How School Librarians Could Work Better Together

by Niels Damgaard, Senior Adviser for School Libraries and Web 2.0,
Biblioteksentralen, Oslo

For some years I have participated in different ways in various international organizations (e.g., ENSIL, IASL and IFLA), working for better school libraries worldwide. I am increasingly concerned about how these organizations manage to reach out to those school librarians who are NOT able or willing to pay for expensive travelling and expensive conference fees and other meetings and events scattered around in the world. In fact it is my impression that it is the same bunch of people (±50) in these organizations, able and willing to travel on their own or on their employers’ budget, who are meeting each others again and again year after year. But for the rest of us there is NO hope of personal participation in remote conferences. What is offered to the thousands of ordinary school librarians during and after

these international events? While one can pay for access to papers and perhaps CDs from some of the events, very little is available after the events for free or inexpensively.I understand that these organizations are eager to earn money to be able to travel and set up these events worldwide. However, two big questions remain: “How can we better dissimilate these internationally researches and speakers for a broader part of the “School librarian on the floor”? and “How can we better implementing a free international co-operation through new social software like e.g. NINGs?” Only in this way we will be able to get greater interest (and more members, perhaps) in the important work in IFLA and IASL from ordinary school librarians in the field.  

An Example: The Norwegian Web 2.0 School 2007-2008

In Norway we successfully offered a course for librarians: the Web 2.0 School. From April, 2007, to March, 2008, ten full course-days were offered. Participants studied Library 2.0 , School Library 2.0, blogs, wikis, podcasts, screencast and video, social software, RSS feeds, and information focal-points such as Netvibes and Pageflakes. They were introduced to a part of the new society where librarians together can produce and share information. Participants used all kinds of social software, and at the last gathering there was a show of all the blogs, Wikis and screencast the attendees had produces during the last ten months.
If the school libraries in the future shall have any change to survive, I think it is important for them to be “retooled” (thanks, Joyce Valenza, for this contribution): to be able to give their customers (teachers and students) help in  selecting, using and advising about the new tools for production in the Web 2.0 world.

As you may know, Norway is a long country: more than 2500 km from north to south! Therefore our course was constructed as follows: there were three kinds of participants: some were present in Oslo, others listened and participated in real time from their home or work computers, and the last group enjoyed the talks via MP3 files and PowerPoint presentations asynchronously. A wiki set-up collected all information on every topic, and offered instruction ion before – during – and after the monthly meetings. In the morning we normally enjoyed talks from interesting speakers sitting in Scandinavia, Spain, or even America via our virtual meeting room. We used a cheap OPAL-room where we are able to transmit via the Internet both audio and PowerPoint, using chat at the same time.

 Attendees could decide just a few days before the monthly events how they wanted to participate: face-to-face, virtually or asynchronously; they also chose whether to follow only one event, several events or all. We learned that half of the attendees enjoyed all ten sessions; the rest attended between one to eight days. In the beginning, many were interested in attending the course in Oslo in person, but after a few events more and more preferred to stay at home to join virtually in realtime. We had attendees from all corners of our remote country on this course, many sitting on small islands and other remote places, enjoying the Web 2.0 tools for the first time.

 

What Did We Learn in Norway from the Web 2.0 School?

We are now able – very cheaply – to set up a system where we can educate and work together over long distance in real time. We are able to have attendees from all our small islands who can stay at home enjoying their course without having expenses travelling up to 2500 km!

Attendees can choose the days they can afford and have time for, and they can communicate with their colleagues who are interested in learning and training about the same topics. To record we used a simple and cheap microphone (Logitech AK 5370, about $50) and the free software Audacity (or iSound, about $30). The web room is an OPAL-room for $250 per year, which offers 24 seats. All recordings were edited and transferred to MP3-files for better performance after the event in the free program Audacity.

This course will be continued this fall and spring of 2009. Additionally, we are now focusing on a ten-month course for school librarians AND teachers working together to play and interact with Web 2.0 technology in order to prepare them to incorporate these tools for their own teaching as well as supporting their pupils from K-16 schools in Norway.

What about the International Situation?

Why could we use this experience? First of all, to offer international events virtually for “all the rest of us” who are NOT able/willing to come to the event. Preparing a conference is hard work, I know, but think about how you could have some (if not all) of the presentations recorded and stored as MP-3 sound files to download. On SlideShare PowerPoint shows and MP3 files can be “glued together” to give access for free! Cost and ease of use are no longer an argument for not recording events.

We should bring in speakers from the whole world via the net (Webinars like the OPALroom or even the free program SKYPE is very useful) to bring down the expenses (avoiding travel and accommodation costs) for setting up events, and then invite “the rest of us” virtually for a low price – or for free sometimes! ASLA in Australia is setting up a free NING at http://aslaonline.ning.com for debate before their third virtual conference, which is a good start!

 So I am looking forward to join coming events together with thousands of other school librarians around the world as  virtual attendees to listen and enjoying the speakers in real time or asynchronously via podcasts – and to participate virtually

. And perhaps I would like to pay a little fee to be there, if you would not like to give this to us for free?Read more about: “You Should Record Everything You Do or Say” by Leesa Barnes
(http://www.kick-assblog.com/adventuresofabusinessmum/2008/03/why-you-should.html)
and comment on this article at this blog. 

About Niels Damgaard

Niels Damgaard is currently Senior Adviser on School Libraries and Web 2.0 in the Norwegian Resource Centre for Libraries (Biblioteksentralen AL). He has taught and worked as a site school librarian for fifteen years in Denmark, Greenland and Norway. For the past twelve years he has been busy setting up courses together with the University of Agder (UIA) for teachers running school libraries in Norway, and in the last four year more than 400 librarians and teachers running school libraries in secondary schools have been taking his own courses. Niels edited the IFLA section 11 Newsletter from 2005 to 2007, and won the Newsletter of the Year Award in 2006. He finds his inspiration from worldwide networks such as the WebHeads, the EVO (The Electronic village), The WebAcademy, 23-things and other places, where he can study Web 2.0 for free.

With my feet in the mud…

By Helen Boelens

boelen1@attglobal.net

Kalsbeek College

Nederland

In Australia we are very aware of the need to conserve water. As a child in Australia, I knew that drinking water came from a tank on the roof and that bath water was pumped from an artesian well, deep under the ground. Water was never wasted. Dirty water was never allowed to run down the drainpipe. It was thrown onto the thirsty plants in the garden.

When I was in my twenties, I met a kind, friendly Dutchman. We fell in love and decided to “give it a go”. After our marriage, we moved to Holland. This is a country which has too much water. I will never forget the day we moved into our new house. It was raining. There was mud everywhere. Further along the street, grubby little children, wearing warm coats and rubber boots, were playing in the mud, building dykes. They were having a lovely time.

