Digital Storytime

Mitchell, Ruth

Paganelli, Andrea. (2016). Story Time for Learning in a Digital World. Knowledge Quest, 44(3), 8-17.

School librarians can enrich and enliven storytime and engage students with digital storytime.  Kids are growing up in this digital world and don't see the difference between digital books and traditional books.  Using digital books can revitalize traditional storytime.  This article provides tables comparing traditional storytime with digital storytime and links to recommended titles and sources.

Evaluation - I was a naysayer about digital storytime until I read this article; now I am excited to try it. If it will engage those "blase" fifth-graders then it is worth a try!

Social Media - Uses for Libraries

Bonaventure-Larson, Nichole

Wetta, M. (2016). Instagram Now. School Library Journal, 62(2), 30-32.

Summary: This short article outlines how libraries can use the social media application Instagram for the promotion of their programs, inclusion of their teenage patrons in goings on at the library, and the significance of the image-based site over other resources like Twitter.

Evaluation: I though this is was a really interesting short piece. I think Wetta makes some pretty good points about the simplicity of including an Instagram account in your promotional planning. She also makes several good points about the inclusion of day to day library life - such as posting photos of new books as they come into the collection - and how these kinds of posts are on par with how teenagers and young adults are expressing themselves through the internet. We don't see, as often, the long stream of consciousness blogging from the days of MySpace and LiveJournal. Accessing patrons who are active on social media is simpler now than it has ever been.  All it takes is a photo, a quick caption, and the proper use of hashtags. I think it's a brilliant way to connect and I would definitely follow my library if it had an account on Instagram. What do you all think? Is it as worthwhile as it seems?

Meyer, L. (May 2009). Safeguarding collections at the dawn of the 21st Century: Describing roles & measuring contemporary preservation activities in ARL libraries. Association of Research Libraries. Retrieved from: http://www.arl.org/storage/documents/publications/safeguarding-collections.pdf

• Preservation is a core function of the research library and a key element of both the stewardship and access missions of research organizations.
• Digital age:  New Technologies
• ARL member libraries confront new challenges
• Transforming collections
• New preservation techniques
• New Services
• Digital library developments
• Doesn’t solve all of our preservation problems, but opens the doors to other potential problems, or new sets of standards
• Acquiring more and more digital content
• Creating digital access for patrons remotely and in house
• Look at the relationship between preservation and collection development
• The best preservation technique is providing materials with an environment that caters to that mediums needs.
• Print and media - maintaining temperature and RH (relative humidity)
• General concerns with the preservation of cultural resources means that the conservation of books, manuscripts, and other artifacts continues to be an important activity for libraries.
• Deacidification has enormous potential for preserving printed works that cannot be reformatted due to copyright concerns or have enduring value in their original format, and for preserving unique archival materials.
• Reformating techniques
• Microfilming, preservation photocopying, digitization, reformatting

Reexamining the Documentation Strategy of Archival Acquisitions in a Web 2.0 Environment

Hamby, Megan

Thomas, L. M. (2012). The Embedded Curator: Reexamining the Documentation Strategy of Archival Acquisitions in a Web 2.0 Environment. RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts & Cultural Heritage, 13(1), 38-48.

This article introduces the term “embedded Curator” which is essentially someone who documents a specific community using a collection policy while also serving as a resource to that community. With the ever developing digital age we live in, the article discusses the need to find ways to archive digital material using collection development policies and the struggle with preserving digital records in time before they no longer become available. These curators can use a something called More Product Less Process (MLPL) which helps with community and donor relationships and the collection or they can speak directly to their donors early on before records are gifted to an institution. Thomas stresses the importance of sharing archival processes with donors and communities so that these communities might be better informed in how they can back up and preserve important files for archiving.

