Sreenivasan describes the difference between digital natives and digital immigrants. Some prefer digital natives and digital non-natives. He further coins the term "tradigital" which is a combination of traditional and digital skills. "You have a digital overlay....the word traditional is first." It means that you have a solid understanding of digital learning, but you also have a background in the traditional. This applies to many (not all) teacher librarians today.
The elementary students I work with are digital natives and they are developing their critical thinking skills with a superfluous amount of technology. I did not have the privilege of having this integrated into my learning schematics. "Cognitively speaking, children have trouble with hierarchically structured information sites that require a specific sequence of navigation behaviors and find unstructured information environments containing distracting information links difficult to understand" (Riedling, 2013, p.13). Planning information-seeking process activities have to take this into account. Students are not familiar with using physical reference resources like dictionaries and atlases as they are with Alexa and Google Maps. I am in reverse.
I met this week with the TL of our feeding middle school. I wanted to know how I can prepare our students for the middle school SLLC, how she was fostering the learning from K-5, and if she was open to working collaboratively the following year with our students be it mentoring the primary students with literacy skills and/or the intermediate students with coding, research skills, etc. We were both in agreement about discouraging the "just google it" attitude for staff and students, and promoting digital catalogues and physical references in the LC. We both use World Book Digital Encyclopedia from the district's website, parts of EBSCO, and OERs. Learning that these databases were grey materials, that using Google was just skimming the service of what the web really has to offer...it is very "entangling".
What then? Here are some points that will stick with me:
As the TL to support the information-seeking process, I need to be honing my own searching skills to be more effective as the information specialist. I can be better than Google.
The Deep Web is not the Dark Web. The Deep Web is also referred to as the Invisible Web.
Informing staff and students, maybe through a video, or infographic about vocabulary like deep web (like or log-in required databases at school), surface web (which is astounding that that is only what Google really covers) invisible web, grey materials, OERs, databases to ensure we are all speaking the same language thus creating more communication about researching skills in a more precise manner.
Developing an evaluation criterion for websites with students is extremely important to add to the researching process activities.
The need for current and valid, meaningful (based on user needs) in the LC is real.
Searching is simple. Clicking on websites and reading the mostly important material is straightforward. If your decoding isn't at a Grade 4/5 level, there are accesibility features. However, and that's a BIG however, you won't always be getting the accurate answer to your question. As well, these answers may not be the best source of information. Typical search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing actually access only a tiny fraction — estimated at 0.03% — of the internet (The Ultimate Guide to the invisible web 2018).
"The deep web can be used to find information that you couldn't otherwise access through a simple Google search, and that can prove immeasurably useful to your students and colleagues" (The Ultimate Guide to the invisible web 2018). As the TL, introducing the Deep Web and its values like the following to staff and students can support more expert researching skills for the school community:
In a practical sense, researching and brainstorming relevant resources online for curricular content and high-interest for staff and students in a universal space like the SLLC website, becomes more and more apparent as I explored the various readings in theme 3. Keeping a "tradigital" mindset, it is so important to also have physical reference resources within reach as it builds information-seeking strategies that begin the process of the problem-solving model when researching.
Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants: Sree Sreenivasan: TEDxNewYork. YouTube. (2015, January 15). Retrieved April 7, 2023, from https://youtu.be/n_9gI0B4nS4
Internet Archive. Internet Archive: About IA. (n.d.). Retrieved April 7, 2023, from https://archive.org/about/
Jstor. (n.d.). Jstor Home. Explore the world’s knowledge, cultures, and ideas. Retrieved April 7, 2023, from https://www.jstor.org/
“The role and responsibility of the school library lie in the development of resource-based programs that will ensure that all the young people in our schools have the opportunity to learn the skills that will enable them to become competent users of information. The school library also houses and provides access to resources in a variety of formats and in sufficient breadth and number to meet the demands of the curriculum and the varied capabilities and interests of the students. These materials provide the essential support for resource-based teaching and learning.”
Donna Gabriel Robins is in a K-5 growing elementary school in a very busy urban neighbourhood in Langley, B.C. With over 500 students the school is already planning for portables in the upcoming year even though it is less than two years old. Within the same neighbourhood, the Langley school district is in the process of building another elementary school. The district librarian and the current librarian technician were in charge of building the LC's collection. Some of the print material was from donations and second-hand stores. Last year's budget was higher than most K-5 schools to compensate for the lack of material. The library technician had already opened 2 other elementary schools in the district in her career. A large part of this year's budget estimated at $8,000 seems "hefty" in comparison to other elementary schools, but it has slowly dwindled away toward furniture, non-reference books, and office supplies. We have been able to add more from a generous family donation of $2,000, a Diversity grant of $600, and a Scholastic Book Fair (A Spring Fair to come as well) which garnered about $2,000. PAC has been approached, but they are focusing on fundraising for playgrounds.
