Standard 3: Information and Knowledge
3.1.2. Efficient and Ethical Information Seeking Behavior: Candidates model multiple strategies for students, other teachers, and administrators to locate, evaluate, and ethically use information for specific purposes.
Artifact:
Research Handbook
I have honestly not thought much about my research handbook from Information Retrieval Services. I took the class over three years ago, and in that time have increased my library science knowledge by quite a bit. Without our class discussion at the beginning of the semester, I might not have even considered it as an artifact for anything, let alone a perfect marriage between a standard and any artifact. Luckily, I spent some time reviewing it and recognize that its contents most certainly help any patron, be it a student, teacher, or administrator, locate, evaluate, and ethically use information for a number of specific purposes.
The handbook moves from specific items within the school library to information about the research process. It ends with two sections on plagiarism and copyright laws. By ending with these two items, my research handbook accurately conveys the ethics of research. Many of my colleagues catch students plagiarizing on one assignment after another. Plagiarism is, in their opinions, an epidemic. And, while I agree that students plagiarize more now than ten years ago because of the ease of online searching, I feel as if educators, both in the classroom and in the school library, need to modify their instruction to account for this. As my handbook indicates, students plagiarize often because of their lack of knowledge. They do not understand how to paraphrase or are incapable of differentiating between reliable and unreliable sources. The plagiarism “epidemic” needs only a simple solution: the more pronounced use of a school librarian. By including the plagiarism section in this research handbook, I assert that the school librarian is not only responsible for the plagiarism education of our students, but also the primary resource for such education. And while yes, there are deviants who look for loopholes and shortcuts, most students are innocent, simply in need of strong instruction in order to digitally succeed in high school and beyond.
As students need this plagiarism instruction, teachers need reminders and instruction on copyright laws from school librarians. The copyright infringement epidemic is not as recent. Since the dawn of copiers, teachers have been breaking copyright law. I am entering the librarian profession from the classroom; I know all too well how second-nature takes over as I plop a book of poems right on the copier and run off 60 copies. But, as my handbook indicates, all members of the school community need reminders and education on the copyright laws. In many schools in Frederick County, principals ask school librarians to review the law and provide examples of copyright infringements with the staff. A presentation during the school year is an ideal avenue for a school librarian to take the information from a handbook such as mine and review with teachers and administrators the fair use guidelines. I hope, once I move into a school library, that I am afforded this opportunity. Much like teenagers, educators need the face time with an authority figure in order to better understand an ethical issue.
Much of the rest of my research handbook does not deal directly with the ethical use of information. It, instead, details the location of library materials and the steps in the research process in an effort to help library patrons locate and evaluate resources. The handbook first provides a birds-eye view of the library, with an explanation of where to find print materials. It then moves into the correct use of the OPAC system. In my handbook, I explain and demonstrate how to best use the search features in the OPAC system.
At the time I created my research handbook, FCPS libraries used the Follett OPAC system. However, the following year, FCPS adopted the LS2 OPAC system, linked with the TLC cataloging program. Thus, the information in my handbook is outdated. And yet, my handbook also provides information about my former school, another outdated element. As a librarian candidate, I need to be able to model strategies for using my library. At the time of creation, my research handbook did model strategies for using Thomas Johnson High School’s library: for example, I included step by step instructions on how to use the Follett OPAC to locate print materials. When I am hired as a school librarian, I will modify this current handbook in order to reflect how best to locate, evaluate, and ethically use information for specific purposes within my new library. I will change the search strategies to reflect the current OPAC system and I will use Adobe InDesign to create a bird’s-eye view of my new library. Thus, despite the out-datedness of elements of my current research handbook, I have developed the skills to recreate an updated handbook to reflect my search strategies as a librarian, not as a librarian candidate.
In addition to the OPAC system, I include information on how to access the databases and, if needed, access the Frederick County library. The only area of my handbook where I do not feel as if I met the indicator fully is with the section on database access. In the three years following the creation of my handbook, I have spent considerable time putting together worksheets, handouts, and lessons regarding how and why to use the databases. I am not sure that this research handbook conveys this. However, many of those materials I created are also specific to a particular class or unit. Within the research handbook, I provide information about how to access the databases and what their general uses are. Once I am hired as a librarian, I plan on providing my research handbook through the school’s media center website. The handbook will include information on database access, but I will also include screen-casts for each database, detailing how best to search and utilize the database materials. Thus, while the handbook itself will not contain all of the information necessary to successfully maneuver the subscription databases, the linked screen-casts will.
The final section of my handbook is the two-page tutorial on the Big-Six research process. Students and teachers may use these explanations and guiding questions when evaluating the effectiveness of their resources in relation to the projects they are completing. The recommendations included within this piece of the handbook provide users with multiple strategies to move through and be successful with a research activity or project. For example, within the Task Definition step, students should consider the following: Identify the Information-Where will you find your information? Print sources? Databases or online websites? An expert in the field? These questions prompt the students to consider what search strategies they need to incorporate in the information-gathering step in the research process.