Yes, Holland is a country which has too much water, and lots of mud. There is a wonderful Dutch expression, which roughly translated into English is “with your feet in the mud”. It means that you are involved in the daily grind, putting one foot in front of the other, making squelching footsteps through the mud, to get to the dry ground – doing the ordinary day to day tasks in order to achieve a goal.

In this article, I want to tell you about “my feet in the mud” in the School Library and Information Centre at the Kalsbeek College in Woerden, the Netherlands. After my arrival in the Netherlands, it took me quite a while to learn the language, become familiar with the Dutch children’s and adult literature, revalidate my diploma’s and find a job as a school librarian in a local secondary school. For the record, the job of teaching librarian does not (as yet) exist in the Netherlands.
During my job interview in 1998, the director of the school explained to me that the Kalsbeek College is an “ordinary” school. It is not a private school – it is government funded and has no special sources of extra income. It is not a selective school. In 2007, it has a total of 2,600 pupils and is what is known as a comprehensive high school. The director told me that I was being hired to bring the school’s library into the 21st century. So this is when I had to put on my boots and began plodding through the mud…

I began by trying to define the goals of the school library (which has now become known as the school library and information center (SLIC) ). Whilst maintaining the wonderful, traditional goals of the school library, an attempt was made to introduce computer technology, new concepts of learning and digital forms of information into the SLIC. My recent paper:

“Imagine …You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one,” [1] : The school library and information center at the heart of the learning process and as an integral part of the learning environment

describes how we approached this problem. This paper was presented in Dutch and English at the Kalsbeek College on 31 January 2007 and was also presented, in Italian, at the triennial national project “Biblioteche nelle Scuole” in Milan, Italy on 15 March 2007. It can be found (in English) on the ENSIL (European Network for School Libraries and Information Literacy) website www.ensil.eu .

The paper describes how the school, as a whole, has recognized the important role which the school library plays at the heart of the learning process and as an integral part of the learning environment. Step by step, in co-operation with directors and teachers throughout the school, we have been moving towards this goal. The various steps which have taken place in this process were discussed at democratic meetings within the school, and decisions were made.

The educational objectives of the school are clearly stated in the school policy statement and in all information booklets which are handed out to (prospective) pupils. Information evenings have been held for parents of pupils, in order to explain to them what we are doing and what we are hoping to achieve.

In 2002, a decision was made to build a new SLIC (400 square meters), which would incorporate the traditional values of the school library, while making provisions for new facilities for the 21st century. This was a costly decision, but the results are spectacular. We now have a facility where more than 100 pupils from all different levels within the school can read, do their homework, or make use of new forms of learning, thanks to ICT software and hardware. The SLIC is comfortable, attractive and colorful. It has an excellent collection (in traditional and digital form) in five different languages. There is an ELO (Electronic Learning Environment) and a fully automated web-based library catalogue. At the moment, federated searches are being instigated, for the storage and retrieval of information throughout the entire school. We also have special facilities for gifted pupils and pupils with learning difficulties. Last but not least, the SLIC gives compulsory, interdisciplinary instruction in information literacy to teachers and pupils.

Our success up until now can be verified by:

· Improvement in academic achievement of pupils;

· An awareness throughout the school of the advantages (and disadvantages) of new forms of learning and how these can be implemented in the SLIC (when necessary);

· An awareness that learning should be interdisciplinary and that co-operation within the school is essential;

· An awareness of the effects that the information society has had on the “ordinary” school;

· A SLIC which is nearly always full with pupils making use of the facilities. It has come to the point that we almost need a second SLIC.

· An increase in reading throughout the school. The statistics for borrowing of traditional information, by pupils and staff, have risen more than 17% in one calendar year.

The success of the KILM (Kalsbeek Information Literacy Matrix), mentioned in my paper:

“Imagine …You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one,” [2] : The school library and information center at the heart of the learning process and as an integral part of the learning environment

is due to a combination of:

1. Organisation and

2. Methodology

3. The integrity and vision of the school leadership.

The changes in organization include meetings between all groups within the school (establishing a democratic process) and the coordination of projects between subject areas. The methods include the interdisciplinary teaching of information literacy skills in the SLIC. The integrity and vision of the school leadership speaks for itself.

No, we have not yet reached the other side of the pool of mud. The information society in which we live is changing so rapidly. The SLIC needs to take these changes into account and, if necessary, implement them into the policy of the SLIC. The situation within the SLIC at the Kalsbeek College is not perfect. Every day we come up against problems which still have to be solved. Nevertheless, the democratic process throughout the school plays an important role in resolving these problems and implementing new ideas. Without the educational vision of the director, Dr. Jaco Schouwenaar, none of this would have been possible. This is clearly described in the paper mentioned above.

In 2003, I decided to look more closely into the problems faced by the school librarian (or teaching librarian) in the 21st century. I have become a Ph.D. research student at Middlesex University, School of Education and Lifelong Learning in London, in co-operation with the University of Amsterdam and the Vrije Universiteit (VU) in Amsterdam. My contact with the university in London is usually through E-learning. My recent papers include:

“A new kind of information specialist for a new kind of learning”

which I presented at World Library and Information Congress, 72nd IFLA General Conference and Council, in Seoul (South Korea), August 2006, can also be found on www.ensil.eu . The ideas presented in this paper are very relevant to a walk through the mud.

During my research, I have been fortunate to meet people from many different countries who are interested in school library work – librarians from different kinds of libraries, academics, researchers, politicians, and also people with commercial or economic interests. I have also met those who think that school library work is at an end –it has seen better days and is no longer necessary. It can be replaced by other kinds of services.

But these people do not plod through the mud. They are not involved in the daily life of the school or the school library. They visit the school library occasionally, carry out research, and come up with ideas and suggestions. Sometimes politics or self-interest play a role.

Their work is different from mine. I get up in the morning and am faced with the day to day realities of school library work, in positive or negative ways. I see what happens each day in the SLIC. I see the little drama’s which occur, and also see the reactions of children, on a daily basis, to new innovations in the SLIC. I put on the gumboots every morning and plod on through the mud. It may be time for a new sturdy pair of gumboots. They sell very pretty, colourful ones here in Holland!

Making libraries enticing also for ”non”-readers?

By coordinator Mette K. Ofstad, Kragerø, Norway (mette.k.ofstad@kragero.kommune.no or msofstad@online.no )

Is it possible to seduce the so-called non-readers into school libraries and make them feel welcome and even eager to find books that are especially interesting to them?

If you ask students about libraries, most will answer that they are quiet, unassuming and rather dull places. Some students will tell you the school libraries are pleasantly useful, but for many, especially boys, school libraries are a place they would rather avoid.

We need to get everyone to read. Every fourth 15-year old in Norway does not read well enough to function properly, one out of four drops out of high school, 400 000 grown-ups out of our 4,5 million in Norway are functionally illiterate. Last, but not least, we seem to keep up the social differences in the end results. One way to iron out the social differences is to have offers of doing “homework” at the schools. What better place to do this than in pleasantly furnished school libraries with clever librarians and others as helpers? Why not open the school library also for the kindergarten that is almost always close by? Research show that if kids get a head start it is all to the good. A school MI-library would be a wonderful learning arena for pre-school kids also.

