Comments on: Truth, Lies, and the Internet http://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2011/10/04/truth-lies-and-the-internet/ by Joyce Valenza Wed, 22 May 2013 19:32:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: Erin Ferguson http://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2011/10/04/truth-lies-and-the-internet/#comment-69817 Erin Ferguson Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:40:52 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/?p=5444#comment-69817 Update: The librarians have spoken! Several librarians have made comments on the Demos researchers' blog questioning the omission of school librarians from the original study. Carl Miller and Jamie Bartlett have graciously responded and are asking librarians to share their experiences of helping students develop digital fluency/IL. http://www.demos.co.uk/blog/truthliesandtheinternet Update: The librarians have spoken! Several librarians have made comments on the Demos researchers’ blog questioning the omission of school librarians from the original study. Carl Miller and Jamie Bartlett have graciously responded and are asking librarians to share their experiences of helping students develop digital fluency/IL.

http://www.demos.co.uk/blog/truthliesandtheinternet

]]> By: joycevalenza http://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2011/10/04/truth-lies-and-the-internet/#comment-67135 joycevalenza Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:10:04 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/?p=5444#comment-67135 Thank you, Erin, for providing us with an international perspective. I am grateful for your thoughtful explanation and sad to have my suspicions confirmed. But I wonder if how our amazing and innovative colleagues in the UK, few that they may be, are responding. Thank you, Erin, for providing us with an international perspective. I am grateful for your thoughtful explanation and sad to have my suspicions confirmed.

But I wonder if how our amazing and innovative colleagues in the UK, few that they may be, are responding.

]]> By: Erin Ferguson http://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2011/10/04/truth-lies-and-the-internet/#comment-67025 Erin Ferguson Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:35:12 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/?p=5444#comment-67025 Thanks for this post Joyce. You do a good job of calling attention to the challenges faced by young people in developing information literacy, as well as pointing out the lack of awareness of the school librarian's role. As a US-born librarian who qualified and worked in the United Kingdom, I discovered very similar results when informally evaluating pupils' information literacy abilities. Many pupils seemed to believe that research meant typing assignment questions word for word into a search engine. Like the Demos researchers, I found that pupils focused more on website design rather than content, and they were not in the habit of determining the reliability of information on the web, even though they were certainly capable of doing so once prompted. With so many teachers relying on the internet for research projects and with so many students still struggling to research effectively, it would seem a given that school librarians would become more involved in integrating information literacy into the curriculum, but unfortunately school library provision in the United Kingdom is patchy. Primary schools in the UK rarely have qualified librarians; they are more likely to rely on area wide school library service provision, but this has been under threat due to the recession. Secondary schools are more likely to employ librarians, but there is no statutory requirement to do so, so qualified librarians are more likely to be found in affluent areas or in private schools. Up here in Scotland, it is strongly recommended that schools with 300+ students employ qualified librarians, but again this has been under threat, and the result is that some schools are sharing librarians, librarians are being replaced by clerical assistants, and school and public libraries are combining to create "network librarian" positions. I know this is turning into a bit of an essay, but I think this may be why the researchers did not mention librarians in their study. Although there are some amazing and innovative librarians here in the UK, many people still do not view librarians as educators. As I have written recently, school librarians are often seen as support staff, which is perhaps why they were not given attention in this report, despite the fact that many are directly involved in the activities outlined by Demos. Thanks for this post Joyce. You do a good job of calling attention to the challenges faced by young people in developing information literacy, as well as pointing out the lack of awareness of the school librarian’s role.

As a US-born librarian who qualified and worked in the United Kingdom, I discovered very similar results when informally evaluating pupils’ information literacy abilities. Many pupils seemed to believe that research meant typing assignment questions word for word into a search engine. Like the Demos researchers, I found that pupils focused more on website design rather than content, and they were not in the habit of determining the reliability of information on the web, even though they were certainly capable of doing so once prompted.

With so many teachers relying on the internet for research projects and with so many students still struggling to research effectively, it would seem a given that school librarians would become more involved in integrating information literacy into the curriculum, but unfortunately school library provision in the United Kingdom is patchy.

Primary schools in the UK rarely have qualified librarians; they are more likely to rely on area wide school library service provision, but this has been under threat due to the recession. Secondary schools are more likely to employ librarians, but there is no statutory requirement to do so, so qualified librarians are more likely to be found in affluent areas or in private schools. Up here in Scotland, it is strongly recommended that schools with 300+ students employ qualified librarians, but again this has been under threat, and the result is that some schools are sharing librarians, librarians are being replaced by clerical assistants, and school and public libraries are combining to create “network librarian” positions.

I know this is turning into a bit of an essay, but I think this may be why the researchers did not mention librarians in their study. Although there are some amazing and innovative librarians here in the UK, many people still do not view librarians as educators. As I have written recently, school librarians are often seen as support staff, which is perhaps why they were not given attention in this report, despite the fact that many are directly involved in the activities outlined by Demos.

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