My Job is What? Reference Sources and Services in a 21st Century Learning Commons

I like telling my students about how I had to research “back in the day” because they think I’m from the stone age. I clearly, and rather fondly remember the times the whole class got to go down to the library to research. We gravitated first to the encyclopedias (there were several copies back in those days) and took notes on our loose leaf. From there we headed to the card stacks to hunt for books on the topic of our research. And since inevitably every student was learning the same thing, we shared books, shared notes, and were not allowed to remove anything from the library. The computer lab was for learning typing (the internet was not a thing yet), so our projects were hand written, over and over again until we made no mistakes. 

Photo by James L.W on Unsplash

I’m only 43. That really wasn’t that long ago.

Times have changed around the library these days, and the biggest catalyst to change is this Age of Information (or age of misinformation) that we are living in. Students and teachers don’t look to the stacks anymore for the books that cover a topic. And thankfully, not every student is learning the same thing anymore in part to an understanding of learner agency. But what does that mean for the librarian? He or she no longer has a position because the clientele has the World Wide Web and reliable search engines? Quite the opposite. Librarians have the library of the world to navigate now, and even more importantly, to help the clientele navigate. So what really are we to do? 

K. DuMont, 2023, Canva Creation

First and foremost, it is essential to know what your clientele need. Without this, you can do all of the work of evaluating and updating your resources and still no one will use them. Collaboration is the key to success when evaluating and updating your reference materials (Riedling, 2013, p.17). Find out from your colleagues what they are working on, and from your students what they are interested in. With BC’s curriculum, the content is simply a jumping off point, and students, within the spirit of learner agency, will be building skills within their own areas of interest. 

Next, it is important to know what you already have. Evaluate your reference materials, looking for timeliness, relevancy, accuracy, content, and quality of the materials. Are the reference materials up to date and relevant to today’s learners? Are they in good shape? Are they used often, or do they just sit on the shelf or in cyberspace collecting real or virtual dust? Some materials might be great, others might need an update.

The question at hand is whether you update old, irrelevant, or outdated materials with print or electronic references. There is value in both options, and what you look for are often the same: content, accuracy, relevancy, relation to similar works, timeliness, and cost. For digital resources, we also look at the recall/precision details as well (Riedling, 2013, p.110). The one big difference is that when purchasing print materials, you are using your own information literacy skills to choose appropriate items. When students are using electronic resources, it is them who must exercise these skills. 

And this, truly, is what it all boils down to. Information literacy. And this, teacher-librarians, is your ultimate goal: to help students be critically literate in the age of misinformation. If in the end, students are able to determine a reference’s accuracy, relevancy, and credibility, we have done our jobs. Further, if students “use information from diverse perspectives and values with respect” (Asselin et al., 2006, p.12) they are stronger human beings. 

Image credit: Madison College Libraries 2023

References:

Asselin, M., Branch, J. L., & Oberg, D. (Eds.). (2006). Achieving Information Literacy: Standards for School Library Programs in Canada [Online]. CASL. http://accessola2.com/SLIC-Site/slic/ail110217.pdf

McInerney, A. (2022, December 19). 32 Great Digital Literacy Activities For Middle Schoolers. Teaching Expertise. https://www.teachingexpertise.com/classroom-ideas/digital-literacy-activities-for-middle-school-students/

Research Guides: Information Literacy: Guide for Students: Source Quality. (n.d.). https://libguides.madisoncollege.edu/InfoLitStudents/quality

Riedling, A. (2013). Reference Skills for School Library Media Specialists: Tools and Tips, 3rd Edition (3rd ed.). Linworth.