Jan 16 2008
Top things – Part 2
How do I plan for the future?
I like to think that I have always had a strong vision for what I think a school library should look like. But we are reaching a period of such rapid change. I want to think this year about where I am heading as a school librarian and what I think our LRC will look like in five years time. Is this a tall order? It may be, but I think that it is necessary or I will lose my “golden compass”!
Many years ago, in my first school job – 1982! – I made a display called “Information Explosion”. I illustrated it with newspaper headlines cut out and radiating outwards. This seems so funny now when I think that I did not even have a computer in the library at the time!
So, what can we read to help us think ahead?
The papers over the last couple of days have been full of articles about the “Google Generation” and how academics are worried about students’ information-seeking behaviours.
This one in the Guardian Education section on the 15th January – Intellectual Literacy Hour - talks about a research report which is a must-read for any school librarian:
University College London (UCL) CIBER group.(2008) Information behaviour of the researcher of the future. London: University College London. CIBER Briefing paper; 9. http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/reppres/gg_final_keynote_11012008.pdf
This is the press release on the JISC website:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2008/01/googlegen.aspx
I have started to read the report and the following really struck a chord with me ( a precis of page 12):
“Themes for how children and young people use the internet:
- the information literacy of young people, has not improved with the widening access to technology: in fact, their apparent facility with computers disguises some worrying problems
Haven’t all of us who have been working in school libraries for some years been talking about this for ages? Students know how to play games and make lovely PowerPoints – but actually write something in their own words?
- internet research shows that the speed of young people’s web searching means that little time is spent in evaluating information, either for relevance, accuracy or authority
Speed is the key here, I think and a lack of understanding about authority. This is not much better for some of our staff colleagues – how many teachers recommend students to use Wikipedia, but do not teach them how to use it properly or the check with other sources?
- young people have a poor understanding of their information needs and thus find it difficult to develop effective search strategies
- as a result, they exhibit a strong preference for expressing themselves in natural language rather than analysing which key words might be more effective
How many school librarians get the opportunity to actually teach this? Many of us do, but maybe not often enough or not to an entire year group.
- faced with a long list of search hits, young people find it difficult to assess the relevance of the materials presented and often print off pages with no more than a perfunctory glance at them
This is despite all of the ICT teaching that they are apparently getting in schools. Is this not the “meat and drink” of a school librarian’s job?
… However, the ubiquitous use of highly branded search engines raises other issues:
- young people have unsophisticated mental maps of what the internet is, often failing to appreciate that it is a collection of networked resources from different providers
- as a result, the search engine, be that Yahoo or Google, becomes the primary brand that they associate with the internet
I recognise this easily – many students cite “Google” in bibliographies (if I can get them to make one).
- many young people do not find library-sponsored resources intuitive and therefore prefer to use Google or Yahoo instead: these offer a familiar, if simplistic solution, for their study needs
This is also somehting that I am thinking hard about. I spend ages making lists of evaluated web resources either on our VLE, the LRC’s website or in Del.icio.us. But then I turn around and see students back on Google!
Anyway – this post has been very long and I had better do some more reading from the report before I post any more thoughts…
Yes, Yes, Yes.
This sums up how many school librarians spend their time. Teenagers may be able to use the software games, clic round the computer but finding decent, reliable information its either Google or Wikis.
Teacher are complicit in this as they often have neither the time or the skills to check information.
Somehow school librarians just have to keep chipping away, either with individuals or groups to get the message across
Long live librarians
This reputable research vindicates what school librarians have been saying for some time, based on our own observations.
I particularly like the argument that we need a mental map of the information space – something that a classification system helps to provide – in order to search it effectively.
What is so discouraging is not that their search strategies are inadequate, but they don’t realise, or refuse to accept that they are!
Excellent post, Anne – I agree with every word. And Katherine is so right when she says that they don’t realise their search strategies are inadequate – and unfortunately that applies to some staff as well.
I have spent the morning reading this report and found it absolutely fascinating and yes, I agree with all you have said in the post and replies. On page 23 the US research on top and bottom quartiles of students as defined by their information skills can surely be something we can use to plead our case. Even though this is not UK research we surely all know of students going to university and finding themselves lost in the intricacies of a university library. In fact this surely also pleads the case for primary schools to also have dedicated librarians to start to embed these skills at an early age.
Thanks Anne this has given me a lot to think about. I agree with the need to teach information skills but I don’t feel that i can search the internet properly let alone teach students how to. I see myself being in the profession for many years to come so I desperately want to be a part of driving libraries forward. Please can you suggest a course or online tutorial or anything to help me to help my students.
Thankyou
I know that at times it can seem like we are beating our heads against the walls of the library…but being the eternal optimist (or maybe just stupid) I think that the school librarian is the key person to make the difference. We have to advertise that we do have the skills to help all our learners (both those above and below and the age of 21!) to get the most out of the Internet. It is a far more exciting and demanding role for us than we had in the days of static ‘library lessons’ and enforced private study in the library. (I’m so old I actually do remember those days only too clearly!) We are in an age of great change in the whole way that information and education is being delivered. As I have said before our ‘libraries’ as physical rooms may well disappear but we must advocate for the greater than ever need for information specialists in schools to help people to navigate their way through online resources. No technological search option is ever as helpful as the person who knows you,the user, as an individual and caters for you personally. Universities are just too big for personalised search help but schools must as we help our students to develop their own skills. This is our chance to beat on the drum of the greater than ever importance of school librarians….wow, I think it is now time for me to climb down off my soapbox! Sorry for getting so carried away!
Y’know, I think I meant to write “Hear, hear”… I must be hniavg one of those senior moments that I keep “hearing” about. Oops!