Internet Competency

Rationale: Over the course of this semester, I have performed many searches on the topic of book clubs for children and have become familiar with many of the websites on this topic. For the Internet competency, I decided to search for literature circles, a version of a book club that has a base in literacy research. Literature circles have been implemented in schools across the country; even I have used this method in my own fourth grade classroom. The research on and guidelines for using literature circles make starting book clubs in an elementary school, which is my ultimate goal as a librarian, a much easier process. For this reason, I selected the website for the Literature Circles Resource Center developed by the College of Education at Seattle University as a pertinent resource on this topic. This website provides a plethora of information and resources to help classroom teachers and librarians to implement literature circles in their own schools. The Literature Circles Resource Center website includes everything from printable handouts to use with children to criteria for selecting books and has resources for early elementary school through middle school.

Search Engine Used: To locate this website, I used the LYCOS search engine. A discussion of the actual search that produced this result can be viewed at the following link.

Citation: Schlick Noe, K.L. (2009). Literature Circles Resource Center. Retrieved from http://www.litcircles.org/

Research Visual Competency

For the research visual competency, I selected a figure from the article PiggyBacking, which discusses implementing a book club for children in a classroom setting and focuses on including students with learning disabilities in the book clubs. The authors determined that the following model for a book club best met the needs of students with learning disabilities.



Rationale: This figure directly correlates to my topic of interest: implementing book clubs for children in schools. As a future elementary school librarian, this information will be helpful in starting my own book clubs and will also be useful information to pass on to classroom teachers so they might begin book clubs of their own. Because this method has been shown to work with students with learning disabilities, it provides a way for book clubs to be accessible to all studens, no matter what their ability level may be.

Citation: Paxton-Buursma, D. and Walker, M. (2008). Piggybacking. Teaching Exceptional Children, 40(3), 28 - 34.

Interested in reading the entire article? Copyright Link

Image Competency

Citation: Books for Kids Africa. (October 2009). Machava after-school book clubs and the Simon J. Kirby grant. Retrieved from http://www.booksforkidsafrica.org/news-and-events/

Rationale: In searching for information on book clubs for children throughout this semester, I came upon the website Books for Kids Africa in Mozambique, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding literacy in Africa. In reading through the website, I located a section discussing how the organization had received a $4000 grant from the Simon J. Kirby Foundation to purchase books for the Machava After-School Book Clubs in Matola, Mozambique. In July 2009, sixteen teachers were trained on how to how to read books aloud and engage children in real conversations around books. The book clubs began later that month and more than two hundred students attended. The image above is a photograph of one of these meetings.

This image really touched my heart. As a future elementary school librarian, one of my goals is to organize voluntary book clubs for students. To see passionate teachers halfway around the world with the same goal in such different circumstances made me feel a deep connection to these fellow educators.

For further information on this great cause, please visit the website Books for Kids Africa in Mozambique.

Module Eight: DIALOG Competency

Database: DIALOG – Library Literature and Information Science (LIBLIT 438)

Search Strategy: Building Block

Initial Question: What techniques are effective in developing successful book clubs for children?

Key Terms/Facets:

Key Terms or Facets	techniques	book clubs	children
Descriptors	▪strategies ▪methods ▪teaching methods ▪techniques	▪literature circles ▪book discussion groups ▪literature clubs ▪book clubs ▪group reading	▪kids ▪elementary students ▪children

Search One:

• Command One: ss strategies OR methods OR teaching methods OR techniques
  
• Command Two: ss literature circles OR book discussion groups OR literature clubs OR book clubs OR group reading
  
• Command Three: ss kids OR elementary students OR children
  
  

Results:

Set	Term Searched	Items
S1	STRATEGIES	1437
S2	METHODS	1948
S3	TEACHING METHODS	0
S4	TECHNIQUES	1914
S5	STRATEGIES OR METHODS OR TEACHING METHODS OR TECHNIQUES	5065
S6	LITERATURE CIRCLES	0
S7	BOOK DISCUSSION GROUPS	200
S8	LITERATURE CLUBS	0
S9	BOOK CLUBS	93
S10	GROUP READING	0
S11	LITERATURE CIRCLES OR BOOK DISCUSSION GROUPS OR LITERATURE CLUBS OR BOOK CLUBS OR GROUP READING	293
S12	KIDS	851
S13	ELEMENTARY STUDENTS	0
S14	CHILDREN	20612
S15	KIDS OR ELEMENTARY STUDENTS OR CHILDREN	20969

