ASSESSMENT ITEM
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Professional Placement
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INF
408 – Professional Placement
“I hereby confirm that this is an original essay and my own work and
that all ethical standards have been addressed and adhered to”
Nadine Bailey
Student ID: 11510358
Word Count:2673
1. The role of the Library......................................................................................... 1
2.
User needs and services...................................................................................... 2
3.
Collections and information resources........................................................... 2
4.
Cataloguing, classification and indexing.......................................................... 3
5.
System management............................................................................................. 4
6.
Reference and information services................................................................. 2
7.
Network infrastructure....................................................................................... 3
8.
Staffing..................................................................................................................... 3
9.
User education....................................................................................................... 4
10.
Promotion and marketing................................................................................. 5
11.
Evaluation of library services.......................................................................... 5
12.
Reflecting on an activity..................................................................................... 6
13.
Evaluate the placement...................................................................................... 7
References................................................................................................................... 8
1.
The role of the Library
United World College South East Asia East
(UWCSEA East) is one of the two campuses of an International school located in
Singapore. This campus commenced
operations in 2008 and moved to a purpose built campus in August 2011. It offers a kindergarten (K) to International
Baccalaureate (IB) programme – K1 to Grade 12. Each campus has two libraries, Primary and
Secondary.
The goals of the library are closely
aligned to those of the school and include amongst other things, continue to
develop the library collections, assessing them against the curriculum and
identifying gaps and areas for improvement, continue to develop the libraries’
homepage and online presence and develop online research tools. These goals are cascaded down to individual
staff member’s goal setting and development and training guidelines.
The library is an integral part of the
school and as such is involved with the service opportunities created there,
such as assisting schools in Cambodia to set up libraries, and the literacy
projects of related charities. The
library also runs a “read and recycle” program whereby book donations from the
school community are sorted and re-resourced either in the library, given to
school-linked charities or put on shelves outside the library for users to
take. The library space and equipment
has been designed for flexibility. Exhibitions,
talks and seminars are often held there. The library also hosts a parent’s
association book club.
The Library is a founding member of ISLN
(International schools Library Network) a Singaporean non-profit organisation
linking the International schools and the librarians are active in organising
the annual Red Dot book awards and reader’s cup (http://www.reddotawards.com/).
Read and recycle shelves outside the library, books can be borrowed
or taken. Books are not catalogued
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Steampunk sculpture exhibited in the library by the school artist in
residence.
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2. User needs and services
The library works closely with the school
and the heads of curriculum of the Infant, Primary, Middle, High school and IB
program to ensure that the needs of students are met. Further, the needs of
teachers and other support staff (such as learning support, literacy coaches
and digital literacy coaches) are also considered and catered for with special
collections of books as well as digital materials and other resources. For example, the drama department request films,
which are downloaded onto iPads that can be borrowed during a class depending
on the play, script being studied.
The librarians are in constant contact with
students, teachers and curriculum staff, heads of staff, the head of
conferences and they work closely with literacy and digital literacy coaches.
3. Collections and information
resources
Since the school is relatively new, having
only moved to the current campus in the last two years, the collection is
currently being developed. Because the
school started with a primary section and added a year each year, the primary school
collection is more developed than the secondary school collection. The school had a Grade 12 class for the first
time this year. The policy of the
library is to ensure that the collection reflects both the philosophy of the
school, and the pedagogy outlined in the curriculum articulation. The physical collection is constantly
assessed as the school grows. A recent
focus has been on the LOTE (Languages other than English) collection where the
libraries have consulted with the heads of language to acquire materials to
assist in classroom learning and pleasure reading.
In July 2013, the National Library Board
(NLB) of Singapore stopped students in
international schools from accessing their online databases without a
paid library card. The library has therefore had to invest in online databases
that had previously been free. The
librarian selects material with recommendations by heads of departments,
literacy coaches, parents and students. Everyone has input in the selection
process subject to the approval of the librarian and the material compiling
with the values and ethos of the school.
4. Cataloguing, classification and
indexing
The library uses a combination of inhouse and
outsourced cataloguing. Follett
Titlewave purchases come with downloaded and labelled MARC records, and books
are stickered for the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system. Internally books are stamped and a school
barcode is added. For other purchases,
including from Follett UK, all processing is done internally following bad
experiences with trying to outsource the cataloguing and processing. Use is
made of Z39.50 files in reading in information in the case of incomplete
data. Particular issues arise in the
cataloguing of material for the LOTE collection, where teachers or parents need
to be called on in order to help cataloguing material, particularly in
non-Roman scripts. A recent exercise
during my study placement was to consider the current LOTE cataloguing, and
compare it to the needs of the users and other LOTE catalogues in operation in
other schools. There is a movement
towards more descriptive tagging as well as the use of subject specific site cataloguing
in order to assist users to find materials (for example the guided readers for
a specific level and/or grade. The DDC
system is used with exceptions for Fiction, Biography, Graphic Materials,
Poetry and Playscripts, which use the “pull-out” method of separate shelving
following a more “bookstore” type of concept. Most materials, including
textbooks and guided readers or teaching aids and classroom books, are
catalogued. Access to databases such as subscription
journal databases is provided through the library webpage, the LibGuides and
the subject curriculum guides. The library also makes extensive use of QR codes
leading back to the catalogue, webpages or LibGuides.