Looking at SORA, our district digital library, which can also be connected to a student and staff's FVRL card, many children's reference resources are few. There are no digital dictionaries, atlases, or thesauruses. Encyclopedias and almanacs are topic-focused (animals, space, dinosaurs) and there is a literal handful of each.
During the first year of the LC running, the goal was simple. Open the doors to the school community for circulation and space use. In order for this to happen, large financial decisions in terms of furniture, shelving, and purchasing physical materials had to occur. Circulation did not begin until the end of Term 1 last year. At the time, there was space for a reference material section, either in the backroom or the available shelving, but it was not the priority.
The LC is in full operation. Classes occur nearly every hour of the day throughout the week. Students are able to check out 2 books per week with excellent quality books left on the shelf by the end of the week for students to continue to check out. The promotion of learning is occurring with clubs and student activities in the "hub". Staff, PAC, community leaders, and teachers use the LC before and after school for their meetings.
Teachers are becoming more comfortable accessing physical materials from the LC. Here are a few requests for materials:
- materials on neurodivergent thinkers and students with self-regulation challenges
- Fairytales and fractured fairytales
- Indigenous materials on residential schools
- Hibernating animals
- life cycles
This year, it has been possible to gather materials for teachers. The digital resources have been suggested for use in collaboration with the TL, if wanted, for bigger inquiry projects that require more diverse material with access for all students at the same time. So far, it seems like teachers are not there yet.
"If a collection is to serve as a resource base for the entire school, the school librarian should investigate how the users' needs compare to the collection's available resources" (Mardis, 2021, p. 18). Creating a form that is easy to access for students helped gather valuable information in order to select resources for the reference collection. "Students today are digital natives and prefer electronic resources over print resources" (Riedling, 2013, p.14). This was no surprise, but it was unexpected to find students more enthusiastic about sharing what they are interested in, in comparison to the staff. It was also unexpected how many students were interested in reference materials like almanacs and handbooks.
More than 70 students (of a population of over 500 students) have responded so far and will continue to respond during prep times. Valuable information was gathered:
- almost half of the students preferred both digital and physical resources and just a fraction more preferred digital over physical
- most students would prefer digital encyclopedias
- students would like to see almanacs, atlases, and handbooks in the LC
- students have very similar interests: gems, chess, video games, exotic animals, history, space
Less than 10 teachers (of a staff of over 30 classroom teachers) responded. From information gathered, many teachers are unaware of the physical and digital materials offered and would like to know more. In staff meetings, both the catalogue and digital resources were demonstrated by the TL, and collaboration times offered. No one requested time or collaboration since. The TL often emails links to related collections in Destiny, databases from the district resources, and online events to keep staff aware.
According to CLA's Achieving Info Literacy, as an elementary school, Donna Gabriel is below standard in staffing, book collection size, and types of resources. Because the TLs and librarian techs are in a position to purchase materials this year, reaching acceptable standards is possible. The challenging piece falls under "intellectual accessibility" where an acceptable marker requires materials to be within students' ability. When a large population of the school are emergent readers and DGR continues to grow (The school has 120+ kindergarteners slotted for the 2023-2024 year), finding references that are accessible to all students can be a challenge.
There is a unique opportunity here to build a reference section from ground zero. According to the Microsoft Form, teachers do not have pressing requests except to know what is available to them both in the LC and online. Students are very clear with their interests and what kind of references they would like in the LC. There is space and a future budget to add more shelving for more space.
The Focused Education Digital Classroom Collection and Destiny Discover Collections are untapped reference sources that can satisfy what Riedling refers to as "compilations that refer to other sources containing information, merely indicating places in which information can be found (bibliographies and indexes)" (2013, p.18).
Many of the "compilations that furnish information directly (encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, handbooks, yearbooks, biographical sources, directories, atlases) " are required to build the reference section of the LC (Riedling, 2013, p.18). Taking information from the student Microsoft Form will be valuable to the selection process:
Plan
Several considerations are important with regard to the selection of reference materials: 1) knowing about the school, the school community, and the student population 2) continuous collaboration with teachers and eliciting the expert advice of the school's faculty members and drawing on their experience and knowledge 3) keeping a record of questions asked or research requests (Riedling, 2013, p.25)
1. In Term 1 week 1, the TLs will meet with the administrator to discuss the LC budget and if any changes will be made in the next three years. At the moment, the LC has a budget of $8,000 (very high) only because it is a brand-new space. This could change and affect purchasing dramatically. It was made very clear that PAC would not be fundraising for the LC this year, but could in the future. An estimated school year would also be very beneficial.
2. Have more than 75% of the school staff and students complete the Microsoft Form by the end of the week 3. One way to have staff complete the form is to use collaboration time or request administrators to provide time for teachers to step away from their classes to complete the form. Students are able to complete the form during prep times and older students can help K/1s through the process.
