Reflections on LIBE 465

Overall, I would say that my participation in LIBE 465 was very good. I learned much from the readings, the activities, the assignments and from my fellow classmates in the Vista discussion forum. I found that I could easily relate the assignments to my current position as 0.40 FTE teacher-librarian in a K-7 French Immersion library. Each week, I completed an in-depth response to the weekly activity and posted it in the forum. I then took the time to respond to, on average, five other classmates’ comments in the Vista forum and then blogged about my learning and these discussions.

The themes that stood out for me in LIBE 465: Organization of Learning Resources were:  cataloguing, organization of online resources and organization of physical space. Access was a common thread in all of these areas.

When I learned how to write MARC records, I became more aware of how cataloguing is carried out in my school district and I learned how other school districts in BC deal with their cataloguing. I was surprised to find out that there were so many differences. In my school district, all cataloguing is done by two cataloguers at the district library. This means that any changes that I would like to make to MARC records would have to be emailed to the cataloguing department. The only tag that we are allowed to change, as teacher-librarians, is the spine label. I found out that in other school districts, it is the teacher-librarian and the library technicians that catalogue all new purchases.

Writing MARC records for a website, part of the requirement for the assignment of building a mini digital library, seemed unnecessary to me. This must be because I do not have the authority to add MARC records to our catalogue and also because of the fact that websites do not stay around forever. I can attest to this fact by the number of dead links that I have come across on websites over the years. I did learn from Keith and from Christal that some library systems do catalogue websites and that this service makes it easier for students to find quality online resources on particular topics. Instead of having to consult both the OPAC and a library website to access print and digital materials, the student just needs to conduct a search on OPAC to find both types of resources.

I enjoyed the lesson on school library websites and the Vista forum discussions that resulted from it. I have personally created a school library website, so I know the amount of time and energy that goes into building and maintaining one. As teacher-librarians, we all wonder if many students, staff or parents access our school library websites. When I look at the stats on my website, I can see that it is used fairly often. This is probably due to the fact that I have links on there for the different classes that I work with, and also due to the fact that I have included some fun websites that students probably access during their free time. I liked the idea that Kathy mentioned in the forum about creating a parent corner on the school library website and this is something that I plan to do in the future.

Kaija came up with a good question when we were discussing school library websites. She wondered if they were worth creating in a school like hers where over 500 students have limited access to 50 computers at school and probably have no access at home. In that situation, it would seem that a school library website would not get used. However, I think that it is still important to create one, in order to showcase what is going on in the library and to provide links to valuable resources for the classes that do come to the library.

Assignment #3, where we had to create a project that would improve access to our library was a wonderful exercise for me, as it pushed me to address a problem area in my library that had been largely ignored these past two years: the teacher resource section. I am in the process of carrying it out right now, and am looking forward to a time when the teachers will be able to more easily find good teacher resources and do so independently.

Through LIBE 465 and its readings, assignments and discussion forums, I have learned just how many different access points there are in a library.  I feel that I put a very good effort into my assignments and the discussions that took place in the Vista forums. I have learned the importance of writing a good MARC record, creating and maintaining a good school library website and organizing the print resources in a very user-friendly way.  Having the opportunity to hear what my classmates thought of certain subjects exposed me to new ideas and enriched my learning experience in this course.