QR Codes on shelf leading back to LibGuide
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QR code on display leading back to library catalogue to see when
books will be returned
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5. System management
Follett Destiny is the library management
system in use. It is one of the two
systems widely used by schools, the other being Softlink’s Oliver. Each has their advantages and
disadvantages. The primary disadvantage
appears to be that Destiny is a system designed for a Web 1.0 environment with
bits of Web 2.0 tacked on. The interface
is not as user friendly as the “Google generation” is used to, and many search
and reporting tasks that the librarian would like patrons to have access to,
are not easily accomplished without running asynchronous reports using batch
processing. The report output is in PDF
and XML, the latter which cannot be opened on a Mac system, and the school uses
MacBooks in its “one laptop per student / teacher” philosophy. So, a separate computer has to be maintained
just for reporting purposes and to customise and change MARC records. Sometimes the library has to resort to the
vendor in order to accomplish tasks that should theoretically be achievable
inhouse, particularly with a librarian who is so adept technically.
However, Follett is trying to keep up and new
developments include allowing circulation by handheld devices such as the iPad
or iPhone and catalogue searching by mobile devices. All teachers have been given authorisation to
checkout and check-in books of themselves or their students.
During my student placement I was fortunate
to be able to attend a two-day workshop on Follett Destiny held by Follett
covering their cataloguing, eBook system, collection analysis and reporting
systems.
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The school does not have many physical serials,
as discussed earlier; they recently needed to subscribe to databases following
the change in the NLB policy.
6. Reference and information
services
Reference services are provided via desk
enquiries, reference appointments, teacher queries, LibGuides and presentations
on video. Reference questions are not
tracked by electronic means, however when questions in an area reach a critical
mass, a guide or video will be created in order to help students in
self-education. An attempt was made to
use Google Moderator for questions, however this has not been fully implemented,
as it is not considered the best tool, given that many of the questions are too
specialised for students to answer for their peers using the crowd-sourcing
approach, and maintenance of the forum takes up a lot of time. As the college
has two campuses and four libraries there is a possibility to borrow books from
the other campus and delivery takes place through the inter-campus courier
service. The library also has an account
with the NLB, where up to 2500 books can be borrowed for 12 weeks at a time in
order to fulfil specific needs, for example a unit of enquiry where demand
exceeds the school’s collection. I had
the opportunity both of observing and conducting reference interviews during my
placement. The school complies with all
copyright and access agreements for accessing and using information even at the
youngest level.
Screenshot of classroom update for Grade 5 outlining current research
and warning against plagiarism
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7. Network infrastructure
The library operates on an Internet based
system. All activities depend on network
access and availability. The catalogue
system is open to all. Users can log onto the system to access databases that
the library subscribes to. Some are
access through a proxy server and others require a separate login and password
in order to comply with licensing and copyright rules of the various
databases. Since the school is a “one
laptop per child” campus, there are a limited number of computer terminals
mainly used for OPAC searching. As the
library is an open space without a “shushing policy” there are quiet rooms with
power points and desks for quiet study.
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8. Staffing
Both the Primary and Secondary libraries
have one teacher librarian, two assistant librarians and one library clerk. The teacher librarians have a Masters degree
and the assistant librarians a diploma in library technology. Professional development is partly based on
library specific development needs and partly on individual management needs as
assessed by the yearly goal setting and assessment by the school hierarchy. Communication between staff in the four
libraries over the two campuses is collegial and I was offered the opportunity
of spending one of my placement days in the Dover campus libraries. Decisions that affect both campuses are
discussed between the head librarians and knowledge exchange occurs on matters
such as cataloguing and most recently, online journal acquisition and access.
The major issue I encountered during my placement is that the secondary library
in particular is very short-staffed on the reference librarian side.
9. User education
Both information literacy and digital
literacy is integrated in the school’s curriculum. There are only two teacher
librarians (see staffing), for over 2500 pupils, so the librarians do not
conduct information literacy classes.
