Teacher-Librarians + Reference Services = Best Search Engine
The need to know and understand are important parts of human society. The teacher-librarians play key roles in this process by providing reference services (among many other things). Reference services help students identify and locate information that they require to answer their questions in a meaningful manner. The nature of reference services has continued to evolve in the 21st century since there is a growing vast amount of electronic references in addition to traditional printed media. In the current era, the reference skills and services of a teacher-librarian in essence serve as a "more effective and analytic" Google by providing a human touch as indicated by the drawings below by illustrator, Sarah McIntyre:
The teacher-librarians, unlike web-based search engines, can interact and provide guidance to students, colleagues, and parents toward suitable references. In addition, teacher-librarians play decisive roles in the selection of quality references in school libraries. Teacher-librarians must have a critical eye and effective decision making in order to fulfill curriculum and student needs while facing common challenges such as budgetary constraints. Most important, teacher-librarians through providing access to a diverse and vast amount of references for students enable the development of competent information seekers, critical/higher thinkers, problem solvers, independent learners, life-long learners, and passionate readers.
The need to know and understand are important parts of human society. The teacher-librarians play key roles in this process by providing reference services (among many other things). Reference services help students identify and locate information that they require to answer their questions in a meaningful manner. The nature of reference services has continued to evolve in the 21st century since there is a growing vast amount of electronic references in addition to traditional printed media. In the current era, the reference skills and services of a teacher-librarian in essence serve as a "more effective and analytic" Google by providing a human touch as indicated by the drawings below by illustrator, Sarah McIntyre:
The teacher-librarians, unlike web-based search engines, can interact and provide guidance to students, colleagues, and parents toward suitable references. In addition, teacher-librarians play decisive roles in the selection of quality references in school libraries. Teacher-librarians must have a critical eye and effective decision making in order to fulfill curriculum and student needs while facing common challenges such as budgetary constraints. Most important, teacher-librarians through providing access to a diverse and vast amount of references for students enable the development of competent information seekers, critical/higher thinkers, problem solvers, independent learners, life-long learners, and passionate readers.
In order to evaluate student learning and understanding, The Points of Inquiry, is a good framework that is recommended by the British Columbia Teacher-Librarians Association (BCTLA) for information literacy. It is a framework that is adopted from American Librarian Association (ALA) 2013-2014 president, Barbara Stripling's, Stripling Model of Inquiry. The Point of Inquiry provides a road map for students to access prior knowledge; formulate a question or research idea; seek knowledge and clarification; process and connect the information; show and share their discovery/understanding; and reflect/evaluate upon their discovery.
Below is a page photo of one of my son's expressing a discovery that he made about an inquiry about geothermal energy. He expressed his understanding though a slideshow with music:
Definitely, teacher-librarians are an integral part of the school and library system (public and academic). They are key partners and collaborators with classroom teachers, parents and administrators in the education of students. Below is a video on principals and teacher librarians indicating their important role in schools:
Here is a very creative video showing the inquiry of inquiry learning. The only difference from The Point of Inquiry is that this does not show the "connect" part in The Point of Inquiry.
References:
http://www.barbarastripling.org
http://bctf.ca/bctla/pub/
http://bctf.ca/bctla/pub/documents/Points%20of%20Inquiry/PointsofInquiry.pdf
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-k-stripling/our-library-ecosystem-is-_b_5159932.html
http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/741817.html
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/quarterly/inquiry_learning/article.html
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/quarterly/inquiry_learning/article.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bihGT7LoBP0
Asselin, M., Branch, J., & Oberg, D., (Eds). Achieving Information Literacy: Standards for School library programs in Canada. Ottawa, ON: Canadian School Library Association & The Association for Teacher-Librarianship in Canada.
Mueller, Aaron, instructor, 2016W-LIBE467-63C-Information Services I course, University of British Columbia. 2017.
Riedling, Ann Marlow et. al, Reference skills for the school librarian:Tools and Tips, (Third Edition). Santa Barbara, CA: Linworth, 2013.
