Reflection - why do it?

I am amazed by how valuable the reflection process is. In fact this subject - Resourcing The Curriculum - has taught me the value of reflection as a way of taking stock of how things are and then using this information to move forward and drive change. This realisation is why I have posted work from my assignment onto this blog. I am not someone who enjoys social media. Unlike my husband and children, I find blogging and using Facebook alien to my personality. I am a private person, and like my private space. Face Book to me is the stuff nightmares are made of. I have to literally steel myself to blog as it is like baring one's soul. I have no problem baring my soul to people I can see face-to-face, where I can judge their reactions and defend my stance if needs be. It worries me that for my Professional Portfolio blogging is essential. I can only hope that it is only a small component of the marks or I am doomed!! I have a weekly Reflection Journal at work and I have instigated this practice with my staff as well. It is a private journal for each of us and immensely valuable. In it we record weekly: What went well this week... It could have been even better if... How have I been kind this week or gone the extra mile? The last point was included as part of a strategy to resolve an ongoing staff issue and has been quite successful in changing an atmosphere of conflict between two of my team members. My staff (4 Library Officers and 1 resource officer) work very closely together -3 of them at the Circulation Desk at a time. Personalities do clash from time to time but I am extremely lucky in that I have the most wonderful person in the world, my Senior Library Officer, Sheue Mui, who has more EQ than probably 99% if not 100% of the entire population, managing that front desk. She successfully smooths most disputes over before they really ever get going. Without her my job would be ten times more difficult. Anyway - my husband has just left for Cannes (Advertising Awards) and I am going to go out and enjoy the rest of the day.

Reflection on what I learnt through the development of a revised collection policy.

In revising my school’s existing library collection policy the most valuable change I had to make was the inclusion of a statement of the library’s policy on copyright issues. It seems fundamental now and given my school’s strong policy on academic honesty it was surprising that it had not been originally included in the policy. The next most beneficial aspect of revising the policy was the need to insert collection goals for the next three years. This compelled me to analyze that, despite having achieved much to establish a welcoming attractive library environment and meet inspection criteria, I needed now to focus on developing the technology resources in the library and move into selecting e-books to meet the needs of those students’ preferring to read through technology. Through revision of the library collection development policy I looked more closely at the recent inclusions in the policy to reflect our schools new focus on the IBO Primary Years Learner Profile (LP) (2013). While reference had been made to the Learner Profile in the policy, it was at a superficial level and inadequate considering our school’s commitment to those attributes as being fundamental to the ethos of our school. This analysis was, I feel, of immense benefit in highlighting a crucial flaw in the policy which needed to be addressed.

Reflection as I evaluated my library's existing collection policy/practices.

I realised from this assignment that I really had to face up to my library's inadequacies in terms of 20th Century technology. It wasn't that I hadn't been trying to address those issues - I had. However it is my second year in library and I still had some learning to do regarding how to get funding for what was needed when there were conflicting priorities. From evaluation of the existing collection policy/practices I learnt many of the finer points of collection policy previously unknown to this (new) TL. One example of this was the discovery in the policy that there was a need to stocktake/weed technology. In fact this subject, CSU ETL503 - Resourcing the Curriculum, was a catalyst for me, it drew many areas of my previous learning at CSU together and made me confront the elephant in my library – that while the school is technology-resource rich, the library was seriously deficient. For almost two years I had requested 21st Century resources, but nothing had been forthcoming. Spurred on by my collection evaluation and analysis of the existing library policy advocating ‘mobile technology’ (TTS LCDP, 2013, p.4) I used my information as ammunition, channelled all my energy into renewed requests and within a 24 hour period secured a semi-permanent ‘loan’ of 20 new iTouches, 6 new iPads (to add to our small collection of 5) as well as a Visualiser and an interactive whiteboard for teaching/learning activities. Resourcing the Curriculum (CSU ETL 503, 2013) was a valuable module to my library! Evaluating the existing collection policy, in conjunction with the evaluation of the library collection, taught me to question why some collections were little used, despite the policy stating this collection was a clear requirement for our school library. (E.g. The Mandarin Picture Book Collection.)Survey Monkey It taught me to use borrowing statistics as an indicator that there was a problem, to analyze why these borrowing statistics were low and then to collaborate with library colleagues to seek solutions I had previously never considered traffic flow as an underlying factor to low borrowing statistics, as it was in the case of the Audio Books for example, so much has been learnt.

Reflection on the Evaluation of My Library Collection

Recently I had to evaluate my (library) collection for a CSU assignment and reflect on what I had learnt. I found this assignment to be so useful that I decided to post up my reflections. My reflections on my evaluation of the collection follow: After much reflection, my learning at Charles Sturt University (CSU) and subsequent evaluation of the Junior Library Collection led to many insights, resulting in beneficial changes to some library practices. For example, while inter-library loans are commonplace in our library, until my reading on selecting resources I hadn’t realised the benefits of using inter-library loans to ‘review a title’ (Chapman, 2004, p.93) before selection which ensures resources better . New to this library role, my selection process was previously ‘ad hoc’ (Crotty, 2013, CSU Podcast Assignment 2 Part A). I selected resources when I saw those which matched curriculum topics. I have learnt the valuable role the systematic evaluation of a collection plays in informing the TL of the collection’s ‘strengths and weaknesses’ (Crotty, 2013, CSU Podcast Assignment 2 Part A) before selection takes place. This ensures selected resources will better meet learners’ needs. Previously, reading levels were considered, but I purchased whatever I thought was appropriate whenever I saw it. Through my readings, as I evaluated the library collection, I realised that my collaboration with staff for selection had been somewhat tokenistic. Now I understand the true value of collaboration, not just with staff but the whole community. According to Mitchell (2011, p.12) ‘the top priority …is ensuring that your school community is well served by a locally relevant collection of resources’ and for this collaboration is essential. This insight has resulted in a mailbox being prominently displayed for physical requests from the community and an interactive component for community resource requests being currently designed for the library homepage on Firefly in addition to the TL attending curriculum planning meetings. Through my learning of the collection evaluation process I gained insights into aspects of my collection that needed to be prioritized for development (e.g. Junior Fiction). I realised that my Learner Profile Picture Book Collection was not ‘balanced’ (Mitchell, 2013,CSU ETL503 Module 2, p.2) and, as that it is essential, according to Wall & Ryan (2010, p.10), ‘that priority be given to areas where innovation is occurring’ as the LP is in our school. Through the evaluation it was realised too that last years’ stocktake had overlooked the Audio/Visual Collection. This has prompted the staff to re-evaluate the stocktake procedure where future stocktaking will be done on a staggered basis, rather than trying to stocktake the whole collection at once which can lead to mistakes. The evaluation made me confront other previously unrealised issues – e.g. that the Audio Visual Collection was in part under utilised because it was in a low-traffic area. After reflection, inter-shelving successfully addressed that issue and traffic patterns analysed to ensure maximum expose of resources. I hadn’t realised too until reading in the policy (TTS LCDP, 2013, p.8) that resources must be ‘current’ this also meant technology resources. After evaluating the itouches in our library it was established they were first generation resources, without even a camera to read QR Codes. Recent collaboration with the ICT Department has rectified this issue with new resources to better meet learning/teaching needs.