Competency 9-Internet -School Libraries.org

I used Google.com to search for a website for school libraries. I found School libraries.org. This website is a wealth of information for school libraries that provide information for or about the library on the library web page. The resources page contained information for general library use, curriculum planning, and web learning to just name a few topics.

There were many links to other available resources as well as a connection with School-Libraries.net which is a place where school libraries from around the world can post information.

The url is: http://www.school-libraries.org/resources/

Competency 8-Multimedia

In searching for information concerning this competency I performed a simple search using Google.com. My search criteria were :school library usage data. The very first result was from the Colorado State Library • Colorado Department of Education, Library & Information Science Program • College of Education • University of Denver. The title of the study was "Children's Summer Library Usage" from September 21, 2004. This was a wonderful paper about how socio-economic status influenced children using the library in the summer.

The url is : http://www.lrs.org/documents/fastfacts/210_Children_Summer_Library_Usage.pdf

This chart was one of the many tables/graphs in the paper. It shows the percentage of students using the library after kindergarten by library availability and socio-economic status.

There were no copyright restrictions for academic use.

Children's Summer Library Use,(September 21, 2004) University of Denver LIS department, retrieved on April 1, 2008 from http://www.lrs.org/documents/fastfacts/210_Children_Summer_Library_Usage.pdf

Post Script for Competency 7

Although I was unable to find a social networking site which specifically covered school libraries I did come across this blog which tied in perfectly with Social Networking.

The url is : http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com/

This site is managed by a gentleman who is at Iowa State University Library. His site talks about social networking sites in the library.

Competency 7-Social Networking - Academici

This competency was an exercise in finding a social networking site related to my field of study - school libraries. After a long an uneventful search for a social networking site that did not require me to become a member I found the site Academici.



Academici is a " global resource providing a web-based environment in which knowledge workers can interact, collaborate, transfer knowledge and conduct commerce with each other, with commercial and governmental organisations" (www. academici.com)


In searching Academici I found a group under under the subject of "Library". This site had members from around the globe with library information. The first listing was for a search engine that would access different resources from around the world.




The url is : http://www.academici.com/index.aspx



I was not able to find a FREE-nonregistering site specifically for school libraries.

Competency 6 - Database - Dialog - Building block

For the fourth database I used was Dialogweb.com. This website is a pay-per-minute database service. I went to the support section for the Gale Magazine database. According to the Dialogweb description the database contained the following.





"Gale Group Magazine DatabaseTM, File 47, is a unique general interest database that contains indexes, abstracts, and full-text records. Gale Group Magazine Database provides current and retrospective news from more than 400 popular magazines on such subjects as consumer behavior, media trends, popular culture, political opinion, leisure activities, and contemporary lifestyles. Gale Group Magazine Database also contains large collections of entertainment reviews and ratings of books, films, theater, concerts, hotels, and restaurants. This database is ideal for searchers who need background material and a variety of perspectives to supplement any business search. Gale Group Magazine Database includes indexes and abstracts for 400 publications and the full text for more than 250 magazines."





I searched for information about public school library finance or budget. I started with my first search criteria. I was receiving large numbers of results. I had to add several limiters to my search to help produce a smaller set of results. I tried the following limiters:


"/eng" for english only text


"/fulltext" for full text results


"/YYYY" for publication year ( this was an = only situation not <>)


"/short" for text less than 1,000 words





After using all of the limiters possible and all the search terms I still had a final search result of 61 hits. My first two results did contain my search criteria but the titles were not directly related to my search. The first was a book titled Fundamentals of Children's Services. The second was an article about the accomplishments of a mayor which included a reference to libraries.





The following screen captures show my final list of search strings, results, and cost of search.

My evaluation of this database was that it was very costly. For just about nine minutes of searching the cost was almost $17.00. One can only imagine what the cost of a search would be if you were unsure of your search criteria. The search was different because you did not see any result windows only result numbers. My goal was to reach a reasonable number of results to search for valid hits. I was focused on the number of hits my building blocks created during my search. I can see using this approach if money is not an object and one has also tried searching other databases so you have prior knowledge of the best search strings to be used with Dialog. The suggestion of looking at the bluesheets was helpful because it provided me with a listing of abbreviations and their meanings. This would not be a tool I would use with public school students due to monetary issues.

Competency 6 - Database- ASP - Citation Pearl Growing

The third database I chose to use was ASP. I used the citation pearl growing search to find information on public school library finance. I used this topic for the previous two database searches.

I started with an article by Marge Cox titled 10 tips for Budgeting from Library Media Connection, January 2008, Volume 26, Issue 4, pages 24-25. This article abstract listed several good tips for justifying budget expenses for libraries.

Then I used the Subject term : School library finance from the article listing as my first pearl. This led to a group of articles that were more closely related to my search criteria. However, there were also 145 results.

As the next pearl I used the subject term: library finance from an article within the 145 results and received 12 results. After adding this last pearl the results were less on school and more on libraries in general. I feel that the first results from the last pearl gave the most relevant results.

I found that the important part of this type of search was having a relevant article at the start of the search. I also found through trial and error and this type of search does not work well if your database does not support the journal from whence the article was originally published.

