Just Google It

Last week, Miss A came home with her first project.  Miss A is in year 2 this year but has been put in a year 2/3 class so instead of continuing stage 1 work (Kindy-2), she is now doing stage 2 work (yrs 3-4).  I'm in mixed minds about this but I'm not focusing on this in today's blog post.

Back to the project.  So this is the project:

During each Term this year you will be given an outline for a project to work on at home.  The projects will be linked to that Term's theme in HSIE.  While not compulsory, we hope you will take these opportunities to further develop valuable skills in research and presentation.

Our theme in Term 1 is early Australian history: sea exploration, reasons for colonisation, and first settlement.

For this Term's project you should choose one of the following:

• A biography of a convict.  This can be any convict who became well-known, e.g. Francis Greenway, James Ruse, John Cadman.  If you know you have a convict as an ancestor, you can do your project on him or her.
• A famous shipwreck, e.g. Batavia, Vergulde Draeck, Zuytdorp or Trial (there are two - one in WA and another at South West Rocks)
• This year is the bicentenary of the crossing of the Blue Mountains by Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson in 1813.  Explain why it took 35 years to find a way over the mountains west of Sydney, and why it was so important for the colony of NSW.

And it goes on to explain how the project is to be presented.

Imagine my shock when Miss A told me that the teacher (not her teacher) explaining the project told them to use Google.  I asked - did they mention books, the school library, the public library??  She said no.

So like any good mother, I visited her teacher and mentioned that I wasn't very happy that the students were told to use Google and I'd happily offer the students a session on how to find information in the public library - which is just down the road from the school.

This week I'm providing "how to find information" sessions for the year 2/3's, 3/4's and 5/6's from my daughter's school.

Now I don't dismiss having students use Google to find information.  But I do get disappointed when there is no explanation on how to define what they should be looking for, no discussion of keywords, no discussion of how to evaluate the information found, and no discussion of the other research tools and resources that could be used.

I also find it disappointing that the school librarian is not insisting on offering "how to find information" sessions to the students.  

I understand that there can be many reasons why this doesn't happen - lack of funds, lack of support by the teachers, lack of time etc etc.  But what if I my daughter was not at this school? Who else would jump in and ask that the students be given the opportunity to be taught these skills?  Especially since the project states that it is allowing the students to further develop their research skills - well how about giving them research skills to develop instead of giving a project without the basic support to get them started?

Even if the school had not agreed to allow the students to come to the library, Miss A would still be provided with a lesson in finding information from me - but what about the other students?

And I'm trying very hard not to think about the other schools in our area that are also not providing their students with the basic start in finding information.

What are your thoughts on this?

Blog June Post 5 - life is as sweet as a baby's sigh

It is cold. Well not cold by some people's definitions but I hate the cold and being a true Queenslander, anything in single figures may as well be considered freezing. In fact, make that anything under 25'C. So my poor little fingers are freezing as I type this and I have only just realised that I have been a bad librarian and not tagged my other posts.

Yesterday's trip to Grafton went well. We are trying a new way of book selecting where we are provided with the descriptions and order list instead of the physical item. This allows us to purchase more pre-published books then previously. We still do get to look at physical items but the majority of decisions are made going by the descriptions (they do have a picture of the book cover so we do use that when making selection decisions too). Which brings me to ask - how do you judge a book worth selecting for your library? Is it all based on the description? The gap in the collection? The community need? The book cover? Combination of all of these?

Would you be comfortable making selection decisions purely by being emailed lists with blurbs, book jacket and cost? Do you prefer to look and feel the physical item? I suppose with ebooks you do select from blurbs and book jackets - or does your ebook supplier provide you with whatever titles are in the subscription rather than you having to make any decision? How do you feel about the decision being taken from you?

I know that there are a number of libraries (especially public libraries) that have outsourced their purchasing. They provide the book vendors with lists of authors that they believe their community will like, as well as popular genres and subjects. The vendors select and process on their behalf. I'd be interested to hear from anyone working in a library that uses this process and how they feel about it? Does it work? Do you think your community is satisfied with the collection? Do you feel it takes away from the traditional role of the librarian?

Personally, I feel privileged to make selection decisions. I like to think that I know my community well enough to be able to select items that I know they will read and enjoy. While our library service does have a large standing order list, I don't think you are doing your community justice just ordering the popular authors. Sometimes I find a gem of a book come through the selection process. It is usually a debut author that you know someone in your community will enjoy. These are missed in standing orders. But perhaps they are picked up in genre lists??

What about non-fiction? Does anyone work in a library where they have a standing order for non-fiction or the vendor does the selecting for this collection? Our non-fiction use is dropping, as I think most public libraries are finding. Not in all areas. Subject areas such as craft, cooking, travel, sustainability and local studies are still popular. But certainly school children use of the collection for assignments has dropped dramatically.

We get the odd few children coming through looking for books for assignments. Well actually it's mainly the parents coming in for the children. But usually it is only because it has been specified on the assignment that they must use at least a certain number of books. I find this very sad because there are some really good junior non-fiction books out there. Although now because they are not being used in the libraries, we don't purchase them so the production of such books has dropped. When selecting we get to look at maybe 10-12 junior non-fiction titles, of which we may choose 1-2. Just because they don't get used.

I have been slowly going through and weeding my branches where and when possible. It is a hard slog when you are the one person doing it. But we are all short on space and we have some exciting collections coming through so we need the room for them.

I notice when weeding, especially the junior non-fiction that some of these books that are over 10 years old have only ever been loaned once, or worse, they have never been loaned at all. Have others noticed this trend?

I do think it is sad that by the time my daughter reaches the age of doing assignments/projects she will be finding the majority, if not all of her information online. While I know that I will be assisting her and teaching her proper search skills - because I know that the teacher librarian often does not get this opportunity - I feel she will still be missing out on using those wonderful junior non-fiction resources that I used when going through school.

I personally think it is much easier to find a book dealing with a particular subject - let's face it most junior non-fiction were developed to fit the needs of the school curriculum so you were hard pressed if you couldn't find a book that was about your topic - then to troll through cyberspace looking for the same information. While my daughter will be loaded with the skills to do this, not all children will have that opportunity and I worry for them.

Anyway, I had planned that this post be about my love of music and discuss my music tastes etc. But instead I went off tangent. I'll leave the music post for another time.

PS I am off to Grafton again tomorrow to divide up the stack collection - long story that I hope to share tomorrow time permitting.