Competency 5: Tagging/Indexing

bibliography (4) book lists (8) book recommendations (4) book selection (2) books (22)
books about books (26) books and reading (6) children (9) children's (5) children's literature (13) librarianship (2) libraries (3) lists (6) Nancy Pearl (3) non-fiction (44)
parenting (2) pearl (3) professional (3) read (6) reader's advisory (13) reading (18)
recommendations (8) reference (28) resource (2) signed (6) teen (9) wishlist (7) YA (12)
young adult (11) young adult literature (5)

http://www.librarything.com/work/2109865

Book Crush: For Kids and Teens - Recommended Reading for Every Mood

by Nancy Pearl

I searched reading on http://www.librarything.com/ and found this interesting looking book that recommends book titles for every age of kid. It also includes descriptions of each book. This would be a great resource for all school librarians when looking for appropriate books to add to their collections or recommend to students. It would also be a good resource to directly share with students (and their parents too) who are looking for great books yet are unaware of what is out there.

Library Literature/Books in Print

For this search assignment, I'll be keeping my original naïve question and using two different databases—Library Literature and Books in Print.

Naïve Question: How can I build interest in reading for the students of my school library?

Library Literature

Facets	reading	build interest	secondary students
My initial terms	literacy	interests, motivation	youth, young adults, teenagers, children
Thesaurus terms	children's reading, reading, young adults' reading, literacy, reading interests	reading incentive programs, school libraries/book programs, reading motivation	school libraries/high school

Notes:

1. I am using the thesaurus tab to search out subject headings for each facet. While searching for the first facet "reading," I found no reference to school libraries, reinforcing that the focus of this database is not education.
   
2. I found "reading interests" and "young adults' reading" when I clicked on "literacy." I love finding subject headings like "reading interests" that ties together a huge portion of my search.
   
3. I spoke too soon about finding education-related articles; as I was searching for the facet "motivation," I found "school libraries/book programs" when I clicked on "reading incentive programs." Maybe I can tie in students and youth together under the secondary students facet. I will also include children since young adults are often categorized with children.
   
4. I definitely could not find anything under secondary students or high school student. However, when I searched under high school, I did find "school libraries/high school." I decided to include it since my focus is on secondary school libraries.
   
5. As I am searching more under the secondary students facets, I am finding that even with youth or young adults, I am receiving mostly articles about awards. In fact, after searching all of the initial terms, I am still unhappy with the results. The subject headings focus more on services and access. I may end up eliminating this facet since the other two facets include young adults and children.

SS1 (children's reading OR reading OR young adults' reading OR literacy OR reading interests) AND (reading incentive programs OR school libraries/book programs OR reading motivation) AND (school libraries/high school) (all subject fields)

Results: none

Notes:

1. I was afraid this would happen if I left in the last facet since it was so limiting. I will try it with only the first two facets.
   

SS2 (children's reading OR reading OR young adults' reading OR literacy OR reading interests) AND (reading incentive programs OR school libraries/book programs OR reading motivation)

Results: 121

Notes:

1. 
   This definitely expanded my search. I found that most of the articles use the subject fields "children's reading" and "reading incentive programs." Also, the "school libraries" subject field that I eliminated with the entire last facet still appeared on some records, so I do not feel so bad about eliminating that.
   
2. Just out of curiosity, I eliminated "children's reading" to see if it would narrow the results to only young adults. It still brought up the same 121 records.
   
3. Here is the citation for one example article:
   Small, R., et.al. (May 2009). Reading incentives that work: No-cost strategies to motivate kids to read and love it! School Library Media Activities Monthly, 25(9). 27-31.
   

Books in Print

Facets	reading	build interest	secondary students
My initial terms	literacy	Interests, motivation	Youth, young adults, teenagers
Thesaurus terms	Reading, reading (secondary), literacy, young adults books and reading	Motivation, interest,	high school students, youth, young adults, teenagers

Notes:

1. Under the browse feature of the Books in Print home page, I found that you can find subject headings by clicking on subjects and then typing in the search term. The drawback is that you cannot expand on the headings that are brought up on the screen. Therefore, my thesaurus terms are pretty close to my original terms.
   
2. There was nothing under secondary students, so I went with "high school students." Under young adults, I found "young adults-books and reading." This seemed more appropriate under the reading facet, so I moved it.
   

SS1 (reading OR reading (secondary) OR literacy OR young adults-books and reading) AND (motivation OR interest) AND (high school students OR youth OR young adults OR teenagers) (all subject fields) (limited to English language)

Results: 7

Notes:

1. I am so surprised that I was only able to find 7 records. Honestly, only about half of the books look like they fit what I am looking for.
   
2. I did find "youth books and reading" and "reading interest" in the few appropriate records I did view. However, adding those terms to the reading and motivation facets did not change the results.
   
