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.