A year before taking this course, I decided to de-select pretty much my entire print reference resources. I had been in the library for a year and hadn’t seen anyone, student or teachers, even pick them up except for one time when I decided to show a couple of students the encyclopedias to look for one topic related to their project. The librarian I took over from had been working between two schools and I don’t know if the reference resources had been looked at in her time. They were stored on a very high shelf that I could not reach without a step ladder and they were out-of-date by at least 10 years. As a beginning Teacher Librarian from what I had learned about the de-selection criteria, cost of books, observations of patron use and with my knowledge of the online reference resource subscriptions my library has access to, I was confident in my decision to remove all of the print reference resources in favour of online and never look back….until now. 

 In the past, when helping students with research projects, inquiry or answering wonders, I would refer them to non-fiction books and Worldbook online but the print reference resources were never my first choice. In addition, up until recently, I would have defined non-fiction books as a reference resource. However, in reading the information about “Managing and Evaluating Reference Services” I started to question my own beliefs about print reference resources. I am now considering investing in more print reference resources after reading that  “Students who use a wide range of resources in various mediums for learning have the opportunity to approach a theme, issue or topic of study in ways, which allow for a range of learning styles and access to the theme or topic via cognitive or affective appeals” (UBC, lesson 7). As well, in reading that “School librarians have a multitude of tasks; one critical task is the selection and evaluation of reference materials—print and electronic. Without the proper tools, expertise, or good judgment to accomplish this task, students’ informational needs may remain unanswered”(Riedling, p.18) I feel like I have been failing my students in some way although I thought I was making an informed decision.  

So, to help me decide about adding more print reference resources to my collection, I did some further research to see what some other experts believe when considering print vs. online reference resources. From the Library Journal online, in the article
Digital vs. Print : Taking a position as an Academic Librarian by Steven Bell  it argues points such as cost, ease of access and takes on the debate saying, ” For academic librarians, adding ebook content to the discovery engine vastly increases the value of book chapters as a searchable database. There are tradeoffs, such as coping with clunky display and print features, or eyestrain, but why would higher education make a case for supporting print over digital—especially when it comes to expensive textbooks?”(Bell, 2020, par.2). One point in favour of print reference resources that Bell makes that I know but have always thought of as applying to other print materials such as fiction and non-fiction books is that “New research suggests educators can add another, even more ominous, reason to the list. Students fail to comprehend complex or lengthy material in digital format as well as they do in print”(Bell, 2020, par.3). However, Bell points out that “…preference for online materials is driven by their affordability and accessibility—and the lightened load in [student] backpack[s]”(Bell, 2020, par.3). Bell concludes that “Our destiny [as Teacher Librarians] is to have one foot firmly planted in the history and tradition of print as stewards of long held collections while the other foot steps forward into the digital future. I believe we are up to the task of finding balance between the two”(Bell, 2020, par. 6). So, from this article, I realize my “balance” is off and I need to supply more print reference resources especially if I want more student comprehension of information because that’s kind of the point, isn’t it?

Being a good Teacher Librarian and wanting to make sure that I didn’t just find a resource whose opinion I was biased towards, I found from the UBC library in the journal, “The Reference Collection:From the Shelf to the Web”, the article “Getting It Right-The Evolution of Reference Collections” by Margaret Landesman. Landesman seems to be even more pro online in saying, “Many printed reference titles were important to us as a way to keep track of what’s in other books or in journals. The ability to search full text, though, turns every collection of online texts into a reference collection and provides an automatic concordance for every title. Titles can no longer be tidily separated into ‘reference works’ and ‘general collection.'”(Landesman, 2005 p.19). I guess part of the fear for librarians is that if there is too much of a shift towards digital, where will that leave the library and us? I like Landesman’s explanation: “It seems evident that there will continue to be reference librarians, though perhaps they will use some other title. Reference collections, though, might be a less certain bet. Why will we move away from ‘reference collections’? Partly because, given the convergence among formats, we can’t recognize a reference book when we see one. Nor can its electrons be pinned down to a ‘reference collection.’ Why will we still need ‘reference librarians’? Because users frequently need more, rather than less, assistance to find needed sources and information. The needle in the haystack was hard enough to find when there was only one haystack. Now the number of haystacks is multiplying”(Landesman, 2005, p.19). This makes me feel better in that I now have a more solid argument when people tell me that if I promote digital too much then I’ll be out of a job. In addition, I now feel like I need to do more lessons on how to access and use the online reference collections that the district supplies. 

