LIBE 467 Assignment 3: Evaluation Plan to Improve Reference Services

Analysis

The reference section of the Library Learning Commons is not a section of the library that is well used. When students work on research, they rarely consult the reference resources. The reference print materials are housed on shelves that span one side of the library. It is easily accessed but not very close to the circulation desk.

LLC Reference Resources 

It is evident simply by looking at the reference resources on the shelves that many are old, and some need repair. There many parts of our reference section that could do with an update. I chose to focus on the atlases. This is not a large section, but I felt the lessons I learned and the methods I employed would help me as I continued to evaluate larger sections of the library in the coming year. Riedling says, “A systematic basis for reviewing resources, weeding, as well as adding new materials to the reference collection should exist” (23).

                         

 

After selecting the atlases, I ran a report to find out the actual number of catalogued books we had in this section, the cost of each of the volumes, and the year they were purchased. According to the catalogue, records there are 25 atlases in the reference section of the library. An actual count found twenty-six. When I went through each atlas on the list, three were missing and four others did not show up on my list. Since there is no record of the missing atlases being checked out, they will be removed from the catalogue record. Ironically, the four atlases on the shelf but missing from the report were the only new atlases we have, the set of The Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada. When I looked up the record for the missing atlases, I found that the Holding Record had these atlases listed as Regular instead of Reference. This has been corrected and they now appear when I ran a new report. As well, the spine label on one of the other atlases was incorrectly labelled. If we decide to keep this resource, it will be corrected. 

Rational

Next, I looked at the currency and condition of the resources, using standards in Achieving Information Literacy (2003). 

Literacy (2003).

Resource	Below standard	Acceptable	Exemplary
Currency	Copyright dates within the last 10 years: less than 50% of the collection	Copyright dates within the last 10 years: 50-70% of the collection	Copyright dates within the last 10 years: 80% or more of the collection
Collection Maintenance	Significant number of the resources are worn, damaged, missing components or need repair.	Most materials are complete and in good repair. Some items are missing components	Materials are complete and in good repair.

Chart (Asselin, 2003, 33).

In the categories of Currency and Collection Management the atlas section is Below Standard. Of the 26 atlases, only four have copyright dates within the last 10 years. Many of the other atlases show signs of age. Some have copyright dates in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Our oldest one is a Canadian Oxford School Atlas from 1979. Given the age of the majority of atlases in the reference section, students might easily find and use inaccurate information when doing research. 

Some of these resources must be deselected. To find out about staff use and recommendations of the reference resources, I asked to attend the Social Studies department meeting. My plan was twofold. First, I was interested to learn if the teachers ever directed the students to do research that required a look at reference resources, and second to request input into the process of deselecting some of the current resources and selected new resources that teachers will promote and use with students.

The plan:

Teachers involved are the Social studies department head and social studies teachers specifically the three who teach geography, Canadian history and American history as well as the Teacher-Librarian.

        1.   October and November 2019

Work with the teachers in the social studies department to evaluate and then deselect atlases that are no longer appropriate for use with students. I was surprised that the teachers wanted to keep a few atlases that I would have discarded. Specifically, we kept two Canadian atlases with maps that do not contain Nunavut. The teachers plan to use them for showing the evolution of Canada. As well, the teachers wanted to keep all four of the historical atlases. Although events have occurred in the ensuing years, it was felt that the material was still relevant to curricula.
We considered the criteria from the British Columbia ERAC document (2008), Evaluating, Selecting and Acquiring Learning Resources: A Guide, to help us evaluate the resources.
"CO-2: is the content accurate?
Possible problems in content accuracy include:
• outdated information
• factual errors
• improper use of statistics
• inaccurate graphs or displays
• invalid or oversimplified models, examples, or simulations
• errors in spelling or grammar." (31).

As well, we followed Riedling’s recommendations regarding the evaluation of geographic resources, "Because these materials depend on graphic arts and mathematics as well, further issues should be noted regarding evaluation and selection. The basic criteria to be considered when evaluating geographic resources include publisher (authority), scale, currency, indexing and format" (80).

