Information Scotland

The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland

August 2004 Volume 2 (4)

School libraries

Teaching with technology

Donald Maclean explains the development of his school website, and how he sees the future role of the school librarian.

"The chance to achieve their ambitions and full potential – that's what all our children deserve and that's what Scotland's schools must deliver."

Peter Peacock, Education Minister
Scotsman 17 March 2004

A laudable target, but one that I think can only be achieved if people work in partnership, whether staff, pupils, parents or the wider community. Moira Methven's Presidential Address (abridged in Information Scotland, June 2004) struck a chord with me, as I realised that the most effective projects I have worked on recently have all featured partnerships of some kind. These have tended to be small in size and incorporated professionals from a wide range of disciplines.

Auchterarder website

I created the website for the Community School of Auchterarder in October 2002, but didn't go live with it on the web until there was a definite purpose for it. The project took on a life of its own after a partnership was forged with a Modern Studies teacher, Simon Walker. In 2003, Modern Studies Online at Auchterarder attracted publicity due to the way that Simon used the website to offer homework online and online lessons.

Research carried out at that time showed that more than 80% of households in the area had access to the Internet. This partnership was immensely rewarding and pointed the way forward for the school website, whilst at the same time emphatically confirming that this type of project is worth undertaking. (Simon has since moved on, and now runs the Upper School Quartet in the British School In Tokyo.)

In 2004, working with Ron Cowie (PT Art & Design), I decided to look again at the structure of the website as it was obvious that one person could not update a website for the entire school. I was happy to concentrate on the structural, navigational and content aspects of the site whilst Ron supplied the visual and graphical expertise. We looked at different ways of allowing individual members of staff to access and update the site, without the involvement of the web manager, and with minimum technical knowledge. We decided to use Macromedia Dreamweaver and Contribute, which allows users to update the website as easily as they could update a Word document (further details are available on the website).

The website is at an early stage, but the Learning Resources Centre (LRC), Careers and Art & Design areas give an idea of how the site may look when other staff join in. Staff will have introductory training sessions in September 2004 to learn how to use Contribute, and how to prepare images for use on the web. As can be seen from the Art & Design area of the site, it is easy for teachers to post news items, homework and homework deadlines, and departmental resources. The aim is to create a tri-partnership between staff, pupils and parents to support, inform and improve.

LRC area

We have big plans for the LRC area, and hope to build a powerful reference area designed specifically for schools. We also hope to publish curricular support materials such as lists and recommendations for Personal Study Texts, as well as guides and further information. We have started on this task, but have some way to go, and will most certainly be consulting with fellow librarians, teachers and pupils as we go along. I keep a close eye on the correspondence in the Scotlib Yahoo Group which helps keep up with new ideas and supplies various nuggets of information.

Careers

In the summer of 2003, the thorny issue of updating the Careers Library Classification Index (CLCI) materials raised its inevitable head, and I decided to do something to avoid this annual paper chase. I started to build a database of employers' websites, categorised using the CLCI definitions as a guide. This meant that employers updated the materials at their end, as opposed to all school libraries chasing employers annually for paper materials.

The project was discussed with Careers Scotland, and the result (Employers On The Web) contains links to over 1500 UK employers, and ties in with the Careers Scotland listings where appropriate. This area is for use by any librarians or careers workers, who are welcome to link to or copy the lists as they see fit.

Librarians' role

I have had many discussions with colleagues about the role of the librarian in today's hi-tech information age. Opinions generally tend to go one of three ways: plunge in and go for it, use the technology but only to support our own traditional methods, or keep out of it and stick to what we're good at.

I'm definitely entrenched in the first camp. The Internet is an obvious example. Schools and authorities work in partnership with software companies to filter out the many undesirable elements, and I think it is up to us to be at the forefront of evaluating, storing and presenting the rest. Our school website runs alongside the school Intranet, which has links to thousands of curriculum-specific websites and pages, created in conjunction with the relevant departmental staff.

Working with teachers and the 5-14 curriculum led to the formation of a company which supplies such weblinks across a wide range of 5-14 topics, along with supplementary materials, Topics Online. This company is run by a partnership of information and teaching specialists.

Digital video is a very trendy topic in schools at present, with some teachers dipping their toes in to see what they can do with the medium. I don't think librarians should be left behind. I've personally found video to be very conducive to building relationships with staff and pupils. I like to film school trips, sporting events etc. edit them, add music and present them purely for entertainment. However, this particular medium is far too powerful to be used exclusively for entertainment.

One of the traditional challenges facing librarians is how to instruct pupils in efficient use of a library. They are usually keen to get their hands on the goods, but are often not so happy to receive instruction on how to find things, especially if this information is offered as a 40 page text document. This is one of many areas where I think Digital Video would be ideal. As well as being physically shown round a library, and offered a handbook, a video could be available on library PCs showing pupils how things work, and where everything is. This would be visually appealing, effective and always available.

I think we are at a crossroads at present, and indeed have been lingering at the crossroads for some time. Should we embrace new technology and start to create as well as store and categorise, or should we re-trench in our traditional areas of expertise? I believe if we choose the latter option, we will become redundant. It is essential that we not only adapt, but use new methods and technology to push forward our own information handling skills and techniques. I believe that ICT encourages partnership, in that often collaboration is required to learn how to use the equipment as well as to create projects. My own experience of using ICT is that it is challenging in some ways, often frustrating, very rewarding when things work out, and above all, good fun!

Donald Maclean (dmaclean@auchterarder.pkc.sch.uk) is Learning Resource Co-ordinator, Community School of Auchterarder

Relevant websites

Community School of Auchterarder website:
www.auchterarder.pkc.sch.uk/index.html

Art & Design Department
www.auchterarder.pkc.sch.uk/Departments/ArtandDesign/html/Home_page.html

LRC Area
www.auchterarder.pkc.sch.uk/LRC/html/Home_page.html

Employers On The Web
www.auchterarder.pkc.sch.uk/Careers/html/employers_web.htm

Scotlib Yahoo Group
groups.yahoo.com/group/scotlib/

Topics Online
www.topicsonline.net/

Information Scotland Vol. 2 (4) August 2004

Information Scotland is delivered online by the SAPIENS electronic publishing service based at the Centre for Digital Library Research. SLAINTE (Scottish libraries across the Internet) offers further information about librarianship and information management in Scotland.

Last updated: 15 September 2004