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.

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.

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