I feel that this and other research handbooks demonstrate the process that a student should follow when researching. It provides many ways for individuals to find information, determine whether the information is useful, and use the information in an ethical way in order to be successful.
The handbook moves from specific items within the school library to information about the research process. It ends with two sections on plagiarism and copyright laws. By ending with these two items, my research handbook accurately conveys the ethics of research. Many of my colleagues catch students plagiarizing on one assignment after another. Plagiarism is, in their opinions, an epidemic. And, while I agree that students plagiarize more now than ten years ago because of the ease of online searching, I feel as if educators, both in the classroom and in the school library, need to modify their instruction to account for this. As my handbook indicates, students plagiarize often because of their lack of knowledge. They do not understand how to paraphrase or are incapable of differentiating between reliable and unreliable sources. The plagiarism “epidemic” needs only a simple solution: the more pronounced use of a school librarian. By including the plagiarism section in this research handbook, I assert that the school librarian is not only responsible for the plagiarism education of our students, but also the primary resource for such education. And while yes, there are deviants who look for loopholes and shortcuts, most students are innocent, simply in need of strong instruction in order to digitally succeed in high school and beyond.
As students need this plagiarism instruction, teachers need reminders and instruction on copyright laws from school librarians. The copyright infringement epidemic is not as recent. Since the dawn of copiers, teachers have been breaking copyright law. I am entering the librarian profession from the classroom; I know all too well how second-nature takes over as I plop a book of poems right on the copier and run off 60 copies. But, as my handbook indicates, all members of the school community need reminders and education on the copyright laws. In many schools in Frederick County, principals ask school librarians to review the law and provide examples of copyright infringements with the staff. A presentation during the school year is an ideal avenue for a school librarian to take the information from a handbook such as mine and review with teachers and administrators the fair use guidelines. I hope, once I move into a school library, that I am afforded this opportunity. Much like teenagers, educators need the face time with an authority figure in order to better understand an ethical issue.
Much of the rest of my research handbook does not deal directly with the ethical use of information. It, instead, details the location of library materials and the steps in the research process in an effort to help library patrons locate and evaluate resources. The handbook first provides a birds-eye view of the library, with an explanation of where to find print materials. It then moves into the correct use of the OPAC system. In my handbook, I explain and demonstrate how to best use the search features in the OPAC system.
At the time I created my research handbook, FCPS libraries used the Follett OPAC system. However, the following year, FCPS adopted the LS2 OPAC system, linked with the TLC cataloging program. Thus, the information in my handbook is outdated. And yet, my handbook also provides information about my former school, another outdated element. As a librarian candidate, I need to be able to model strategies for using my library. At the time of creation, my research handbook did model strategies for using Thomas Johnson High School’s library: for example, I included step by step instructions on how to use the Follett OPAC to locate print materials. When I am hired as a school librarian, I will modify this current handbook in order to reflect how best to locate, evaluate, and ethically use information for specific purposes within my new library. I will change the search strategies to reflect the current OPAC system and I will use Adobe InDesign to create a bird’s-eye view of my new library. Thus, despite the out-datedness of elements of my current research handbook, I have developed the skills to recreate an updated handbook to reflect my search strategies as a librarian, not as a librarian candidate.
In addition to the OPAC system, I include information on how to access the databases and, if needed, access the Frederick County library. The only area of my handbook where I do not feel as if I met the indicator fully is with the section on database access. In the three years following the creation of my handbook, I have spent considerable time putting together worksheets, handouts, and lessons regarding how and why to use the databases. I am not sure that this research handbook conveys this. However, many of those materials I created are also specific to a particular class or unit. Within the research handbook, I provide information about how to access the databases and what their general uses are. Once I am hired as a librarian, I plan on providing my research handbook through the school’s media center website. The handbook will include information on database access, but I will also include screen-casts for each database, detailing how best to search and utilize the database materials. Thus, while the handbook itself will not contain all of the information necessary to successfully maneuver the subscription databases, the linked screen-casts will.
The final section of my handbook is the two-page tutorial on the Big-Six research process. Students and teachers may use these explanations and guiding questions when evaluating the effectiveness of their resources in relation to the projects they are completing. The recommendations included within this piece of the handbook provide users with multiple strategies to move through and be successful with a research activity or project. For example, within the Task Definition step, students should consider the following: Identify the Information-Where will you find your information? Print sources? Databases or online websites? An expert in the field? These questions prompt the students to consider what search strategies they need to incorporate in the information-gathering step in the research process.
I feel that this and other research handbooks demonstrate the process that a student should follow when researching. It provides many ways for individuals to find information, determine whether the information is useful, and use the information in an ethical way in order to be successful.