Library to the Power of Three

The focus of my Cohort 21 Action Plan last year had to do with utilizing feedback in one-shot library instruction. That was one way of addressing a problem I was seeing for my students — the problem being, in short, that they didn’t have the background or understanding of the research process they needed to be successful in the task they were currently assigned. 

Even as I was grappling with feedback and diagnostic assessment, I knew a more holistic approach was required. I’m excited that this year, my fourth (!) returning as a Coach at Cohort, I’m able to take that more holistic approach, and that I’m starting the process with the needs and experiences of my students. 

Over the last few weeks, I conducted three brief, relatively informal interviews with students: one in Grade 5, one in Grade 9, and one in the Graduating Class. Since our library serves all of the students from Grade 1 to 12, I really wanted to take advantage of that fact in selecting students at different points in their academic careers. I was so impressed by the quality and depth of their reflections, and by the unanticipated similarities I saw in their accounts. 

Here is what I said to my students: I am interested in learning more about your experience using our library. In particular, I’m hoping to learn about your needs when it comes to doing research. Can you tell me about a time when you performed research? How did it go? What difficulties did you face, and how did you deal with them? 

What followed were such enjoyable conversations. The girls were happy to help and offered their honest answers to my questions. I was impressed by the maturity in their understanding of themselves as learners and in the role of research. Some high level take-aways include: 

1. Pathfinders are working! All three students cited starting successful research with library resources found on pathfinders I create for them using the LibGuides platform. It got me thinking – I don’t need to always be the one always creating pathfinders, maybe we could work to jointly co–create one? Stay tuned!
2. Some essential skills, like database searching and in-text citations, could be introduced earlier. The students in the Upper School both expressed that there were “things they wished they’d known earlier” about doing research to have a more fulsome understanding of the bigger picture early in their learning. This makes total sense! Context matters and we know it helps make specific lessons more “sticky.” 
3. Today’s students are sophisticated consumers of online information but need a fuller understanding of how to evaluate the information landscapes they encounter online. Our students are super good at googling and diving deep to find information available through search engines. They also understand that what they read online isn’t always credible, and they need to be double-checking information. What they seem to have trouble with is understanding the variety of types of text they encounter and what that means for the authority of the information. Once again, it’s big picture/context stuff they need to know.  
4. “The library is a physical internet.”  This was my favourite quotation from the student in Grade 9. She admitted to starting most of her research on Google but added that she always found great information when she came to the library and used (gasp!) physical books. Her conclusion was, with the web of physical and digital resources that the library can create for her, that it was like it’s own kind of internet. I loved the profundity of her remark, and the sincere sense of wonder at the nature of libraries that it captured. 

I’m so excited to continue exploring this topic together this year. Thanks for coming with me on the journey of discovery!