Assignment # 1 Reflection Summary

Assignment #1

In working through the various modules of this course, I have reflected on my volunteer work at my daughters’ school, and partnership with my own librarian. I have enjoyed the opportunities to shelve, scan, stamp, and read stacks. But the most interesting parts of my volunteer job have been in cataloguing, where I have been taught how to copy, edit, and delete records from the Horizon OPAC. Weeding alongside the teacher librarian has also been really interesting, and I think she valued my opinion and assistance in this process. In my own library, I am building a partnership with our teacher librarian. It is my hope to hone my skills under her guidance and network with others in my own district. I am interested in how our website will be received by staff and students next fall.

The learning events in this class have been very practical. I have had the opportunity to co-create a library website and staff survey, work through a webquest that analyzed a fabulous library website, create a blog and Delicious video stack, and yes, navigate the mysterious world of creating MARC records! I have also had the opportunity to connect with some fabulous teacher librarians across the province while looking at their virtual classrooms/webpages, reading through their submitted activities, and reflecting on their observations as they sometimes matched my own. As I embark on my new role of ‘teacher librarian wannabe’ I will continue to reflect back on these activities and the learning commons of other new librarians.

I really enjoyed the online discussion forum because of all the different experiences people talked about. At heart I am an experiential learner, but I have come to value the skill of reflection as it pertains to assessment and improvement in my teaching (and parenting!). Several students stick out in my mind as being influential in their trade: Stefan Stipp as a creative and motivating teacher with his confidence in digital learning activities, Kyla MacDonald with her wise observations of existing library programs as a TOC, Lindsay Ward and her Destiny youtube recommendation, Scott Jackson and his thorough self-assessment of his own library’s organization and design features. I feel that the Discussion Board is one area in which I have contributed and responded to in a positive, respectful, exemplary manner.

This course also piqued my interest in the concept of ‘access’, as it pertains to a library’s learning resources, online access, and freedom of information. I am interested in how search engines in OPACs  organize, code and monitor their data. For a future project, I would like to add a searchable keyword bar to my school library website. This is one point of access I have not yet included on it. Earlier this month, I was extremely frustrated with the BC Ministry of Education’s Bill 22, and how it affected teachers in terms of contract stripping and democratic rights. Because of Freedom of Information and the ability to access up-to-date documents and press releases about this Bill, many teachers and parents were able to research the Bill and articulate their concerns to government and newspapers within hours. Situations such as these remind me how our world is dependent on (increasingly) immediate and equitable access, and I strive to connect to the digital world and relevant learning opportunities in my professional and personal life. Our students’ world (and that of my own children) is inundated by information updates and the need to effectively research, understand, and communicate that information. If I can help them incorporate current, relevant information searches into their daily learning (google map, youtube, community services, encyclopedias and activities in French, fitness, math, typing, etc), I feel as if I have done my job well.

In my own classroom, I have been lucky to be immersed in a well-funded, supportive environment of online access and digital literacy. At the moment, we have wireless connection and laptop carts that are available on a (mostly) daily basis. This has allowed me many opportunities to navigate the Internet with my students while they create blogs, research and present big issues, and complete webquests. Because of this practical experience in my own teaching, I am very interested in the technological aspect of organizing and maintaining a library. I have been lucky to volunteer in a library with a different OPAC system than my own (Horizon) and the overlap of system details is helping me better understand the why and how of resource management and circulation.

Finally, I have really appreciated the web resources in this course (Canadian Government Library and Archives, Joyce Valenza’s wikis and blogs, DDC rap, etc). As well, the recommended books, Achieving Information Literacy (2003)and Marc21For Everyone (2002) were helpful in completing the learning activities and better understanding the concepts of organization and access of resource materials.