Combined Facet Command: ss S5 AND S11 AND S15

• Results: 5 records
  

Pertinent Records:

• 16/8/1 DIALOG(R)File 438:(c) 2010 The HW Wilson Co. All rts. reserv.
  0318964 H.W. Wilson Record Number: BLIB91002494
  Commentary on an approach to discussion: the CCBC guidelines for book discussion
  
  
• 16/8/2 DIALOG(R)File 438:(c) 2010 The HW Wilson Co. All rts. reserv.
  0318963 H.W. Wilson Record Number: BLIB91002493
  Guidelines for book discussions
  
  
• 16/8/5 DIALOG(R)File 438:(c) 2010 The HW Wilson Co. All rts. reserv.
  0318960 H.W. Wilson Record Number: BLIB91002488
  Book discussion as an evaluation tool
  
  Library Lit. & Info. Science (Dialog® File 438): (c) 2010 The HW Wilson Co. All rights reserved.
  

Reflection: The first search I ran was successful in locating a few pertinent records that would be helpful in answering my initial question, but the results were quite limited. Based on previous experience with this same initial question, I knew that sometimes the 'techniques' facet could throw off the results. With this in mind, I decided to run a second search eliminating this facet to see if this would be successful in producing a larger number of pertinent resources.

Search Two:

Combined Facet Command: ss S11 AND S15

• Results: 38 records
  

Pertinent Records:

• 17/8/3 DIALOG(R)File 438:(c) 2010 The HW Wilson Co. All rts. reserv.
  0550339 H.W. Wilson Record Number: BLIB09109960
  Literature Circles in Library Class
  
  
• 17/8/4 DIALOG(R)File 438:(c) 2010 The HW Wilson Co. All rts. reserv.
  0543510 H.W. Wilson Record Number: BLIB06104513
  Going Clubbing
  
  

  
  

• 17/8/10 DIALOG(R)File 438:(c) 2010 The HW Wilson Co. All rts. reserv.
  0489483 H.W. Wilson Record Number: BLIB02002956
  Book club on a budget
  
  

  
  

• 17/8/14 DIALOG(R)File 438:(c) 2010 The HW Wilson Co. All rts. reserv.
  0460995 H.W. Wilson Record Number: BLIB06000200
  Reading raps a book club guide for librarians, kids, and families
  
  

  
  

• 17/8/19 DIALOG(R)File 438:(c) 2010 The HW Wilson Co. All rts. reserv.
  0356536 H.W. Wilson Record Number: BLIB03002089
  Talk about books! a guide for book clubs, literature circles, and discussion groups, grades 4-8
  
  

  
  

• 17/8/20 DIALOG(R)File 438:(c) 2010 The HW Wilson Co. All rts. reserv.
  0346177 H.W. Wilson Record Number: BLIB03000359
  Connecting with Boys at Lunch: A Success Story
  
  

  
  

• 17/8/21 DIALOG(R)File 438:(c) 2010 The HW Wilson Co. All rts. reserv.
  0321056 H.W. Wilson Record Number: BLIB98004015
  Having their say: how to lead great book discussions with children; bibliographical essay
  
  

  
  

• 17/8/23 DIALOG(R)File 438:(c) 2010 The HW Wilson Co. All rts. reserv.
  0319920 H.W. Wilson Record Number: BLIB94001996
  Children's book discussion groups; for ages 9-12 in Hennepin County
  
  

  
  

• 17/8/34 DIALOG(R)File 438:(c) 2010 The HW Wilson Co. All rts. reserv.
  0317522 H.W. Wilson Record Number: BLIB02000136
  Children to chatter about books; Orange Chatterbooks program launches at several PLs
  
  

  
  

• 17/8/35 DIALOG(R)File 438:(c) 2010 The HW Wilson Co. All rts. reserv.
  0317415 H.W. Wilson Record Number: BLIB01009027
  Talkin' the night away; book discussion group for children's librarians in Albany, N.Y.

