Digital vs. Print (vs. Emerging) Reference Resources: Theme Three Reflections

First of all, the goal of the last few weeks has been to make us, as Teacher-Librarians, aware of all of the specific reference resources available to help students complete research. Secondly, we have had to consider along the way the advantages, the disadvantages, and the availability of digital versus print versions of these resources. Of course, in an ideal world, we might have both types. Balance would be ideal.

Digitizing Can Free Up Shelf Space (Koterba)

With print atlases, encyclopedias, bibliographies, almanacs, and so on, the cost of maintaining up-to-date editions seems to be the main disadvantage. Everyone can agree that they are useful, but Library budgets are not always sufficient. The other issue that poses problems can often be a lack of physical space: multi-volume reference sets take a lot of shelf space, especially considering the (ridiculously) small size of some of the elementary school Libraries in this district.

This blog, from a public Librarian perspective deals with related considerations on weeding reference materials. I especially found one point very useful: you usually can't look at circulation statistics to evaluate reference resource usage because they don't typically get circulated; you have to have been in the building long enough to have seen whether or not they've been used (or go consult colleagues). Also, I agree with the sub-section entitled "Keep it in the Library, but Not in the Reference Collection" (M, Anna). I used that technique when assessing my reference area. Some excellent specialty encyclopedias (...of Dinsaurs, for example) that never got to be used by students got reshelved into their circulating subject area; so, too, did a few of the print atlases. Anna M also provides a list of her must-have essentials, which is interesting for comparison purposes.

Learning more about the deep/invisible web was certainly interesting. I knew about this concept but didn't fully understand just how much of the information on the web is not searchable using standard browser queries.

Why Isn't Everything Visible? (Rohail)

It made me appreciate even more that Chilliwack School District 33 recently listened to our Teacher-Librarians' Association and started subscribing to ERAC database bundles. Hopefully, we will be able to expand the offerings soon in order to reveal even more of the invisible content for our students.

The discussions of Wikipedia over the last few weeks have been thorough and illuminating. General consensus seems to have been that we should discontinue stigmatizing the use of this ubiquitous free resource, but that we should emphasize it as a useful general knowledge starting point; that it is good for providing background and vocabulary within a subject, but it isn't sufficient, or reliable enough, on its own. Showing students that the website itself acknowledges this would be advantageous:

Wikipedia Caveat, or Warning to Users (Content We...)

Here are a couple of things that I've been ruminating on the last couple of years, and especially throughout readings and discussions on this reference resources theme:

• What counts as reference materials in the 21st century?
• Do we need some rethinking on the reference needs of our Library communities?

This is a great video about changing reference needs in the community, or how to generate new seekers of interactive reference material. Nowadays, there is a transformation occurring within Library communities because Public Librarians and Teacher-Librarians are realizing that there are emerging, changing reference needs within our patrons. Increasingly, the DIY (Do It Yourself) movement has been driving people's desire to do more creative work on their own; yet, recent decades have seen less and less people learning simple mechanical, woodworking, gardening, sewing, and artistic skills in our society. Thus, Library patrons don't just need a book about these types of subjects, they often lack the costly tools and supplies needed to create the end product. In many cases, the amazing inquiry-driven Makerspace movement is fulfilling this need. Patrons can use the Library space, various art supplies, and various tools to create projects on site. The creation of the new BC education curriculum known as Applied Design, Skills, and Technology is a reflection of this developing reference need in our society (and is a surprisingly rapid addition/change to the education bureaucracy, which usually adapts much more slowly than teachers themselves!).

Many patrons, however, will want to create at home rather than in a Makerspace. This short documentary, Caine's Arcade, is phenomenal for showing the natural creative impulse inherent in children; it was the inspiration for a two-class, Grade 5 ADST building project in my Library in the fall; the two classes transformed the space into an old-timey midway/arcade and invited Little Buddy classes in to play to coincide with the annual Global Cardboard Challenge. Along the way, the makers came up with many different reference questions based on how they could best achieve their buiding goals: they researched ideas posted on the web.

There are myriad Youtube video tutorials and Pinterest pages and blogs supporting this DIY impulse, but, still, not everyone can afford to buy a sewing machine, a saw, etc to complete a possibly one-time project at home. More and more Libraries are responding to this need by creating a brand new type of loan category: A Library of Things.  I have been developing plans to create loan kits (including screwdrivers, etc, or art supplies, etc) to accompany various arts and crafts books in our school Library; these will hopefully "go live" next fall.

I'm curious to hear what other folks think about these new developments in the Library realm. Specifically, do you feel they actually qualify as reference needs or reference resources?

References

BC Ministry of Education,. "Building Student Success - BC's New Curriculum". Curriculum.gov.bc.ca. N.p., 2017. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

"Content We Host, Terms Of Use - Wikimedia Foundation". M.wikimediafoundation.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 25 Mar. 2017.

Dougherty, Dale. "Dale Dougherty: We Are Makers". YouTube. N.p., 2011. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

"Imagination Foundation – Global Cardboard Challenge". Imagination.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

Koterba, Jeff. Cartoon: Digitizing Can Free Up Shelf Space. Web. 25 Mar. 2017.

M (full name not provided), Anna. "Tips For Weeding Your Reference Collection". Collection Reflection. N.p., 2013. Web. 25 Mar. 2017.

Mullick, Nirvan. "Caine's Arcade". YouTube. N.p., 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

Rohail, Widjan. Why Isn't Everything Visible. 2017. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

"What To Expect From Libraries In The 21St Century: Pam Sandlian Smith At Tedxmilehigh". YouTube. N.p., 2013. Web. 25 Mar. 2017.