· The thought that children’s picture books being replaced it a horrible one for me. Sure children will read ebooks but the joy of turning the pages of a book that is being read for the first time is a wonderful thing! However I can see the advantage of laptops over textbooks. Information is constantly changing and textbooks can become outdated quickly. In saying this, students (and teachers) need to realize that not all information gained from the internet is reliable.
· “It believes that a carefully and specifically developed collection of resources highly pertinent to the curriculum needs of the school developed and maintained by an information professional, the teacher librarian, is critical to teaching and learning within the school”. (Introduction Module, CSU Interact)
· Kennedy p. 1. “Collection management is concerned with a set of interrelated library activities focusing on the selection, acquisition, evaluation, preservation and deselection of library materials.”
· Kennedy p. 4. “Jenkins & Morely state: Collection development is focused on the expansion of the library, implies building and growing. Collection management emphasizes the systematic management of a library’s existing collection.”
· No clear agreement on the usage of the 2 terms Collection Management and Collection Development.
· Kennedy p.5. Ross Adkinson says Collection development refers to “policies and actions that drive selection” and collection management referrers to the “policies and actions that affect the access status of an object subsequent to its selection.”
· Kennedy (p.5) the term collection management is his preferred term. It will be referred to a “complex of activities relating to the selection, acquisition, evaluation, preservation and deselection of library materials.”
· “Resourcing the curriculum cannot constructively be seen as the sole concern of the teacher librarian.” (Introduction module, CSU Interact.)
· Johnson article. A scary society that is post literate and what a shame that “reading” is no longer seen as essential.
· Johnson, p. 2. “I would argue that post-literacy is a return to more natural forms of multisensory communication – speaking, storytelling, dialogue, debate and dramatisation. It is
just now that these modes can be captured and stored digitally as easily as writing. Information, emotion and persuasion may be even more powerfully conveyed in multimedia formats.”
· Johnson, p.2. “The circulation policy for all materials, print and non-print, is similar.” I guess that I assumed that they would need to be completely different policies.
Do you agree with Johnson that students, and indeed younger teachers, are increasingly 'post-literate' in the manner that he defines and uses this term? Are school libraries and their collections already adopting the critical attributes that Johnson is proposing?
I think that students and younger teachers are to a degree post-literate as Johnson defines it. I imagine that this will continue to become even greater over the coming years as technology continues to develop. I can certainly see the advantages to laptops as opposed to textbooks. The school that I have previously worked in has a long way to go to adopt some of the critical aspects that that Johnson proposes. The only online resources I was aware of was the occasionally website that may have related to the topic I was teaching. Out of date and well-used print material was in abundance and new books appeared to be a rare occurrence. I am sure that the initial change to include non-print material would be a huge but worthwhile change.
To what extent do you feel Lee is predicting the end of school libraries. Is he actually advising teacher librarians to be prepared to undertake radical change in what is provided and how it is provided if the 'school library' and 'teacher librarians' are to survive? Is it important to adopt new names such as 'information services unit' and 'director of learning technology' as part of this process of change?
I can’t say that I agree with a name change for the Library. However, Librarians need to be aware that their role is (and has and will continue to) change over the years and be willing to adopt these changes and also share with their colleagues and students how these changes can assist the teaching and learning process.
Hughes-Hassell & Mancall Article
· P. 3 The paradigm has shifted from an emphasis on good teaching to an emphasis on enabling learning.
· 3 models presented:
o Collection centered model: TL is the expert who decides what resources are needed
o Learner centered model: collector becomes guide rather than expert
o Collaborative access environment: the successful collaborator is a guide who understands the needs, interests, and capabilities of the school and its learners. The focus is on both collecting and on making available the most appropriate materials just in time.
Constructivist theory: view education as an internal process in which learners use prior knowledge and experience to share meaning and construct knowledge.
Which of the three models presented by Hughes-Hassell and Mancall do you feel best relates to the school library collection in your school, or a school with which you are familiar? Which model do you feel provides the most positive interrelationship between the collection and the teaching and learning context?
Definitely first model, the collection model. The Librarian chose the resources with very little input from teachers. We put our unit plans on the intranet and a few weeks later we received an email with a list of resources the library had to match the topic. We also received some website that may relate.
The 3rd model, the Collaborative Access Environment Model would help to encourage the most positive interrelationship. As the authors suggest this is a model that takes time (and money) to achieve but a very worthwhile aim.
Do you feel the areas of need stated are the appropriate ones school library collections should be developed to meet?
The library collections needs to support the curriculum and TLs need to ensure they have a full understanding of that the curriculum needs are and what they will be in the near future.
How thorough a knowledge do you have of the teaching and learning context and the teacher learning characteristics present within your school or a school you are familiar with?
I feel I have good understanding of the needs of the lower primary (having taught Prep, year 1 and year 2 there), however I have very little knowledge of the high school and what they teach.
How might data on these areas be effectively gathered?
Surveys, informal discussions, asking teaching, looking up current curriculum documents, visiting the classrooms to see what resources are being used (and not used).
