-12. This is my area of interest and study. It is a wealth of information for school librarians of all levels. The site provides links to the print version of School Library Journal, as well as reviews of books and multimedia, articles that address library specific concerns, related blogs, and much more. Within each of the tab choices are more options for selecting links. It would be advantageous for school librarians to access this site on a regular basis to stay current on trends and issues that effect school libraries.

I found this website awhile back, actually, as I used it for articles for another class. I found it through searching Google using the phrase "school libraries."

Competency 8: Research Visual Multimedia

This data image is from Library Jobline, a service of Library Research Services which is a branch of the Colorado State Library. The graph depicts the percentage of available jobs by type of library. I was interested in this particular information since I am pursuing my School Library Certification. There are many more job opportunities in the public library sector than the the school library sector, at least in Colorado. I am curious if the statistics for Colorado are representative of other states and how Texas compares with job availability, especially where school libraries are concerned.

Source:

Helgren, J. (30 March 2010). Fast Facts - More job seekers, fewer jobs: Findings from library jobline, year three. [PDF document]. Retrieved from Library Research Service: Research and Statistics about Libraries:

http://www.lrs.org/news/2010/03/30/fast-facts-more-job-seekers-fewer-jobs/

Competency 7: Image

Will this be me in a few years in a school library?

I located this image by doing a Google image search of "print versus electronic books." I chose that topic because as a future school librarian, I am incredibly curious about the future of books. I wonder if many books will be replaced with electronic versions as they gain in popularity.

I selected this image because it is actually rather disturbing to me. I love books and can't imagine just discarding so many texts. There are significant advantages to non-print materials, and I imagine that more and more libraries, both public and school,will eventually begin discarding their print materials.

The image was obtained from the following source:

Mayer, A. (2009, September 11). Green benefits of print vs internet. Message and image posted to http://www.recycle.co.uk/blog/green-benefits-of-print-vs-internet/

Competency 6: Pearl Growing on Library Literature

I started on Library Literature with my naive question: When making purchasing decisions in schools, should more money be allocated towards technology related materials than print materials?

The facet I started with to get my first source was "funds allocation." I used the thesaurus to locate subject words used in the controlled vocabulary. The thesaurus search retrieved the following subjects: Finance, Libraries/Finance - which had Budgets with 589 records. It said it was used for "allocation of funds" and "library budgets."

I used the 589 records hyperlink to see what records were there. I then narrowed that down by the "New Search by Subject" option. I chose "school libraries/finance," which had 232 records.

The source I chose to use as my "known source" to begin my pearl growing was: Farmer, L., et al., (2009 April). "School Library Journal's" spending survey. School Library Journal, 55 (4), 38-44.

The subject terms used from this source were: school libraries/finance, school libraries/statistics, School Library Journal.

SS1: school libraries AND finance AND acquisitions
*Ran as a "subject(s)" search and retrieved 8 records.
*Identified one that sounded promising:
"Schools spend less than ever on books." (December 1995). Library Association Record, 97, 644.

Subjects gleaned from browsing these records: budgets, tax campaigns, school libraries/acquisitions

SS2: school libraries AND budgets AND acquisitions (all used as subjects)

*Records: 1, but it was a great hit for what I was looking for. It was: Reference question. (Fall 2009). The School Librarian's Workshop (30) 2, 15.

Subjects identified with this source: Electronic reference books/ acquisitions; Reference books/acquisitions; School libraries/reference services.

SS3: school libraries AND electronic reference books AND acquisitions (all used as subjects)

*Records: 1 (same as previous search)

Reflection:

I was very satisfied with the pearl growing search method and the results I retrieved on Library Literature.

Competency 6: Building Block Search on ERIC/FirstSearch

I used the database ERIC/FirstSearch to conduct a building block search. I decided to use ERIC because it is a database specifically for educational research articles. Since the question deals with schools, ERIC is a source worth using for searching.

Naive Question: How do school administrators determine how to allocate funds, especially where technology is concerned?

Facets to explore: funds allocation, technology, schools

Using the ERIC Thesaurus, I located the following subjects.

Possible synonyms for funds allocation: school purchasing, school funds, money management, educational finance, budgeting
Possible synonyms for technology: educational technology
Possible synonyms for schools: public schools, elementary, secondary

Based on my facets and ERIC subjects, I created my Subject Search.

SS1: "school purchasing" OR "school funds" OR "resource allocation" OR "budgeting" AND "educational technology" AND "public school" OR elementary OR secondary.

Records Retrieved: 237

Citations:

Hansen, J.S. (2001). 21st Century school finance: How is the context changing? Education finance in the states: Its past, present, and future. ECS issues paper. Education Commission of the States. ERIC database. 20 April 2010

Picus, L.O. (May 2000). Setting budget priorities. American School Board Journal 187 (5), 30-33. ERIC database. 20 April 2010.

Reflection:
I really like using ERIC. It is generally easy to locate education related articles. I got satisfactory results from the first search, though if I were to need more current information, I would need to reconstruct my search by either limiting my subjects or choose to limit the years of publication.

