Achieving Educational Standards Using the Big6

Murray, Janet R. Achieving Educational Standards Using the Big6. Columbus, OH: Linworth Publishing, 2008. ISBN 1-58683-301-4 379.1580973 Murra

Note: This well-researched and easy-to-read book focuses on how to correlate and integrate multiple educational standards into information literacy units around the Big6 model. These specifics jump out at me:

• This resource is useful even if you do not use Big6 because the ideas are easily adaptable.
• The explanation about the evolution of educational standards is straightforward and easy to understand.
• Several tables illustrate the correlations among various standards, including SCANS, ICT Literacy Proficiences, Standards for the 21st-Century Learner, NETS, and subject-related standards.
• 6 of the 14 chapters are devoted to the major steps of the Big6 model, 1 chapter per step.
• 10 instructional units are included (2 each for primary and elementary and 3 each for middle and high school). -- Jen

Review from Library Media Connection
An in-depth look at how to support the classroom teacher by using the Big6 Research Model is discussed in settings for K-12 libraries. The book shows how national standards evolved and gives examples of lessons targeted to specific standards. It also looks at how information technology standards fit into the school library setting. The text is enhanced with many Web sites and additional resources. Examples are given for teaching a variety of curriculum areas by highlighting each of the steps in the Big6 model. The reader will find valuable information for reviewing and using appropriate Web sites when teaching information seeking strategies. Author Janet Murray also addresses how to design essential questions that will make it difficult for students to copy and paste information in their final project. There are well-developed instructional units that can be adapted to specific needs, including a unit designed for kindergarten where the students explore safety on the playground. This well-planned and well-written book will provide support for librarians who are constantly being asked to justify their positions. Even if you are not using the Big6, you’ll find this book valuable, because you’ll be able to identify areas in which you can use its elements to enhance learning. Highly Recommended. Nelda Brangwin, Librarian, Cherry Valley Elementary School, Duvall, Washington. Library Media Connection, August/September 2008

Answering Consumer Health Questions

Spatz, Michele. Answering Consumer Health Questions. NY: Neal Schuman, 2008. 025.527661 Spatz. isbn 1-55570-632-0

Practical tips and tools for every health reference desk! Patrons seeking medical information are often trying to gain control following an upsetting diagnosis working with them can be rewarding and difficult. In this practical, readable guide, consumer health reference expert Michele Spatz, gives you an understanding of the psychology of those seeking medical information and the skills necessary to respond usefully and appropriately. Spatz outlines the most common inquiries and behaviors of health information searchers and the most useful go-to resources. Sample librarian-patron interactions in every chapter give you useful strategies and scripts. Dozens of templates and forms and tips on everything from setting up the reference desk to encourage confidential inquiries to using body language to signal your availability will help you create a welcoming, empowering atmosphere in your library. Chapters on ethics and potential legal issues guide you through the nitty-gritty of what constitutes practicing medicine without a license, confidentiality requirements, and more. Sections on email, virtual, and telephone reference will help you establish clear guidelines, and creative tips on marketing to healthcare providers will help you forge valuable new partnerships.

The Secrets of Facilitation: The S.M.A.R.T. Guide to Getting Results With Groups

Wilkinson, Michael. The Secrets of Facilitation: The S.M.A.R.T. Guide to Getting Results With Groups. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004. 658.4036 Wilki isbn0-7879-7578-8

The Secrets of Facilitation delivers a clear vision of facilitation excellence and reveals the specific techniques effective facilitators use to produce consistent, repeatable results with groups. Author Michael Wilkinson has trained thousands of managers, analysts, and consultants around the world to apply the power of SMART (Structured Meeting And Relating Techniques) facilitation to achieve amazing results with teams and task forces. He shows how anyone can use these proven group techniques in managing, presenting, teaching, planning, selling, and other professional as well as personal situations.

Fundamentals of Collection Development and Management. 2nd Edition

Johnson, Peggy. Fundamentals of Collection Development and Management. 2nd Edition. Chicago: ALA, 2009. 025.21 Johns 2nd Ed. isbn978-0-8389-0972-0

In recent years, books about electronic resources have greatly outnumbered those covering collection development. Fortunately, Johnson has answered this shortcoming. In nine chapters, she covers the entire field of collection development, from its history to collection analysis to marketing. She succinctly discusses ways to organize and staff for selection, how to write collection plans and budgets, how to manage collections, and how to set up cooperative collection plans with other libraries. The book closes with an appendix listing selection aids, a glossary, and an index of names and subjects. Invaluable to library students and beginning librarians, this book also has helpful ideas and information for even seasoned collections librarians.

Virtual Reference Best Practices

Virtual Reference Best Practices : Tailoring Service to Your Library, by M. Kathleen Kern. Chicago : American Library Association, 2009.

From the publisher:

When it comes to virtual reference, one size doesn't fit all. What works in one library won't necessarily work in another. How do you figure out what to do? The recently published Virtual Reference Service Guidelines from the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), which is reproduced in appendix A, provides the starting point. Kern, a leading virtual reference expert, outlines the tools and decision-making processes that will help you and your library evaluate, tailor, and launch virtual reference services that are a perfect fit for your community and your library.

Moving from general guidelines to making concrete decisions about integrating virtual with traditional reference, Virtual Reference Success

• Provides a handy checklist of issues to consider
• Suggests plans for sustainability of services
• Offers activities and discussion points that support decision making
• Shares proven sample policies and materials currently in use
• Summarizes practical one-page "Research You Can Use"
• Outlines the pros and cons of collaborating in a consortium

Reference librarians, heads of library services, and managers of virtual reference services will welcome this flexible approach with its wealth of exercises and resources to implement immediately. Here's everything you need to reach sound and sustainable decisions about virtual reference services.