So far, we have deselected:

                The Canadian book of the Road, copyright 1980

                The Canadian Oxford School Atlas, copyright 1979

                National Geographic Atlas of the World, copyright 1990

                The World Book Atlas, copyright 1989

       2.  November and December 2019

Investigation of alternate resources to include in the library collection.Work with the teachers in the social studies department to select atlases that better reflect the needs of students as they work to achieve curricular outcomes. We are still working on this area. I introduced the teachers to online resources that are free such the Indigenous Map Tool

      3.  It is important that teachers know the resources available in the library learning commons. Several ways I plan to do this: book displays at staff meetings, show and tell at department meetings.

Most of the best conversations have taken place, not at the larger group meeting with all the teachers, but individually or in groups of two where I think teachers have been more comfortable expressing their opinions about why they want to keep certain volumes (to teach comparison).

 4. Most of the best conversations have taken place, not at the larger group meeting with all the teachers, but individually or in groups of two where I think teachers have been more comfortable expressing their opinions about why they want to keep certain volumes, for example to look at changes over time, or to have students discover the differences between old and new maps.

Other Considerations:

1. I was surprised to find so many inaccuracies, with regard to cataloging the resources, in a small sampling of books. The current Library Technician is new this year so discussing the errors of the past are a lot easier than it would be discussing the mistakes with the technician who made them. She is working fixing them.

2. As part of our professional development, all staff must complete a yearly plan for professional growth. A focus for my plan is deselecting of reference resources that are no longer useful and selecting of resources that will better serve our students. At the end of the year we revisit and evaluate how well we have met our goals. I am hoping that after working through this section, that I will be able to apply the skills I learned to the next sections.

3. The cost of many of the atlases, and many other reference resources, is substantial. I will have to allocate part of the budget ongoing to obtaining more current useful resources.

4. This is not a consideration just an observation. As I was going through the atlases, I noticed that in the Macmillan World Reference Atlas, copyright 1996, there were three people who did the job of Gazetteer, one of the words I did not know from lesson 1.

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. 

ERAC. (2008). Evaluating, Selecting and Acquiring Learning Resources: A Guide. BC Ministry of Education. Retrieved from: https://bcerac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/ERAC_WB.pdf 

Riedling, A., Shake, L., Houston, C. (2013). Reference skills for the school library media specialist: Tools and tips, (Third Edition). Santa Barbara, CA: Linworth. 

LIBE 467 Blog Post 3 Reference Materials

     This section of the course reinforced the idea that the Teacher-Librarian must have extensive knowledge and understanding of online and print reference resources. As Reidling (2013) states, “The accurate and appropriate provision of information will occur when the school librarian has a complete and accurate knowledge of the library collection, along with competence in selecting, acquiring and evaluating that collection” (5). Only then can the TL work with students in reference interviews to best direct and match student questions to resources that will provide the best information to resolve their questions.

     Theme three opened with a discussion of the components of the World Wide Web—the surface web, the deep/invisible web and the dark web. Accurate statistics from reliable sources that give the percentage composition of the different parts of the World Wide Web are difficult to find, but most sources state that the surface web makes up a small part—between 1% and 4% pf the entire web (Mcfedries, 2017, 10) and (Deep websites, 2019). 

Retrieved from: https://www.deepwebsiteslinks.com/how-to-access-the-deep-web/ 

     The information in this section cleared up a number of misconceptions.  First of all I had no idea how little of the web is actually searched using a search engine such as Google. I was also surprised to learn that I am a consistent user of the Deep net. I had also been confusing the Deep and Dark web. I believe that many of the students and the teachers might also not understand the difference between the Deep and Dark web and might not know just how little of the web search engines like Google can access. I would like to do some research among the students and my colleagues to find out what they know and then I plan to work on dispelling some of the myths. Reading about the “filter bubble” that Google uses to tailor searches explained why I get different search results based on whether I do the search at home or at school. This is something I want to test out with my students.

     We returned to the technology and online access often during theme 3. Many of the reference resources in the library—encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs—are available online through paid subscription services or in some cases for free. Sometimes these offer advantages over print resources, especially with regard to recency. In examining the materials in the reference section, it is apparent that out of date resources are not easily replaced due to cost. Many of the print resources in the reference section are large and heavy. This makes them less convenient to use and students often prefer to use a computer to search for their answer. I admit I am an advocate for print resources. I find it easier to navigate books. If forces a slower learning process for students as well.

