Auntie Librarian

After reading some of my colleagues' responses to Travis Jonker's  SLJ article "Fine. I Got an Ereader. Now What?: A newbie to digital reading gets his first Kindle" and Doug Johnson's blogged response:  "Reactionary librarians aren't cute" I feel the need to confess: my school library does not own any e-readers yet. Buying e-books and e-readers is not absent from my list of things to do and I feel that e-readers and books are important.


It is incredibly important for school librarians to have a working knowlege of e-readers even if they do not make personal use of these devices and even if their library does not own any.  I personally own an iPad. I can show you how to use the Kindle app, use ibooks and I have purposely familiarized myself with other e-readers. In partnership with our State Library, I hosted a "Technology Petting Zoo" for my faculty. The "Petting Zoo" featured e-readers, iPads and cameras.


A few students proudly brought their new e-readers to school with them after winter break to ask me questions about their devices. Of course, their librarian would be able to help them with their new e-reader! A couple of my students were upset. "I got an e-reader for Christmas, but my family doesn't  have a credit card. How can I get books?" Another student got a Dell tablet, "How do I get books onto this thing?" she asked. Who else would a student ask? The librarian! We are now planning our first e-reader club. Students will bring their own devices and we will share tips and tricks with eachother. I regularly share free e-book titles with my students and faculty.


Budget and staffing challenges currently make purchasing e-readers and e-books something I am just getting ready to do. I am depending on the trailblazers to help me make the best choices in the near future. However, I know it would be a disservice to my students and faculty if I chose to remain uninformed about e-readers.

Each month I present my principal and assistant principals with a library data spreadsheet which provides comparative data on book check out, class use of the library, individual student use of the library, days of direct instruction and days of testing. I also provide a list of the month's highlights which includes book club meetings, promotions and other things I am doing.

In October, November and December book circulation has been abysmal. December's circulation was down 900 compared to last December. What is going on here? Is three months of low numbers a trend? What am I doing wrong? One major difference between this December and last is that we had Winter MAP testing in December this school year as opposed to January. This probably impacted circulation, but not by 900. Another variable is that we stopped date stamping books at check out. Is stamping the due date in the back of the book related to the decline in circulation? Who knows. We are now date stamping again! Just in case!

Thanks to my library gurus, I realize that book circulation is not what makes or breaks my program. However, last year, I was extremely proud to turn in an annual report that showed a 30 some percent increase in circulation. A decrease in book circulation is certainly not going to help me get a full-time library assistant either. I can only hope to "break even" by the end of this school year. I have been book talking like crazy on the morning news program.

As if the circulation decline were not enough, participation for my Winter Reading Program was awful compared to last year. I am beginning to think I have lost my Mojo.

"Oh dear." Winnie the Pooh would say.

My school held its winter concerts all on the same evening this month before we left for break.  I sat in the "gymnatorium" being entertained by my students, and I could not help but be impressed with the opportunities our students are provided with. The drama club and chorus were first, and they integrated their performances. The students in the drama club performed skits introducing the songs performed by the school chorus. Next, the orchestra played. One of their numbers included the principal reading "The Night Before Christmas" with the orchestra playing sound effects as he read. The band performed last, and as usual, they were wonderful. So impressive! All these performance opportunities for students in grades six through eight.  I  enjoyed the programs, maybe a little too much.  Bursting with pride, I sat up front with the camera wielding parents and grandparents. The teachers tend to sit or stand in the back, but I always want a front row seat. I had a huge smile on my face as I sat tapping my foot to the music and laughing at the funny parts. I was really into it, bordering on too into it, when the woman sitting beside me turned and said, "Which one is yours?" I said proudly, "All of them!" Smiling, she replied, "Oh! What do you teach?" Rather than my usual lengthy reply I simply smiled and said, "I'm the librarian!"
since it is not nice to talk during performances.

I think it is great that public schools provide such rich and varied opportunities for students. Academics, sports, arts, and activities such as Beta Club, Student Government, Battle of the Brains Academic Quiz Team, the school news program and more. This is a testament to what our public schools have to offer. The school library completes this package with a helpful library staff, computer labs, book clubs, the library helper program, reading promotions, before and after school hours and more. There is something for everyone.  Schools with a library run by a certified librarian simply have more to offer their students. I have heard people say that if it were not for the sports program, some students would not stay in school. The same is true for the library program.

In the age of cruel budget cuts and furloughs many say, "cut band, cut football, cut chorus, cut the library". Since there are no "library concerts" or "library games" to fill the school's parking lot and bleachers, librarians must fiercely publicize all the good that we do and all the needs that we meet. We must show what we have to offer.  Who do we teach? The answer is: all of them, even the teachers and sometimes the parents. It makes me proud to be able to say that.

I worked with my sixth graders this week. The topic at hand was evaluating online information sources, basic search tips and Google tips. We used RAD CAB , You Tube Videos and had some hands on practice since the lesson was in the library's computer lab. I really enjoy this lesson. The students are always impressed with the "secret powers" of Google like the calculator, translator, dictionary and time. They love looking at questionable websites such as:

• Dog Island Free Forever - this is my favorite site, probably because I love dogs. 
• Save the Pacific Northwestern Tree Octopus - with the ocean temperatures rising Octopus are adapting, evolving and finding new homes in trees.
• The Republic of Molossia - very entertaining and amusing. Years of work have gone into this. 

I have recently griped on this blog about my students overuse of Yahoo Answers for quick research. I know these sites offer quick and easy answers and they may be more good than bad. I was able to find a convincing example as to why Yahoo Answers and sites similar to it should be used very cautiously.

