The importance and varied methods of ensuring access – intellectual, digital and physical – is the concept that stand out when I reflect on the learning in this course. It has been interesting to look at library organization through both “micro” and “macro” lenses: from the details of a MARC record to the broader view of the physical library and broader still to include the reaches of the internet. As I am not yet a TL, I have been challenged to reflect on the systems and strategies that I use intuitively and investigate their inherent structure: how they work, how I use them, how effective they are, how they have evolved using new technology, and how I could best teach these strategies to my students.
Many aspects of the activities and assignments in this course propelled me to further explore the uses of technology (computer-based, internet and web 2.0) and how these technologies can facilitate access and information literacy. I found that I was constantly questioning and comparing the potential applications of these tools that were introduced, and going to the discussion forum to learn from others and to share questions and ideas. From the initial discussions on the forum, I picked up on tools suggested by other students in the course, like Diigo, which helped me keep track of the overwhelming amount of website references, as well as Google Reader, which more efficiently helped track posts from other students’ blogs. Later, social bookmarking with Delicious was added to the mix. I was compelled to create and use applications that I had no prior experience with, and am pleased to not only have a gained a greater understand of their potential for teaching and learning, but to have been able to introduce them directly into my teaching practice, be it through creating a blog or expanding on the digital mini library for my students to use for book club or a research project.
Importantly, I also gained an awareness of the weakness of particular technology applications. Investigating metadata, how search engines work, and the filtering that is inherent in the process, emphasized for me the importance of teaching alternative search strategies. Comparing wikis to blogs and webpages also revealed the strengths and weaknesses of each. For example, although I had created and used a wiki before, I became increasingly frustrated in my attempt to use it for the digital library assignment. After reading feedback and looking at examples from other students, I found Weebly to be a much better tool particularly because of its clean design, and the ability to simultaneously include an interactive element through the insertion of a blog. I discovered, however, that it is often not the weakness of the application but rather a weakness in the user that restricts access. I, like many others in the habit of wanting quick results, only discovered the capabilities of the OPAC when we were instructed to explore it in this course; this again underscores the importance teaching informational skills. The value of standards and classification systems became clear as I struggled through the intricacies of MARC, CIP records, and subject headings, and later compared these with folksonomy tagging. (Paradoxically, MARC records went from incomprehensible to intriguing in their exactitude.) This is another example of something that I was formerly only peripherally aware of; therefore, I would have been limited in my ability to correct weaknesses in cataloguing or assist students in overcoming research hurdles. These kinds of hands-on course activities underscored well the professional competencies identified by the CASL in using “appropriate information technology to acquire, organize and disseminate information” and evaluating “different formats and media, both on-site and remote, to support the instructional program” (CASL, 2007). Considering best practice in accessing resources has also made me aware of the importance of sharing and demonstrating this not only with students, but also with my colleagues as a TL.
Needless to say, my definition of a library collection and access now goes far beyond the physical collection or space. That said, the many conceptual aspects of access covered in this course crystallized through assignment 3’s analysis of the organization of my school library; this assignment made me realize the potential that change could bring. When I first read Loertscher’s article (2008) calling for a library “revolution,” I was skeptical as I tend to be wary of ephemeral theories touted as new panaceas, or of the technology tail wagging the educational dog, and I would still argue that “evolution” is the better term for the direction libraries should take. However, through the course readings, activities and discussions in which we were sharing experiences of changes to the model of the library, I am indeed re-envisioning the space and function of my library. I also visited other libraries to see what changes they had made to move towards a learning commons model. As a result I’ve gone from viewing the current organization of my school’s library as being successful, to focusing on how much better it could be. I found the "Standards for school library facilities" section of Achieving Information Literacy (Asselin, 2003) invaluable in framing this analysis. It is truly exciting to think about how much better we could serve the needs of the students and staff by rearranging the physical space to accommodate flexible use for different activities, ensuring digital and intellectual access through an engaging relevant library webpage and increasing the number of computers; as well as ensuring physical access to the space by extended opening hours.
I feel I participate well in this course overall. Although I am not a TL and could not comment based on actual library experience, I regularly contributed to the discussion forum for required postings based on readings and activities and added others more generally related to course themes. I regularly commented on other people’s postings. I am certainly not the most frequent contributor, but found reading 1500+ discussion posts plus keeping up with reading other people’s blog entries overwhelming at times, and tried not to add to the sheer number by repeating comments if they were already made by others. I tried to expand on ideas from the discussion and readings in my blog and not to simply replicate my discussion posts. I contributed regularly to my blog (other than the weeks when I had lost my login code, but then I kept notes in a separate file that I posted later). It was interesting to hear about some of the strategies particular to elementary school TLs, that I have little experience with given that I am in a high school setting. Many of the discussion posts were very helpful in doing assignments and in addressing questions raised in the readings. As a result of the ideas shared in the discussion forum, I now gratefully have a long list of ideas and bookmarks. The discussion ideas often extended to personal discussions with my colleagues specific to our school library and this added to the learning significantly. Overall, I must say that the scope and depth of the content and process of this course allowed me to synthesis ideas from this course and others, as well as to see a practical application to my current environment, and that I value greatly.
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