ETL 503 Resourcing the Curriculum

Reflection on policy creation

The policy task was quite difficult as the library studied did not have a collection policy to uses as a guide. I wrote this policy with the intent that it might be implemented by the school. I found determining the appropriate wording and level of detail that would be useful to the school challenging. I feel this policy would have been better suited to the school if it was written in collaboration with the teachers in charge of the library, as they are the ones expected to carry out the policy. I feel more depth of explanation is needed in the selection criteria section, however the word limit would not allow for this, so will be included only in school copy. As I do not work in the library the standard procedures conducted by the library and the school were also problematic to ascertain. To get an idea of the context of the library collection I conducted short interviews including a ‘survey monkey’ online survey of the school principal. I visited the library and preformed a rough count of the different sections as well as speaking with the teacher in charge of the library. As a starting point I collected different library collection policy documents and used these as well as the course readings to inform my policy decisions.

Through the evaluation stages of this task I have been able to identify why the library, which I used as a science teacher with my students, did not meet my teaching needs. It has opened my eyes to the strengths and weaknesses of the library and the thinking behind the decisions that lead to these. A small outcome of my discussions with the school is that they posted a link to their copy of World Book on their website as it was not easily assessable by students prior to this.

Reflections on the subject

Through this experience of studying ETL503 Resourcing the Curriculum I have been challenged in areas of my thinking regarding copyright issues and censorship, questioning why we censor information and under what circumstances it is right to do so. The ALIA have as a principle in this regard ‘freedom can be protected in a democratic society only if its citizens have unrestricted access to information and ideas,’ (2007). Students can only be informed citizens if there is free access to information. However, there is not likely to be any changes to practice made in this area by the school used in this policy. I have also changed my attitude towards the library collection; I think I would have focused too much on ‘reading for pleasure’ material. I have a greater idea of how to resource for curriculum outside my learning area comfort zone. This course offered practical information regarding library management issues and budgeting which will be useful whether I end up in an academic, public or school library. As I have not worked in a library before this subject has given me a broader understanding of the librarian side of teacher librarian and a greater respect for those who I see as demonstrating excellence in this area.

Module 6

Disputed Material and Censorship

Censorship: suppression or prohibition of the production, distribution, circulation, or display of a work on grounds that it contains objectionable or dangerous material. Censored material may be deemed objectionable on moral, political, military or other grounds. (Johnson, P. 2009). 

When I first was assigned to the topic of censorship, I thought great, I’ve got this one, my husband is a lawyer and we discuss the law a lot. I saw censorship and equated that with freedom of expression. Did you know that in Australia, as a nation, we do not have freedom of speech, regardless of what your students may think. We are not in America and do not have a Bill of Rights. It wasn’t until 2006 that Victoria enacted the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act that said every person has a right to hold an opinion. I am not familiar with the position in other states. In section 15 of the Act it states everyone has the right to ‘seek, receive and impart information and ideas.’ It seems the ALIA with its Statement of free access to information was ahead of the Victorian government on the freedom front. Although we now have the ‘rights’ there is however no way to enforce or use them and any new law can also override them. 

I found this topic quite interesting, and sometimes confronting, it challenged my own views and standpoints. The earliest form of censorship I can remember is my parents banning me from watching Charmed or reading the Harry Potter series due to the occult themes. Most recently I worked for a Christian school which would censor/filter the resources. I do not necessarily disagree with some of the reasons for censoring material but I can also see the need for freedom of information. 

Strategies for dealing with complaints 

• Listen. Use empathy. 
• Have a written collection policy to support resource selections or de-selections. 
• Post the 'Statement on free access to information' by ALIA in your library. 
• Have a reconsideration form, like that developed by ALA http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/samplereconsideration
• Seek support from principals and/or leading teachers. 
• Have a committee to discuss the validity of complaints, if this is a regular occurrence maybe this can be done monthly and all complaints are addressed at this time. 
• Ensure you respond to the complainant after a discussion is made, either for or against. 
• Show that a complaint was considered and was important to the library. 
• Place items on restricted assess, something which the readings in this module were against, an evasive action, but saw as a common strategy used by TLs. 
• Keep all records of complaints and actions taken by the library on file, just in case it is taken up further. 

I think this is a fairly common problem in school libraries, there will always be a parent out to protect their child from material that is objectionable to them. We can never please everyone. I can almost guarantee that I will censor what my own children read or watch but that does not mean I have to censor what others read or watch. 