This atlas for example is 12" x 22" very heavy and very large.

     Reliance on technology has drawbacks as well. The care and maintenance of devices is time consuming and costly as well. Computers require technicians to maintain them in good working order. Reference resources, while expensive do not come close to the cost of thirty laptops that require programs and services from divisional technicians to keep them running smoothly.

Works cited:

Deep web links | Deep web sites | The Deepweb 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.deepwebsiteslinks.com/how-to-access-the-deep-web/

Mcfedries, P., Atwood, M. (2017). The dark dialect (Technically speaking). IEEE Spectrum, Volume 54: 10.

Riedling, A., Shake, L. & Houston, C. (2013). Reference skills for the school librarian: Tools and tips. Santa Barbara, Ca: Linworth.

LIBE 467 Assignment 2: How Can I Help You?

As a Teacher-Librarian one of my roles is to “Collaborate with colleagues to provide opportunities for students to engage in authentic inquiries using existing and emerging information and communication technology to deepen understanding, transform student thinking and develop critical literacy skills” (Standards for Literacy, 2016). There has been an increasing focus on inquiry in the classroom. There is a divisional or “top-down” (Gundy, 2016, 233) initiative to get more teachers using the inquiry models. As well, my school division places a high value on collaboration.  This assignment provided the perfect pairing of fulfilling divisional goals and using reference resources to do so. For this paper, I am using Riedling’s definition of reference resources. Riedling (2013) says reference resources “can be defined as materials, from book to computer to periodical to periodical to photograph, that can be found anywhere in the library or online” (139).

One of the ways to effect change is to use a model such as the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CMAB). This model is particularly helpful in planning and implementing change in teacher practice through collaboration. Using this model allows the TL to become a change agent that will lead to better student success. The relationship between the Stage of Concern and The Level of Use can help illustrate the process of change for my collaboration with Teacher A.

   

                   Celmer, K. et al. Images retrieved from:  https://www.slideshare.net/strentacoste/cbam-33690744                           

Template of Teacher A:

·         Has been teaching at the school for 18 years.

·         Focus on English Language Arts.

·         Teaches almost exclusively compulsory courses, resulting in high numbers of students with diverse needs.

·         Not a consistent user of the Library Learning Common other than for laptops for students to type work for submission.

·         Has not previously engaged in inquiry with her students.

Teacher A was beginning a new unit for her grade 11 class using Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese and after a Languages Department meeting I asked if she would be interested in collaborating on this unit. Teacher A indicated that she had been wanting to collaborate and to use one of the inquiry models but didn’t know where to start.

Our first meeting centered on the Stages of Concerns component of the model. Teacher A has begun this process at the Awareness/Information stages. She is aware of inquiry but is not sure what is involved in the process. She had done some reading but was concerned that she needed more information to be comfortable to continue with planning. To facilitate this learning we were lucky enough to attend a workshop by Trevor MacKenzie on “Inquiry Mindset.” As well, we purchased his book, Dive into Inquiry, and Kath Murdoch’s book The Power of Inquiry to help us understand.

With regard to the Level of Use, Teacher A began at the Non-use level. So far we have progressed to the Mechanical use or maybe the beginning of Routine stage.

Level of Use	Teacher A Path
Non-use	This is where Teacher A began. She was not using inquiry in the classroom.
Orientation	Attended workshop and read books and articles on Inquiry. At the workshop, both the TL and teacher acquired knowledge and explored the topic of using Inquiry in the classroom.
Preparation	TL and Teacher A have met and continue to meet in order to prepare inquiry unit. These meeting help us figure out how to teach the skills and become more comfortable with our new learning before we introduced it to our students. I have introduced Teacher A to LLC resource, fiction and non-fiction books to support student learning. As well as graphic novels and children’s’ books on indigenous themes.
Mechanical use	We have begun working with the students and because of all that we had prepared, we were able to focus on using the new skills. Some days it is more than apparent that our efforts are “disjointed and superficial” (Gundy, 2016, 234). While we try to plan a week at a time, most of the effort is on what has to be done each day.
Routine	As we move through the unit we are thinking about ways in which we can improve the work we have done with students for next time. For example, in teaching questioning techniques we will be using different images as prompts. Our current ones did not solicit the number of questions we had hoped they would. However, there is no time to really evaluate/change our process.
Refinement	Teacher A is not yet flexible enough to vary “the use of the innovation to increase the impact on the students” (Gundy, 2016, 234).  Teacher A is not yet at this stage in the process.
Integration	Teacher A is not yet at this stage in the process.
Renewal	Teacher A is not yet at this stage in the process, but we have determined we will collaborate again next year on an inquiry unit. The second time, Teacher A will be starting at the Routine or Refinement stage the collaboration.

