Copyright, aaaah!

I actually did the reading on this some time ago now, or at least I think it was. I've been rushing through everything so much that I've no idea where I'm supposed to be, and the forums seem to be discussing topics I ploughed through weeks ago. Nevertheless, I thought I might revisit this one, mainly as I had a copyright run in with Facebook yesterday that highlighted the tricky nature of this area. I had actually attempted to find copyright free music to use in a little video I was putting together, but only after Facebook rejected my upload did I read the fine print. I was allowed to use it but not to publish it.. oops! After a bit more hunting I eventually found something I could use.

So, what about copyright issues in school? If it's so hard to stick to the law even when you take the time and effort, what hope is there that teachers and students will make that same effort? The answer is that they probably won't, but we can at least impress on them the importance of doing so. The good news is, however, that schools have so many exemptions for educational purposes you can pretty much use whatever you like, so long as it isn't pirated of course.

I think the main area to be careful in is the mass reproduction of material. Many teachers have been guilty of  photocopying chunks of books for their classes, but this needs to be kept to a minimum. To be honest, most teachers avoid this kind of breach simply because their photocopying budget is limited. The greater danger is perhaps that they may scan and email it to their students, in high school anyway.

To be honest I don't think copyright is something many people think about ever. I knew a Prep teacher recently who produced a DVD for her class with photos taken throughout the year, accompanied by a musical track she'd copied from a Disney CD. She proposed to hand these out to all the parents of her children and proudly showed this off to the rest of the staff. No-one, including the senior members of staff, had any problem with this flagrant breach of the law because it didn't occur to them to consider the copyright issue. If we want to educate the students about this I think we need to run a few sessions with staff first.

Memories..

.. like the corners of my mind.

Ok, Christmas is over, and as I actually submitted my first assignment early due to my flight to England I now have to dredge the depths of my mind to remember what it was all about. It's quite amazing how a couple of weeks off from the hard slog, plus jetlag and small children, allows you to just forget what it was all about.

Well, I think it's starting to come back now. It was something to do with resourcing the curriculum.. yes?

I jest, of course. While the details are perhaps a little hazier, much like the English weather outside my window, there are a number of things I have learned from the process of this assignment. For a start, resourcing can be quite time consuming, but I think there comes an optimal moment where it would be counter-productive to continue. There are a number of useful OPACs providing lists of resources, and some of them have useful reviews, but after a while they begin to offer the same things you've already seen, or at least nothing better.

Obviously you don't want to get stuck in a rut, using the same tools every time, but the reality is that most people are going to settle on a few favourites that they think offer good value. I think I would find it useful to set a rule for myself that I would always try at least one new tool, or revisit a neglected one. If nothing else, this would help me stay in touch with new developments and keep things interesting.

I think my favourite discovery was the Follett Titlewave site. They seemed well set up to make things easy for schools who want to invest in eBooks, and judging by the email I received for their sales team they are keen to be helpful when a school wants to join them. It must be the Englishman in me, but I felt a bit embarrassed when they assumed I was the TL for my school and wanted to set up a credit line. I'd only signed up to see what they had available. Still, maybe I could select a few resources and suggest them to the TL at my new school in January.

Bibliography Blanket

I haven't posted much on my studies for ETL503 in a couple of weeks, mainly because I've been researching for my first assignment. I have to admit that I thought it would  be easier to find appropriate resources on the Industrial Revolution for year 9, but everything I found just seemed to be out of date or very adult. It'll be interesting to see if there are some more resources appear before the history curriculum is implemented in 2013.

Anyway, a change of topic, and a level I'm more familiar with: year 5 on the solar system. Lots more stuff available. To be honest, I'm now selecting more on what shows I can use a range of selection tools rather than what is the best item. My only difficulty is the requirement to select predominantly online resources. For this age group there is still a lot more available in hard copy format, and electronic resources such as CD-Roms, DVDs and ebooks don't all count because they're not on the internet, although free ebooks could be included if there were any decent ones available. The only one I've found of use is on Amazon, which is great, but a Kindle doesn't count as online either. So, it may be something of a struggle to select the best 4 offline resources.

Well, at least I'm almost there, and I've even written part A. I'm just finding it disconcerting that I'm not creating an extensive reference list as I write. I know this is because the nature of the assignment is very practical, but I realise that I miss my bibliography blanket. It makes me feel more secure to see a thorough list of research articles that prove I haven't just sat down and typed out the first thing that came into my head.

