The degree to which a library catalogue can be consulted easily by teachers and students is of great significance if teacher-librarians wish to encourage user-independence. A flexible catalogue will allow broader use of the school library.
I certainly agree with the above statement. As a frequent user of the Vancouver Island Public Library, I am very familiar with their online catalogue and use it in various capacities. I now can also use it to find MARC records! Since I've been using their website, it has gone through a couple of changes, and in their latest version of the catalogue, some things are not quite as easy to find (inter-library loan, for example), but with some perseverance and the desperation of getting a particular book, success is usually the result.
As far as using the library catalogue at my school, well, that is another story. Before I took over the job, the catalogue was never used. A subject search on something common like bears would come up with very few results, so it was often just easier to go and browse the shelves. I'm not sure how well the initial cataloging of the collection was done, but my impression is that it was not done adequately to make it a useable and useful database. Now that I am re-cataloging everything (after the June 2010 server crash), and learning what I'm learning through this course, I now understand the importance of correct and detailed cataloging.
Our school uses L4U, a Kelowna-based company. Whether or not I like it is irrelevant, as this is what we have. It seems like Follett Destiny has more bells and whistles.
On February 22 (yes, two days ago), I finally talked to the tech guy about our online catalogue, and found out the website address. I have gone online and had a look, and now it is much clearer to me how my cataloging "looks" when a user is doing a search.
The user page seems very straight-forward, and I just e-mailed the staff to let them know that there are now 4800 books in the database, and I am happy to show people how to use the OPAC for their own searching.
As far as showing the students how to use it, that will require a few direct lessons in the concept of a catalogue, etc. Since I only have two computers in the library, this might be a slow process, but I will figure out a way to integrate searching the OPAC with my library lessons and research projects. Unfortunately, I don't have very many of the non-fiction books catalogued yet, but they can at least find a general call # and then browse the stacks.
Independence for library users is a good concept. Our school is small enough that I am always available to help all the students, but I can see that with a bigger school, that would not necessarily be possible. Once I have created a culture of doing research projects (research has been sadly lacking in general), then independence will be the ultimate goal for students. The library resources will have to be linked with online resources as well, and this will probably happen through the library website which I am developing. When I teach library search skills, I always emphasize that these same procedures are used at any library in the world (relatively speaking), just so they start to understand that these are transferable skills.
I now also understand that the ability to look up a resource and then find it is the goal. I know that the way I've been organizing some of the resources, that this might not be that easy. For example, I have easy non-fiction in a separate section in the library, but I also have easy non-fiction in colour-coded bins sorted by reading level. Hmmm, that will have to change, as probably even I might not be able to find a resource without a lot of looking. Also, I don't know how to differentiate NF books in the easy section or the regular section on the catalogue.
I have separated out holiday and other special ocassion books, and they are shelved in the teacher resource area. For example, books on the seasons, books without words, Mother's Day, etc. This way I can pull out all the books for a special day and display them easily, rather than having to search for all those books. I could easily direct a student if they needed one of those books, but they could not find the book independently.
There is so much for a new librarian to learn and figure out!
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