In Kragerø, a little seaside town south in Norway, we have devised a project called SMIL (as in smile) – an ongoing project for the last three to four years. The letters pertain to Strategies for learning, Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles. The goal is to give teachers a tool box with diverse methods to cater to every students learning strategies and styles and intelligences. So the idea came up: Why couldn’t we cathegorize the books and media according to the eight multiple intelligences as in Howard Gardner’s interesting theory, and put them in a corresponding nook or corner? Then the very bodily-kinestetic boy who wants to find something interesting, could find it in a jiffy because all the books that pertain to his bodily-kinestetic intelligence were prominently set up and easy to find in a specific corner of the room?

A quiet going treadmill with a reading rack could also be part of the interior decoration in this part of the library.

For the spatial intelligence corner we wanted books about the visual arts, biographies with pictures about famous painters, books on how-to-draw, books on maps in every category, interesting books with most only pictures or photos, comics an so forth. A powerful computer where students could manipulate pictures and video would be part of the equipment in this part of the MI-library as well as room for drawing, doodling and making squiggles. An easel with a possibility to paint could be a part of the outfitting.

This is how we plan to do with every one of the eight intelligences in our MI-library. As in New City School in St.Louis we are having a small theatre in the centre which can also serve as an exhibition area and can be used for performances from outside sources or by the school’s own students or teachers. This way the MI-library will become a room of many different activities.

In Norway most every school is a public school, so we applied for extra funds from official sources and had a bit of luck as we received a sum more or less sufficient enough to go ahead. We have hired an interior designer who is a specialist on school libraries. She is quite smitten with the MI-idea, and she has lots of exciting solutions. Since the funding is a challenge even though we have received funds, we co-operate with the local high-school class of carpenters. They are doing the carpentry which in parts of the room consists of a landing of two levels which gives lots of room for sitting or lounging or being a sitting area for performances of different kinds, but also other activities such as for standing up for choir-singing, band exercises and so forth. The school has 260 students and 20 teachers and is our biggest primary school. The room is about 90 square meters and has three adjoining group rooms – each 15 square meters – which will be back-up rooms for some of the intelligences. We need to have workplaces with headphones for music, and we also plan for a huge aquarium and terrarium as well as an ant-farm inside glass in the naturalistic intelligence area.

The school libraries of Norway came into being during the school reform of 1775, but have not been prioritized as they have in Denmark og Finland. They are mostly a sorry chapter, and something needs to be done. With a teacher from Kalstad school I travelled to the official opening of the MI-library at New City School in December 2005. Our enthusiasm just grew when we saw what Thomas Hoerr and his teachers had accomplished. I have just finished translating his book on “How to become and Multiple Intelligence school?” into Norwegian. The book is a testimony on how well the school has carried out the ideas of the multiple intelligence theory – not only in the classroom, but now also with their library.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if both Thomas Hoerr and Howard Gardner could come to our opening of the first European MI-library in Kragerø Norway? It is exciting that such a relatively small school works on establishing a school library so much out of the ordinary.

Library 2.0: It’s Not About the Books

By Christopher Harris
infomancy@gmail.com
New York
USA

It is always a risk in the library world to say that it is not about the books. So, to use a less emotionally charged example, let us propose that the $100 laptop project, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), is not about the computer either. In both of these cases, the books and the computers are just tools. Books are a storage technology that we have used for a few thousand years to hold information. Computers are a more recent example of a tool we created to improve our processing capabilities. Neither of these technologies really does anything for us. The magic is in how we use them.

Library 2.0 is that kind of magic. The basic idea behind Library 2.0 is the development of a new perspective that can help us provide a higher level of services by focusing on our patrons. The movement was initially built around concept of Web 2.0 as discussed by Tim O’Reilly in a 2005 article, “What is Web 2.0” http://tinyurl.com/743r5. Libraries began talking about harnessing patron intelligence, using data, and developing new software on an open release cycle. Library 2.0 is really about harnessing the new technologies to focus our development activities on patron engagement. Just like the OLPC project proposes to use a computer as a tool for social change by promoting connectivity and education, Library 2.0 brings radical change to our organizations by creating new conversations around information.

So what does this look like in a real world library? Using the expanded powers of computers and the web, we can now do things with books (and the information they hold) that we were unable to accomplish previously. Some examples of this include tagging books to provide additional metadata, developing a social network around books, and even extracting the stories and information from books into new storage technologies for broader access. By adopting tags to supplement (not supplant) traditional subject cataloging, for example, libraries can provide additional points of entry into their collections that can accommodate unique cultural elements. These tools allow even remote libraries to become full participants in the global information network. This is especially true since many of the tools that make up Library 2.0 are being developed using open source technologies.

The Web 2.0 movement has brought about the development of many new free and/or open source technologies that libraries can use to provide enhanced services. The cost for developing or piloting a new program for possible adoption is no longer measured by hard currency, but by soft resources. What is it worth to your organization in terms of time to make a new project work? If, for example, your library wants to prioritize facilitating user discussions about books they are reading, it can be done if you are willing to redirect time that may now be spent on other tasks. Are there programs that are hanging on because they have “always been there” but are no longer drawing participation? Or are there tasks that could be automated or streamlined to generate additional staff time?

This isn’t to say that time is the only cost associated with Library 2.0 – but rather that it can be the only cost. Most of these technologies are designed to run on a web server and so will work best when run in an online, hosted environment. This, however, starts to cost money. When looking at these new Web 2.0 technologies, the one thing to remember is that it will either cost time or money. The less time you want to spend on something, the more money you will need to spend. Luckily, the opposite is also true. If you want to get started with a new project, you can do so with very little money by investing additional time. Don’t have a web server where you can host a new book discussion website? Not a problem. Using a free, open source web server package like Xampp [http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html] you can turn any computer into a personal webserver. While this program is not recommended for use in an online environment, if you have a local library network or even a few connected computers you can create your own internal library webspace using Xampp.

Why create a webspace? Is it really that essential for Library 2.0? I believe that it is. Digital spaces – whether built on a blog, wiki, or other tool – are different than physical spaces we have in our libraries. By starting a conversation on a blog or a wiki, even one running on a local computer using a program like Xampp, allows the users to interact in a dynamic environment. While this can be simulated on paper, using the computer allows multiple conversations to take place, and more importantly to grow and develop over time. Being involved in a local webspace also prepares library user for participation in the global information space. By writing on a local book discussion blog, a patron is learning the skills that will allow him or her to create a public blog to spread cultural awareness. Knowing how to edit an internal library wiki means that a user is able to contribute to the growth of knowledge by contributing, editing, or even translating entries on Wikipedia.