Tagging Competency

I chose the book Lesson plans for the busy librarian: A standards based approach for the elementary library media center, vol. 2, by Joyce Keeling. I thought this sounded like a good resource to have as an elementary library specialist. I know that when I begin as a school librarian, it will be nice to have resources such as this to pull ideas from for classes. 


▾Tags
library science (1) location: Conyers (1) non-fiction (1) own (1) pro (1) professional/media (1) read (1) school library (1) standards

http://www.librarything.com/work/1055211/book/56837128

Competency 5

I returned to my initial question of: How are school libraries tied to academic achievement for students?

I started with the Library Literature database. I used the same facets as before: school libraries and academic achievement.

Textwords	School Libraries	Academic Achievement
Thesaurus Results	*children's library services *libraries	*student achievement

I immediately recognized fewer options for subject searches with this database.  My own subject of “school libraries” had 152 records, and the thesaurus subject of “student achievement” had 4 records. So I decided to put my subject with Library Literature’s to see what I would get.

SS1:

(school libraries) AND (student achievement)

Records: 1

I wasn’t very satisfied with this result, so I thought I’d run a few more searches.

SS2:

(libraries) AND (student achievement)

Records: 1 (same as SS1)

Well, I got the same result as before, so I knew I needed to alter my search. I thought I would try using the “All-Smart Search” as opposed to the “subject” only search. So on to the next try.

SS3: (using All-Smart Search option)

(libraries) AND (student achievement)

Records: 125

This was more promising, though I would have to do a little more scanning of the titles and abstract to see if the matches really were relevant. At least I had more to choose from.

Citation: 

Farquharson, M. (2009).  The power of high quality school library programs. Teacher 

      Librarian, 36 (5), 85-6.

Books in Print

This database has a very different appearance than the other so far. I started with my own keywords to conduct my first subject search.

SS1:

(school libraries) AND (student achievement)

Records: 1

I noticed that the Bowker Subjects included my own subjects. I didn’t really notice any useful alternatives. So I decided to try a different search method.

SS2: I used the search option “keyword in subject” instead of just “subject.”

(school libraries) AND (student achievement)

Records: 1 (same as SS1)

I decided that perhaps having these two subjects together was severely limiting my results. So I figured I would try using just one.

SS3:

(school libraries) as a “Subject”

Records: 760

This obviously yielded a higher return, however it would take a while to sift through the results and see if there were any that I would use. I did find a few that I though would be relevant to my study.

Citations:

Donham, J. (2008). Enhancing teaching and learning: A leadership guide for school library   

       media specialists. United States: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.

Harada, V. H., & Zmuda, A. (2008). Librarians as learning specialists: Meeting the learning 

       imperative for the 21^st century. United States: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.

ERIC/WorldCat Competency

 LS5013.22 Tamra Snell ERIC/WorldCat Competency

Initial (naïve) question: How are school libraries tied to academic achievement for students?

I selected this topic since I am pursuing my degree to become a School Librarian. I am interested in learning how my work as an elementary librarian is influential and vital to the academic success of our students. Also of interest is how, as a librarian, I can assist teachers in meeting their academic goals for students. It seems that many teachers just view the school library as a place where they bring their students for the librarian to read them a story and then help them check books in/out. I desire to know how to play an integral role in the academic achievement of the students I serve.

The facets I extrapolated from my initial question were: school libraries and academic achievement. I used these phrases to conduct a thesaurus search on both ERIC and WorldCat. I’ll document those separately below.

ERIC

Facet 1:  School Libraries                       

Thesaurus Subject Results:     

*childrens libraries

*Learning Resource Centers

*Librarian Teacher Cooperation

*Media Specialists

                              

Facet 2: Academic Achievement

Thesaurus Subject Results:

*academic success                                     

*educational achievement

*scholastic achievement

*student achievement

*student improvement

I crafted my initial Boolean search statement with my textwords as a ‘subject’ search: (school libraries) AND (academic achievement).

SS1:

(school libraries) AND (academic achievement)

Records: 177

Identified alternative subject heading: Library Role from one record result.

Noted four seemingly relevant results based on my question.

SS2:

(library role) AND (academic success)

Records: 3

These records were not relevant for my search as they were related to higher education. My intended focus is elementary through high school.

SS3:

(librarian teacher cooperation) AND (student achievement)

Records: 10

Most results were relevant and could be possible sources of information.

Citation: Corey, L. (2002). The Role of the Library Media Specialist in Standards-Based Learning. Knowledge Quest. 31(2), 21-23.

WorldCat

I decided to start with the same facets as I did in ERIC in order to have a basis for comparison with different subject heading results.

Facet 1: School Libraries   

Thesaurus Subject Results:  

*libraries and schools

*elementary school libraries

*junior high school libraries

*middle school libraries

*high school libraries

*rural school libraries

*instructional materials centers  

Facet 2: Academic Achievement

Thesaurus Subject Results:

 *achievement, academic

*educational achievement

*scholastic achievement

*student achievement

*scholastic success

*prediction of student success

I noticed right away that the subject results from the thesaurus for ERIC and WorldCat differed greatly for “school libraries.” With ERIC, I seemed to get alternative names for libraries, whereas WorldCat offered specific libraries based on target audience.

