Virtual School Libraries

Starting Out

At the beginning of this course we heard a list of Web 2.0 tools in Joyce Valenza’s podcast. I mentioned that I had heard of all of them, but that was about it. Virtual school libraries were one of those mysterious tools that I had heard about, but didn’t know much about. In my mind I thought they were websites with lists of e-books or maybe even a new, fancy name for an iPAC. I wasn’t really sure. I was pleasantly surprised when I did some investigating and found out exactly what they were!
So, what exactly is a Virtual School Library. I put this term into my Google search engine and I found a number of site, but one seemed to sum up or define it in terms that seemed to make sense to me:

“This information on this site will be useful to teachers, teacher-librarians, administrators, and students as they incorporate information technology into the curriculum in their schools. Tips and guides for search engines and power searching should make your Internet searching more productive. The Computers in Education section deals with some of the current issues in technology integration in the curriculum: plagiarism, intellectual property and copyright, Internet addiction, and girls and computers. You will also find lesson plans for K-12 sites, and local education links. The WebQuest page contains both theory and relevant WebQuest curriculum links. The Virtual School Library was designed for secondary students to be their home reference library.” Holly Gunn- Halifax Regional School Board

I really liked how Gunn summed up all of the information that I had been reading on various sites. Some sites differed- some were more student-oriented and some were for teachers, but they all seemed to have similar qualities. Most of the sites I looked at had tips on using search engines effectively, access to an iPAC, copyright and plagiarism information, citation instructions and information, and access to useful links. Some sites were very plain and to the point, like the Birch Lane website and others were very eye catching and had extra information, like Joyce Valenza’s site. I think that both would be useful to the average student or teacher.

Implications for Teaching

I have found the research for this blog post very useful for not only the assignment, but for my own school library. I am currently entering a period of great change in my library. Starting on Monday, I will be having a whole new LAS installed- the data conversion has taken place and the IT guys are going to be over to install the new system. I think that people think that I am a bit strange because I’m like a kid at Christmas!! I really hate my current system (Library World) and I’m very excited to get my new program (L4U). I was on the committee that helped chose the new program for the whole division, so I also feel very involved and a bit like I have some ownership of this choice. This will be the first time that I will have an iPAC available for students and teachers to use and I’m very excited.
I have also joined forces with one of the Information Processing teachers to design a new library website. We are going to have two sections of IP create a version of the website and I will choose one to have as the official site. I will be in her classroom on Monday or Tuesday to present my information to her students so they can get started. It kills two birds with one stone because I don’t have the time to create a whole site from scratch and the teacher was complaining that the students take so long to come up with an idea or subject for their websites- problem solved.
I did have the whole thing somewhat built in my mind, but after seeing these Virtual School Libraries, I think that I am going to have to sit down tonight and rethink what I want. I am more inclined to create more of a virtual library than just another website. I want to go through many of the examples and see what I would like to include on my site. One site that I really admire is Angela Langadar’s VSL. It appears to have been designed as an assignment for EDES 545 and I have been a classmate of Angela in my last course and admire her input and ideas. I would encourage everyone who is interested in creating their own VSL to have a look at Angela’s site.
Professional Development
The whole idea of a Virtual School Library is wonderful, but it will only take off if teachers buy into the concept and use it. I am currently involved with a group of t-ls from my division who are trying to create a PD presentation for teachers on effective resource-based learning and to provide them with ideas and tools they can use with their students. If I am able to have the VSL ready in time, I would also like to be able to include it with our information and encourage teachers to have their students use it for their research projects. In Janet Murray’s article “Teachers Teach; Teachers Learn” she talks about strategies for PD within the school and I particularly like the idea of becoming a teacher-mentor. She states the qualities needed for a teacher-mentor:

“Effective technology instructors serve as mentors to those they teach. Ideal mentors have very specific characteristics, abilities and personality traits:
They should be peers of those they are training, i.e. classroom teachers or building library/media specialists.
They should be effective teachers, capable of "translating" technical information into language which can be readily understood by novices.
They should be patient tutors able to provide over-the-shoulder training without succumbing to the temptation to take over the keyboard.
They should be available by telephone or fax for followup questions, and promptly responsive to those questions.”

I think that many t-ls would be performing these duties already, without even knowing it. I would like to think that I do all four of those duties both in my t-l role and as a classroom teacher.

VSL could provide teachers with a great tool for learning and provide t-ls with a fantastic opportunity to become a mentor and provide informal PD for teachers who can sometimes be resistant to it.

That's what I think about Virtual School Libraries. Katie

P.S. Here is a link to another great VSL.