In conclusion,  I do not think that I will be buying an entire collection of Encyclopedias any time soon but I will be looking into some age-appropriate print reference resources in singles and choosing a more accessible shelf or area for students to browse. The two articles support the idea of having both print and digital reference resources regardless of cost even if most patrons seem to prefer online reference resources. Although I believe that my job as a Teacher Librarian, regardless of time or budget, is to “promot[e] reading and language development and literature appreciation” (UBC , lesson 6) I now have realized that I need to supply reference resources in various formats even if I have a multitude of other print resources that could also be used for research and inquiry.  

Works cited:

Bell, S. (n.d.). Digital vs Print: Taking a Position as an Academic Librarian: From the Bell Tower. Retrieved from https://www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=digital-vs-print-taking-position-academic-librarian-bell-tower. 

Clipart Library. (2020). Book Clip Art #2949685 [Image]. Retrieved from http://clipart-library.com/clipart/book-clip-art-37.htm. 

Landesman, M. (2005). Getting It Right-The Evolution of Reference Collections. The Reference Librarian, 44(91-92), 5–22. 

Pin Clipart. (2020). Problem Clipart Animated – Reasoning Question With Answer [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.pinclipart.com/pindetail/oTooh_problem-clipart-animated-reasoning-question-with-answer-png/

Riedling, A. (2013). Reference skills for the school library media specialist: Tools and tips, (Third Ed.). Santa Barbara, CA.: Linworth, an Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC.

UBC. (Winter 2020).“Lesson 6: Managing the Reference Collection“. Theme 2:  Managing and evaluating reference services  in LIBE 467. Canvas Online Classroom.

UBC. (Winter 2020).“Lesson 7: Evaluating Reference Services“. Theme 2:  Managing and evaluating reference services  in LIBE 467. Canvas Online Classroom. 

I heard it again just the other day, a teacher expressing “I don’t give my students screen time at school because I feel like they get enough screen time at home”. If this argument was applied to reading and writing, what would we be doing at school? As the internet and digital resources become more accessible and prevalent in the world outside of schools, we are doing our students an injustice by ignoring their existence as a teaching tool and an important part of information literacy. We also know that if students are left to make their own choices about what to learn with no direction, they don’t always make the best choices. So, if we know students are using internet resources but not giving them any direction, advice or suggesting new tools to use, they are simply going to use the same ones continuously. Students need exposure and instruction using both print and electronic resources to learn how to use similar skills across genres, sources, and formats  in order to be successful life-long learners.

Reading, writing and composition are the forms of communication that students are taught first and now teachers need to acknowledge that the internet and digital resources are going to be more and more important in the years to come. I like how Riedling states, “The Internet is not really a source of information, but rather a means of communication—the ‘ultimate’ communication Network”(2013, p.116) and if teachers think of it as another form of communication that students need to learn, maybe teaching digital literacy will gain more attention. Students need the basic information literacy skills to start but then need to be taught how to apply those skills to digital resources. In addition, I agree that “Much of the information accessed digitally is of variable quality and many students lack skills that are necessary for them to evaluate the information”(UBC, LIBE 467, Lesson 1, 2020). Yes, it is true that most children by the time they are intermediate students will have exposure to technology and may be more proficient that many adults (hence the digital divide) (Riedling, p. 138); however, many, if not all, of these students know only a limited scope of what to do with the device(s). For example, most students know how to use a search engine and I would argue that the majority think that Google is the only one. In addition, when using a search engine, most students simply choose the first few results, not really analyzing the source of the information. Students need to be taught digital and media literacy to critically analyze the search results in order to access appropriate resources for their task. 

It is apparent that “An information literate citizen analyzes information critically in all its formats and in all media contexts”(UBC, LIBE 467, Lesson 2, 2020) and I assert that visual literacy is an often-ignored but very essential part of information literacy. In another library course, I researched visual literacy and how it influences digital and media literacy. There was one article I found with a strategy that I would like to try which is the DIG (Digital Image Guide) method. 

