I used Google.com as my search engine to find a reputable website concerning bookmobiles and outreach services. I found the official site of the Association of the Bookmobile and Outreach Services.
There is the link: http://www.abos-outreach.org/
The purpose of the site is to support and encourage government officials, library administrators, trustees, and staff in the provision of quality bookmobile and outreach services to meet diverse community information and programming needs.
I find it useful for the substantive material of interest to the bookmobile staff nationwide. The site serves as a channel of communication and instruction to improve bookmobile and outreach services.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Competency: Multimedia
I found this image through the ALA website, on the Bookmobiles Wiki page. The link is: http://olos.ala.org/bookmobiles/index.php?title=About_National_Bookmobile_Day
National Bookmobile Day is an annual celebration of the contributions of our nation's bookmobiles and the dedicated professionals who make quality bookmobile outreach possible in their communities.For over 100 years, bookmobiles have provided access to information, technology and resources for life-long learning to Americans of all walks of life, no matter where they are – rural areas, cities, or suburbs.
National Bookmobile Day is part of the National Library Week. The first ever Bookmobile Day was celebrated on April 14, 2010.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Competency: Databases
This competency required me to conduct four different searches, in four different databases, using four different search strategies.
Search Inquiry: How should public libraries conduct early literacy instructions in the Outreach services area.
Search 1: Building Block Search on ERIC
I used the database ERIC to conduct a building block search. I decided to use ERIC because it is a database specifically for educational research articles. Since the question deals with early literacy, ERIC is a source worth using for searching.
Facets to explore: early literacy, outreach services, public libraries
Using the ERIC Thesaurus, I located the following subjects.
Possible synonyms for early literacy: reading, phonics
Possible synonyms for outreach services: outreach programs
Possible synonyms for public libraries: public library services
Based on my facets and ERIC subjects, I created my Subject Search.
S1 - early literacy OR reading OR phonics had 120260 Results
S2 - outreach services OR outreach programs had 4517 Results
S3 - public libraries had 7724 Results
‘s1 AND s2 AND s3’ would give me the desired result
" early literacy " OR " reading " OR " phonics " AND "outreach services " OR “outreach programs” AND " public libraries ".
Records Retrieved: 99
Citations:
Minkel, W. (2002). Taking the Show on the Road. School Library Journal, 48(2), 46-48. Retrieved from ERIC database.
Dempsey, B. (2005). Literary Festivals, Library Style: Libraries Can Use Literary Festivals to Secure Their Role as the Ultimate Connection among Readers, Authors, and Books. Library Journal, 130(3), 28. Retrieved from ERIC database.
Reflection:
I really like using ERIC. It is generally easy to locate education related articles. I got satisfactory results from the first search, though if I were to need more current information, I would need to reconstruct my search by either limiting my subjects or choose to limit the years of publication.
Search 2: Academic Search Premier, Specific Facet First Approach
I broke the search query into three parts. The parts are searched according to specificity, with the most specific searched first.
outreach services AND early literacy AND public libraries
outreach services – returns 1162 hits
early literacy – returns 40875 hits
public libraries – returns 9705 hits
According to the search strategy I choose the facet with the fewest hits. I was able to find two very relevant articles.
Citations:
Fulton, R. (2009). Taking it to the Streets: Every Child Ready to Read on the Go. Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children, 7(1), 8-12. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Goucher, L. (2009). BOOKS FOR BLOKES AND BEYOND: THE NEXT CHAPTER. APLIS, 22(2), 71-76. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Reflection
I was happy with these results. This search strategy seemed to work better than my previous tries. I was able to identify and explore more facets that also, when combined, produced desirable results. ASP seems to be an appropriate database to find articles within research journals.
Search 3: LibLit and Pearl Growing Approach
I started on Library Literature with my naive question: When making purchasing decisions in schools, should more money be allocated towards technology related materials than print materials?