While a digital divide separating those with broadband access in their homes from those without, libraries can leverage Library 2.0 ideas and tools to build a more meaningful bridge over this divide. Instead of just providing occasional access, libraries can provide tools and support to make sure that the occasional access is meaningful. By engaging patrons in the creation of a webspaces as opposed to the mere consumption of them, libraries are preparing users to take on a more meaningful role in the global information network. As networks and connectivity spread through mobile technologies and programs like the OLPC project, libraries around the world need to be prepared to guide their patrons through this new information space. Open source technologies allow libraries to start small, building a local space that can grow over time to meld with the larger online world. By moving beyond the technology, be it a book or a computer, Library 2.0 can use any available tools to focus on creating a user-centered library experience. Because in the end, it’s not about the books but about growing human capacity.

Web 2.0 Meets Information Literacy

By Joyce Kasman Valenza

Joyce_Valenza@sdst.org
Springfield Township HS Library
USA

To be most effective, citizens of the future will need to creatively blend several relatively traditional skills with emerging information and communication tools. And they will need to practice those skills in an information landscape that is genre-shifting, media-rich, participatory, socially connected, and brilliantly chaotic. To be most effective, students also need understandings of traditional information structures as well as understandings of the shifts in the way knowledge is built and organized

Two threads

Through my librarian visioning glasses, I see two threads—information fluency and Web 2.0– beautifully woven into rich 21^st century cloth as teachers and librarians who value inquiry, thinking skills, ethical behavior, and innovative student work hone their craft on a funky and vibrant 21^st century loom, with learners as collaborators.

As a new thread—Web 2.0–is colorful and dynamic. It reveals new opportunities for collaborations, creation of media, and interactions with audiences never before imagined. A more traditional strand—information literacy–is a sturdy fiber. It is a fiber many of us digital immigrants carried over in our trunks from the old country. And it deserves to be unpacked and shared–woven through instruction and learning.

Information literacy or fluency is the ability to effectively and ethically seek, use, and create information. It is a process in which students (and the rest of us) recognize a need for information; formulate questions based on those needs; identify potential information sources; develop strategies for physically and intellectually accessing information; evaluate, analyze, synthesize and organize new information with existing knowledge; and effectively, ethically and creatively communicate new knowledge.

Information literacy competencies are process skills. They will grow with students, even when current search tools and platforms are obsolete, when we move beyond Web 2.0. These skills have legs. They will serve learners even when they forget how to balance a chemical equation or how to solve for X. They prepare students to learn to learn.

So, how do we interpret traditional skills for a chaotic, exciting, multimodal, socially mediated information 2.0 landscape? And how does our instruction shift as the information landscape evolves?

Fluency: Information access

Information access involves recognizing the need for information, identifying potential sources, and strategies for locating information.

I’ve heard celebrated futurists, as well as librarians, proclaim that we live in a good enough / why bother world. If people can easily find some information, they will not be motivated to find better or best information. Math teachers do not say, “good enough” at multiplication and division. They move as many of their learners toward higher applications and deeper mathematical thinking. Why should we not expect learners to master more thoughtful information-seeking strategies?

In a 2.0 world we must encourage students to seek information energetically. That often includes reaching beyond everyone’s favorite search engine or wiki reference. Though Google rocks it is not the only band in town. Google’s information reach is staggering, yet it may not be the best strategy for all information tasks. Innovation is thriving in the search world. In fact, a number of alternate search tools employ a less “vertical”, far more user-centered approach. A growing number of tools respond to the preferences of visual learners. A growing number of tools specialize in finding information in varying formats.

Those who wait for information to be set free, those who wait for all the scholars and authors to put their work up outside of their books and journals, may be waiting a long time. As Google strives to digitize the print content of university libraries, our K12 students may not recognize that they have substantial libraries of content already available, content designed directly to meet their information and developmental needs, content that Google has not yet and may never grab. Our students do not have to wait.

Hundreds of databases offer hundreds of thousands of valuable documents beyond those accessible on the free Web. Schools, state and national libraries and government agencies subscribe to content that is both developmentally and content-appropriate for learners. Unless we teach students about the enormous value of these reference sources, ebooks, magazine, journal, and newspaper articles, unless we value them ourselves, students will not find them or use them.

I could not conduct my own research without subscription databases created by such vendors as EBSCO, ProQuest, Gale, and Wilson. Because our school culture values these sources, because they are designed directly to meet their information and developmental needs, our students have grown to love them as well. Teachers and librarians must ensure that these valuable materials get used and are no further than a click or two away from learners. Students who do not have access to this substantial content, students who choose not to use them, are an information underclass. These resources must be front and center on our virtual libraries. They must be prominent on our online pathfinders. Our teachers look use of databases as they assess student projects. We create multiple points of access to them and we look forward to finding an effective federated search solution that will search across the databases, our catalog, and the Web.

Because students will need to access both traditional and emerging sources, through both formal and informal information systems, they need understandings of both worlds. In subscription databases, it still helps to know the underlying structure of controlled vocabulary and subject hierarchy. Students can use official descriptors or subject headings to help them gather relevant content. They can select to search by either keyword or by subject and that choice often matters. And although I no longer formally teach Boolean logic, in databases, sometimes AND makes a big difference.

Students have greater search power when they understand the newly tagged world, the world of popular folksonomies. Tags are emerging as powerful tools, different from the structured controlled vocabulary and subject headings of databases. As they search, students should be on the look out for the various tags assigned to the most relevant resources. Those public-created tags will assist them in gathering related content. They can discover information relationships by exploring aggregators like Technorati http://technorati.com or del.icio.us http://del.icio.us/. Student-developed tag clouds allow for browsing among related concepts, broader and narrower terms, names, places, etc. offering a freedom beyond outlining or taxonomy. A teacher who asks a learner to “show me your tag cloud” will see the various directions a student’s research, and her thinking, is taking.

We can teach students to control their own information worlds. By selecting relevant RSS feeds, they restructure search dynamics, channeling information to automatically flow in their direction, personalizing their own stream of information. As students find relevant information and news sources, we need to guide them to seek RSS buttons and capture those feeds.

Interactive survey sites allow students to design and conduct original research. Using tools like SurveyMonkey http://www.surveymonkey.com/ and SurveyScholar http://www.surveyscholar.com/, and Zoho Polls http://polls.zoho.com/, students can easily collect data and graphically describe their results. Surveys are truly authentic experiences requiring students to navigate through some of the sticky issues of inquiry–predicting question issues, deciding how large a sample should be, designing effective question formats—single choice, multiple choice, rating scales, drop-down menus. The sophisticated reports these sites generate eliminate some of the challenging statistical work previously associated with playing with survey data, forcing learners to focus on understanding and interpretation

The Internet fosters a search environment in which learners work independently, often in their rooms, often after midnight. There are fewer face-to-face opportunities for adults to intervene to help assess an information problem, focus a topic, suggest keywords and alternate vocabulary, or recommend a critical book or website or portal. While we should celebrate the independence of learners, we must recognize that any 15-year-old doesn’t really know what she doesn’t know.