Found from the UBC library here:

 https://www-tandfonline.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/doi/full/10.1080/1051144X.2018.1564604#.XPXxeFQ1Us4.gmail 

This method was formulated to use at the University level but I think it would be beneficial to teach in Elementary now because students are becoming avid technology and internet users at younger ages than before. The DIG method is a series of questions, similar to the CRAAP test for literature, that students use to evaluate digital images. The author compares the digital-visual examination to how students are taught to read literature in that “The questions…created from this assimilation were then organized according to the steps of critical reading: analyzing, interpreting, evaluating and comprehending” (Thompson, 2019). The main focus of these lessons is for students to be able to determine the difference between what the article defines as “shallow and deep images”: “shallow images, are what we might think of as ‘typical’ internet images:… Shallow images are mostly innocuous because they do not purport to do more than entertain” (Thompson, 2019) whereas “Deep images require more interrogation because they are created and posted online to perform different roles and fulfil different intentions: to inform, to mislead, to persuade and/or to sell” (Thompson, 2019). Therefore, students first determine if images are shallow or deep and then if the images are deep, the students decide the intention of the images. Overall, the article argues that “Grounding a lesson or module with visuals reinforces the idea that since communication is now more visually-oriented, especially within the context of new digital technologies and social media platforms, the same critical sensibility that we routinely apply to text-based communications can, and should be, applied to visual mediums” (Thompson, 2019). 

In addition to the Thompson article, the video “The power to tell the difference: visual literacy in a visual age” by Don Levy discusses how teaching visual literacy aids in media literacy by creating critical thinking skills. Levy concludes that “In a world surrounded by images, visual literacy requires critical thinking and awareness” (Levy. 2015) because if visuals are guiding our perceptions, then we need to be aware and have “the power to tell the difference” between fact and fiction in media. Levy states, “The dark side of our new reality is the more convincing the imagery the gap between fact and fiction blurs” (Levy, 2015) because “…we know that not every use of visuals is a force for good. The dark side can be blinding. There is a difference between escapist entertainment and losing our connection to the world” (Levy, 2015). 

It is a difficult job for the Teacher Librarian to convince classroom teachers that “screen time” is not always negative. Students need to be taught how to use digital resources productively; they are not going to learn it without direct instruction. As “Achieving Information Literacy” states, “The major learning outcome for the school library program is to develop students who are information literate”(Asselin et. Al., 2003, p.4). Students should be able to apply the same techniques learned for reading and writing to become digitally literate. In my experience, the classroom teacher may be on the lower side of the digital divide (pre-1977) and/or uncomfortable using technology so it is good that “Research clearly indicates that the development of student competence in information literacy skills is most effective when integrated with classroom instruction through collaborative program planning and teaching by the teacher-librarian and the classroom teacher”(Asselin et. Al., 2003,p.7). I am going to use this information the next time I try to convince a classroom teacher to do a project integrating technology. Also, I like the list of outcomes in “Achieving Information literacy” especially Outcome 4: “Students will use information critically to evaluate the relevance, authenticity, and validity of information and its source”(Asselin et. Al., p.13) because students should be able to evaluate a resource in any format. Students need to be taught the proper purpose for all types of resources because “It is vital to know when to turn to print resources, when to use the Web, and when to avoid them all in favor of consulting an expert in the field”(Riedling, 2013, p.113). Students need to be given proper instruction for how to productively use digital resources at school in order to know the full potential of the resource, how to apply the resource and become fully information literate citizens.

Works Cited:

Asselin, M., Branch, J., & Oberg, D., (Eds). (2003). Achieving information literacy: Standards for school library programs in Canada. Ottawa, ON: Canadian School Library Association & The Association for Teacher-Librarianship in Canada.

Free SVG. (2020). Computer Geek [Image]. Retrieved from https://freesvg.org/computer-geek

Levy, D.  [TEDxABQSalon]. (2015, April 16). The Power to Tell the Difference: Visual Literacy in a Visual Age.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f09ybYDJoSE

Riedling, A. (2013). Reference skills for the school library media specialist: Tools and tips, (Third Ed.). Santa Barbara, CA.: Linworth, an Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC.

Thompson, D.S. (2019). Teaching Students to Critically Read Digital Images: a Visual Literacy Approach Using the DIG Method. Journal of Visual Literacy, 38(1-2), 110-119. https://www-tandfonline.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/doi/full/10.1080/1051144X.2018.1564604#.XPXxeFQ1Us4.gmail

UBC. (Winter 2020). “Lesson 1: Information Literacy and Reference Services in Schools“. Theme 1: The foundation of reference services  in LIBE 467. Canvas Online Classroom.  

UBC. (Winter 2020).“Lesson 2: The Reference Process and Information Skills“. Theme 1: The foundation of reference services  in LIBE 467. Canvas Online Classroom.