The facet I started with to get my first source was "bookmobile services." I used the thesaurus to locate subject words used in the controlled vocabulary. The thesaurus search retrieved the following subjects: Library Extension/ Bookmobile Services - which had 25 records. I used the 25 records hyperlink to see what records were there. I then narrowed that down by the “Subject Heading" option. I received one hit:
Alloway, Catherine Suyak, (1990) The Book stops here: new directions in bookmobile service. Scarecrow Press, 1990. Retrieved from Library Lit
The title of the retrieved article looks very relevant but it is also too outdated. Therefore I will conduct another search. This article resulted in several subject terms that I could use for additional research. The terms mostly closely related to my search were Bookmobile services / Public libraries , Bookmobile services / Evaluation, Bookmobile services / Texas . From these I chose to use Bookmobile services / Public libraries and it yielded 80 results. I reviewed several of the results and most contained information relating to aspects of my topic.
Reflection:
I was very satisfied with the pearl growing search method and the results I retrieved on Library Literature.
Search 4: WorldCat and Successive Fraction Approach
I began the search with ‘bookmobile and outreach services ’ with 16 hits
‘bookmobile AND outreach services NOT books-by-mail services’ 14 hits
I checked the subject headings under a few relevant articles including the one I chose and after selecting “Library outreach programs”, they did narrow the topic to 9 hits.
Citations:
Osborn, R. (2004). From outreach to equity: innovative models of library policy and practice. Chicago: American Library Association.
Reflection:
In many ways the search strategies seem to overlap with each other and choosing the correct one seems to depend on the database and the specific topic.
Search Inquiry: How should public libraries conduct early literacy instructions in the Outreach services area.
Search 1: Building Block Search on ERIC
I used the database ERIC to conduct a building block search. I decided to use ERIC because it is a database specifically for educational research articles. Since the question deals with early literacy, ERIC is a source worth using for searching.
Facets to explore: early literacy, outreach services, public libraries
Using the ERIC Thesaurus, I located the following subjects.
Possible synonyms for early literacy: reading, phonics
Possible synonyms for outreach services: outreach programs
Possible synonyms for public libraries: public library services
Based on my facets and ERIC subjects, I created my Subject Search.
S1 - early literacy OR reading OR phonics had 120260 Results
S2 - outreach services OR outreach programs had 4517 Results
S3 - public libraries had 7724 Results
‘s1 AND s2 AND s3’ would give me the desired result
" early literacy " OR " reading " OR " phonics " AND "outreach services " OR “outreach programs” AND " public libraries ".
Records Retrieved: 99
Citations:
Minkel, W. (2002). Taking the Show on the Road. School Library Journal, 48(2), 46-48. Retrieved from ERIC database.
Dempsey, B. (2005). Literary Festivals, Library Style: Libraries Can Use Literary Festivals to Secure Their Role as the Ultimate Connection among Readers, Authors, and Books. Library Journal, 130(3), 28. Retrieved from ERIC database.
Reflection:
I really like using ERIC. It is generally easy to locate education related articles. I got satisfactory results from the first search, though if I were to need more current information, I would need to reconstruct my search by either limiting my subjects or choose to limit the years of publication.
Search 2: Academic Search Premier, Specific Facet First Approach
I broke the search query into three parts. The parts are searched according to specificity, with the most specific searched first.
outreach services AND early literacy AND public libraries
outreach services – returns 1162 hits
early literacy – returns 40875 hits
public libraries – returns 9705 hits
According to the search strategy I choose the facet with the fewest hits. I was able to find two very relevant articles.
Citations:
Fulton, R. (2009). Taking it to the Streets: Every Child Ready to Read on the Go. Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children, 7(1), 8-12. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Goucher, L. (2009). BOOKS FOR BLOKES AND BEYOND: THE NEXT CHAPTER. APLIS, 22(2), 71-76. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Reflection
I was happy with these results. This search strategy seemed to work better than my previous tries. I was able to identify and explore more facets that also, when combined, produced desirable results. ASP seems to be an appropriate database to find articles within research journals.
Search 3: LibLit and Pearl Growing Approach
I started on Library Literature with my naive question: When making purchasing decisions in schools, should more money be allocated towards technology related materials than print materials?