I remember years ago, sitting in front of Alan November as he spoke about validating online information and told a story about a student doing online research for a report on the holocaust. The student found holocaust revisionist information that was posted by a  math professor on a university website under the professor's "personal" server space. Since information was posted under the university's address, the information seemed  trustworthy and university endorsed.  The tilde ~ symbol in the address would have helped give away the personal directory to a savvy user. The unsuspecting student ended up using information suppporting the views of holocaust revisionists in his paper. The professor's site was taken down from the university's server long ago. However, this same paper is still online on The Committee for Open Debate of the Holocaust's website. I searched for the professor and used the Google tool "link to:" to find the same article that was previously located on the university page.

 A response on Yahoo Answers links to it now and if my students need evidence as to why this is not the best site to use for research, there it is. The response and the answers are five years old. The link is still there. I wonder why nobody has reported it? The person who asked the question chose another response as the best answer and Leon 007's answer is listed as the last one. (Does that mean his was the first answer?) This makes the whole thing seem innocuous, but I think it is still a good example. I used the link to show students that they can click at the end of the url and backspace until they get to the main page to see where the page they are using is located. The CODOH website has remade their image recently. It used to be much more confrontational. It now has a more friendly look.

I think the lesson was successful. Now my sixth grade students have a better picture of the vast spectrum of information available online: unbiased facts and information, extremist information, propaganda,  just plain silly fun and more! All the more reason to be a critical consumer when shopping for good information.

Someone recently posted a comment about using Wikipedia for research. I think this topic is important enough to dedicate a post to.

"We have always been told our students should not use Wikipedia for research because anyone can change the information, it is not "locked" so to speak. 
Is this true Auntie Librarian?"


Yes, it is true that anyone can change the information in Wikipedia. The information is not "locked" at all. Wikipedia itself does not claim to be a reliable source.   However, I have no problem telling my students that they should not exclude Wikipedia or be afraid to use Wikipedia in their researching and here is why:

• I tell all of my students to always consult multiple sources when researching. I recommend that students use at least three different sources when they gather information for their projects. When multiple sources are consulted, errors and reliability should become evident. 
• I inform all of my students that anyone can edit Wikipedia. They use this site knowing that it can be edited by anyone. Therefore, it may not be students first choice for research or the best site in their opinion. Here is the important part: students are information consumers who need to be able to develop their own opinions and skills to determine what sources they consider to be high quality or worthy of their use.
• Students should not use any source with blind faith and should question the reliability of the majority of the online content they use. Critical thinking and evaluation is very important. 
• Print and online non-wiki encyclopedias have errors too. 
• Print encyclopedias are often out of date soon after they are printed.
• Since anyone can change Wikipedia, it is very often more up to date than other sources. 
• In 2005, a study comparing Wikipedia to Encyclopedia Britannica found Wikipedia to have 162 errors in the articles reviewed compared to 123 for Britannica.  (Jim Giles, 2005. “Internet encyclopedias go head to head,” Nature, volume 438, number 7070 (15 December), pp. 900-901, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7070/full/438900a.html )
• Wikipedia has links to outside sources and bibliographies that will lead students to more information. 
• Because anyone can change Wikipedia, errors and vandalism are often fixed. 
• One study claims that one-third to one-half of planted false information was corrected or removed within 48 hours. (Mangus, P.D. "Early Response to False Claims in Wikipedia." First Monday, Volume 13 Number 9 - 1 September 2008. http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/2115/2027)
• Wikipedia has "featured" articles that are reviewed and considered the best articles on Wikipedia.

Is Wikipedia the best choice for all research needs? No. I do not know of any resource that can make that claim. Is it okay for teachers to forbid students from using Wikipedia for specific research projects? Certainly. Would it be better if students consulted Wikipedia in addition to other more respected online and print resources and dedicated a sentence or two in their research papers on whether different facts were found in Wikipedia? Wikipedia is a great starting point for research. Instead of making blanket mandates that forbid the use of Wikipedia, Auntie Librarian says it is better to educate students and empower them to be able to form their own opinions on which Wikipedia articles, if any, meet their research needs.

I have been faced with several instances of blatant plagiarism in the past few weeks. I have always thought that a good solution to plagiarism is required note taking as part of the research and writing process. Most Language Arts teachers do require students to submit handwritten notes as part of their research projects. When other subject area teachers do not require students to submit notes, a breakdown occurs.

At the middle school level, most students are not going to take notes if they are not built into the assignment. I see more plagiarism in assignments that do not require notes, rough drafts and other inherent elements of the writing and researching process than those that require and grade the final product as well as the notes, rough draft and more. This makes sense to me.  Will recommending the adoption of a school or district "style guide" be helpful in bringing consistency to expectations of student work and assignments? I know this certainly is not going to eradicate plagiarism, but it might be a good start.

Diverse and alternative assignments are great and may be a deterrent to plagiarism. I have heard many people say that book reports should be banned. I believe that students need to know how to write research papers and reports, especially without plagiarizing. There is a place for them in our inventory of assignments. Overuse of the report is another story. We should aim for assignments with higher level learning goals in blooms taxonomy, but not all assignments are going to have high level blooms.

If all research assignments across the curriculum required students to take and submit hand written notes, I believe it would be more likely for good habits to be formed and possibly for plagiarism to be curtailed.

Agree? Disagree? I welcome questions and feedback. Discussion benefits everyone.