I found this article interesting because it focuses on how important it is to implement a solid collection development policy in order to archive important and relevant digital materials from various communities. According to Thomas, “well-designed collection development policies and deeds of gift can provide curators with tools and documentation to allow them to change their minds about the direction of the collection…should they need to do so” (p. 40). These embedded curators can also impact the collection and archival processes by speaking to the donors about the importance of maintaining their records for future archiving. This was interesting because often I hear of stories of archival records coming to repositories in boxes without any arrangement or order. By speaking directly to important donors whose records are anticipated being gifted, curators and archivists would be able to satisfy their collection policy much easier. 

Reading Improvement Techniques Informing Collection Development

Bryan, S. (2011). Extensive reading, narrow reading and second language learners: Implications for libraries. The Australian Library Journal, 60(2), 113-122. 

This lit review by an English-teacher-turned-librarian (like me!) looks at the research behind Extensive Reading and Narrow Reading, and how library collections developed for second language learners can help them make the most of these techniques.   

The theory goes that repeated exposure to words and ideas through fun, not-too-difficult reading—lots of books on many topics in the case of Extensive Reading and lots of books by a particular author or on a particular topic in the case of Narrow Reading—will result in improved fluency and automaticity in reading, as well as a richer vocabulary in the target language.  The books must be not too difficult (she explains the 5 Finger Rule, which I’d never heard of, but sounds reasonable: no more than 2-3 new words per page, which you determine by counting on your fingers) and the reader must get to choose the books and topics or authors.  The research is pretty clear that these techniques work, but any of us who read all the Nancy Drew books, or the Harry Potters, or Series of Unfortunately Events, or the Discworld series as our method for learning to read know that already.   

In the library, collecting for multiple reading levels in the target language is important:  some libraries use children’s and YA books in the target language, like we do at my library, an academic library with students learning English, Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish.  There is a danger with certain older populations that juvenile content might not hold their interest, so graded readers are also suggested (no significant difference between “authentic” and graded readers to reading improvement was found in the lit).  Collecting foreign language texts on a variety of topics or by one author can be a challenge; this article cites another I read (Bissett, 2010) which describes how one library reached out to the community and to embassies and foreign consuls for donations to get more foreign language leisure texts for their academic library.  At my library, we’ve been adding translated copies of popular series—we have the Harry Potters in Chinese, French, and Spanish for instance—which aren’t as expensive since they’re common paperbacks we could order off of Amazon.  Other media types by which the books can be enjoyed are suggested too, such as audio books or read-a-loud books that come with CDs.

Since it’s important for the reader to choose his own books, the levels need to be indicated. The author mentions colored stickers, which is what we do for our books at my library: the children’s, YA, and graded readers are marked with a sticker on the spine so students can wander the shelves and identify what's probably in their reading-level range.  She also suggested putting the information in the bibliographic records for efficient online browsing as well.  For public libraries with English learner populations, the author suggests helping the patrons determine their own reading levels and showing them where to find the most appropriate texts.  To help all language learners,

 “The most important, and most easily implemented suggestion libraries can adopt, however, is to ‘inform the patron’, rather than improving the collection—that is, to provide patrons with the metaknowledge necessary to make better selections from the existing collection.  It is believed that students, particularly older students, are unlikely to remain motivated in a reading programme that may involve reading works they do not regard as age appropriate unless they know how and why it will benefit them (Dornyei, 2001; Hedgcock & Ferris, 2009). . . . Many language learners do not know how to learn a language (Jones, 1993) . . . . Providing a guide for these students which explains what resources are available to them, how they should use them, where they can find them and how they will help them with language acquisition could be one of the simplest, yet most effective forms of support libraries can offer” (p. 120). 

Sometimes we can’t add to a collection—because of the budget, because of the availability of appropriate materials in the target language, because of space considerations, and the like—but we can find ways to still help the students use the collection well: by understanding how and why we develop foreign language fiction collections for our language learning students, and by understanding how it benefits them.

One strategy not mentioned in the article but that could supplement a foreign language collection for students is a “connection” like Project Gutenberg for English second language learners (2016) or Livres Pour Tous for French language learners (2016).