The facet I started with to get my first source was "bookmobile services." I used the thesaurus to locate subject words used in the controlled vocabulary. The thesaurus search retrieved the following subjects: Library Extension/ Bookmobile Services - which had 25 records. I used the 25 records hyperlink to see what records were there. I then narrowed that down by the “Subject Heading" option. I received one hit:
Alloway, Catherine Suyak, (1990) The Book stops here: new directions in bookmobile service. Scarecrow Press, 1990. Retrieved from Library Lit
The title of the retrieved article looks very relevant but it is also too outdated. Therefore I will conduct another search. This article resulted in several subject terms that I could use for additional research. The terms mostly closely related to my search were Bookmobile services / Public libraries , Bookmobile services / Evaluation, Bookmobile services / Texas . From these I chose to use Bookmobile services / Public libraries and it yielded 80 results. I reviewed several of the results and most contained information relating to aspects of my topic.
Reflection:
I was very satisfied with the pearl growing search method and the results I retrieved on Library Literature.
Search 4: WorldCat and Successive Fraction Approach
I began the search with ‘bookmobile and outreach services ’ with 16 hits
‘bookmobile AND outreach services NOT books-by-mail services’ 14 hits
I checked the subject headings under a few relevant articles including the one I chose and after selecting “Library outreach programs”, they did narrow the topic to 9 hits.
Citations:
Osborn, R. (2004). From outreach to equity: innovative models of library policy and practice. Chicago: American Library Association.
Reflection:
In many ways the search strategies seem to overlap with each other and choosing the correct one seems to depend on the database and the specific topic.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Competency: Tagging/Cataloging
I chose the book: Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Foreverby Mem Fox
Tags:
2008 (4) australian (2) bibliophilia (2) books about books (5) child development (3) child rearing (2) children (6) children's literature (6) classroom library (1) early literacy (2) education (13) elementary school (1) family time (1) homeschool (5) instruction (1) learning (1) literacy (11) non-fiction (18) parenting (13) professional (4) professional development (1) professional reading (1) professional resource (1) reading (26) reading aloud (7) reading strategies (1) stories (1) storytelling (3) storytime (1) teaching (2)
URL: http://librarything.com/work/361027
I selected this book because I have seen children circulate a book after I read part or all of it to them aloud. Mem Fox explains how, when and why to read aloud to children. Also, she gives tips on how to read aloud in a manner that best affect the listeners. As a future librarian, I am interested in learning ways to encourage more reading and guiding children to quality literature. Reading Magic will teach me ways to reach these goals.
Tags:
2008 (4) australian (2) bibliophilia (2) books about books (5) child development (3) child rearing (2) children (6) children's literature (6) classroom library (1) early literacy (2) education (13) elementary school (1) family time (1) homeschool (5) instruction (1) learning (1) literacy (11) non-fiction (18) parenting (13) professional (4) professional development (1) professional reading (1) professional resource (1) reading (26) reading aloud (7) reading strategies (1) stories (1) storytelling (3) storytime (1) teaching (2)
URL: http://librarything.com/work/361027
I selected this book because I have seen children circulate a book after I read part or all of it to them aloud. Mem Fox explains how, when and why to read aloud to children. Also, she gives tips on how to read aloud in a manner that best affect the listeners. As a future librarian, I am interested in learning ways to encourage more reading and guiding children to quality literature. Reading Magic will teach me ways to reach these goals.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Competency: RSS Feed
The RSS feed I have chosen is the Twitter News Feed for the American Library Association, Office of Literacy and Outreach Services (OLOS).
This particular feed offers the latest news for the OLOS, links to articles and images.
As a library staff, interested in this particular field, I am hoping to gain more information about current and planned events, as well as news on upcoming trends. I find the information listed in this feed very useful.
The ALA website offers a wealth of information and this feed condenses it down for easy access and makes it more manageable.
There is the link: http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/20594169.rss
This particular feed offers the latest news for the OLOS, links to articles and images.
As a library staff, interested in this particular field, I am hoping to gain more information about current and planned events, as well as news on upcoming trends. I find the information listed in this feed very useful.