3. I cannot find any citations that use motivation or interest as a subject heading, so I will eliminate that facet.
   

SS2 (reading OR reading (secondary) OR literacy OR young adults-books and reading) AND (high school students OR youth OR young adults OR teenagers) (all subject fields) (limited to English language)

Results: 455

Notes:

1. Now I need to narrow my search! Since my focus is on students, I will use only "high school students" as a term under my last facet.
   

SS3 (reading OR reading (secondary) OR literacy OR young adults-books and reading) AND (high school students) (all subject fields) (limited to English language)

Results: 16

Notes:

1. This is a little better but still may be too narrow. I did notice that some trade papers are included. I do not know if I need to limit it to books.
   
2. One citation example is:
   Reeves, A. (2003). Adolescents talk about reading: Exploring resistance to and engagement with text. USA: International Reading Association.
   

Competency 4: RSS Feed

I have included an RSS feed from School Library Journal's website. It is titled School Library Journal--Tools and Trends News. This is obviously important to me because I am interested in becoming a school librarian but also because the school librarian's "tools and trends" are constantly changing. Especially in a school environment, librarians need to be aware and proficient in the everchanging resources available. Most of the submitted articles are written by librarians and education professionals, so they provide first-hand experience with using new ideas and implementing new technologies. This RSS feed will help me keep track of the new ideas and tools available to implement in my future school library. This feed is available at
http://feeds2.feedburner.com/SchoolLibraryJournal-LibraryToolsAndTrendsNews

Eric/WorldCat Competency

Naïve Question: How can I build interest in reading for the students of my school library?

This question is fundamentally important to any school librarian because literacy is directly related to student achievement. Students who read more on average tend to be more successful in the classroom and on achievement tests because they have a higher level of comprehension. However, most children and teens are attracted to audio-visual media and computer-based entertainment rather than reading books. As a future school librarian, I am continually researching methods and ideas to get students into the library and interested in reading a variety of materials.

ERIC

Facets	reading	build interest	school library, students
My Initial Search Terms	literacy, books	motivate, encourage, promote	school media center, secondary students, teenagers, adolescents
Thesaurus Terms	independent reading, recreational reading, functional reading, literacy education, reading skills, reading, literacy	motivation, reading motivation, literature appreciation, reading interests, student motivation, student interest, teacher influence	students, high school students, middle school students, secondary school students, teenagers, adolescents, youth

Notes:

1. I underlined the three words or phrases I chose as my facets and created the chart accordingly.
   
2. When I saw functional reading as a subject heading under "reading," I thought I should expand it to find out more what it meant. As a result, I also found literacy education and reading skills which I believe can be tied into creating student interest in books. Students who are confident and comfortable with their reading skills will be more likely to read.
   
3. Apparently verbs do not work well in ERIC/First Search as subject headings because I received no records for each of my facets. I tried motivation instead and found the thesaurus terms listed in the table under "build interest." Literature appreciation and reading interests came from expanding reading motivation, and student interest and teacher influence came from expanding student motivation.
   
4. I found no records under school library or school media center, nor was there really anything usable under library pertaining to a school library. That is when I realized I was focusing on the wrong facet. My last facet should refer to the audience or recipient of the assistance—students. I added this to my chart in red to show that it was added later. The more I thought about it, I realized that I was mostly interested in secondary students—middle school and high school—rather than elementary students. I added that focus to my initial search terms. Youth was found from expanding adolescents.
   

Boolean Search Sentence

SS 1 (independent reading OR recreational reading OR functional reading OR literacy education OR reading skills OR reading OR literacy) AND (motivation OR reading motivation OR literature appreciation OR reading interests OR student motivation OR student interest OR teacher influence) AND (students OR high school students OR middle school students OR secondary school students OR teenagers OR adolescents OR youth) (all subject field)

Results: 1,784

Notes:

1. I obviously need to narrow it down. I am noticing that the search will pull out words like skills from my search without keeping it with the original phrase reading skills. I wonder what I will get if I run the same search with quotation marks around each search term?
   
2. I tried adding the quotation marks, and it only narrowed it down to 1,674.
   
3. I have decided to narrow the first facet to independent reading and recreational reading since I am mainly interested in motivating students to supplement their education with reading outside of school. I will also narrow my second facet to motivation, interest, and teacher influence. I am keeping teacher influence because I believe a librarian carries the same role as a teacher in influencing students, and I am curious what articles this term might yield. The third facet can also be narrowed by keeping only the specific students I would be serving in a secondary school setting.
   

SS 2 (independent reading OR recreational reading) AND (motivation OR interest OR teacher influence) AND (high school students OR middle school students OR secondary school students) (all subject fields)

Results: 46

Notes:

1. I am sure that I could narrow this even further, but most of the articles are exactly what I am seeking.
   
2. Example citation:
   

   Clark, R. (2007). Get controversial! Edgy novels for older teens. Library Media Connection, 25(7). 30-31.
   

