[LM_NET] HIT : Elementary Reference collections

[Sue Rasmussen <rpsmedia@YAHOO.COM>]

Big thanks to everyone who shared their views about reference collections in 
today's elementary school libraries. Amidst the range of opinions, many felt like 
me that with the added responsibility of teaching students to be lifelong users of 
information, it is important to expose them to resources in a variety of formats.  
As a result of your input, I will be working to update our "reference collection" 
with both print and electronic resources, but look for ways to make them more 
accessible to students starting with overnight checkout.  I'd love to hear from 
anyone else who hasn't yet shared their views.
Oringinal post
With teaching demands, budget crunches and all the other stuff we do, our reference 
collection has gotten somewhat outdated and kind of forgotten. When I mentioned 
that I want to make this my purchasing priority this year, a friend asked why even 
have a separate reference collection today in light of all the electronic resources 
available and the fact that kids are so comfortable using it. So after doing some 
searching in the archives and not finding recent discussions, I’ve decided to come 
to all my elementary friends out there with two questions:
 
First, do you feel there is there still a need for “reference collection” in 
elementary school libraries? Why or why not?
 
Second, what would you consider some essential reference resources (print or 
electronic/free or subscription-based) for today’s elementary school library?
 
Thanks in advance,
Sue Rasmussen
Teacher Librarian
Ruth Powell Elementary School
Safford , AZ
rpsmedia@yahoo.com 
I personally think there is a place for both when it comes to encyclopedias and 
dictionaries. I have taken some of the sets of reference books and put them into 
circulation. They are being used much more than ever before. I have World Book in 
print and the county is paying for it online this year. I enjoy the print version 
and whenever the internet is slow or not working it is invaluable. As for 
dictionaries and thesaurus, I like to do whole class activities and do prefer the 
print for that. I do not have to pay for online resources, because they are 
purchased district wide. We have net Trekker,Culture Grams, World Book, Sirs, and a 
few for teachers such as Atomic Learning and Teaching Books. Sorry I can't be more 
help. I do have a few books in the reference collection that I don't let circulate 
due to their age. I stopped trying to keep up with changing Atlas and Almanacs too. 
Their information is all available online with Google Earth and the internet.
There are still good materials, particularly sets of items, that come in print and 
are useful when classes come or for particular studies.  Also certain more 
expensive materials with good information would be here. For essential reference 
resources, I would say one up-to-date encyclopedia is still good for whole class 
work, especially if computer access is limited due to numbers, time, whatever.  An 
online encyclopedia is good to have also, especially if it can be accessed at home 
as well as school.  A good set of animal information books is always good for 
elementary as well as biographical materials, as these take in subjects frequently 
dealt with in elementary school.

I saw very little use of our reference section last year. The students, and 
teachers, automatically gravitated to using our KidInfo Bits through Gale and other 
online sources. However, in their defense, we had a major curriculum overhaul with 
changes so maybe teachers did not need the references they have used in the past.
I did purchase new dictionaries, including English/Spanish and Spanish to replace 
our old ones and I plan on purchasing new atlases this year. I also plan to market 
the reference materials a bit more aggressively but I hesitate to spend much money 
on new materials given the rise in the use of our online sources. 
Thank you for posting this question.  I look forward to seeing a HIT of results.  I 
have been questioning this myself.  I did a serious weed job on our reference area 
last year and we are at the 5 year mark on one of our 2 encyclopedia sets.  I am 
debating replacing it since we have a World Book online subscription.  At this 
point we have several subject ency. sets but they are rarely used.  I am seriously 
considering moving them to our regular collection when we move to our new library 
this year.  It seems we have reached the point where most teachers do not make the 
effort to come to the library and use them so I might as well make them more 
available on a daily basis :-)
Last year I put all the most recent reference books in the nonfiction section and 
weeded the old ones.  The kids loved checking out the big dinosaur encyclopedia, 
the almanacs, etc.  Those books got more use than they ever did as non-circulating 
reference books.
I'm considering not purchasing any print encyclopedias anymore also.  We use the 
subscription online databases Grolier and World Book most of the time.  When the 
server is down and we can't get online, then we'll use the print encyclopedias. 
 That's one thing that's hard to let go of.

