[LM_NET] Sigh....High School Kids don't know the library book catalog exists.

[Jacqueline Henry <JHenry@GANANDA.ORG>]

Thanks for being a sympathetic audience.  Obviously, I will recover from
the shock and start doing more direct teaching on the concept.   Right
now though, I am just shocked.  Of course, I know that non-fiction use
is down.  I can even see most of it shifting to ebook format.  But
still....
 
We just asked the following question at the beginning of 9th grade
English research porject:
 
1. If  you had to find a book in the library about the Middle Ages, how
would you do that?
 
I am sad to say - NO ONE in the ENTIRE 9th grade knew that the correct
answer was to go to the online catalog.
 
The answers I received in order of frequency were:
 
1.  Ask the librarian
2.  Ask the teacher
3.  Use the Dewey Decimal signs
4.  Start at the beginning of the non-fiction section and search till
you find a book
5.  Go to google and search for the dewey decimal system
 
 
I tried modifying the question to:
 
1.  If the entire library and teaching staff were to magically
disappear, and you had to find a book in the library about the Middle
Ages, how would you do that? 
 
That did not help either.  It just eliminated number 1 & 2 as an
option.
 
 
SIGH....
 
 
Jacquie
 
"You see, I don't believe that libraries should be drab places where
people sit in silence, and that's been the main reason for our policy of
employing wild animals as librarians...."   (Monty Python)

"The Librarian, whose job is to heal ignorance, to keep life safe for
poetry and to put knowledge smack dab in the middle of the American
way." ~ The Philadelphia Inquirer, 9-20-03
 
“Education is not about filling a pail, it’s about lighting a fire."  ~
William Butler Yeats
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jacquie Henry, MLS
Ruben A. Cirillo High School (GHS)
Gananda Central School District
3195 Wiedrick Road
P.O. Box 609
Macedon, NY  14502
315-986-3521 x 3144
jhenry@gananda.org 
Library Page: http://www.gananda.org/webpages/hslibrary/ 
Blog - Library Links For Teachers: http://rachslibrary.edublogs.org/ 
Blog - Wanderings
http://wanderings.edublogs.org/

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