Chart adapted from Huang, P.S. https://sites.google.com/site/ch7cbam/home/levels-of-use

As we work through the unit, Teacher A is also progressing in the Stages of Concern component of the model and has moved from Awareness and Information to Management. 

Template of Teacher B

·         Has been teaching at the school for 22 years.

·         Focus on Biology

·         Many years spent as the only Biology teacher in the school, so avenues for collaborating within the department are limited.

·         High number of students which makes for very little time to change already established procedures and projects.

Teacher B assigns an extensive semester long project each year to the grade 12 Biology class involving scientific article reviews. Each student is responsible for finding, and summarizing ten articles about Biology. They must also print the articles and the summary in order to submit their work for marks. Teacher B will not accept nor mark any assignment without the attached article. This creates significant backups in the LLC.  When an article is due, approximately 30 students descend on the library to print their articles and summaries claiming that their printers at home have just broken. The articles are often many pages long and the printer is slow. As well, the printing is costly and it is a colossal waste of paper and resources. (Ironically, this teacher is also the teacher in charge of the Environmental Awareness Club). The topic of paper waste and cost is visited many times throughout the school year in staff meetings however this information had not resulted in any changes.  

I thought using the SAMR model would be best for changing practice with Teacher B. 

                          SAMR MODEL

 Puentedura, R Image retrieved from  http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/archives/2014/11/28/SAMRLearningAssessment.pdf

Since Teacher B almost never comes up to the library learning commons I ended up talking to him in the hallway. The first time I broached the topic of printing the articles, he insisted that the only way he could verify that no plagiarism was involved was to have the article printed to refer to while he was marking. I offered to show him how to use technology so that students could submit their article summaries and provide a link to the article that he could click on to view it. As well, I offered to show him how to use the FIND function to search for suspected plagiarism within the article. According to the SAMR model Teacher B was at the Substitution Stage—students printed all work and handed it in. “There was no functional change in teaching and learning” (SAMR Model, paragraph 1).

Though reluctant, Teacher B agreed to let me teach the students how to provide a link to the article they were using, and to email him the summary with the link. He did insist that the summary needed to be printed as well and submitted so that he could add comments and provide a mark on their work. While Teacher B only moved to the Augmentation level of the SAMR Model, I really felt that progress had been made. Talking to him after the second article was due, Teacher B indicated he was frustrated at times by using technology instead of pen and paper, he felt that it was overall a positive change. I am looking forward to more opportunities to collaborate with Teacher B. Next on my list—APA citations, the shortcomings of using Google when searching for reliable sources.

To see how the SAMR model can be connect to Bloom’s Taxonomy, visit Kathy Schrock’s page here: https://www.schrockguide.net/samr.html

After working through this change process, I recognized just how difficult and time-consuming changing practice can be. Working with Teacher A using the CBAM allowed us both to practice and learn new skills. It forced me to evaluate resources in the library that we were using for Indigenous research projects and to introduce Teacher A to those resources so that she could use them with her students. Collaborating with Teacher B to better use technology and move up levels in the SAMR model was a more difficult process. Though I used the SAMR model to explain how technology could facilitate a deep and rich experience for the students, we were only able to move up one level.

References 

Celmer, K., Moore, M., & Trentacoste, S. (April 18, 2014). The Intended Adopter (Slide Share). 