As teachers and librarians in this new landscape, we have new opportunities to intervene, AND to have dialog, while respecting young people’s need for independence. Librarians can move their pathfinders to blogs and wikis, to open them to students and teachers for collaboration and comments. They can suggest search strategies and lead students to information types– primary sources, literary criticism, biography, news. They can lead students to the variety of information formats—portals of streaming media, wikibooks, ebooks, blogs, ejournals. They can lead students to global perspectives, diverse sources and points of view.

Fluency: Evaluating information sources

This fluency involves determining accuracy, credibility, and relevance; distinguishing among facts, points of view and opinions; and selecting the most useful resources for a particular information need.

The traditional publication process made evaluation a much simpler skill back in the days before digitization, and in the days before information assumed new democratic formats. And while it was easier to teach evaluation in a controlled world, a world where resources fit into neat little boxes, we now live in a wonderfully rich confusion.

New, as well as traditional questions emerge as learners evaluate the information they find. What is authority? Whose voices are valid and when? Is it best to examine the collective knowledge of the public, or the expert knowledge of academics? What is the information context? Is it a casual information need or a formal or critical project? Are we investigating a breaking issue for which scholarly material does not yet exist? Is the best source likely to be: scholarly, popular, trade; “on the ground” and timely, or retrospective and reflective; primary or secondary; biased or balanced? Who is the audience for my project? Is it a professor who values scholarship and depth?

Just as mega-store sites like Amazon address the long tail or the niche market, the Web, and blogging especially, promote the flourishing of the niche opinion, a great democratic concept, but a challenge for learners struggling to evaluate context and bias.

How should students evaluate and select blogs as information sources, with Technorati (http://technorati.com) currently tracking more than 72 million blogs? Blogs are essentially primary sources. They can provide lively insights and perspectives not documented by traditional sources. They compare in some ways to a traditional interview, with the speaker controlling the questions. Ripe for essays and debate, blogs present not only the traditional two sides of an issue, but the potentially thousands of takes. And those takes take less time to appear than those documents forced through the traditional publishing or peer review process. Blogs allow scholars and experts written opportunities to loosen their ties and engage in lively conversation.

Over the past couple of years a big issue in learning to evaluate has been what to do about Wikipedia. Its content is heavily accessed; its articles appear on nearly every result list. Its democratic editing process provokes questions relating to the wisdom of crowds and the value of experts. Wikipedia forces us to examine the dynamic nature of information and to explore how knowledge is built. Whom do we trust and when do we trust them?

If a project has to do with breaking news, a hot topic, technology, or popular culture, Wikipedia may be the very best place to start. One of its advantages over print is that it is not limited by traditional publishing restrictions of cost or size. It is able to address the long information tail, providing something for nearly any interest.

But when teachers encourage students to find scholarly materials, Wikipedia may not be the best place to start. Academics, concerned about tenure and promotion generally find other avenues for publication. High school and university students need to know that teachers and professors will expect them to reach beyond Wikipedia.

Evaluation also involves reflecting on your own work. How might it have been more effective? How could I have done a better job?

Fluency: Digital citizenship and information ethics

These fluencies involve contributing positively to the learning community; respecting diverse points of view; practicing safe, ethical, and responsible behavior regarding information; recognizing the principles of intellectual freedom; respecting intellectual property; and promoting equitable, democratic access to information.

It’s increasingly tough to model respect for intellectual property in a world of shift and change, in a world of mixing and mashing, in a world of ubiquitous sharing, casual online communication, and pirating. Debate continues to rage regarding how to balance users’ needs for access to information while protecting the rights of content creators to profit from their labors.

Students are rightly confused and frustrated. The Pew Internet & American Life study, Teen Content Creators and Consumers, quoted researcher Mary Madden in its press release http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/113/press_release.asp

Today’s online teens have grown up amidst the chaos of the digital copyright debate, and it shows. . .At a time when social norms around digital content don’t always appear to conform with the letter of the law, many teens are aware of the restrictions on copyrighted material, but believe it’s still permissible to share some content for free. (Lenhart & Madden, 2005, Press release)

Can we guide students to behavior that is fair and just and respectful of intellectual property without compromising their creativity and enthusiasm? Today, a single student project might incorporate downloaded video clips, music, and art, as well as quoted text. It is also likely to be broadcast.

When projects stayed in our classrooms, limiting the amount of borrowed content and simple documentation were generally enough for students to ethically use the creative work of others. With students regularly publishing and broadcasting beyond classroom walls, they need to take greater care and use new strategies when they borrow the creative works of others. On the Web, it is not always possible to get permission from or even identify a content creator.

We can help by teaching students about information ethics when they produce and post media. We can ease some of the confusion by teaching students about the new flexible protections and freedoms made possible by Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/ licensing.

Even simple documentation is complicated by the fact that the official style books have not kept up with students’ new array of information choices. If we expect ethical behavior, we have to make it less painful for learners who want to behave ethically. Even before the examples hit the standard style manuals, we should facilitate students’ ethical behavior by adapting and modeling citation formats for blogs and wikis and podcasts and whatever is coming next.

Social responsibility is also about etiquette. Bloggers do not have editors. Bloggers blog on the spot. Rash thoughts may be posted before a blogger really chews on an idea, before rational thought has time to take over. In classroom blogs, learners should argue and debate and criticize. They also should be sensitive and respectful. As teachers, we can inspire a degree of impulse control for learners who blog.

Social responsibility extends to interactions wikis, as well. In class wikis, we may need to discuss and establish guidelines for how we modify information and negotiate content. Guidelines for wiki construction could be class-generated, with the wiki’s about page serving as a kind of charter for behavior, trust, accountability, and contribution. These guidelines should serve to build the culture of the wiki. Even in an open authorship environment, participants should see both freedoms and responsibilities relating to the community.

As teachers and librarians, we too have responsibilities. While we look out for the safety of our students, we must also protect their access to the information and communication tools they need to learn effectively. We must speak up against initiatives that prevent access to critical tools for learners.

Fluency: Synthesis and organization

This fluency involves the ability to see information patterns, to analyze information, to organize ideas, and to effectively weave together ideas and content from multiple sources to create a coherent new whole.

Web 2.0 presents the ultimate opportunity for teaching synthesis. Students who effectively use Web 2.0 tools, synthesize effectively.

Wikis promote a jigsaw style in which learners can divide a research task and share individual expertise and insights to complete an information gathering task or answer a driving question. Wikis may be one of the best tools for helping students to learn how to collaborate and build text-based knowledge as they incorporate information from multiple sources, consider diverse ideas, learn how to edit, integrate feedback, and negotiate the content of multiple authors. Additionally, peer collaboration and distributed authorship remove some of the “drama” associated with top-down assessment. Wikis shift the onus of correction and improvement from the teacher to the community. Teachers can assess the work of the group, as well as individual contributors to the wiki community through its history pages. A growing number of online tools also support collaborative writing and other types of information synthesis. They include: Google Docs and Spreadsheats, ZohoWriter, Celtx (for scriptwriting and storyboarding)

AjaxWrite. I cannot imagine planning a group writing project without using a wiki or an online writing application. Bernie Dodge’s Design Patterns for EduWikis http://edwiki.org/mw/index.php/Design_Patterns_for_EduWikis lists the impressive ways wikis might be used by learns.