Reference section saw a major portion of my budget this year.  My collection was 
and is very out of date, so I purchased new, up to date dictionaries, in English 
and Spanish, Atlas, and several others.  I have not purchased a quote book to 
replace the one I discarded which was printed in 1950 something.  I looked into 
replacing it, but the price was way to high and it was older than 7 years, so I 
decided that teacher, which are the people in elementary who look up quotes, could 
do a search on-line.  Our kids need to know how to use an atlas, dictionaries, and 
other resource materials so that they can have not just on-line sources, but print 
as well.
We have a free resource here in Texas and our district purchases some as well, but 
I do not use my meager budget for such purchases. 
Although I have yet to work with teachers and students on any level, my reasons for 
planning to update ASAP are these: 1) my library doesn't have enough computers for 
all to be researching at the same time - how many schools have adequate computer 
sources? 2) having a good reference collection shows them first hand 
what authoritative sources are, 3) a good reference collection will be quicker to 
use for students, especialyy since elem students are not researching at the depth 
required at HS level, 4) research shows people read 25% slower online than regular 
print - another way that good print resources get the job done faster. 5) They need 
to learn basic facts to have a knowledge base before they can effectively look 
things up - a good print reference collection fits the bill here, too (from P. 
DiBianco in "Information Searcher"). 
So, as soon as possible, I plan to update my reference collection so I can 
effectively teach elem students how to learn and how to research with print and 
non-print sources.  

Yes, I think it is still essential, and I have some teachers who agree. I do 
check out reference materials to teachers when appropriate. To make our 
reference section a better tool I purchase materials that support particular 
projects that are done each year. You know,  endangered animals and plants, 
immigrants, explorers, etc. I like to buy encyclopedia types of materials.

 taught some reference skills this past year.  We did a lot of work on dictionary 
skills.  I transferred that to the thesaurus.  I am guilty of not using the 
encyclopedias like I should.  That is a goal for the upcoming, too soon, school 
year.  
I feel like students should be exposed to both print and non-print materials.  Not 
all of them will have access to the Internet once they go home.  They need to know 
how to find information both ways.  
I updated my reference collection this past year.  It took almost all of my PTA 
money to do it.  I bought new encyclopedias, thesauri and dictionaries.  I also 
bought some rhyming dictionaries.  I definitely used these with a song 
writing/poetry project with fourth grade.  
We will be working on the subscription services this year.
 I am about to start my second year at my library and I decided that I don't
think there is a need for a reference section in my elem library.  The books
there weren't being used for research, unless I specifically pushed them, by
either teachers or students.  I am hoping that by putting useful materials
in their appropriate Dewey area they will be used.  I simply weeded
materials which I no longer felt were useful.
There are two exceptions to this:  first I am keeping a class set of
encyclopedias in Reference.  Second I am keeping the two most recent Guiness
Books in reference.  These get beat up easily and are extremely high demand,
so I think it still makes sense to keep them as look in library only. 
There is some unease from my 6-12 colleague about the fact that some
expensive books/series are now in the circulating collection, but I am
frankly not worried about it since, as I stated, they were being ignored
before.  I am fortunate enough that my budget is relatively generous so
making the most effective use of my space is a bigger challenge.  By getting
rid of reference, I was then able to move my Christmas/Halloween books and
thus use that space to expand shelf space for my very high demand Emerging
Readers section.

I find, like you, I have not been keeping my reference resources up-to-date. I only 
purchase new almanacs every two years. I find we still use the animal encyclopedias 
and I have been thinking about putting most of the reference materials I have on 
the regular book shelves. I only plan to up date the almanacs from now own. I 
should tell you we have World Book Online and Access PA to use for research outside 
of Internet resources.



      

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