              

               Retrieved from: https://www.slideshare.net/strentacoste/cbam-33690744

Gundy, M.S. & Berger, M.J. (2016). Toward a model of educational change. International Journal of

               

                Information and Educational Technology, 6(3), 232-37.

Huang, P-S. (n.d.). Concerns-Based adoption model: Levels of use. Retrieved from

              

          https://sites.google.com/site/ch7cbam/home/levels-of-use

Pembina Trails School Division. (2016). Standards for Success in Literacy [Brochure]. Winnipeg: n.p.

Puentedura, R. (2014) SAMR: Learning and assessment (Class Slides, PDF).  Retrieved from:

               

                http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/archives/2014/11/28/SAMRLearningAssessment.pdf

Riedling, A. (2013). Reference skills for the school library media specialist: Tools and tips, (Third 

            Edition).Santa Barbara, CA: Linworth. 

Reference Services: The Realities and Challenges

LIBE 467 Theme 2: Blog Post

                          Collaboration by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images

What stayed with me from the first lesson of our learning on theme 2, was that being proactive could improve the success of the reference interview. One of the important ways to be proactive is through collaboration in planning and teaching of information literacy skills so that students can find maximum success. Even though Riedling does not stress it, collaborating with classroom teachers in the planning of research units and teaching research skills to students would be helpful. Haycock (2007) concludes that “Collaboration is not easy. But collaboration is the single professional behavior of teacher-librarians that most affects student achievement” (32). Last week a class arrived in the library to do “research” using the laptops and the internet. The teacher arrived approximately 15 minutes after the students. They had all begun work on their projects. As I circulated it became obvious that their teacher had made several assumptions about their level of skill. The students really were unsure about reliable websites and currency. I thought about the statement in our class notes, "Why many teachers don't consider the key role of the teacher-librarian when the assigning research/reference work to students is a question that has plagued us for years” (Beaudry, 2019, class notes). Later on in the class it became apparent that some of the students had no idea how to print. Had I been in the class even to explain the process for printing, this alone could have alleviated significant stress for the students and saved much time that would have allowed me to engage with students in reference interviews. Some of the students ended up feeling like they were unable to complete the task as assigned. Twenty minutes of time before the students started their research would have saved hours of individual explanations and would have resulted in greater student success. You never want the students’ first experience in the learning commons to be a frustrating one.

           Leinonen, S. (2017, December 3). 7 principles of teamwork for teacher  

                               collaboration (T.A.R.G.E.T.S.).  

In the second and third parts of the theme, the overwhelming amount of work to manage the reference collection became apparent. As I reflected on the Role of the Teacher-Librarian I realized that a plan to manage the budget and organization of the reference resources was very important. In the class notes lesson 6, there is a list of stages in collection development. When I looked at my role in the LLC, I realized that I was doing many of the stages for different sections of the library collection at the same time. For example, the grade 9 class does a unit on planets. Last year, along with the science teacher, we analyzed the books in the collection for the project. We weeded the ones that were no longer accurate and were in poor condition. In collaboration with the science teacher, I have purchased some new materials. This is just a small section of the collection and much needs to be done in other sections as well. The circular nature of the stages of collection development means that it is an ongoing process. I am looking forward to working with the social studies teachers and applying the collection management activities to parts of the reference section. 

Beaudry, R. (2019). LIBE 467: Lesson 5: The reference interview: Cooperative program planning and teaching for personalized inquiry. Class notes. Retrieved from: https://canvas.ubc.ca/courses/41996/pages/lesson-5-the-reference-interview-cooperative-program-  planning-and-teaching-for-personalized-inquiry?module_item_id=1308253

Haycock, K. (2007). Collaboration: Critical success factors for student learning. School Libraries Worldwide, 13(1), 25–35.

Leinonen, S. (2017, December 3). 7 principles of teamwork for teacher collaboration  (T.A.R.G.E.T.S.).  Retrieved October 11, 2019, from https://youtu.be/qx95qRuZA9Y.

