The Enlightened Luddite – LIBE 467 Theme 1 Blog 








With this being my first ever Blog post - which I am praying I am doing correctly, I thought I would go with a bit of an amusing title.  (Well, at least it is amusing to me.)  I often humorously describe myself as a luddite as I am not that good with technology and have a difficult time learning new technological things.  I never thought I would have a blog, and if it were not for this course LIBE 467, I don’t think I would have one.  My students might end up eventually reaping the benefits of this newly learned skill.  But I digress…

I do feel enlightened, not only because of the technology, or even LIBE 467, but because of the year that I have been taking LIBE courses.  There are so many things that I did not know about being a teacher librarian (TL).  I know that I have learned a lot so far, but I also now understand that I still have a lot to learn about it.  Some people think that it is just signing out books to students, but it is so much more.  The thing that still seems so overwhelming to me is what would I, if I were a TL, order for our school and what would my justification be?  This first theme of “The foundation of reference services” is definitely helping to answer that question, especially Riedling’s evaluation process, found in the book Reference Skills for the School Librarian: Tools and Tips (Third Edition).
From goodbooks.com






By using the School Library Policy and Procedures Manual from our school district and adding the evaluation process of looking at the content scope; accuracy, authority, and bias; the arrangement and presentation; the relation to similar works; the timeliness and permanence; the accessibility/diversity; and the cost, a TL can have a good idea of what would be appropriate for their school (Riedling et al., 2013, pp. 22-23).  All of these factors made the idea of weeding out old material and choosing new texts seem much more manageable.  I also hope that it will lead to more manageable amounts of information for our students to sift through on their way to finding the information that they need.







One quote, taken from the American Library Association (2006) and used in the Riedling text, really resonated with me.  It stated that these “information-literate individuals [are] ‘those who have learned how to learn.  They know how to learn because they know how knowledge is organized, how to find information, and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them.  They are people prepared for lifelong learning, because they can always find the information needed for any task or decision at hand’” (as cited in Riedling et al., 2013, p. 7).  As I continue to look around at all of the information that our students are bombarded with on a daily, no, on a minute to minute, basis, I see that they need to be able to deduce fact and fiction.  They need to see the difference between the information that has been coined “fake news” and what is information that they can trust.

From istockphoto.com

























I have been thinking lately about how I don’t always feel that I am doing a good enough job of teaching my students the skills that they will need in the future.  I teach them to write a research paper, and do have some discussion about where to get reliable information, and what that looks like, but I want them to really think deeper and analyse more.  
From istockphoto.com










People need to really look at the information that is coming at them and deciding for themselves, what they can believe and what they can’t.  It is becoming harder and harder to figure out what is real, and students will have a better chance at discovering what to believe, if they are well informed individuals who are discerning in where they get their information.  They have access to so much information in their hands on a daily basis, and I want them to be able to use it in an astute way, and maybe even to make our world a better place for everyone.







 







 
Works Cited



[Reference Skills text]. Retrieved September 23,2019, from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15953363-reference-skills-for-the-school-librarian

Riedling, A.M., Shake, L., Houston, C. (Eds.). (2013). Reference Skills for the School Librarian: Tools and Tips (3rd ed.). Denver, Colorado. Linworth.

SD 68 Teacher-Librarians. (2011). School Library Policy and Procedures Manual. Nanaimo, BC, Canada. Retrieved from https://nlpslearns.sd68.bc.ca/ documents/2017/10/library-policies-and-procedures-manual-2015.pdf   

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