Library Lit. & Info. Science (Dialog® File 438): (c) 2010 The HW Wilson Co. All rights reserved.

Reflection: As I suspected, the removal of the 'techniques' facet was successful in producing a greater number of pertinent results. Interestingly, all of the pertinent records located in my first search were also present in the second search.

Conclusion: The DIALOG database was quite an interesting experience. It was extremely different from the other databases I had used in the past, but was very successful in producing pertinent records that I had not come across in the many other database searches I had completed using the very same question. While expensive (the brief time I was on DIALOG cost $11.76), if access was provided I would certainly take advantage of this unique searching tool.

Multimedia Competency

For the multimedia competency, I located a video about a book club for boys hosted by an elementary school. My topic of interest is implementing book clubs for children in elementary schools, and as a fourth grade teacher, I know from experience how difficult it can be to get boys interested in books. The video clip gives great insight into why this book club has been so successful and also gives perspectives from the young students who participate in this group.



Citation: Insley, K. (Copyright 2010). 'Guys read' program at Westview Elementary is cool in school [KARE 11 News]. Apple Valley, Minnesota: Multimedia Holdings Corporation.

Copyright Link

Searching Competency Four: Library Literature and Citation Pearl

Database: Library Literature

Search Strategy: Citation Pearl

Initial Question: What techniques are effective in developing successful book clubs for children?

Rationale: For the final of four searching competencies, I chose the Library Literature database, which I had recently used for the first time while searching for resources for my Novice to Expert paper. While using this database, I found it quite user-friendly and thought it had the potential for producing a variety of resources to meet my information needs. I chose to wait until the final searching competency to use the citation pearl strategy because in order to use this strategy, you must first have a resource that has been identified as pertinent to the initial question as a starting point. Waiting until last to use this strategy allowed me to have a variety of records to choose from using the resources I had found in the three other searching competencies.

Known Item: Gelman, Judy, et al. (2007). The kids' book club book: Reading ideas, recipes, activities, and smart tips for organizing terrific kids' book clubs. New York, NY: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated.

I began the citation pearl strategy by selecting a known pertinent record that I had located on a previous search. I did a title search on the resource, and then located the related subject terms associated with the resource.

Related Subject Terms:

• book discussion groups
  
• children's reading/projects
  
• children's book clubs
  
• young adults' reading/projects
  
• school libraries/activity projects
  
• children's reading/Canada
  
• book lists
  
  

I selected the following subject terms from the list that I believed would produce further pertinent results: book discussion groups, children's book clubs, children's reading/projects, and school libraries/activity projects.

Search 1:

• Boolean Statement (Subject Search): (book discussion groups OR children's book clubs OR (children's reading AND projects) OR (school libraries AND activity projects))
  
• Records Retrieved: 3649
  
• Reflection: This search produced far too many results to browse through, I decided to reduce my subject terms by eliminating the 'school libraries/activity projects' facet, as it is not directly pertinent to my initial question.
  

Search 2:

• Boolean Statement (Subject Search): (book discussion groups OR children's book clubs OR (children's reading AND projects))
  
• Records Retrieved: 1324
  
• Reflection: While this search produced significantly fewer results than the first search, there were still far too many records, most of which were not pertinent to my initial question. To further reduce the results, I again eliminated an additional facet, 'children's reading/projects.'
  

Search 3:

• Boolean Statement (Subject Search): (book discussion groups OR children's book clubs)
  
• Records Retrieved: 224
  
• Reflection: Reducing the search terms to only those that were most closely related to my initial question allowed me to retrieve a reasonable amount of records.
  

Pertinent Records Citations:

Saricks, J. (2009). Leading book discussions. Booklist, 106(1), 37.

DeVault, N. (2009). Literature circles in library class. Library Media Connection, 28(1), 24-5.

Saldana, R. (2009). The bilingual book club: A family affair. Teacher Librarian, 36(3), 27-32.

Jones, C. (2009). Hands-on reading: The Pioneer book club. Virginia Libraries, 55(1), 26-8.

