Terms and Definitions

When I first signed up for the course online, UBC did not include a description for the course.  I thought that the course was going to be about technology in the library.  After reading the course outline, I realize that I was mistaken.  This course is about library information services and reference materials.  Although it appears that there will definitely be many connections to how technology is incorporated into this topic. 

I am looking forward to this course because I do not have much knowledge on the reference material in our current school library. I am new to the school this year and teach grade 1.  I have never looked for encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, or other fact sources at our library.  My goal of the next week is to go into our school library and see what reference materials we have and if there is both elementary and high school appropriate materials because our school is K-12. 

This week our lesson involved an introduction to the topic and reading some glossary words.  There were some words that I had never heard of (Gazeteer) and many that piqued my interest.  In the discussion area I wrote about a few that I found interesting.

Reference Interview-Although this is something TL’s obviously do on a daily basis, it was interesting to read that it had its own term and definition.

Scope-I think I was drawn to this because I teach grade 1 and often find it difficult in our school library to find interesting sources with 6-year olds as the intended readers (not listeners) of the information. 

Big6 Information Problem-Solving Model: Our school is going to begin implementing the IB primary years programme soon and I am interested to know how this model may work within that framework.

Selection Policy- I’m interested to know if my school has an official policy, or what the process is for our TL to purchase new resources.

I was also interested in the differences between Bibliographic Instruction and Information Literacy.  Information Literacy is a term that we often use in education these days, but I had never heard of Bibliographic Instruction.  From the definitions, it seemed that Bibliographic Instruction mostly involved locating and using the materials, while Information Literacy involved not only locating and using the materials, but comprehending and evaluating the information as well. 

Another student in the class, Kyla, asked this very question.  She wanted to know how the terms were related and whether they were mutually exclusive or they were two different terms that meant the same thing.  Our instructor, Anne, replied to her and it turns out that Bibliographic Instruction was a term coined many years ago and was mainly about teaching library patrons how to use the library and how to use Library of Congress classification system.  Information Literacy is the more modern comprehensive term which is used to describe how to teach library patrons to “access, comprehend, use and evaluate information” (Reidling, Reference Skills for the School Library Media Specialist: Tools and Tips, 2^nd ed.  p. 134).  Can't wait to learn more!