Blogging is also essentially about synthesis, with emphasis on the blogger’s voice as he or she engages in dialog and debate. Blogs foster the kind of risk-taking writing that may not happen in the traditional five-paragraph essay. In this new form of public writing, students can share ideas before they are fully formed and solicit and use the ideas of others as they clarify build their own. Bloggers learn to connect with audience, to express their messages in concise space and in more conversational tone. Bloggers learn to weave their own voices into personal, unique communication products, developed over the course of time. Students can blog their research experience (we created a template). Students can use blogs to host their literature circle discussions. They can blog in the voice of a character with the goal of enhanced understanding based on synthesizing discussion.

New media projects as digital storytelling, inherently involve synthesis as learners select and weave words, images, sound, and video together into a coherent composition to conveying meaning, knowledge, and personal perspective. Using editing tools like: iMovie, Final Cut, and GarageBand, students compose and share original media, incorporating the relevant ideas and creations of others. If we are to teach synthesis in a 21^st century landscape, we need new strategies for encouraging and assessing synthesis in these innovation creations.

Fluency: Creating and communicating new knowledge

This fluency involves seeking excellence in knowledge generation, collaborating, and contributing positively to the learning community.

What’s changed in terms of communication of knowledge? Web 2.0 is the perfect sandbox for our students to authentically hone this information fluency.

We’ve always worked to inspire students to improve their writing, research and communication skills. Web 2.0 shifts writing and composition in critical and exciting ways. Web 2.0 means audience. Learners now have the potential for a truly authentic and globally connected audience. Learners are discovering real reasons to research, to write, to tell their unique stories. They can use new media tools to stream and share in ways that truly showcase their personal talents. Learners are discovering that research can be collaborative, community-based, media-rich, and exciting.

Writing, or public writing, doesn’t come naturally to all students. Through classroom blogging, we prepare students to write effectively and regularly for many purposes, and for varying audiences. We prepare them for the types of blogs they will likely find in academics and business—for those blogs that are used for project management, professional communication, customer communication, and for college courses.

Through their writing and research contributions in wikis, learners learn to collaborate, to share responsibility as a team member, to create together. Wikis represent a version of the peer review process for non-academics. In wikis, students help each other as they grapple with such writing challenges precision of word choice and accuracy.

Communication in the future will likely be increasingly collaborative, geographically agnostic, and multimodal. But even when paradigms shift, some things stay the same. Those who can use information to communicate effectively have clear professional and academic advantage. The learner and the worker of the future must be able to ask the important questions, use information create thoughtful and compelling arguments, back their arguments with solid evidence, make decisions and reach conclusions. This type of brain work may result in a streamed multimedia presentation or a digital story. It may also result in a formal corporate white paper posted as a PDF.

I want my students to be fluent for all information formats– traditional, current and emerging. They should be able to identify a wide array of information and communication strategies and choose the ones that best meet their needs. But wherever the information they need lives, whatever the vehicle they choose for communication, they will be more successful if they can weave some sturdy old threads into the fabric of their communication. They will be more successful if they can effectively and ethically access, evaluate, synthesize, and communicate in whatever version of “Web” we experience. Teachers and librarians together can prepare learners to produce work that will last the test of time.

For links and references, visit Joyce’s Information Fluency Wiki: http://informationfluency.wikispaces.com

This article contains excerpts from the author’s contribution to Terry Freedman’s Coming of Age 2.0.

Welcome to this blog

Please use this blogg to comment the theme pages from the newsletters from IFLA section 11
School Libraries and Ressurce Centers.

Connecting Librarians to Forge Information Literacy Partnerships: The Case of a Teacher-Librarian/University Team in Ontario

By Corinne Laverty,
Head, Education Library, Queen’s University
lavertyc@post.queensu.ca

What do new teachers need to know about information literacy?

New Ontario teachers are surprised to learn that students are expected to explore information finding tools from an early age. Consider one of the inquiry skills for a grade four student studying the middle ages:

“Use primary and secondary sources to locate information about medieval civilization (e.g. primary sources: artifacts, field trips; secondary sources: atlases, encyclopedias and other print materials, illustrations, videos, CD-ROMs, Internet sites).” (The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-6: Social Studies, 2004, p. 28)

We might ask how well most high school students could meet this expectation. Are new teachers prepared to meet the hundreds of formal inquiry objectives in The Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum guidelines for kindergarten to grade 12?

A recent study at Queen’s University Education Library surveyed 522 teacher candidates who were exiting the B.Ed. program to reveal some startling results about their information literacy abilities (Lee, Reed, Laverty, 2005). Teacher candidates stated that:

• They do not understand the concept of information literacy.
• Information literacy concepts are not dealt with in the program.
• They are not prepared t teach information literacy skills.
• Their use of the school library involves limited information literacy instruction.
• They do not call on teacher-librarians for teaching collaboration.
• They prefer to search the web to find information than use the education-specific resources provided at the university.
• They did not acquire the skills they need for continuing professional development.
• They did not have opportunities to develop their research skills.

The good news is that they also noted that they would like to learn more about information literacy skills and how to cultivate them in their future students!

How can librarians help?

This information literacy study prompted the Queen’s Education librarians to re-think how they build teacher candidate awareness of the role of librarians and information literacy. Several new initiatives resulted. A new teaching series – INSPIRED Teaching – was designed to address misconceptions about inquiry skills and the role teachers and librarians play in the development of these abilities. The series is designed for participants from the perspective of them as future teacher and includes five sessions:

• Best Classroom Resources: An exploration of resource examples along with the methods for finding them (primary sources, picture books, award-winning literature, textbooks and teacher’s guides, videos, kits, posters, teaching books, etc.)
• Assignments Already?: Hands-on searching for journal articles on teaching issues that can be further investigated as action research projects in the classroom.
• Be a Subject Expert: Each session addresses key tools for educators in specific subject areas, from teaching guides, lesson plans, multimedia, picture books, fiction/non-fiction, discipline-specific journals; to Canadian websites and beyond.
• When YOU Teach Research: Overview of a model and methods for teaching the research process in your own classroom.
• Out-Google Your Students: Tips on surfing that our web savvy students probably don’t know about.

In 2005, 1469 students attended these workshops over 66 classes.

