Saturday, January 11, 2020

LSSL 5332- Journal Entry Post #2



LSSL 5332

Unit 2

Journal Entry #2


“During unit 2 we will be discussing and learning about Dewey Decimal and organization of materials in a library.  For the Reflection Journal 2, discuss your ideas about standard organization of library materials versus nonstandard methods (genre etc).  Discuss standard organization and standard cataloging (what you know so far) and why it is important for students to develop information literacy skills to be able to locate and access materials.  In other words, why is it important to teach them how to find materials rather then 'making it easy for them' to find books. How does cataloging, particularly using standard methods of organization, support the development of these skills?  As you reflect, think about your role in cataloging and how your decisions impact the development of life-long skills for using libraries. Include specific examples to illustrate your points and cite sources as appropriate.”

Standardized Organizations of Materials

Standard organization of materials in a library falls under multiple categories, all of which equally important. MARC 21 and AACR2 help catalog the material in the computer database, but they do not necessarily organize them on the users’ level. Librarians have access to the records, understanding them with ease, allowing them to find specific information on a book and then finding the book faster. Within a library, most individuals do not know how to use the cataloging system, therefore, rely on other ways to find materials. While I do not necessarily think that every patron should be able to access and understand the above mentioned records, I do believe that patrons should be able to find materials they need in a quick, logical manner.

Specifics such as the Dewey Decimal System help patrons find books. When librarians decorate signs and hang them on the edge of the bookcase, much like in school settings, children tend to peruse more than normal. Instead of finding a book on the computer’s system, the child will walk around looking at the pictures as opposed to finding the number associated with the book they actually want. This has actually been an ongoing issue at my school, and the librarians are having a difficult time of breaking the habit of the older students who want to wander and find a book based off of the cover instead of finding one for what its contents have. Honestly, I see it every time we go to the library. Students have expressed to me that they just don’t want to read for fun and find it difficult to find a book. Many students have to be prompted on a genre, author, or idea and then we, the librarian and I, will guide them to a book they may enjoy. It can be frustrating at times, now after these classes, to know how much effort was put into organizing books in a library, especially one as large as some of these are nowadays, and people not taking the time to use the information and honor it.

The Dewey Decimal System, as an idea rather than a full out concept, is explained, in detail, to students at the beginning of the year in almost every grade to make sure that students understand how to find a book and what to do when replacing a book. Yet, even after hearing the same instructions for ten plus years, students leave high school still not knowing how to find a book without asking an adult for help. I truly believe that if students used the skills they already had, along with the information given to them over the years, the anchor charts, and computer programs within the library, they would develop a better sense of what they enjoy reading and a deeper meaning of why they enjoy it.

Students need to be able to know what they enjoy and don’t enjoy reading because of the rigor of our schools increasing each year, adding in more individualized, self-sustained reading to correlate with reading and writing within the classroom. As a seventh grade teacher, I am required to take them to the library bi-weekly, but I do not have to require them to check out a book because it is their choice. I can “require” them to check out a book, in Lame man’s terms, but I can’t make them read when they leave the classroom. And, in all honesty, I sometimes can’t even get them to read when they are in the classroom. The constant struggle I face is students not knowing what they like, therefore, they don’t choose books they actually want to read. When they don’t read in class for fun, gaining those habits and asking deeper questions, they definitely don’t read at home for fun. My go to quote is that one can only better themselves at reading and writing if they practice it over and over again. If a student isn’t practicing reading, inside or outside of the classroom or library, they are not improving their literacy skills. If we continue to sit here and give children books because they say they like something specific, they are never going to branch out on their own and take the initiative to find something new. 

As a current teacher and future librarian, I make it my goal to help guide children to books, never giving them anything. I ask probing questions, pick their brains, ask what they have recently read or watched, and go from there. I make sure, after gaining enough knowledge of their likes, to give them a plethora of genres and books to choose from instead of saying they should read only one book because it fits all of their criteria.

When a child can think for themselves about a specific kind of book they like, choose a book for themselves based on their reasoning, and want to read something on their own, without being told by an adult, is when I will finally say I succeeded as an educator who engrained that reading can be fun.

Bibliography:
Intner, Sheila S., Fountain, Joanna F., & Weihs, J. (2010). Cataloging correctly for kids: An
     introduction to the tools (5th ed.). Chicago, IL: American Library Association Editions.





Teacher Comments:


Molly,
Great work on the reflection!  You've noted key points in the why and how of cataloging.  It is so important to help our users get comfortable with searching and understanding the organization.  This is why the idea of varied genrefiying schemes are troublesome for me.  I'm just not convinced they are best for kids.  
Buffy

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