Competency 6-Databases-LibLit-Successive Fractions

I was looking for more information on elementary school library budgets. I chose to use the LibLit database from the Texas Woman's University library system. I had the following results.

S1 will be School libraries = 2853 results

S1 and finance = 72 results = S2

S2 and budget* = 23 results



When I tried different ways of wording my search I began with budget instead of finance. I did not get the type of results I needed. I noticed that the database suggested finance. I reworked the search and started with finance instead of budget. This produced a more successful search. I then narrowed my result by using budget with right-truncation. This way I would receive results for budgets, budgeting or budgeted.



The following screen captures show my final search and results.

The process of finding results in this way was positive. I was able to take a set of results and gradually add components to get to my final search. This process would work well for middle and high school age students in conducting reasearch. The process is a little complicated for elementary aged students.

Competency 6 - Databases - ERIC - building block

For this section of the database competency I chose to use ERIC and the building block search strategy. I was looking for information about budgeting in the public elementary school library. I created three sets to look for information.

Budget or expenses = s1
Library or libraries = s2
Elementary school or public school = s3
S1 and s2 and s3

I had 256 results for this search. The fifth entry appeared to contain information about school budgets. The first four hits contained valuable information about library resources they did not specifically mention budgets in the abstract.

The following screens show my search and results.








The building block search approach required an extensive vocabulary to make sure that one included terms that were similiar to obtain the best search result. This process would work well for high school level students and middle school students that showed a high level of vocabulary knowledge. This process would be overwhelming to elementary school students.

Competency 5 - Tagging/Indexing/Cataloging

I searched http://www.librarything.com/ for our textbook by Heting Chu. There were many tags already in use for this text. I chose to add the tag - school library. My focus for this course is school libraries. The database search information in our text will be useful for the middle and high school aged students to use during research.

Competency 5- Tagging, indexing, cataloging

Tag Cloud


(1) aasl(2) advocacy(1) apt(1) books to buy - library(1) ed(1) education(4) education standards(1) indispensable guide for ALA in(1) info literacy(1) information literacy(10) information literacy standards(1) information power(1) information science(1) learning(1) lib(1) lib services(1) librarians(1) librarianship(1) libraries(1) library(3) Library Administration(1) library literacy(1) library media specialist(1) library science(5) library standards(1) library text(1) library textbook(1) lms(3) Masters program(1) nf(2) non-fiction(9) professional resource(1) read(2) reference(3) research(1) school(1) School Librarian(1) school librarianship(1) school library(4) school library media(3) school library media standards(1) school media(2) standards(2) teaching(2) textbook(3) wishlist(1) work(1) http://www.librarything.com/work/245454

This is a tag cloud for Information power : building partnerships for learning. The text was listed as a good reference for school librarians. I would like for this to be a good reference book for my role as a school librarian.

I found this reference on www.librarything.com .

Competency 4 - RSS feed

For this competency I will be inserting a link to the American Association of School Librarians RSS feed for posts. I selected this link since my field of study is school librarianship. I hope that this feed will provide me with new information regarding my field. I am already amazed at the new skills I am acquiring. I know they will be put to good use when I am able to have my own library.

Competency 3 - Podcast

For this competency I was to search for a podcast relating to my area of focus which is school libraries. After searching through http://podcasts.yahoo.com/ I located a podcast from Maureen M. Welch Elementary school in Pennsylvania. The website link for the library is http://www.crsd.org/5034298164240/site/default.asp .

The podcast that sparked my interest was for a program they call Destiny. This is their online card catalog. The podcast is a step by step instruction guide for students/parents to locate information provided by the library. It contained narrative instructions as well as an interactive screen which users could watch the mouse pointer go to certain areas to locate information.

Here is the link to the podcast : http://www.crsd.org/5034298164240/lib/5034298164240/Destiny/Destiny.wmv


I would like to create this kind of podcast when I am a librarian. I can see so much benefit for beginning and advanced users of an online card catalog.

Compentency #2 - Find a blog

I have a found a blog through blogcatalog.com about a public elementary school librarian in New York City. She has been a librarian at this school for six years. She mentioned in her blog about having an after school program about modern art. She also stated that the school does projects before an author or illustrator visits the school.

I liked the idea of having an author and/or illustrator visit our students. In the past seven years we have had one visit and it was just by chance. When I am able to be a librarian I would like to bring authors and illustrators into our school and let the children have a chance to be familiar with their works before they arrive. We have an excellent Arts program in our county. I can see a wonderful opportunity for collaboration between the Arts program and librarians in the county. It would benefit more students if many schools were able to share in the experience.
Below is a portion of her blag advertising an author event.

"SNOWBALL WEEK!
JANUARY 28 - FEBRUARY 1 !Children's book writer, Ms. Nina Crews will be visiting the library on January 29 - February 1 to celebrate her book Snowball. "



http://missolibrary.blogspot.com/

My first Blog post

This is my blog for 5013. This blog will help to document my studies in this course. I am interested in public school libraries. My focus will be on serving patrons from five years to 18 years of age. I want to be able to provide materials that are appropriate for all my patrons.