A second outcome of the study was the establishment of liaison methods with teacher-librarians in our local community. A group of about 20 librarians meet twice a year to exchange best practices for teaching information literacy and to participate in professional development opportunities together. Our shared teaching materials are accessible at http://library.queensu.ca/webedu/guides/tl/ and include advocacy and teaching resources that can be downloaded in their entirety. The secondary school librarians draw on these materials to offer a library orientation for teacher candidates and new teachers and to reaffirm the role of the school library in their school. In sharing ideas about our teaching practice, we’ve discussed how to support adolescent information literacy by creating “authentic” research topics; putting googling in the context of a “research strategy”; teaching best methods for web searching; and discouraging plagiarism by personalizing assignments that track the information gathering process.

The third outcome of the study was the inauguration of an “alternative practicum” experience for teacher candidates in libraries – public, school, and academic. Teacher candidates at Queen’s University select a 3-week alternative teaching placement each spring that is associated with the Focus course they are taking. The Education librarians offer a Focus course on Resource-based Teaching and Learning and a number of students now spend one practicum to engage with librarians in a variety of learning pursuits.

In uniting our forces, librarians offer new teachers guided passage on the sea of information, an experience they can in turn give their own students. Please consider hosting a teacher-candidate at your library soon!

Lee, E., Reed, B., & Laverty, C. (2005). Report to the Dean of Education on

TEACH Grant 2004/05 # 014-518-xx-66: Information literacy, teacher-candidates and the school library: Information literacy in a B.Ed. program. Queen’s University, Faculty of Education.

Cory is Head of the Education Library at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. She began her teaching career in a high school music classroom but today serves as a librarian with teacher candidates, graduate students and faculty at the Faculty of Education. She teaches courses and workshops on information literacy and resource-based learning using her research on how children develop information literacy skills to inform her classroom methods. She is currently researching how teacher-candidates develop their inquiry skills and preparing two case studies that provide a video documentary of inquiry projects in local classrooms. Cory holds a B.Music (Queen’s University), B.Ed. (University of London, England), Masters in Music (University of Western Ontario), MLIS (University of Western Ontario), Ph.D. (Information Science, University of Wales, U.K.).

Corinne Laverty, Head, Education Library, Queen’s University

Corinne Laverty B.Ed., M.L.S., Ph.D.
Librarian & Assistant Professor
Head, Education Library
Queen’s University, Kingston ON
Canada K7L 3N6
lavertyc@post.queensu.ca

Pupils ICT Licence in Allerød, Denmark

By Helge Hansen and Jesper Holtoug,
Skovvangskolen, Allerød.
Helge.Hansen1@skolekom.dk

Two years ago Skovvangskolen began issuing ICT-certificates to the two grade 3 classes. The certificates are   tangible proof that the pupils have achieved the standards of the IT and media competances for their age group.

These two classes have systematically worked with ICT from their outset in school and the presentation of the certificates took place at a ceremony, with the flag hoisted, the Principal making a speech, and the local paper taking photos

The two classes were not isolated with particularly ICT-skilled teachers working in their own specialised field. To the contrary, it was the beginning of the schools ICT-programme using the so called  JUNIOR PC LICENCE concept and integrating the existing ICT curriculum in all subjects at all levels including the 3 elements: operational competences, comprehension competences and reflexion competences.

The aim is far more than technical and skills introduction to the work with ICT. Importance is attached to ethical and moral codes just as much as questioning and encouraging within ICT the ability to distinguish between good and bad information.

The concept, which has been evolved from UNI-C (The Danish IT Centre for Education and Research under the Danish Ministry of Education) appears comprehensive and invaluable, several attempts having been made to simplify and exemplify ideas.

As an example Skovvangskolen has placed a very simplified version of the concepts stage objectives on their website home page – a so called “pixi-edition”.

In every way we have aimed at making the project a scheme for the whole school – not only a project for frontrunners and ICT-nerds. If we succeed – the experience will demonstrate that the management of the school has played an important part in the project and that development is down to more than just the co-ordinator but to the involvement of the school.

The management of the school should support the project consistently and announce results. Daily co-ordination ought to be undertaken in School Libraries and Resource Centres.

It is our experience that the schools that have flexible Resource Centres achieve the best results. Flexibility is achieved by finding the right service minded, competent people and employing them full time in The Resource Centres.  

Impossible some people will say, but actually this is a question of priorities and delegation of new assignments to the centres.

A project like this isn’t going to spread throughout the school just like that if there isn’t help and inspiration available when the various teams of teachers have need for it.

Skovvangskolen is an ordinary, middle-sized school (folkeskole), which in composition essentially doesn’t differ from most Danish suburban schools. The school is one out of 50 Danish schools in the so called European Network of Innovative Schools – schools that have been selected because they have at heart integration of ICT in the daily work of the school. Not merely flashy ICT-projects in individual areas, but the whole breadth of the scheme reaching out to all corners of the school.

One of the obligations of The ENIS-schools is to spread the experiences to other schools in the area and to draw attention to these and the outcome. We decided that a strategy involving too much talk and discussion leads to too few results. If we had to wait for agreement at the particular school or in the local authority it is likely that we would never have been able to start this project. Instead we got support from the management of the school to start the project and then later assessed the project tas a part the whole picture.

Our actual experience was to allow good news to spread and to learn from mistakes. When people see photos and enthusiastic text in the local newspaper and reports are heard on national radio – it is difficult to turn down the project as something that can’t be done/there isn’t time for /we can’t afford it.

 It is our contention that there is time and you can’t afford not to. ICT is a cultural skill as significant as reading, writing, maths and English – without ICT you are simply not able to be informed and take an active part in the modern society. The task can’t be left to the individual ICT-specialists. On the contrary it is a task for the Resource Centres and all teachers involved with the classes. If these teachers feel they are not capable then we must enable them so that they can be !

The school: Skovvangskolen, Allerød, Denmark –suburban to Copenhagen Ordinary folkeskole, roughly 550 pupils From this 25 specialclass-pupils and 30 physical disabled pupils Attached to several international projects  – such as UNESCO e.t.c. Attached to ENIS (European Network of Innovative Schools) since 2004. Library and Ressourcescentre (LaR): Devellopment, nice facilities – about  45 pc-workingplaces. We have 2 persons working fulltime and additionally 3 persons employed  working part time. This team has been delegated many different tasks apart from the management of LaR, communication, courses, guidance on reading, maintenance of homepages, all ICT-tasks. The economy in these areas is managed by the LaR-team. ICT-equipment at the school: The school has at it’s disposal all together about 120 pc-workingplaces from here 12 combined with protectors and 4 interactive whiteboards. ICT in the community: The 6 schools have a common ICT-policy. Technical maintenance and support is managed by a professional company who has one person employed for this job.   Links: Dansk udgave JPC http://junior-pc-koerekort.dk/ Engelsk udgave JPC http://junior-pc-koerekort.dk/pdf_download/Pupils%20ICK%20Licence_information.pdf Skovvangskolen JPC http://www.skovvang-skolen.dk/Junior_PC-koerekort.28706.0.html Skovvangskolen http://www.skovvang-skolen.dk Unsendelse Danmarks Radio fra Skovvangskolen http://www.dr.dk/P1/harddisken/Udsendelser/2006/06/09133247.htm

 

 

Germany on its way: The School Library + Information Literacy – The perfect combination

By Dr. Ronald Schneider and Eva von Jordan-Bonin
eva.von-jordan-bonin@stadt-frankfurt.de
www.stadtbuecherei.frankfurt.de/sb

Germany’s public libraries as well as school libraries have enforced their commitment to the objective of media literacy and information literacy promotion in recent years. Also, more and more school teachers are considering media and information literacy skills as a goal of interdisciplinary learning in their teaching and project work – even more since the 2002 PISA study shocked the country by pointing out the shortcomings of the education system. By helping students to locate, comprehend and evaluate information for all classes the school library is obviously the perfect place to acquire and practice information literacy. With its media variety, the school library can also bridge the gap between educational goals and the more personal interests and preferences of children and young adults, given that the school library is well equipped, easily accessible and professionally managed.