   This article is just one example of some of the great articles retrieved from this search. This one is especially pertinent because it recognizes that high interest books will more likely bring teenagers disinterested in reading into the library.
   

WorldCat

Facets	reading	build interest	secondary students
My Initial Search Terms	literacy, books	motivate, promote, encourage	teenagers, adolescents
Thesaurus Terms	reading, books and reading	reading interests, reading promotion	High school students, teenagers, youth

Notes:

1. I am using the same initial naïve question from the first search. I decided to leave "build interest" as a facet just to see if WorldCat is the same as ERIC. I will probably end up changing it to motivation. I did change the last facet from the initial search in order to reflect the audience of the desired search outcome.
   
2. WorldCat is the same as ERIC in its results for my second facet and all initial search terms. When I plugged in the word interest, it gave me banking and financial terms. I tried interests, and it gave me reading interests and reading promotion, which I also found when I expanded books and reading for the first facet. I decided to move those over to the build interest column since it fits and because I was unable to find any other good search terms. Even the term motivation yielded nothing that I felt I could use for this search.
   

Boolean Search Sentence

SS1 (reading OR books and reading) AND (reading interests OR reading promotion) AND (high school students OR teenagers OR youth) (all subject fields)

Results: 235

Notes:

1. One thing I noticed is that most of the resources retrieved from this search were books. I only received one article. However, after scanning each title, I concluded that pretty much most of them would be beneficial to answering my initial question. Perhaps in a further search, I could limit the publication date to make sure I was receiving updated material.
   
2. Retrieved topics included finding books of interest for teenagers (including teenage boys), creating reading activities (like booktalks), and building student panels for book reviews.
   
3. Here is an example citation:
   

   Gomberg, K. C. (1987). Books appeal: Get teenagers into the school library. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland.
   

   The title says it all, showing that this search led to specific materials to address the original naïve question.
   

Competency 3: Educational Technology Podcast

For me the most daunting aspect of the school librarian's role is as the media specialist. In most schools, the librarian provides education not only to the students but to the teachers as well in terms of how to use technology to supplement and facilitate learning. As a result, I tend to look for resources that give ideas and examples for how to incorporate media and technology into the classroom and library settings. One resource is a series of podcasts I happened to find on the reference list of an article suggested by my professor "Podcasting 101 for K-12 Librarians." This podcast www.nausetschool.org/podcasts.htm is managed by the Nauset school district's administrator for technology Kathy Schrock, and it provides podcasts from many educators about incorporating different forms of technology into the educational setting. Topics are very specific and practical, ranging from using basic search engines for research to using technology to provide homework assistance. This is a great resource for any school librarian to use in his or her library and as a tool for collaboration with teachers.


Eash, E. K. (2006). Podcasting 101 for k-12 librarians. Information Today, Inc., 26(4).

Competency 2: Related Blog

This week's competency requires a blog that relates to my chosen field of school librarianship. I primarily used the Google Blog search at http://blogsearch.google.com and was very frustrated with the results. Most of the blogs were by school librarians meeting a specific need within their individual schools. They were lacking the practical applications and strategies I am constantly seeking as an aspiring school librarian. A classmate shared that she finds the best blogs by finding an appropriate blog or website and checking out all of the recommended blogs on that site. This ended up being the route I followed to complete this assignment.

I discovered the blog Media Infusion through PBS Teachers on the PBS website. It appeals to me because I believe in the school librarian's role as the campus media specialist, and this site provides media connections for all major subject areas. The authors range from teacher experts to educational leaders for PBS, thus giving its readers insight into best practices from the field as well as resources available through PBS and online.

One such contributor is Michael LoMonico, Senior Consultant on National Education for the Folger Shakespeare Library, who includes strategies for incoroporating Web 2.0 in the classroom when teaching Shakespeare's plays. The following is an excerpt from his post "Mashups, Remixes, and Web 2.0: Playing Fast and Loose with Shakespeare."

Today, advances in technology have given Shakespeare teachers excellent tools to help
students explore the texts more closely. These Web 2.0 tools empower students and give
them real-world tasks that they can post for the whole world to see...


Illuminating a passage from a play with hypertext is a basic way to get students to do a
close reading of a passage. In the process of selecting and hyperlinking the perfect image,
audio or video clip, or Website, students tell me that they focus on the words in the text in a
way they never would by merely reading it. Here’s one for King Lear. I’ve created a short
demo on how to create hypertext for those who need it.

Using Pixton to create scenes from a play is a simple way for students to explore
Shakespeare’s texts in a graphic format. Using Pixton’s built-in graphics and templates, the
user can make the most subtle facial expressions, as well as detailed hand and body
positions. Here’s a passage from Macbeth created by one of my students. Comic Life allows
students to create similar graphics using their own photos, though it is not free.

This blog does have the option for an RSS feed and can be accessed through the PBS website or directly at http://www.pbs.org/teachers/mediainfusion/.