References:

Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) (2007). Statement on free access to information, Retrieved from http://www.alia.org.au/policies/free.access.html

Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act (2006), Section 15, Sourced from the Victorian Consolidated Acts, Australasian Legal Information Institute:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/cohrara2006433/s15.html

Hoffman, F. & Wood, J. (2007). Intellectual freedom. In Library collection development policies: School libraries and learning centers (pp. 63-80) Lanham, Maryland : Scarecrow Press.

Johnson, P. (2009). Censorship and Intellectual Freedom, Fundamentals of collection development and management (2nd ed.). American Library Association pp. 130-137

Williams, C. & Dillon, K. (1993). Preparing for the censor. In Bought a book : Censorship and school libraries in Australia (pp. 95-112). Melbourne : ALIA/ DW Thorpe

Module 5

Week of 29 April 2013

CREWing the Reference Collection

Practical tips for weeding:

• ·         Purchase new dictionary every 3-4 years, put old editions into circulation.
• ·         Keep one print set of encyclopaedias, replace every 5 years.
• ·         Subject encyclopaedias to be replaced every 10 years
• ·         Almanacs updated annually and old ones placed into circulation for a year.
• ·         Atlases to be updated every 5 years.
• ·         Road maps to be replaced every couple of years.
• ·         Handbooks dealing with health issues should be replaced with each new edition.
• ·         Legal forms and documents must be up-to-date.

Summarised from Larson, J. (2012). CREW: A weeding manual for modern libraries, Texas State Library and Archives Commission

Module 4

Week of 22 April 2013

Below is a short video I found to help clearly explain Creative Commons. 

By: Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand with support from InternetNZ.  

Creative commons attribution license ; reuse allowed. 

A great website to help you find media for use under creative commons is http://creativecommons.org.au/ use the 'find' button.

4.2

Copy right quiz questions:

You want to show an international documentary for discussion of issues within a class. Problem is it cannot be sourced (hired or bought) locally or nationally. Is it ok to stream or download a copy for educational use?

Under what circumstances can you copy more than one article form a journal, if at all?

4.3

Locate at least 3 Creative Commons licensed resources. Write a short description of each, and create a label containing the correct attribution for the resource.

Geoscience Australia

http://www.ga.gov.au/index.html , by Commonwealth of Australia, 2013

Geoscience Australia is government website I have used for a while when teaching geology in science and geography. It has topographic maps, 3D maps and models, videos and lesson resources based around plate tectonic hazards. The most exciting part is to display and discuss the live data about earthquake activity around Australia and the world. It has a creative commons licences which only needs to be attributed.



Teacher Librarians at the Heart of Student Learning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_ybY5O7WvA by Washington Library Media Association, 2013

Thought this video was on topic, especially for those doing ELT401. This video highlights the role of the teacher librarian in information technology instruction and reading advocacy. Creative commons attribution license (reuse allowed) on YouTube however on the Washington library media Association official website http://wlma.org/ the license is Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike



I searched primary source resources in the creativecommons.org.au website and was taken to two interesting websites the first Early Modern Resources provides links to primary documents from the American Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to manuscripts from Isaac Newton and Shakespeare. The website is licensed under Attribution-ShareAlike however the websites it takes you to via the links are not all under creative commons. Similarly I looked at Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media provided links to useful history resource websites. http://chnm.gmu.edu/teaching-and-learning/ by Center for History and New Media

http://earlymodernweb.org/ by Sharon Howard

Module 3 

Week of 25 March 2013

Mod 3.1 

Accessing and acquiring resources 

Key issues of funding a K-12 rural school library: 

• Past mismanagement, purchasing is seen as ad hoc. 
• Annual budget not presented and selection policy not in place, so funding needs are not visible. 
• Libraries worth within the school is not seen therefore new funding does not occur. 
• Funding has been moved elsewhere, to areas of need, into laptop and iPad programmes, resources are selected by ITC coordinator not by library staff. 

Further problems that led to reduction of library worth and funding withdrawal: 

• Library resources are selected by untrained librarian, familiar with primary curriculum but not secondary. 
• New library resources selected tend to support religious education subjects, an area of strength, rather than in areas of weakness in the library. 
• Originally a primary based library it has developed little since the addition of secondary school or electronic resources. 