Youngson, N. (n.d.). Collaboration. Alpha Stock Images. Photograph. Retrieved from http://www.picpedia.org/highway-signs/c/collaboration.htm

It's time to say goodbye...to a reference resource

LIBE 467: Assignment 1

Students need the best tools possible to find the answers to question they are asking. One of the most critical jobs of the Teacher-Librarian “is the selection and evaluation of reference materials” (Riedling, 2013, 18). Ongoing evaluation using specific criteria is necessary to maintain the reference resources that are current and useful. As well, collaborating with teachers with regard to their students’ needs helps to direct my selection of resources.

Part 1: Evaluation of a Reference Resource:  

In looking through our reference section we have a number of resources that should be removed due to copyright date alone—some were published more than ten years ago. I focused on the section on Canada—atlases, encyclopedias, almanacs, and the factbook that I chose to evaluate. I am considering whether to keep or deselect Facts about Canada, its Provinces and Territories by Jean Weihs. To begin I will look at the resource for relevancy, purpose, currency, curricular connections and efficient use of library space. Then I will consider whether to keep or discard it according to a rubric that follows.

Relevancy

Facts about Canada, its Provinces and Territories addresses a subject of relevance to many of the patrons in the library. Canada is the main subject in several courses in the social studies department. As well, we have a number of students new to Canada who are interested in learning more about the country they currently live in.

Purpose.

Facts about Canada, its Provinces and Territories does contain much useful information and many facts about Canadian provinces and two of its territories. Each province has a section on history with accurate dates regarding the establishment of trading posts and battles. It is organized in a way that makes it easy to find the information.

Currency:

As far as I can tell this book was only published one time, in 1995. None of my searches turned up any other edition. The book is currently for sale, the 1995 edition, on Abe books and on Amazon through third-party sellers, as new, for approximately $60. It made me wonder if selling discarded books could be a revenue stream for the Library Learning Commons. Our copy is pristine—no marks, bent pages, very few signs of wear.

Curricular Connections:

There are three courses in our Social Studies department that focus on Canada—Grade 9 Canada in the Contemporary World, Grade 10 Geographic Issues of the 21^st Century, and Grade 11 History of Canada. Since Canada is the specific focus of three of our compulsory high school Social Studies courses it is important to have reference resources such as a factbook that support the outcomes of these courses. The purpose of factbooks is to provide “basic facts on particular topics such as countries, sports or time periods” (Riedling, 2013, 37).

Both the grade 9 and Grade 10 courses require that students are able to identify elements of physical geography (provinces, territories, cities etc.).

Grade 9 Canada in the Contemporary World

From the Manitoba Grade 9 (2007) social studies curriculum document:

Students will:  

9-KL-024 Identify on a map distinguishing elements of the physical and human geography of Canada. Include: political boundaries, capital cities, population clusters, regions.

Grade 10 (2006) Geographic Issues of the 21^st Century

Learning Experience 1.2: Physical and Human Geography specifically:

KL-009 Identify elements of physical and human geography

KL-013 Locate provinces, territories, and capital cities on a map of Canada.

Grade 11 History of Canada

While the book purports to be: “A unique source of information about the provinces and territories of Canada, covering geography, climate, population, cities, government, politics, economy, history, culture, education and in many other topics” (Weihs, 1995, cover), it barely touches on Canada’s Indigenous population.

Its use is limited with regard to the following grade 11 curricular outcome:

From the Manitoba Curriculum document (2014) “Addresses essential question of “How has Canada’s history shaped the Canada of today?

      First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples play an ongoing role in shaping Canadian history and identity.”

Accuracy

Many of the facts listed are accurate: Date of Entry into Confederation, Capital City, and Motto. There are sections of the book that are wildly inaccurate. With a publication date of 1995 Nunavut is, understandably, not included at all in the book. The sections on Finances provide dollar amounts that are no longer accurate. Population statistics are wrong. Canada’s Indigenous populations are hardly mentioned. When they are, terminology used is no longer considered appropriate. For example, “Cree Indian” and “Iroquois Indian.” We have a significant population of international students and of new immigrants to Canada and I would not want them to base an understanding of Canada on this book.

 It seemed unusual to me that many government departments are listed by phone number. I called a few of them and surprisingly they still worked. There are no websites listed at all.