References

Bissett, C. (2010). Developing a foreign language fiction collection on a limited budget. The Australian Library Journal, 59(1-2), 12-22. DOI: 10.1080/00049670.2010.10735961

Dornyei, Z. (2001). Motivational strategies in the language classroom. Cambridge: University Press.

Hedgcock, J. S., & Ferris, D. R. (2009). Teaching readers of English: Students, texts, and contexts. New York: Routledge.

Jones, H. (1993). Beyond the fringe: A framework for assessing teach-yourself materials for ab initio English-speaking learners. System, 21(4), 453-469. 

H. A.

What Cost and Usage Data Reveals About E-Book Acquisitions: Ramifications for Collection Development

Campbell, Heather

Carrico, S. B., Cataldo, T. T., Botero, C., & Shelton, T. (2015). What cost and usage data reveals about E-book acquisitions: Ramifications for collection development. Library Resources & Technical Services, 59(3), 102-111. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1700405848?accountid=130717

SUMMARY:

In this study, a team of librarians from the University of Florida sought to determine the most efficient and cost effective way of acquiring e-books. They looked at three different methods: e-books acquired in large publisher packages; single-title e-books selected through firm orders; and e-books purchased through two patron-driven acquisitions plans. They also compared the results across three different disciplines: humanities and social sciences, science-technology-engineering-mathematics, and medicine.

They found that patron-driven acquisitions were the most effective method of acquiring e-books for the humanities and social science disciplines. E-books acquired via large publisher packages and single title selection showed a high percentage of non-use.

However, when it came to the other two disciplines, they found that acquiring e-books through large publisher packages was most efficient. The books showed high usage, and very low cost per usage. They determined that selecting individual books was not as effective because of the staff time involved.  

EVALUATION:

Despite the study being specifically for a university library, I did find the article to include some helpful information. I’m not positive how the public library I work for acquires e-materials, but I do know that it does do patron driven acquisitions, and that when an electronic title is requested, the library acquires it very quickly, usually within 24 hours.

What was not mentioned in the article was whether these titles were available for unlimited checkout or not. I know that we have several different types of e-books at my library. Some that are only available for one checkout at a time, some that can be checked out by unlimited users at the same time, and some that are only allowed a set number of checkouts and become unavailable once that number is reached.

LGBTQ Collection Assessment: Library Ownership of Resources Cited by Master's Students

Harkleroad, Tiffany

Graziano, V. (2016). LGBTQ Collection Assessment: Library Ownership of Resources Cited by Master's Students. College & Research Libraries, 77(1), 114-127. doi:10.5860/crl.77.1.114

After the Stonewall riots in 1969, gay and lesbian studies, either in the form of individual courses or in the form of entire departments, began to emerge in academic institutions.  LGBTQ studies continue to expand in higher education, and as a result, academic libraries are assessing the needs of their institutions in the context of developing LGBTQ collections.  This study examples the bibliographic citations (3,243 in total) of 28 graduate theses with a focus on LGBTQ studies, written by students at Concordia University between 1991 and 2013.  The goals are to assess the strengths of the university’s current LGBTQ collection, to identify LGBTQ collection materials that the university is lacking, and to assess overall LGBTQ collection needs.  The study determined that the library owned 73% of the citations studied; this is below the average number of citation in similar citation studies on different topic areas.  By breaking down the types of materials cited, it was determined that the collection was weak in terms of LGBTQ popular periodicals; however, the more recent theses tended to cite this particular type of material less often.  The study determined that the LGBTQ collection at Concordia was well developed, particularly given the fact that there is no LGBTQ studies department at the school at the time of this study.

As a student who is particularly interested in LGBTQ studies as relates to library science, I found this article to be quite interesting.  For academic libraries, it is important that the libraries contain the correct types of materials and topic matter to meet the needs of students.  As academic studies expand to include more social concepts and topics, collections will need to adapt to meet those needs.  This particular study shows that the library in question has taken a fairly progressive stance, by containing many of the materials used in the completion of the theses studied.  I found the discussion of convenience bias most interesting, meaning students are more likely to use materials readily available in the library, and that might have some bearing on results in studies such as these.