Data on information use is gathered through
library reports that have been set up in Follett Destiny. For all students, a wide range of “how to”
videos and guides have been set up online and can be accessed through the
appropriate level online “research hub”. For the Infant and Junior school, each
class has one library period a week during which the teacher and library staff
will assist with teaching children how to access the catalogue and find
resources using the DDC.
 https://sites.google.com/a/gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg/uwcsea-infant-research-hub/ |
 https://sites.google.com/a/gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg/researchhub/ |
https://sites.google.com/a/gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg/uwcsea-research-tools/
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https://sites.google.com/a/gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg/research-skills-professional-development/
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10. Promotion and
marketing
A number of initiatives have been
undertaken to ensure the library is well utilized. The library has a website (eastlib.uwcsea.edu.sg) and maintains an
open catalogue. Events and exhibitions are regularly held in the library where
all the furniture is on wheels for easy moving.
In conjunction with the teachers, the library has created large A0
printouts of various teachers’ “favourite reads” and “recommended reads” for
different age groups which are displayed in the classrooms and corridors with
QR codes linking back to the book in the catalogue in the library. Within the library, QR codes on the shelves
link back to virtual resources such as LibGuides. Parents are welcome to
volunteer in the library and to borrow library materials and join the parents’
book club.
Large A0 posters all over campus
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Parents book club hosted by library
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The giving tree for Christmas donations
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11. Evaluation of library services
The evaluation of the services is done
annually in conjunction with the annual goal setting outlined in point 1
above. Goals such as number of books per
user, age of the collection, quantity and quality of online guides, and
professional development are included.
At the end of all research seminars or other library sessions that have
been requested by teachers and set up by the librarian, students are required
to fill in an online “exit” ticket in which they evaluate the class they’ve
just received with opportunities to comment on potential improvements.
12. Reflecting on an activity
During my placement I was involved with
evaluating the cataloguing for the LOTE collections, circulation, creation of
guides using LibGuides and attending classes preparing the Grade 11 students
for the IB Extended Essay.
The most significant of these activities
was creating LibGuides. The objective
was to create a template for online guides, and then create an online guide for
subjects within each of the 6 major IB subject areas and populate these with
appropriate physical and online resources. This involved coordinating with the
IB coordinator, the secondary librarian and undertaking a reference interview
with the subject head. I prepared guides
for psychology, economics, mathematics, science and music, (see for example: http://research.uwcsea.edu.sg/psycho)
The activity was valuable both to the school
and myself. I learned to apply research across a variety of media and the
incorporation of tools and widgets to make the content engaging. It also gave me exposure to teachers and
heads of department. The school
appreciated having someone concentrate on getting the guides up online to
assist the launce of the research process of the Grade 11s.
In retrospect I could have used more of the
teacher resources earlier in the process, as well as information available on
other library guides. In reality, given
the time constraints a guide was often almost completed by the time the
teachers were involved. However, the
teachers were very pleased with the process given that there had been nothing
available in the previous year.
13. Evaluate the placement
The placement was extremely useful to
combine my theoretical knowledge with real life practice. In particular the balancing act of trying to
achieve goals and complete tasks while still remaining available and
approachable to users was a useful insight.
I have become more skilled in conducting the research interview, as well
as understanding taxonomy and cataloguing principles and practise. I also have a renewed respect for the role of
a librarian in a school. I wrote a blog
during my placement, which can be accessed at: http://informativeflights.blogspot.sg.
A concrete benefit of the placement was
that I’ve been offered a part-time job helping out on the reference side to
make up for the lack of staffing in this area and the need to provide students
with more access to reference staff.
I very much appreciate being able to have
worked with such an experienced librarian, and particularly one who has
embraced Library 2.0 in all its facets and is very progressive in the use of
technology in the library.
References
East 5LWh
2013-2014. (2013). Retrieved November 23, 2013, from
https://sites.google.com/a/gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg/east-5lwh-2013-2014/
High
School Research Hub. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2013, from https://sites.google.com/a/gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg/uwcsea-research-tools/
Informative
flights. (n.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2013, from
http://informativeflights.blogspot.sg/
Intro -
Home - Research at United World College of Southeast Asia. (n.d.). Retrieved
November 22, 2013, from http://research.uwcsea.edu.sg/research
Introduction
- Psychology: Introduction - Research at United World College of Southeast
Asia. (2013). Retrieved November 22, 2013, from
http://research.uwcsea.edu.sg/psycho?hs=a
ISLN - Singapore.
(n.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2013, from http://silcsing.blogspot.sg/
library.uwcsea.edu.sg.
(n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2013, from
https://sites.google.com/a/gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg/library/
Oliver
library management system from Softlink. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2013,
from http://www.softlink.co.uk/oliver/
Research
Skills Professional Development. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2013, from
https://sites.google.com/a/gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg/research-skills-professional-development/
Software
for Library Automation | Follett Software. (n.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2013,
from http://www.follettsoftware.com/library-automation-software
UWCSEA
Infant Research Hub. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2013, from
https://sites.google.com/a/gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg/uwcsea-infant-research-hub/
UWCSEA
Junior Research Hub. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2013, from
https://sites.google.com/a/gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg/researchhub/
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