An interesting section of the book was the description of the provincial and territorial flags. There are no colour pictures in the book so they are all described. Here is the description of Manitoba’s flag: “A red field with a Union Jack in the upper left corner and the provincial shield on the centre right” (Weihs, 1995, 51). Since the author could not just look up the flags on the internet, and colour printing was not very common, it would have taken much more effort than it would today to find the flags and write an accurate descriptions.

Efficient use of library space

The book measures 7” by 10” and fits easily on the reference shelves. It is hard cover and large enough to be distinguished from smaller paperbacks. It would be easy to find and not so large that it is cumbersome to use.

Chart used for evaluation of the Facts about Canada its Provinces and Territories

Criteria	Below standard	Acceptable	Exemplary
Relevancy/curricular support	Materials support few curricular areas	Materials support 3 or more curricular areas	Materials can be used with five or more curricular areas.
Purpose	Most or all of the resource cannot be used for its intended purpose	Some of the resource cannot be used for its intended purpose	All of the resource can be used for its intended purpose
Currency	Copyright dates older than 10 years	Copyright dates within last 5 years	Copyright dates within the last 2 years
Accuracy	The resource is not accurate.	The resource is consistently accurate	The resource is accurate and provides  bibliographic support
Cost of the resource N/A Resource no longer available	Cost is too high to warrant purchase of resource.	The cost of the resource is warranted based on value resource provides.	Resource provides excellent value according to cost.

(Adapted from: Asselin, 2003, pages 33-34)

Part 2: Search for an alternate work

I thought it would be fairly easy to replace this Facts About book published by H. W. Wilson. In Reference Skills for the School Librarian, Riedling (2013) mentions H. W. Wilson in the Factbooks section (41). The company is still publishing library reference materials and lists on its website other Facts About books. However, it does not list the resource I have evaluated, nor any other factbook specifically about Canada. In fact they ones they still have on the site are published long ago. For example the Facts About China book was published in 2000 and is listed for 120$. I imaged a replacement would be approximately the same cost.  

As a replacement resource I chose an online reference source: The Canadian Encyclopedia.

Relevancy/curricular support: The material is relevant and interesting to both students and teachers. It provides an easy to navigate website. 

Purpose: The Canadian Encyclopedia provides Canadians and others with accurate, updated information about the country and its people.

Currency: The Canadian Encyclopedia is current. It is maintained by Historica Canada.

Accuracy: The website is accurate. Articles contain bibliographic references to substantiate what is said.

Efficient use of space: The resource is found online so requires no library shelf space.

Cost of resource: the online Canadian Encyclopedia is free, making it an exceptional value. A link will be provided on the library web-page so that this resource can be accessed easily.

Chart used for evaluation of The Canadian Encyclopedia

Criteria:	Below Standard	Acceptable	Exemplary
Relevancy/curricular support	Materials support few curricular areas	Materials support 3 or more curricular areas	Materials can be used with five or more curricular areas.
Purpose	Most or all of the resource cannot be used for its intended purpose	Some of the resource cannot be used for its intended purpose	All of the resource can be used for its intended purpose
Currency	Copyright dates older than 10 years	Copyright dates within last 5 years	Copyright dates within the last 2 years
Accuracy	The resource is not accurate.	The resource is consistently accurate	The resource is accurate and provides extensive bibliographic support
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References

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. 

Manitoba Education and Advanced Learning (2014). Grade 11 History of Canada: A foundation for

 Implementation (Curriculum Guide). Retrieved from:

https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/socstud/history_gr11/section2.pdf

Manitoba Education, Citizenship. (2006). Geographic Issues of the 21^st Century (Curriculum Guide).

                Retrieved from: 

                https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/socstud/frame_found_sr2/cluster1.pdf 

Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth (2007).  Grade 9 social studies Canada in the

            contemporary world: A foundation for implementation. Retrieved from:

https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/socstud/posters/g9_poster.pdf

Riedling, A. (2013). Reference skills for the school library media specialist: Tools and tips, (Third 

         Edition).  Santa Barbara, CA: Linworth.  

The Canadian Encyclopedia: Historica Canada. (n.d.). Retrieved from

                https://www.historicacanada.ca/thecanadianencyclopedia

Weihs, J. (1995). Facts about Canada, its provinces and territories. United States of America: H. W.

 Wilson Company.