How would you calculate cost per student of this library collection? 

It is hard to know what the libraries cost per student is, my knowledge of the workings of this library are limited. The library's borrowing collection mentioned above would be heavily weighted towards resources for primary students, 60-70 percent of resources. The student body consists of roughly 100 kindergarten, 150 primary and 100 secondary students. The library allocation for secondary students is met though the purchasing of all student textbooks, which are passed on to the following year level for up to 5 years. In the past a large proportion of the library books had been donated from families and friends of the school. 

Using the formula given by ALIA & VCTL (2007) and the collection size table for 350 students given in Learning for the Future (2001). 

8,790 collection size + 123 e-resources = 25 items per student 

However senior school enrolment should be doubled and added to junior school according to note 1 of table 2 in Learning for the future (2001), p. 31. giving 450 students 

10,454 collection size + 146 e-resources 

Average cost of resource = $60 given by ALIA & VCTL (2007) p. 15 

Number of items in collection / actual number of student x average book price x 10% book turnover = cost/student/year 

10600 / 350 x 60 x 10%= $182 

Sample line budget 

Retrieved from: 

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/3611023/Sample-Line-Item-Budget-Anytown-Public-Library-Beginning-Bal-Expended

Sample program budget 

Debowski, S. (2001). Collection program funding management. In Dillon, K., Henri, J., McGregor, J., (Eds.) Providing more with less: collection management for school libraries (2nd ed.) p. 321 

Sample formula budget 

ALIA Schools and Victorian Catholic Teacher Librarians, (2007). A Manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resources centres Chapter 3: Budgeting policies and procedures p.15

Mod 3.4 

Licence agreements: Google Play

Can I use this in a school? (Is a school a non-commercial enterprise?)

A school is non-commercial and the licence authorises 'personal, non-commercial use only' however, school use is not personal use and the agreement further states that the licence prohibits sharing or lending by libraries.

Can I copy this content and distribute to multiple devices? How many copies?

Google may at any time place limits on the number of Devices and/or software applications you may use to access products.

Example: For Locker Video Products:(1) you may view only one stream of each Locker Video Product at a time,(2) you may view up to 3 streams of Locker Video Products from your locker at a time,(3) you may authorize up to 5 Devices for offline playback of Locker Video Products at a time and to authorize additional devices, you must de-authorize one of those 5 Devices,(4) you may only authorize the same Device three times in any 12 month period and de-authorize the same Device twice in any 12 month period,(5) you may only de-authorize a total of 2 Devices for offline playback every 90 days, and(6) you may authorize no more than 3 Google accounts on the same Device.

Can I convert this content into a different format?

The licence given by Google Play allows you to 'view, use, and display the Product on your Devices' the user never actually purchases a copy of any content and so has no right to create a copy in a different format.A specific example of a limitation Google Play places on convert content is that 'You may not use Google Play or any Product in conjunction with any stream-ripping, stream capture or similar software to record or create a copy of any Product that is presented to you in streaming format.'

Can I share it with another school, eg interlibrary loan?

Google Play are pretty strict with the sharing of their products and this includes within the use of libraries.'You may not use products as part of any service for sharing, lending or multi-person use, or for the purpose of any other institution (including, without limitation, libraries)'

Will I own this content if I stop subscribing? What if the publisher removes it from sale?

If it is Google's fault that the resource is removed from sale they will advise you and offer you a replacement or refund.'The product has been made available to you, you will have the non-exclusive right, for the period selected by you in the case of a purchase for a rental period, and in other cases for as long as Google and the applicable copyright holder have rights to provide you that Product, to download or stream copies of the applicable Product to your Devices''If Google loses the relevant rights, discontinues a service or a Product is discontinued, breaches applicable terms or the law, Google may remove the Product from your Device or cease providing you with access to certain Products that you have purchased. If we are able to do so, Google will provide you with reasonable prior notice of any such removal or cessation. If you are not able to download a copy of the Product before such removal or cessation, then Google will, offer you either (a) a replacement of the Product if possible or (b) a refund of the price of the Product.'

Can I preview this content, or receive a refund if it is not what I was led to believe?

There are some free trials of apps and magazines available, however not all come with this trial period. Refunds are not available unless the product is defective.'Except as expressly set forth in these Terms or other Google Play policies, all sales are final, and no returns, replacements or refunds are permitted (this sentence does not apply where you have been provided with a defective Product, in relation to which please see paragraph 6). If a replacement, return or refund is granted for any transaction, the transaction may be reversed, and you may no longer be able to access the Product that you acquired through that transaction.'