Knop, K. (2008). Graphic novels--join the club!. Library Media Connection, 27(3), 40-1.

Beyers, C. (2008). Connecting with students. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 24(6), 48-9.

Hall, S. (2007). How I learned to run a really popular book club (and what I learned about its effect on students' reading skills and attitude). Teacher Librarian, 35(1), 32-6.    

Conclusion: The citation pearl strategy was highly effective in producing pertinent results related to my initial question. The only potential problem I could identify with this method is identifying a known source at the start. Had I not already had several known sources to choose from as a result of my previous searching competencies, I would have had to go through several more steps to identify a known source. However, if, like in my case, one has multiple known pertinent records, the citation pearl strategy would be an efficient method to use in order to locate further resources.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Searching Competency Three: Academic Search Complete and Building Block

Database: Academic Search Complete

Search Strategy: Building Block

Initial Question: What techniques are effective in developing successful book clubs for children?

Rationale: For the third of four searching competencies, I chose the Academic Search Complete database, which I had recently used for the first time as a requirement for Module Seven. While using this database for the required element of the course, I found it fairly easy to use and thought it had the potential for producing a variety of resources to meet my information needs.

Using the building block strategy, I first identified the main facets of my questions, then brainstormed possible descriptors for each facet, and finally used the Subject Terms feature on Academic Search Complete to identify synonymous thesaurus terms the database would recognize.

Key Terms/Facets:

Key Terms or Facets	techniques	book clubs	children
Descriptors	▪strategies ▪methods	▪literature circles ▪book discussion groups ▪literature clubs	▪kids ▪elementary students
Academic Search Complete Thesaurus Terms	▪teaching methods ▪strategy	▪book clubs ▪discussion groups ▪group reading	▪children

After identifying all thesaurus terms, I continued to follow the building block strategy by using Boolean logic to express the facets as a Boolean search string and began searching using the Subject Terms search.

Search 1:

(teaching methods OR strategy) AND (book clubs OR discussion groups OR group reading) AND (children)

Records Retrieved: 7

Reflection: This search succeeded in producing a limited number of results, but most of the records produced were focused more on reading strategies than on book clubs. While I did find a couple of pertinent records, I decided I needed to refine my search slightly to eliminate the heavy focus on strategies.

Pertinent Records Citations:

Anderson, P. & Corbett, L. (2008). Literature circles for students with learning disabilities. Intervention in School & Clinic, 44(1), 25 – 33.

Paxton-Buursma, D. & Walker, M. (2008). Piggybacking. Teaching Exceptional Children, 40(3), 28 – 34.

Search 2:

Reflecting upon my first search, I decided to eliminate the 'strategy' and 'teaching methods' facets as well as to refine the 'discussion groups' facet to 'book discussion groups.'

(book clubs OR book discussion groups OR group reading) AND (children)

Records Retrieved: 68

Reflection: This search produced significantly more results than my first search had and there were also many more pertinent records.

Pertinent Records Citations:

DeVault, N. (2009). Literature circles in library class. Library Media Connection, 28(1), 24 – 25.

Hill, R.A. (2009). Lunchtime book clubs. Book Links, 18(3), 12 – 13.

Patalano, T. (2008). Join the club. Scholastic Parent & Child, 15(8), 92.

Sennett, F. (2006). Book clubs turn the page to learning. Curriculum Review, 46(2), 14 – 15.

Bianchi, J. (2006). Book clubs for kids. Good Housekeeping, 243(1), 103.

Preis, A. (2006). Going clubbing. School Library Journal, 52(4), 37.

King, C. (2001). "I like group reading because we can share ideas": The role of talk within the literature circle. Reading, 35(1), 32 – 37.

The little O's book club. (1998). Reading Today, 16(2), 1 – 2.

Conclusion: I was very pleased with the records produced using the building block strategy and the Academic Search Complete database. This search was successful in producing more pertinent records than any other database search I have performed thus far. The Academic Search Complete database was very easy to use and had a wide variety of journals and other resources to from which records were accessed. The building block strategy was a great tactic for organizing my search and pertinent results were located efficiently with no frustration.