The last few weeks had an enormous about of learning in regards to information and reference materials. We covered many topics from the deep web, to bibliographies to dictionaries and thesauri.
Spending time in learning about the "invisible/deep web" I reflected as a teacher my journeys in teaching my students about searching the web. Understanding that so much of the information available isn't even accessible by a "standard" google search, made me dive into learning how searching works. "the size of the Invisible Web is 500 times larger than the Surface Web" according to Beyond the Google: The Invisible Web. Most information found in databases aren't retrieved by a basic search engine search, and so I spent some time in various databases such as our UBC library database, and learning about databases in my school district such as Gale and Ebsco. I began to realize why our school and our school district subscribe to so many different databases, and subscription websites, when I always thought the same information is on Google. Subscription websites and databases contain vast amounts of information that is protected or hidden from most basic searches. I'm quite proud of how many different sites and databases our school subscribes to, I've included a small snapshot of some primary and intermediate databases from my district.
For me, I think an understanding has to happen for students on why they need to use databases, and why basic search queries aren't enough in terms of computer and information literacy.
On the same branch of searching and queries, I also spent time in indexes. I did not know what an index was in terms of a reference material before this lesson, and still struggle with understanding what exactly an index is. To me an index and a database are the same? I will need to add learning and playing with index's onto my list of future learning. I also struggled in finding pricing and information if I would want to purchase an index/database for my school. I am not sure what a good price is or what I would potentially have to look for when considering a purchase. This again is something to add to my list moving forward.
Some of my takeaways from the bibliography, and biography lesson was the resources mentioned in the module as well as some I've come across on my own after reading this lesson. I'll list the ones I found interesting below.
A to Zoo: Subject access to children's picture books
The Children's Literature Web Guide: Internet Sources Related to Books for Children and Young Adults
UBC Children and Young Adult Literature
On a small side note as I wrap up my relfection on this theme, I really enjoyed reading about encyclopedias again. As many of my peers mentioned, I also loved flipping through them and doing research projects from them as a child. I was amazed though on the sheer amount to consider when evaluating an encyclopedia though! Wow!
In summary, this theme was jam packed with information and I personally felt like it was the biggest learning step for me in the course so far because I had such little background going in.
References:
"Children's Literature - Best Books Lists". People.Ucalgary.Ca, 1998, https://people.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/lists.html.
"Libguides: Beyond Google: The Invisible Web". Guides.Laguardia.Edu, 2018, https://guides.laguardia.edu/beyondgoogle.
"CLWG: Children's Literature Web Guide". Acs.Ucalgary.Ca, 2022, http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html.
"Fantastic Fiction". Fantastic Fiction, 2022, https://www.fantasticfiction.com/.
"Research Guides: Children’S And Young Adult Literature: Getting Started". Guides.Library.Ubc.Ca, 2022, https://guides.library.ubc.ca/childrensliterature.
"SD42 Online Resources". Onlineresources.Sd42.Ca, 2022, https://onlineresources.sd42.ca/.
"Understandingprejudice.Org: Bibliography Of Children's Books". Understanding Prejudice, 2022, https://secure.understandingprejudice.org/readroom/kidsbib.htm.
Lima, Carolyn W, and Rebecca L Thomas. A To Zoo: Subject Access To Children's Picture Books. Libraries Unlimited, 2008.
I agree with you that this final theme was like a fire hose of information coming at us and that it was a lot to process for one summary. With respect to database pricing, if you are working in a school district then often the SD will purchase district-wide access to various databases and share the cost that way. My experience has been that individual school subscriptions are much more expensive. Thank you for "putting the pineapple out" and inviting me along on your learning journey. I appreciated your perspective.
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