Reference: Google Play Terms of Service http://play.google.com/about/play-terms.html

Module 2 

Week of 11 March 2013

Mod 2.1 a

I think the role of classroom teachers is different to that of teacher librarians. The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (2011) dictates that teachers should have knowledge of a range or resources that they can use to engage their learners. The higher the proficiency of the teacher the greater the ability to use, collaborate and model resource use. The difference I believe lies in the knowledge and use of resources specific to their subject areas. English teachers will probably not know how to use a microscope camera or know their way around a TI-84 calculator like a science teacher and maths teacher would respectively. It is often the library media specialist (or laboratory technicians) that first goes through resource catalogues and makes suggestions to teachers about new resources and technologies. Teacher librarians have a greater overall school view and can suggest new ITC technologies that may span over multiple subject areas. 

I do not believe it should solely be the librarian who has the say on what is included in the library’s collection. If teachers do not have an input into the resources selected, they may not be used by those teachers for reasons the librarian has not predicted. One effective strategy, used by the librarians I have had experience with, is organising to have suppliers or publishers display their wares. This way the librarian and teacher can look though them and try them out resources together. 

To engage students in the library there should be the opportunity for students to suggest or maybe vote for new books they want to read. This may promote ownership of the library by students. Librarians should know their library. They should know the areas of strengths in the resources and the weaknesses, knowing current resources should help the librarian know whether a new resource is needed or whether it is similar to current resources. 

Reference

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, www.teacherstasndards.aitsl.edu.au, 2011

Mod 2.1b 

Patron Drive Acquisition

Breitbach, W. and Lambert, J. (2011) Patron-Driven Ebook Acquisition, Computers in Libraries, 31(6), 16-20.

Breitbach and Lambert (2011) study the implementation and refining of patron driven acquisition (PDA) in an academic library. The library ensured patrons were selecting appropriate texts by limiting the e-book profile. They considered only books that were relevant (only providing for majors offered at the university), from academic publishers, cost less than $250, were English language, and published since 2008. The library automatically purchased the books after four short term loans (STL) occurred. The cost of obtaining a single book may be more than if it was selected by the library outright. However, the overall the cost of the collection is lower than a ‘just in case’ purchasing model, as only books being used are purchased. 

Mod 2.2a

Pros and cons of buying bundled sets of resources;

Cons 

• Flooded with unwanted resources when only one or two of the items are needed. 
• Relatively higher price if some resources are not going to be used. 

Pros

• Bundle prices can cheaper than single purchase of each book. 
• May get unexpected useful items that the library had not considered. 

Access vs. Ownership

Online access pros and cons

Cons

• Cannot read on different e-readers, need to purchase again 
• If site closes your content may be lost 
• (Not for libraries specifically) e-book cannot be resold at the end of the year to recoup cost. 
• Class sets of texts can no longer just be passed to the next year group, licence fees needs to be paid annually. 
• If internet is down or computers are broken access to content is not available 
• Ongoing and uncertain costs for licences 
• Limitations on number of copies, simultaneous access 
• Restrictions on geographic licences 

Pros

• Less physical storage space needed in a library 
• Less likely for textbooks to become out-dated 
• Library is able to offer a much larger resource bank to patrons, access to more variety 

Latham, B., & Poe, J. (2008). Evaluation and selection of new format materials: electronic resources. In J. R. Kennedy, L. Vardaman & G. B. McCabe (Eds.), Our new public, a changing clientele: bewildering issues or new challenges for managing libraries (pp. 257-265). Westport, Conn. : Libraries Unlimited.

Mod 2.2b

What is the school library's point of difference when compared to a shop, a video store or a home collection?

The main point of difference between a library and a shop, video store or home collection is the cost for patrons. Home collections require large personal expense, it will often be specific or bias to the persons interests. Libraries have a wide selection of items like a shop or video store; however these will be in diverse formats not just DVDs and do not come at a cost to the patron.

Think of an occasion when you have witnessed tension between what a teacher or student is looking for and what a library collection holds.