The ALA website offers a wealth of information and this feed condenses it down for easy access and makes it more manageable.
There is the link: http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/20594169.rss
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Competency: Podcast
I used www.youtube.com to find a podcast on bookmobiles. When I typed “bookmobile” in the search box I came across the podcast Boston Public Library – Digital Bookmobile.
There is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h642OnCuyw
The Digital Bookmobile is a community outreach vehicle for public libraries to promote electronic resources. Developed inside a 74-foot, 18-wheel tractor-trailer, the nationally touring vehicle is a high-tech update of the traditional bookmobile. Interactive computer stations give visitors an opportunity to search the digital media collection and use supported mobile devices.
I included this podcast because the episode shows how the bookmobile delivers an engaging download experience where library users can immerse themselves in an interactive learning environment and raise awareness of a public library's download service of digital audio books, eBooks, music, and video. Although it creates an engaging experience around the hosting public library’s digital media collection, I think it will be too expensive to turn it to a regular service.
There is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h642OnCuyw
The Digital Bookmobile is a community outreach vehicle for public libraries to promote electronic resources. Developed inside a 74-foot, 18-wheel tractor-trailer, the nationally touring vehicle is a high-tech update of the traditional bookmobile. Interactive computer stations give visitors an opportunity to search the digital media collection and use supported mobile devices.
I included this podcast because the episode shows how the bookmobile delivers an engaging download experience where library users can immerse themselves in an interactive learning environment and raise awareness of a public library's download service of digital audio books, eBooks, music, and video. Although it creates an engaging experience around the hosting public library’s digital media collection, I think it will be too expensive to turn it to a regular service.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Competency: Related Blog
It's rare that anyone comes to public library outreach with all the skills and knowledge to provide the full spectrum of possible services. Even those with a library background often find themselves at a loss when start the bookmobile job. A guest post that I found using blogsearch. google.com immediately grabbed my attention. The post is titled: "What's like to command a bookmobile" and the link to it is: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/popcandy/post/2010/07/guest-blogger-whats-it-like-to-command-a-bookmobile/1 It is curious to read what a newcomer shares about his experience. I liked his enthusiasm and positive thinking. The name of the blog is Pop Candy and it is run by USA Today. The link to it is: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/popcandy/index.
Unfortunately, this post was the only one that I found related to my blog.
Therefore, I searched for another one and I found "Behind the Wheel of the Bookmobile".The link to it is: http://www.bookmobiletravels.com/Blog/Blog.html
The artist and musician Tom Corwin had come up with this whole concept of buying a bookmobile himself and having authors like Lemony Snicket join him, taking turns behind the wheel, and driving across the country interviewing people about the books that have touched their lives and creating a documentary film and a Web-based literacy outreach component. This blog is relevant to my topic because it promotes the bookmobiles, reading and literacy all together.
Unfortunately, this post was the only one that I found related to my blog.
Therefore, I searched for another one and I found "Behind the Wheel of the Bookmobile".The link to it is: http://www.bookmobiletravels.com/Blog/Blog.html
The artist and musician Tom Corwin had come up with this whole concept of buying a bookmobile himself and having authors like Lemony Snicket join him, taking turns behind the wheel, and driving across the country interviewing people about the books that have touched their lives and creating a documentary film and a Web-based literacy outreach component. This blog is relevant to my topic because it promotes the bookmobiles, reading and literacy all together.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Competency: Create a Blog
The purpose of this blog is to compile my new knowledge about information organization and retrieval as part of my graduate class. I will share my experiences and reflection of my learning.
Currently, I work as an outreach services specialist at my local public library. I am the "Bookmobile girl" as children often call me. Because many kids do not have the opportunity to visit the public library, I bring the library to them. I truly believe that our efforts to provide literacy make a difference in the children's life.
Currently, I work as an outreach services specialist at my local public library. I am the "Bookmobile girl" as children often call me. Because many kids do not have the opportunity to visit the public library, I bring the library to them. I truly believe that our efforts to provide literacy make a difference in the children's life.
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