Santa's Selection Policy

I was discussing potential Christmas present options with my four year old son when it occurred to  me that, much like the TL, Santa has his own selection policy. As a timely opportunity to synthesise recently read information I thought I might write it out for him. Obviously I'm still in the early days of ETL503, so don't expect this to be too perfect.

• User Needs Analysis

The following questions should be asked and a reasoned judgement reached. A particularly strong response in one area may override all other considerations, eg. ardency of request or noise considerations.

Is there a patron-requested item for consideration?

Does the user already have this toy, or one similar?

Does the toy look exciting, but actually get quite boring after 30 mins?

How much mess will the gift create?

Is there any educational value to the item?

Will the user's family find this intensely irritating? e.g electronic tunes, repetitive messages, flashing lights.

• Delivery Method

Real world items will be delivered via Reindeer Sleigh.

E-items may be represented in gift form via a card or voucher.

Returns will not be accepted.

• Delivery Schedule

Annual delivery on 25th December for all Australian items.

• Payment

Santa does not require payment.

• Licence Agreement

The user must accept agreement of the licence for the following 12 month period, to be nice, not naughty.

Failure to fulfil the licence agreement will disqualify the user from further deliveries.

Don't Panic!!

I'm beginning to feel rather like Corporal Jones in Dad's Army. Term 3 hasn't even officially begun, yet I feel like I'm already running out of time to get the first assignment prepared. On top of that I now find I need to start preparing assignment 2 since the schools will all be closed in a few weeks time. All I can do is run around yelling 'don't panic' in the hope that things will all work out. Where is Captain Mainwaring when you need him?

At least I have my faithful blog here to exorcise these daemons. It also helps to look through the introductions forum. There are so many people with amazingly busy lives, or who have chosen to study multiple subjects (I'm not doing that again!). If they're able to get it all done and pass I really shouldn't have anything to worry about.  

I am Spartacus!

Everybody wants to be Spartacus, and it seems collection development wants to be collection management and vice versa.

Well, I've ploughed my way through chapter 1 of the Kennedy text, and also chapter 1 of a similar book by Peggy Johnson, and I feel that I now have a pretty thorough knowledge of US library history, along with the development of these two terms. So, here is what I now know:

• Most librarians use these terms interchangeably. 
• Collection development came first to reflect a more thoughtful approach to selection.
• As budgets, and collection growth, diminished collection management became the preferred term by many.

Essentially they describe the same processes. The only real difference is the emphasis on growth implied by collection development. Collection management does seem to be a more satisfactory name for the tasks undertaken to maintain a static collection.

However, in the futuristic utopia we now inhabit library collections are anything but static. We are supposedly providing an elastic collection that flexes to accommodate current user demands. There is constant development in the acquisition of access to new resources, and growth can potentially outstrip the weeding process.

Johnson, and the ALA apparently, have settled on the title of collection development and management. It's a bit more of a mouthful, but at least they don't have to waste any more time bickering over who's the head honcho here.

A Muse in the Cloud

photo by Alun Salt

Aristophanes would, I am sure, find much material for a rewrite of The Clouds based on my readings about collection management models. It would seem that in the future we teachers and TLs will be spending our time in lovely collaborative chats about what materials the teachers would like to have, assuming the TL can drag him/herself away from the consultations with local public libraries and community interest groups that seem to be a crucial element in collection development. Not that any of it really makes any difference because it's all about rapid response to student demands. We're simply here to guide them to an online expert, not to teach them anything.

Well, perhaps I am being unfair, but it seems odd that Hughes-Hassell and Mancall (2006) should describe the traditional collection management model as being time consuming, but replace it with something that sounds infinitely more so. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't dare knock the value of collaboration. It's probably a hanging offence at least. But is this Collaborative Access Environment a model grounded in reality? Is there really value in consulting with everyone from the cleaner to the little boy who lives down the lane? Frankly, who has the time?

More to the point, there needs to be someone in the school who is the resource expert. They seem to think teachers are all experts in what is available for their areas. Hah! Anyone who has worked in a school environment knows that teachers have no idea what is available until it is thrust under their nose, and unless you tell them what's in it and how to use it they'll more than likely have forgotten about it by the next day. They are snowed under with planning, assessment and reporting, not to mention teaching. They really don't want to be burdened with selecting resources for the library, no matter how great it sounds in theory. Why should TLs be so keen to abandon an area where they can still be a respected expert?

This sounds a bit ranty, and I am not a reactionary traditionalist, but I don't think we should get carried away with ourselves. Yes, we should try to consider outside opinions in resource selection, but ultimately the school library is there to meet student curriculum needs. Teachers will look to the library for quality resources just as they have always done.