When I first started at a new school, in which I did not know the extent of the library’s resources, I naively gave students a small research project based in the library. Part of the criteria for references was to have at least two book references alongside the web resources the students would be using. Students worked on the computers in the library rather than using the library’s books. When I asked why and tried to assist students to locate relevant texts I found the encyclopaedias to be over 20 years old, the reference section and non-fiction areas were also heavily lacking in relevance. My expectation as a teacher about what the library would have and what was present was distinctly different. The library was set up more as a primary library (k-12 school) and the secondary students rarely used it for their own research. 

Week of 18 March 2013 

 Mod 2.3 

Saint Mary's College Library Pinterest Board Review - http://pinterest.com/smclibrary/

Saint Mary's College of California Library has chosen to use Pinterest as their social content curation tool.

The site has forty four boards on topics such as, campus authors, best-sellers, banned books or specific topic. These mostly contain links to books relevant to that topic. Most of the pins have a picture of the book cover and then link back to the library catalogue. There is also often a one sentence comment on the relevance of the book to the board it is located on.

This was a great visual way of displaying the libraries catalogue. There is very little text. However, it provided a great way to explore the catalogue and discover new and interesting titles to read.

There are also a few boards which contains pins to images from the web and not from the catalogue. These include library humour, favourite libraries and college news.

I also browsed some other Pinterest school library sites. These often contained links to resources related to various curriculum topics rather than back to the library catalogue. This was not a feature of the Saint Mary's College Pinterest board. 

Overall I found the Saint Mary's College site very visually appealing and easy to navigate. I think this format would also be particularly useful for Public libraries to promote new titles or help people find interesting books to read.

Mod 2.5

Criteria for selection of e-resources

The Library of Congress has collated research into models of selection criteria for e-resources. The most detailed criteria document was found in Louis, A. (2001) Building Sustainable Collections of Free Third-Party Web Resources. I have also included two others used to help support the Library of Congress selection criteria task force. SelectionCriteria

The Western Australian Department of Education has written specific selection criteria for electronic resources which can be found on their website. The criteria is broken down into subheadings of; purpose, educational soundness, authority, appropriateness, accuracy and recency of information, scope, accessibility and usability, presentation, accompanying material, packaging and cost. Where there is difference between general selection criteria and electronic resources criteria is in questions of access and usability, accuracy of information and presentation.

Wells, A. (2004) Selection criteria for traditional and electronic resources, Selection Criteria Task force, Library of Congress,http://www.loc.gov/catdir/bibcontrol/selection_criteria.pdf

Department of Education Western Australia (2013), CMIS Selection Policy http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/library/selection/sel22.htm

Week of 4 March 2013

Module 1 

Call me old fashioned but I love nothing more than reading a paper book on a comfy couch or in bed. We have an e-book reader, a kindle, at home, but I would really only use it while travelling. My husband would use it most days on his train commute into the city. We have been reading classic novels as they are out of copyright and thus free. I made the mistake of reading a manga comic on an e-reader once it didn't handle the images well, but no doubt will improve with technology advances. So I found it interesting when I read that “there are relatively few heavy readers left to make the change and those are, demonstrably, extremely resistant” What to Watch for in 2013, Shatzkin. Most of the heavy reading market have made their choice, paper or electronic, and for e-readers Amazon seems to come out the winner owning the majority of the market. 

From the notes in module 1 I was intrigued by the notion that in the near future it won't be the publisher who decides which books get released but rather the e-book retailers. Amazon has the market share, will this mean some books will only be sold via Amazon due to licensing deals? Will all children's books have to have an animation and audio component to be viable? This would take the emphasis away from reading and towards listening and watching and also the tactile nature of current books would also be lost. I however, found comfort in the quote given in Libraries for a Post-Literate Society, Johnson, D. (2010) 

“ The fact is that this invention will produce forgetfulness in the souls of those who have learned it. They will not need to exercise their memories, being able to rely on what is written, calling things to mind no longer from within themselves by their own unaided powers, but under the stimulus of external marks that are alien to themselves.” - Phaedrus, Plato, on describing writing as an alternative communication form. New technology has always scared people. While I might be hesitant at the potential loss of paper novels and reference texts there as also a lot of great positives to technology advances. 

I think there is the potential for libraries to not just offer e-books for loan, but also offer the readers themselves for loan for people to try for themselves. Lessons in using new technology resources should also be considered if introducing new forms of technology into the collection. 

TL;DR change is scary, but positive new things can come out of it.