Databases: My local public library – the Burnaby one – has an incredible collection of full text databases, organized by subject as well as alphabetically. What a wonderful resource! A long-time patron of the Burnaby Public Library, I knew there were databases, but was unaware of just how much information I can access! I plan to use and promote this incredibly rich resource. There is everything from archived city documents, community newspapers, auto repair manuals, consumer reports, legal resources. Many can be accessed remotely from home by logging in with a library card number and password. Just for starters, a patron can:

• Find out the distance between two BC communities – no more trying to “google” this
• Get Stats Canada data (potential use for social studies classes)
• Access Tumblebooks – nice alternate activity for primary students
• Get medical information – for the hypochondriac in your life
• Access a myriad of dictionaries and encyclopedieas on just about any subject or specialty, including some French ones
• Find out how to fix your car – and save a bundle in the process!
• Get legal information
• Download books to an e-reader, iPad, Blackberry, or other device – for free! (Memo to self: I really need to make better use of my Blackberry.)
• Access EBSCO host – great for personal and professional use
• Access the full text of the Consumer Reports Buying guide and magazines – much better than rifling through the dog-eared collection in the periodicals section and maybe finding what I’m after.
• Go Career Cruising
• Access BC building and fire code regulations. Not that I’m handy that way. But others are.

March 27

I explored a new web site that is designed to ease people through the process of creating their own web site, and I plan to try it, perhaps creating a web site for my self-employed woodworker partner so that he can display and market his beautiful, artful creations. (He’s definitely a right-brain artisan/musician!). I discovered the site while exploring links on a school district web site, so I believe it has been vetted by IT personnel, and looks to be a great resource. It also has a blogging option, so that is another area that has increasing appeal.

I also learned about the potential role of games in learning, and how young learners’ brains are actually wired differently, making them much more receptive to the learning potential of games. The site gave lots of examples which I will explore as time permits.

Mapping our world: Geographic resources: The maps I have the most familiarity with are mind maps – I love creating these for planning and studying. “Real” maps are something I have never paid much attention to unless I am consulting them in order to get somewhere by foot or car, and I have quite a collection of them. Now however I am gaining a new appreciation of them. This is partly because of exposure to them through this course, because my oldest daughter is majoring in geography and I like to find great resources for her, and also because good, detailed maps were crucial to a walking holiday I took in 2009. We needed a stack of maps for the journey, along with a compass and a keen eye for waymarkers (see previous post). Ordnance survey maps are incredibly detailed, with country houses marked and named. Even standing stones and other heritage and archeological sites are noted on the maps, enriching the journey immensely.

A “global” issue came up this week in the class discussions. Surprisingly, some schools have few or no globes, and it seems a shame that such a great representation of our earth would be lacking. Every classroom should have one, if for no other reason than to remind us that we are part of something so much larger. I was pleased to discover nine globes displayed on top of the shelves in the middle school library I am working at this week. What a find! I’ve never seen anything like it in any other school library. Some libraries have one globe, but nine! Unheard of. A bonus is that each globe has a barcode affixed to the underside of its base, so it can be signed out just like a book or any other library resource. What a great idea and practice!

Speaking of geographical resources, I also discovered that the BBC has some geographic resources such as country profiles. Again, who knew?!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/default.stm

March 12

Yesterday I watched and was inspired by some of the videos I found linked to the Vista website. These videos were about the learning commons and libraries. What resonated the most was:

• Because individuals learn differently and at different rates, a learning commons allows for responding to students’ unique needs
• I loved the way librarians were described as learning coaches and knowledge brokers. While all teachers fit this description, I think teacher-librarians do it best, as they facilitate it at a school-wide level.
• The learning commons allows people to connect to the world and their own passions, and allows students to shape their own learning.
• The learning commons facilitates an inquiry based approach to learning and to life.

I think my “default” learning style is as an independent learner, so initially I was not really sold on the concept of the learning commons. The videos I watched have shifted my thinking on this issue, however. While the videos do have a certain marketing or promotional tone (which tends to make me wary of the product), I certainly do see that there is much value in a collaborative approach, even if one sometimes just uses it for bouncing ideas around. Shaping the school library as a learning commons is a worthy mission – perhaps much more important and useful than attempting to remember specific data about specific resources found therein.

March 4

Every day offers something new to learn, and this week was no exception. I’ve learned some useful tidbits of information that will help me assist students and other teachers, such as:

• The fact that geographical info includes demographic data – who knew? I’ve never paid much attention to geography unless I’m actually on a hike or trying to locate something on a map or plan a route. Now, not only am I starting to take better note of geographical matters, I am becoming quite interested in learning more about geography in general (but it will have to wait until this course is over!)

• Novelist (http://www.ebscohost.com/novelist/about-novelist/about-novelist) appears to be a great resource for information on fiction (something I’m not completely up on, being a mostly non-fiction reader). It tells you the next title in a series – something many students ask about – and provides suggestions for authors who write in similar genres, etc. I think this will be a very useful tool for advising readers, and I wish I’d known about it before. There is a free trial offer which would be a great way to get started with it. Freebies are great!