3. Week 4, create a committee of at least 1 primary teacher, 1 primary student, 1 intermediate teacher, 1 intermediate student, administrator, 1 resource teacher (ELL, LSS), any other stakeholders interested to help edit the district's evaluation process form to suit the needs of DGR.
4. Weeks 5 -8 (could take longer for purchases to come in) The staff form provided a space for suggestions of specific reference resources. Using data collected, Destiny to view other K-5 schools' collections, and input from both school TLs and librarian technician, by the end of Term 2, the LC staff can purchase current materials. Oftentimes, some atlas editions are not current for that year. Staff will also create a list of materials to purchase in future. Even staff members that completed the form were reluctant to use physical reference resources from the LC and would rather use digital materials, but students were interested in having the following:
- National Geographic's yearly almanac
- Guinness Book of World Records yearly
- world atlas, 3D Globe
- a handbook on chess, Minecraft, and Fortnite
- subject-specific encyclopedias especially on: space, animals, history, dinosaurs, and crystals
5. Before end of Term 1, The LC staff will create a pricing list, and present to the staff so all are aware of new purchases. The LC staff will also present during a PAC meeting. Information included could be:
- average pricing to keep up and build the physical reference section
- checkouts from Destiny/Insignia to show evidence of use and interest in the reference section by students
6. By Term 3, the LC Reference Resources Committee will meet again to review the resources, reflect on the process to select and acquire materials, and moving forward, potential actions that support growth of the reference section. For example:
- Would purchasing World Book Encyclopedias (physical print), which is just under $1000 be something to add to the form?
- Should the committee reconsider purchasing English to French dictionaries if there is interest by Grade 5s, etc.?
- How can the form be edited for next year to increase its validity?
- Are materials chosen this year age-appropriate? Are there other resources that can support diverse learners?
Special Note:
Incorporating the use of digital resources seems vital for the staff at DGR. The TL will continue to promote collaboration in the LC by offering collaboration times that focus on the use of EBSCO Host and World Book Encyclopedias Online. The TL will continue to e-mail collections of interest from Destiny and send wishlists of materials available on SORA to provide more opportunities for teachers to explore and use the district's digital resources.
Closing Thoughts
Before the year's end, it would be beneficial to have a visual presentation for the administrator and PAC to see the process and progress of building the reference resource section of the LC and what further funding could do to help students' digital literacy skills. The plan could work as a yearly cycle until the reference resources are built up adequately until the plan needs to be revised for weeding purposes.
"It is critical that effective evaluation of reference resources occurs by the school library media specialist" (Riedling, 2013, p.25). Follow-up of the plan should keep in mind the LC's mission and reflect on how well the physical and digital reference resources collection supports diverse learners, providing only the best resources, and if they are fostering a love for learning.
For the following school year, the TL can stretch their collaboration with community members and gather their insights regarding references in K-5. Experts from the public library, the TLs from neighbouring middle and high schools, and other TLs connected from personal learning networks. The TL can meet with district staff tech; gather support from instructional services to receive support related to challenges expressed from staff feedback.
When promoting collaboration in the LC, the TL can use aspects from the CBAM Model to research further into the use of digital resources available like World Books Kids and if DGR needs to look at finding more relevant digital resources for the school's needs. It is already evident that DGR staff is at nonuse for both physical and digital references. It is necessary to see a change in practice to see progress in student learning.
To further increase the use of the digital resources, the TL can create multimedia on Teams for classes to access and even include in the monthly digital newsletter sent to families:
- create a video for students to access digital resources
- create a video for students to access SORA
- create a K/1 2/3 4/5 template for other staff to use and put in Teams (escape room, scavenger hunt for exploration, use of a presentation app/paper template for research taking)
A big concern moving forward is the need for explicit teaching on the information-seeking process observed in the LC. Students often want to go to Safari and "google" questions. "Because their literacy skills are not well developed, children have trouble with tasks such as reading directions, spelling, and formulating appropriate words for keyword or phrase searching" (Riedling, 2013, p.13). Teachers are more willing to use non-vetted websites for research rather than those selected from the district and available to them on Destiny or from the district learning commons. This was evident from the Microsoft Forms that were completed. Students in Grade 2-4 required videos, physical examples of the different types of reference resources and modelling of completion in order to complete the form accurately.
As for using district-vetted online databases, CBAM's step of innovation configuration would need to be strongly used during potential collaboration efforts between the TL and teacher. Templates, instructional activities, assessments, re-teaching after assessments, and reflection are some processes required.
TLs need to continue to bridge the gap between their expectations, be it in their set-goals for the LC or mission statements, and where their users are coming from. Acquiring background information to understand their values, needs, and interests. Meet them where they are at.
