Two Libguide tutorials

I have used our new Libguides software to develop a couple of teacher education subject guides. I have also used these to develop two online tutorials.

The most recent tutorial to be developed is Library Skills for Foundation Studies. We have been teaching quite a lot of foundation studies classes over the last couple of weeks. There are 14 groups in the first intake which means 28 hours of library research skills classes (phew); that doesn’t even count the library tours and the catalogue exercise that each group gets. Anyway, the online tutorial has proven invaluable for giving students somewhere to go to reinforce the things they learn face-to-face in class. This tutorial also gives both the teachers and the students an overview of what the sessions involve.

The other is a more general Library Research Skills for Education Students tutorial and is based on the different aspects of information literacy: the skills and knowledge around analysing a research need, being aware of resources available, forming search expressions, searching and modifying searches in key resources, accessing and managing information.

I’m a fan of libguides because they utilise a number of different applications and allow quick updating and changing of information. If you have any suggestions or want them linked into your online course let me know.

ERIC database alternatives and strategies for education researchers

I have just read an interesting article (see details below) on the state of ERIC several years after it radically changed its indexing practice. ERIC and its associated clearinghouses were closed in December 2003. It reopened in Sept 2004 with its operations streamlined and “modernized” and without the clearinghouses that had previously done its indexing and abstracting. This paper reports on a study comparing the indexing coverage of old ERIC and new ERIC checked against ISI Journal Citation Reports.

The study finds a decrease in coverage of between 20% and 30% in 2006 within the study areas: education and educational research, special education, educational psychology. Coverage improves for two of the areas in 2007 but there is sharper decline in special education during that year (47%). It also lists the coverage of databases like ISI’s Web of Science (WoS), PsycINFO and EBSCO’s products, Academic Search Premier and Education Research Complete*, all of which rank higher than new ERIC in the study areas.

The article probably reveals its US context when it reminds us not to rely on ERIC as a sole source and to look also at alternative products mentioned above. It notes the strong case for still starting from ERIC, partly because it defines the vocabulary for the education area through its indexes and thesaurus. Awareness of this terminology becomes important when using a resource like WoS, which doesn’t have the subject structure of ERIC. WoS also does not include the extensive trade publications and magazines indexed in ERIC. EBSCO’s Education Research Complete, on the other hand, competes very well in such areas.

The obvious lesson is that instead of knowing a database we need to develop strategic approaches that employ multiple databases and multiple strategies (of course, we also use resources like A+Education, Expanded Academic and Education Journals ProQuest). The other interesting point it makes is to highlight the library role in making these kind of evaluations, comparing and selecting resources for the Schools to access. There was some concern last year when we compared ProQuest with similar products via EBSCO but if the Library doesn’t stay ahead of this developing area then the School will miss out on accessing new products.

* The library does not currently subscribe to this product

Strayer, J. (2008). ERIC database alternatives and strategies for education researchers. Reference Services Review. Vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 86-96.

New web address for libguides

We had some problems with some people unable to access the libguides because of the proxy settings on their computers. The libguides have now been transferred to RMIT servers, which should solve that problem. See the range of education libguides available so far.

These new guides have now been trialled successfully so we will be purchasing this product shortly, which means we will be reviewing and transferring all our old guides to the various program areas into this new format. ESL will be first across at the request of Peter M. Feel free to offer suggestions for items to be included. We can also arrange for any of these to be linked into your Blackboard course.

Recent TAFE library sessions

I have recently given research skills sessions to students studying both the Diploma of Further Education and the ESL program at the Carlton campus. I enjoy these sessions, mainly because the students are usually sharp and engaged. We focus in these sessions on the idea of analysing a topic and developing keywords, on the types of resources that are available to them, on a couple of different resources such as Factiva and Australian Public Affairs Full Text (APAFT), and on how to reference material found in the Harvard style.

In the ESL session yesterday students were researching cultural and architectural landmarks in Melbourne — a great topic for students new to our city. Factiva is useful here as it allows us to search major Australian newspapers across about 10 years. APAFT is one of the best, largest and well-established Australian social science databases that also gives us some good information about architectural landarks, the use of public space, historic buildings and so on in Melbourne.

There is lots to learn in such a session: it can be a challenge sometimes just navigating your way around the different lists of resources and knowing which to choose, typing in your keywords as structured search expressions, reading citations and referencing, using find it links to get the full text or to check the catalogue, being able to save PDF files. These were just some of the issues I covered with this lively and interested group. It was also great to have two of their teachers attend to help and advise as we went along.

Blueprint for Early Childhood Development and School Reform

Via Edna, news that Victorian ministers Bronwyn Pike and Maxine Morand have just released discussion papers to reform early childhood services and schools. The Government is inviting public feedback on the reform plan.

We are excited to present a proposed five year reform agenda for early childhood services and schools that will drive improvement and integration and help us to deliver the best possible outcomes for all our children and young people.

Maths, Why not?

As reported in The Australian, a new government report prepared by the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers and the University of New England on why students are not choosing to take higher level maths in senior years. I will arrange for a catalogue entry and link to be created.

How to teach a library catalogue without sending the students (and us) to sleep?

I have been giving lots of information skills classes to various programs recently. The first year B.Eds get a 50 min catalogue session, which I’m sure doesn’t sound to them like the most rivetting kind of class that they will attend. However, we have tried to make it more problem-based/student-centred in recent years.

We give students three citation examples (in APA style) — a book, a journal article, and a book chapter — and ask them to identify what the citation is and then have a go at looking it up without any prior instruction. We then ask them to share with the class what they found and demonstrate how they went about it.

The class encourages them to ask questions, try things even if they don’t work and learn off their fellow students. We emphasise how their reading lists are made up of similar citations and how they can use the catalogue to identify these. If some students actually fail to find the item or can’t quite work out which part of the journal citation they are meant to put into the catalogue then this gives them a reason to stay in the room and engage with what’s going on.

Along the way, they see the catalogue as en entry point not only to holdings information but to e-Books, online journals, and digitized eReserve material.

We also give them a chance to use the various options for looking up books on topics that come from the themes of their courses. We ask them to select one of the items they have found and have a go at identifying the author, title, publishing details and cite using APA.

The hope is that students will have a better opportunity of realising the relevance of this type of session over a session that had them instructed from the front of the class.

Endnote session

There is an Endnote session next week for School of Education students and staff at both Bundoora and Swanston campus libraries. For times see the full schedule and don’t forget to email if you wish to attend.