Reference Resources - So Many Choices!

In order for the students to be able to start their own inquiry process, they need to be aware of the many different types of reference resources available as well as know which reference resources best meet their research needs.  The teacher librarian with the classroom teacher have to model and teach the researching skills collaboratively with the students so that they can be competent with searching properly for their own print or electronic reference resources.  The students need to be able to evaluate the reference resources for validity, accuracy, and meaning.  They have to be able to critically analysis the references and be skilled to use the references effectively. 

Here is a word tagul cloud of the different types of reference resources mentioned in Theme 3:

Created at   https://tagul.com

There are endless amounts of electronic and print reference resources that the students can use for their particular inquiry process.  For the chart below, there were many examples discussed in Theme 3 of  UBC LIBE 467 course, but I tried to choose those that had a Canadian component if mentioned.  The chart below can be a starting point and example for students and educators in their inquiry needs.

Reference Resources	Examples
The Web	Open Education Resources (OERs), Government Publications, blogs, Educational Listservs, infoplease
Grey Literature	Canadian institute for Information, The Deep Web
Indexes	periodicals like journals, ERIC  (subject indexes), books, pamphlets, reports, government documents
Abstracts	Summary of research ideas
Full-text Databases	EBSCO: Research Databases: Novelist K8
Bibliographies	The Children’s Literature Web Guide, WebCATS
Biographies	Dictionary of Canadian Biography
Directories	Canada Directory
General Encyclopedia	Encyclopedia Britannica
Specialized Encyclopedia	The Canadian Encyclopedia
Dictionaries	Oxford English Dictionary
Thesauri	Thesaurus.com
Almanacs	World Almanac for Kids
Yearbooks	Culturegrams
Handouts	Guinness World Records
Maps	Mapquest
Atlases	Canadian Atlas Online
Geographic Sources	Google Earth

The following chart from Simon Fraser University (SFU) Library shows the inquiry need and possible best reference resources to use:

Retrieved from SFU Library Website   

The following diagram from the University of British Columbia Library's  Research Help section can be adapted for our students for their inquiry research projects.

Retrieved from UBC Library

Here is a YouTube video (retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a0PsZykg8Y) about choosing reference resources:

References:

Beyond Google:  The Invisible Web.  (2015, August).  LaGuardia Community College.  Retrieved

          from  http://library.laguardia.edu/invisibleweb/teachingtools

Brown, David. K. (2001) The Children’s Literature Web Guide.  University of Calgary.  Retrieved

          from http://people.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html -

Canada 411.  Retrieved March 18, 2017 from http://www.canada411.ca

CultureGrams.  (2010).  ProQuest LLC and Brigham Young University.  Retrieved March 18, 2017

         from  http://www.culturegrams.com

Dictionary of Canadian Biography.  University of Toronto.  Retrieved March 18, 2017 from

             http://www.biographi.ca/en/index.php

EBSCO: Research Databases: Novelist K8.  NoveList.   Retrieved March 18, 2017 from

             https://www.ebscohost.com/novelist/our-

Educational Listservs. (2015).  Community Learning Network.  Retrieved from

             http://www.cln.org/lists/home.html

Encyclopedia Britannica.  Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.  Retrieved March 18, 2017 from

              https://www.britannica.com

ERIC.  EBSCO Industries.  Retrieved March 18, 2017 from https://www.ebscohost.com/us-high-schools/eric

Google Earth.  Retrieved March 18, 2017 from https://www.google.com/earth/

Guinness World Records.  Retrieved March 18, 2017 from http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com

Historica Canada.  (2016).  The Canadian Encyclopedia.  Retrieved from

               http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/

Infoplease.  Sandbox Networks, Inc. Retrieved March 18, 2017 from http://www.infoplease.com

Katz, William A.  (2002).  Introduction to Reference Work – volume 1: Basic Information Services.

           (8^th edition).  McGraw-Hill.

Mapquest.  Retrieved March 18, 2017 from https://www.mapquest.ca

Mueller, Aaron, instructor, 2016W-LIBE467-63C-Information Services I course, University of
          British Columbia. 2017.

Open Education Resources Commons.  ISKME.  Retrieved March 18, 2017 from

             https://www.oercommons.org

Oxford English Dictionary.  Oxford University Press.  Retrieved March 18 2017 from

            http://www.oed.com

Research Help – Library.  University of British Columbia.  Retrieved March 18, 2017 from

             http://help.library.ubc.ca/#planning

Riedling, Ann Marlow et. al.  (2013).  Reference Skills for the School Librarian:  Tools and Tips.

            Linworth.

SFU Background Reference Sources or Reference Resources: Home, SFU.  (2017, February 24).

          Retrieved from http://www.lib.sfu.ca/find/other-materials/reference-sources

Submit Data and View Standards.  Canadian Institute for Health Information.  Retrieved March 18,

           2017 from https://www.cihi.ca/en/submit-data-and-view-standards

Tagul Cloud.  Retrieved March 18, 2017 from https://tagul.com

The Canadian Atlas Online.  Canadian Geographic.  Retrieved on March 18, 2017 from

              http://www.canadiangeographic.com/atlas/learningtools.aspx?lang=En

Thesaurus.com.  Dictionary.com.  Retrieved March 18, 2017 from http://www.thesaurus.com

The World Almanac for Kids Online.  Retrieved March 18, 2017 from

              http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com

Webcat.vsb.bc.ca.  Vancouver School Board.  Retrieved March 18, 2017 from

              http://webcat.vsb.bc.ca/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=B490662M92414.8892&profile=ls&menu=tab21&ts=1490662692414

Welcome to the Katz Website, Introduction to Reference Work.  Volumes I & II.  (2001).  The

              McGraw-Hill Companies.  Retrieved from https://books.google.ca/books/about/Magazines_for_libraries.html?id=eq3quljxEw0C&redir_esc=y

Where do we find answers? Elementary Reference Lesson.  [YouTube Video].  Retrieved March
            18, 2017  from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a0PsZykg8Y