Building Block Research on LibLit

For the search I used:
keywords: (student or teenager) AND (research or resources) AND (skills or techniques)
I received 1099 hits.

The Building Block strategy is great to use when someone needs to search a system with a complex search query. This strategy allows the user to break their query into different facets and apply Boolean logic to help with the information retrieval process. I used to enter my entire search query into a single search banner and would come up with zero hits. Now I know how to break my query into different facets, and group keyterms together, for a better search strategy.

Successive Fraction Searching on ASC

I searched the ASC database using:
keyword searching (computer networking) AND (public schools)
full-text available search
publication dates: 1992 - 2010

I searched ASC using the Successive Fraction technique. I began my search using the keywords "computer networking" and retrieved 5,254 hits. I then performed a successive search by adding "public schools" in the second facet. This narrowed my results to 40.
This search strategy was beneficial at findig information relative to my topic. It allows the user to narrow their results down guickly, while being carefull to add facets that would cause hits to become more precise.

Image- High School Libraries

http://media-center-e.tech.worcesterschools.org


High School Libraries need to stay "hip" to pull kids into their quarters. Most kids prefer to lounge in the cafeteria before school. Wouldn't it be nice if most kids preferred the library. The image above represents the "image" I believe High School Libraries should go for. It's important to incorporate many facets of information that attracts all types of information seekers. I found this image by searching "high school library images" in Google.

As a current member in the field of education, I have first-hand experience at witnessing student work ethic on computers. Students are interested in gaming of all sorts. Electronic learning devices have been tailored around this fact. Study Island, a site that offers TAKS training in all subject areas, has intergrated a gaming device that kids can use as they answer questions. If they get an answer right, they get to play a game. When they finish with that game, they move on to the next question. Kids would much rather do school work if it incorporates games. While most students are more than comfortable playing games, using Google or Yahoo, making Facebooks, and MySpace pages, most are not skilled at searching databsaes and online journals. Schools place filters on their servers so kids cannot access YouTube or other sites that could potentially have obscene materials on them. Kids always find a way around them. At my school, there is a filter preventing us from accessing online radio stations to keep the server open. Kids can easily find their way around those as well. It seems they can do anything they want with a computer, other than proper research. I chose this cartoon because it symbolizes the digital age in a high school setting. I doubt spitballs will ever come from a computer, but the idea surrounding the image is very real!

Tagging / Indexing

While searching Library Thing, I found a book titled, "Beyond the Internet: Successful Research Strategies," by the author, Barbara A. Chernow. The reason I chose this resource is because high school students need a lot of guidence when searching for information over the internet. They are not taught a research strategy by their teachers, so if a librarian could hold a training session at the beginning of the school year, or preceeding the research assignment for a particular class, then the students will have more success in their research efforts. I believe this book would provide a new libraian with the information he/she needed to prepare a research strategy session for their school.

RSS Feed: Designing Better Libraries

The RSS Feed I chose to add to my blog is called, "Designing Better Libraries." The rationale for choosing this feed was based on the topics found on this blog site. He writes about the need to design libraries to be more user-centered, and how library databases are more difficult to use than Google. He writes about libraries needing to implement self-service areas, since most users attemp to research independently of the librarian. All of these are issues that are aiming to ultimately help the user. Anyone interested in "Designing Better Librareis," can click on the link below:

http://dbl.lishost.org/blog/categories/instructional-design-technology/

Technology Training- Podcast

The majority of students and staff at our high school lack skills that would make information retrieval easier for them in our library. Due to the varied research requirements in different sources, the complexities of technology, and the complicated systems of cataloging, students and staff alike prefer to use the Web to locate their information. This issue could be made obsolete if our library offered staff tech training and student tech training session at the beginning of the school year and throughout as needed. In the training sessions, the librarian could showcase the multiple sources of information, along with research strategies to use for each source. This would build confidence among the students and staff about the usability of the sources available there.

The following podcast stresses the role of the library in training their staff in the technology offered there, to build the skills and confidence necessary to access information using the technology located in the library. This concept can easily be used to train the staff and students in our high school.

I used the Education Podcast Network to find the podcast on the importance of tech training. The name of the podcast is, Tech Training and Competencies for Libraries. You can access this podcast by clicking the following link:

http://epnweb.org/player.php?podshow=http://www.opal-online.org/houghtonjantech20080515/houghtonjantech20080515.mp3&podcast=OPAL Podcast&program=Tech Training and Competencies for Libraries

Tailored Research

There is a great article written titled, "The Google Generation: Implications for Libraries and Librarians," in the blog: http://woodsiegirl.wordpress.com/. I used the blog search engine(http://blogsearch.google.com). With users participating in the content development of sites such as Blogs, Facebook, Wikis, etc, and easy access to information through the web, it is important that the field of library science begin to make the search for quality information as easy.

"It’s such a waste of energy to try to drag users away from their preferred ways of working. It’s important to try to work with users, and tailor the help we offer to the way they instinctively work."

http://woodsiegirl.wordpress.com

It is pertinent, especially in a high school library, to make quality information accessible through means regularly used by the students. If it is possible to reach desired information using a gaming device or a cell phone, then that needs to be attempted at the high school level.

Electronic Databases

An electronic database is a collection of data from a variety of sources, including but not limited to, published articles, government documents, newspaper items, films, and recordings. Databases are designed to make searching for specific information very simple by using a word matching process. There are databases for all areas of interest such as math, science, history, etc. Databases can be even more specific. For example, there are many areas of science. A chemist may not be interested in searching for information in a database that includes all areas of science such as genetics, microbiology, taxonomy, physics, and chemistry. Instead, it would be more efficient to search a database that only has information regarding chemistry. Such a database does exists and is called Sci Finder.

Sci Finder is a database that compiles any article published in the area of Chemistry, so that chemists can search for research tips and methods, build upon previous research and avoid the duplication of previous work. An electronic database, such as the one mentioned above, is an efficient and effective way for a user to find the information they are seeking quickly.

http://electronicdatabases.com

Rounding up Research in the High School Library

By compiling the competencies that will be completed during this course, this blog will serve as a portfolio of the knowledge and research that I acquire along the way. This blog will be a way for the students enrolled in this course to share their research in their specific area of interest and at the same time learn about other areas of Library Science through each others posts . I am pursuing a career as a high school librarian with a specific interest in helping the faculty and students learn the research skills to obtain "good" information. My topic area and library type will be known as "Rounding up Research in the High School Library."