Fifth Reference Librarian Observation

Well, I was lucky enough to hit one more homerun in my last observation. I listened in as the school librarian, on November 9th, conducted a class on RADCAB. This, at first, seemed new to me, until I heard what it was. Lo and behold, it was almost exactly what we have been talking about as criteria for selecting web pages (or databases for that matter) for scholarly use. I had not heard this little “catch-phrase” before, so if you have not either, it stands forR= RelevancyA= AppropriatenessD= DetailC= CurrencyA= AuthorityB= BiasIn this class, the librarian started off only discussing three of them- Relevancy, Appropriateness, and Authority. She began with two methods that we have discussed in class- discussing the objectives for the day, and the use of a handout. The handout had questions that the students were to fill out while class was being conducted, and they were collected at the end of class as an assessment. For each of the three topics, the librarian began with asking the students for a definition. I noticed that for some reason (and this had not normally been the case) the students were lethargic and not eager to participate (perhaps a pre-lunch sugar low!). She would not go on, asking the same question, and in a very fun way, egged them into participating. Once the ball was going, participation picked right up. I think they may know she is not going to cave in and just move on!For each of the three topics, the librarian had two questions associated with each. For Relevancy, the questions were 1. Does this apply to what I need to know for my research? 2. Will it help answer my questions? For Appropriateness, the questions were 1. Can I understand everything without it being too easy? 2. Is there information that makes me or teachers uncomfortable? For Authority, the questions were 1. Who is the author? 2. Is the author an expert?She had, before class, prepared websites that the students went to in order to answer the questions for each topic. For each site, they students were given a few moments to click around, absorb the information on the site, and write down their answers to the two questions. This time, the answers were not discussed, and I believe this is because she was using the handout as an assessment tool, and not as a means of discussion, or take-away information. Again, she never sat down, but floated amongst the students, making sure everyone was on the same page (literally) and that they understood the information.The librarian wrapped up with questions. Correct answers received stickers for her “Thinker’s Board.” I am surprised at how eager junior high students are to get on the Thinker’s Board. Of course, they act as though it is a silly thing, but everyone who got a sticker made sure to put it on the board, and no sticker questions went unanswered. As usual, I felt this was a really great learning experience, and am quite sad that it was the last one. I contacted this particular librarian on a cold call, a pretty risky thing, and ended up with a fantastic observation project. I had such a tough time deciding which projects to look in on! She is extremely active in her collaboration with teachers, and always conducts herself and her class in a textbook perfect manner. I could not have asked for a better experience.