ETL 503 Assignment 2 Reflection

When I evaluated a school library's collection and existing collection management practices, what became most evident was that a quality collection development policy (CDP) leads to a quality school library collection. The school library I looked at had not had a CDP for almost a decade. The previous teacher-librarian was primary trained and did not have a good understanding of high school curricula. These two factors led to the development of a collection that did meet the school's teaching and learning needs.

Evaluating a collection helped me gain a greater understanding of the various categories and formats a collection should maintain to cater for the needs of all users. The evaluation was quite general though, and I would have liked the opportunity to carry out more specific evaluation such as collection mapping to create data to support my thoughts.

Through this assignment I was able to see how the poor quality of the collection was the effect of the lack of a CDP. Collection policies "serve as blueprints for the operations of a library as a whole" (Gregory,2011), so I found it hard to understand how the library was able to function for so long without one. The collection suffered terribly which showed in the its lack of relevance to the curriculum, and the underutilization of resources.

Providing context through an analytical overview of a current collection and it's users was thought provoking. For collection development to be effective, it must be based on knowledge about the collection's users (Bishop, 2007). Therefore, considering the needs of the users in relation to the curriculum is paramount when writing a CDP. Basically, if the students can't read the information (too difficult), won't use it (not relevant) than it's a waste of time and money.

A school library library's priority is to support the school curriculum and the school community. While trying to write a CDP that aimed to do this, I realised what a huge job it was and also why we were doing it as an assignment. Writing a CDP brought together all aspects of collection management studied. Having written one already also means it would not be such a daunting task when we need to organise a committee to write one for another collection.

In the assignment I wrote that the policy was formulated to communicate the scope and value of the collection (Mitchell, 2012). This is what this assignment has done for me. Some of the CDP's I reviewed were so detailed and with so much information available, I found it difficult to adhere to the word count.

The TL, as leader and collection manager must have a clear understanding of the purpose and goals of the collection. As a well defined public document, the CDP ensures the collection is supported by systemic, consistent practices. It ensures the collection becomes relevant and integral to the school community.


References

Bishop,
K. (2007). Community analysis and needs assessment. In The collection program in schools: concepts, practices and information sources. (4th ed.). p19-24. Westport, Conn. : Libraries Unlimited.

Gregory, V.L.(2011). Collection development and management for 21st century library collections. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.

Mitchell, K. (2012). Library collection management policy. In ETL503 - Assignment 2.CSU.

ALA announces 2012 Youth Media Award winners

American Library Association announces 2012 Youth Media Award winners American Libraries Magazine

This includes the top books, video and audiobooks for children and young adults.
Winners include:

Australian Book Review Online

I was going to write about paradigms for this post but when I read about this on the National Library of Australia newletter. National Library member can now access Australian Book Review Online for free! Membership to the library is free so this is a great bonus.

A description from the website:
Australian Book Review (ABR) is Australia's oldest literary review. Created in 1961, it publishes reviews, essays, commentaries and creative writing. It has a national scope and is committed to highlighting the full range of critical and creative writing from around Australia. ABR Online can be read on any device with web-browsing capabilities, including desktop computers, laptops, iPads, tablets and smart phones. It offers full access to digital content, including back issues, extended information on contributors and an index that currently covers issues back to 2000. Selective coverage of articles back to 1994/95 is available in APAFT. Indexes for older issues can be found in the print version of ABR, and it is also indexed in AustLit and APAIS. (ABR, 2012)

This is a great resource for librarians to use to select items for their collection. You can search directly for a particularly resource, or browse topic categories or the A-Z resource list. While browsing I found things such as the Australian Dress Register (an online project about dress in NSW pre-1945), and the Atlas of Living Australia (providing info on Australia's biodiversity). You can access newspaper achives and geneology databases, as well as Ebsco and Informit databases.

Happy searching!

Reflection on Assignment 2 - EER500

I have just submitted my second and final assignment for EER500 - Introduction to Educational Research. It is a little before the due date but as I have an assignment for ETL503 due on the same day, I need to get cracking with it.

The second assignment for EER500 involved taking our research question from the first assignment and selecting a research design and research methods as a sort of mini-research-proposal. I am still blown away by the amount of information I needed to read and understand. Research planning is a very complex task and I can understand now why it may take years, even decades for a research plan to be completed.

In choosing the research design and methods we were asked to look at the strengths and limitations of various designs and justify why we chose what we did. In the first assignment I got the idea that a good research question sets the context for the research so firstly I looked back at my research problem and question. I don't feel that I had much choice in selecting a research design - it was my question that chose the design. In summary I looked at the features of quantitative and qualitative research strategies and what my question was telling me. After selecting quantitative I looked at the different types of quantitative research design and again, looked at what my question was telling me. Was it asking for descriptive or experimental research?

Next I looked at the different types of experimental research - a choice between the laboratory experiment or the quasi-experiment, choosing quasi-experiment for reasons set out in my assignment. Further on, I had to consider what data-collection strategies I would involve and why? I went with a pre-intervention questionnaire, intervention through professional development and then a post-intervention questionnaire. By no means was that all there was to it.

We had to look at ethical issues as well and note what ethical considerations we might need for our research. We also had to work out what research paradigm our particular methods and design followed. It was heavy stuff!

What have I learned?

Where do I start? I think the work about research paradigms has had the most impact on me. At first I was thinking why on earth do we need to consider this stuff? But through my readings I discovered how relevant it is to research, indeed, how relevant it is to how you approach so many things. More details on this in my next post: What's my paradigm?

Also I have become very aware that research is not conducted in a vacuum. The results of educational research influence how people think and consider education topics and issues. It can produce change in procedures and methods. For these reasons it is imperative that researchers do their utmost to produce quality, ethical research, that is free from the bias of their own and others assumptions about social reality.

Support your local thought police!

A friend posted this on facebook and I have since seen it since on a number of blogs. I don't know about you but I know a number of people this applies to!

Key Issues in Budget Management facing TLs

In "Resourcing the Curriculum" Module 5, we were asked what we believe are the key issues in budget management facing TLs. Here are some of the thoughts that have come up from my reading:

• Understand how the budget is funded
• Create and submit a budget, even if it is not requested.
• Assess your needs. Prioritise, brainstorm, make it happen!
• Create a strong, out-come driven rationale
• Include goals, be specific, use needs assessments.
• Include others in the budgeting process - an advisory group (students/teachers/admin/parents)

After reading about budgeting I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. Not so much at the thought of budgeting but as I find out more and more what is expected of a TL. Having worked for a couple of terms as an acting TL I thought I had a fairly realistic idea of what they did, but since starting uni, I have been regularly surprised at the extent of the TLs role. More than once I have thought "Is this what I really want to do? Am I going to be able to do all this?" I think it is just that feeling of being overwhelmed. I force myself to remember that in a new job, new position, it always takes time to find your feet and learn about the job, and that no one would expect you to know everything straight away. I am still a little nervous though!

Best Books of 2011

Check out NetGalley's Best Books of 2011 page. NetGalley has brought together "best book" lists from various publishers such as the New York Times, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Thanks Jennifer for this link.

NetGalley is itself a useful website for TLs. Once you sign up (it's free), you can use NetGalley to read, request and review titles before they are published.