As with ERIC, I conducted my first Boolean search using my textwords in order to make comparisons with search results.

SS1:

(school libraries) AND (academic achievement)

Records: 72 (far fewer then ERIC)

Alternative Subject Heading: libraries and education

Four results, which were all books, seemed relevant.

Citation: Farmer, L. S. J. (2003). Student success and library media programs: A systems approach to research and best practice. Englewood, Colo: Libraries Unlimited.

SS2:

(elementary school libraries) AND (student achievement)

Records: None

SS3:

(elementary school libraries) AND (scholastic success)

Records: None

SS4:

(libraries and education) AND (scholastic success)

Records: None

SS5:

(libraries) AND (education) AND (academic achievement)

Records: 37

Most of these results were repeated from SS1.

Conclusion

There were definite differences in subject headings between ERIC and WorldCat. There was a more significant variation where the textwords “school libraries” was concerned. There was little to no variance with “academic achievement.”

 I also noticed that I got more ‘book’ results through WorldCat than ERIC. ERIC’s results were more journals and articles.

I retrieved satisfactory results from both databases with many records that I would actually be interested in accessing and reading. I found that my initial Boolean search statements yielded the best results overall, though I know it doesn’t always happen in that manner.

Competency 4: RSS Feed

I chose the RSS Feed for "The School Library Link" monthly online publication. I searched for "school libraries" on Google. I selected this particular site because I am interested in becoming a school librarian. I like that this site is specific for school libraries and how librarians can promote their library to the staff, students, and parents. I think as more information becomes available online, people start to think the library and librarian don't serve much of a purpose. This site demonstrates how that is not true, and how librarians can help change that perception, as well as the function of a library to a media resource center. It also highlights the library-classroom connection, and its ties to academic achievement for students.

Competency 3: Podcast

After much searching and a small amount of frustration at links that no longer worked or podcasts that hadn't been updated in some time, I finally found one. I didn't use the search engines to find this particular podcast, though I had tried them to little success. I used the HigherEd blog link in the course module, and then chose "Podcasting in Education," which was a hyperlink. On that site, I found a link for Grandview Library Storytelling. This librarian has audio clips of books. I like this idea because I think it may be a good way to get kids interested in a book. Since podcasts can be longer, I wonder how feasible it would be to do recordings of whole picture books. That way, students could listen and follow along at home.

Here is the website link: http://www.grandviewlibrary.org/StoryTelling.aspx
And the podcast link: http://www.grandviewlibrary.org/BookRecordings/StoryRecordings/TheTerribleNungGuama.mp3

Librarian's Blog from a School Near Me

I used http://blogsearch.google.com/?ui=blg to search and decided to use the keywords 'elementary libraries,' and I got a result for this librarian's blog. Her name is Keri Thrift and she is at Old Town Elementary School in Round Rock, TX. A link for her blog is included below the entry I have pasted here.

I really like her site because it lets parents and students know what's going on and ways they can be involved. She posts ways parents use the library as well as their child. She seems to use the library as an extension to the classroom. One of her posts was about the school science fair and the information she had provided 5th graders about conducting research. I find that fantastic! 

I like this particular blog post because it demonstrates how she interacts with students outside of their scheduled library visits. It can include students from different grades and classes because they join based on a book they have all read and completed an on-line survey about. She not only had them engaged in conversation about the book, but also had an extension activity that they were able to complete.  

The blog does have an RSS feed, which I have subscribed to. I'd like to continue to follow her blog to see other ways in which she utilizes her blog to involve and interact with students and parents. Here is an example:

“Found” Lunch @ the Library

October 15th, 2009 · 1 Comment
Uncategorized

Fourth and Fifth Graders had a great time coming to the lunch today to talk about the book Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix.  All students who have finished the book were invited to come talk about the book at lunch.  I provided discussion questions about the book and they ate and talked.  It was so great to see them excited about the book and about the Read it Forward program.  After they ate lunch, they went to the story pit to work on a wanted poster.  They got to pretend like they were one of the missing, decide which time period they would have been taken from, and design a wanted poster.   Much fun was had by all!
Check out the video!
Found Lunch

http://oteslibrary.edublogs.org/2009/10/15/found-lunch-the-library/

Initial Post

This is my initial blog post for the LS5013 course for the Spring 2010 semester. The purpose of this blog is to post work and evidence of learning throughout the semester.

I became interested in Library Science because I love books and discovering new authors. I know that I would like to have the option to not stay in the elementary classroom, but I still want to be in the elementary environment and work with students. So being an elementary school librarian will enable me to do just that.

To be honest, I am not sure about my "topic" area of interest, however, elementary school librarianship is my library area of interest. I am concurrently enrolled in "Information Professions," so perhaps as I go through that course my "topic" area will become lucid.