So far this has been the problem of the German school library system: only 15% of German schools have school libraries that meet professional standards. There is neither a standardized vocational training for school librarians, nor advanced training courses or postgraduate studies for teachers in school library management.

However, since the publication of the PISA study, things have begun to change:

–          German schools will gradually be turned into all-day schools, with different focal points set by the respective Federal States.

–          Teachers have begun to rethink their roles and to see themselves as their students’ study partners and learning counsellors rather than to continue the old ex-cathedra teaching method.

–          Students will be taught and encouraged to practice independent and self-motivated study using all types of media from an early age on.

These goals, however, cannot be achieved without providing modern and well-equipped school libraries. Fortunately, this understanding is on the advance. To support and promote it, the Deutsche Bibliotheksverband (German Library Association) convened a panel of experts in 2003, which processes and manages developments concerning schools and libraries and communicate these issues to professional circles, in order to prevent the German school library system from stagnation and retrogression. The commission “Library & School” consists of teachers and librarians alike. Since its founding it has already tackled numerous tasks and completed some of them.

There is a great need for further training opportunities. For teachers as a target group they are essential because school libraries and their use are still not a part of the teacher’s training. That is why since 2004 the panel of experts has organized advanced training courses throughout Germany, each course lasting one to two days. The courses are primarily directed at teachers but also parents and other volunteers take part. The objective is to support and promote the further development of school libraries and the cooperation between public libraries and schools in Germany. The need for these courses has grown so quickly (the number of schools interested in library skills have risen enormously over the last years) that the commission can barely meet the demand, although they have already started to work with other partners.

To provide primary resources on a professional level and to assure access to a wide range of school library-related issues to a larger audience, using modern information technology was the obvious suggestion of the commission. In 2004 it launched www.schulmediothek.de, a heavily used web portal offering continuously updated recommendations and support for school library officials, answers to practical questions as well as teaching examples.

The web portal allows the library commission to communicate recent developments and professional standards throughout the country and to present the most promising solutions to everyone who is involved in school library work. The web portal contributes to the promotion of information literacy skills in two ways:

–          The simple and appealing navigation provided assures accessibility also to school library officials who might still feel inhibited to use electronic media as a source of professional information

–          The rich variety of day-to-day school library work experience presented online as well as examples of cooperation between schools and public libraries offer a wealth of examples illustrating the promotion of reading competence, information literacy and media usage skills.

“School library + Information literacy: The perfect combination” will continue to be the focal point of interest of the commission in the upcoming years. An exemplary school library curriculum is currently being created. This “spiral curriculum concept” will include numerous best practice case studies, and will further contribute to promote information literacy as an indispensable learning goal and also to underline the unique possibilities school libraries offer to achieve this goal.

Training working techniques in the school library

Guenter Schlamp
Lag Schulbibliotheken in Hessen
gs@schulbibliotheken.de

Fifteen years ago there was a lot of discussion about functional illiteracy in Germany. A radio reporter had pupils in Frankfurt Main read a newspaper article and then asked them about the contents. Conclusion: pupils no longer understand what they read.

It was also about fifteen years ago at the beginning of the nineties, that Hilmar Hoffmann, then Head of the Culture Department in Frankfurt,  pointed out, that, because of similar findings, the USA had started running programmes to improve pupils’ literacy. He appealed to those responsible for German education policy to run similar programmes.

What was then called functional illiteracy is not much different from what we now call lack of literacy. The PISA results are confirmation for the USA and other Anglo-Saxon countries who took a similar course of action, that their  training programmes were successful.

American school libraries play an important role in improving literacy. There are catalogues of detailed educational aims for all school years, which define which skills are to be trained.  These include all the steps of a research process from the wording of the task to the displaying of the results either as paper, wall news-sheet or HTML document. Getting to know how to use the library is, of course, also part of the training. “Go look it up in the card catalogue!” is a sentence which haunts American students day and night, as a former pupil told me, who was in the USA as an exchange student. She found this training very formalistic  – a process of small steps.

When leafing through American library periodicals you get the impression that it only seems to be about literacy.  Cosy corners and pleasure reading are not a priority.

Now, it is not necessary to go over the top, but the school  library is the right place to teach literacy. School libraries should progress from rooms with many books which are seldom used to workshops where students learn how to work with books and other media. The library teachers, school librarians, are the right people to moderate this process, working closely together with teachers from the various departments. The school library must be seen as an “active” library, not as an “intellectual filling station”.

I have brought some books on working techniques to my recent workshop for teachers and teacher-librarians. These books should be available in the library. It is advisable to have several copies or even class sets of some of them.

Software is ideal for the research process – for example Research Planner which is supplied with Microsoft Encarta, and Mind Manager, a program for creating mind maps.

It seems to me that in class more emphasis is placed on the results.

How often do you hear in Music, Biology or History “Prepare a paper!”

But who takes responsibility for the process? Who encourages the students to think very carefully about how they should do their research? In the past articles were copied from an encyclopaedia; nowadays students just click a few times and print.

For the research process itself a model was presented which has been developed with American models in mind (Big6 et al.). Each step must be accompanied by information and work sheets and also by evaluation sheets. Therefore, as a last step in the research process, over and above the presentation itself, the students are required to reflect on the process. This step can, of course, be dropped, when the students have acquired a certain degree of competence.

A school library, which is prepared to take on this task, becomes an indispensable part of the school. It can afford to stay a “BIBLIOthek”.

Reading Research has coined the phrase “Readers are better viewers.” This is based on the findings of neurologists who have examined the different ways the brain processes texts and television pictures. Experienced readers are more successful at surfing on the sea of digital information. Research into learning using the computer and the internet is beginning to produce similar results. 

Internet adresses:

www.kindred.k12.nd.us/CyLib/B6.html   Big6, the most well-known program for

in­formation literacy

www.isd77.k12.mn.us/resources/infocurr/infolit.html   examples for a curriculu

This paper and including the ppt-presentation are available in German language.