Library & Reference
When I was in high school, there was one computer in the building with dial-up internet. All knowledge was held in the minds of the teachers and in the books in the library. The encyclopedia was the starting place for research, and you were limited in topics as to what was available in the rest of the reference section.
Today, that is very different. One of the most powerful elements of working in a 1:1 environment is that every student has access to the world in their hands. Our students have access to a few apps to give easy access to reading and reference materials.
I am very thankful for ELM (Electronic Library for Minnesota). This collection of research sites opens up so many powerful resources to all students in Minnesota, even if their library can not afford database subscriptions. By going to elm4you.org on a computer or mobile device, learners have the option to search databases by topic, by grade level, or by direct links. Here is some more information about ELM.
ELM (Electronic Library for Minnesota) gives Minnesota residents online access to magazine, journal, newspaper, and encyclopedia articles, eBooks (online books), and other information resources. –http://www.elm4you.org/about
ELM is available to Minnesota residents of any age with any subject interest. ELM is available online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from school, home, work, or @ your library. The current license covers the following Minnesota institutions: school media centers (K-12); public libraries that are members of regional public library systems; college and university libraries; and local, state, and federal government libraries. –http://www.elm4you.org/about
Beyond ELM
In our school, each student has an iPad. There are a few apps/tools that we use to connect students to Library and Reference mate rails.
Our Library database is Destiny. Through the Destiny Quest app, students can search the collection to see what is available, what is currently checked out, and more. As the year progressed, I’ve seen more and more students come to the library with the app out, ready to find a specific book to read. In fact, we don’t even have a computer set aside for the catalog, since students used it so rarely.
We have invested in eBooks in two formats. I have subscribed to TumbleBook Cloud to get quick access to digital texts. We’ve had almost 1,000 book views this school year. One problem with TumbleBook Cloud is that there is no offline access to the books, making reading on the run impossible. We also have fiction books that were purchased through MackinVIA last year. This was before VIA took on some bigger publishers such as Random House. Interestingly, as I look at the usage, very few of the fiction titles were checked out. I hope more titles can be added to increase the use of our own e-reading program.
For our nonfiction titles and databases, students use the Gale Access My Library School Edition app. This spring, I have been in many classrooms from Language Arts to Ceramic Arts to talk about the benefits of databases. Students love the fact that the sites pass the criteria laid out by their teachers for authentic sites. They like the included citations. This is the app that I really do feel puts the world in the students hands. There is no way that my library could support purchasing the paper versions of all of the resources the students need. But, using Access My Library, students can find some very specific information. One student that I helped was looking for the effects of Ronald McDonald House Charities giving of scholarships to Latino girls. And, we were able to find resources!
One bonus from Gale is that they were willing to set up Access My Library for my other schools, even if they do not have paid databases through Gale. Now, each of the students in the Spring Lake Park School District can access the ELM databases through the ease of one app.
All of these tools literally put the library in the students’ hands. A few years ago, this would have been unfathomable access. Today, our students call it normal.