ETL507 - Assignment 5: Professional Placement Report (Section 2 - Theory into Practice)

This post is part of one of final assignments broken posted and broken down into their respective sections. I have decided to post this assignment as I feel that it is important to document what I undertook during my Professional Placement. This is verbatim for what I submitted for this assignment. See Section 1 here.

Reflecting upon the subjects I have studied over the course of the last two years; primary two that I have been coming back to is ETL505 (Describing and Analysing Education Resources) and ETL503 (Resourcing the Curriculum). This is due to the amount of cataloguing, weeding, and stocktaking that I undertook during my time there.

Speaking to ETL505 first, the importance of clear, consistent cataloguing was emphasised from my first day on site. The Campus Library gets their cataloguing data from the Schools Cataloguing Information Service (SCIS) and alters their downloaded copy to suit their individual needs. Some of the catalogue metadata within the downloaded copy was altered to include more broad subject headings (i.e. 'humour' in addition to the already included 'humorous stories') and Lexile Numbers. The broader subject headings suit the primary school setting as the students are more likely to look for 'humour' rather than 'humorous stories'. The Lexile Numbers allow students, staff and the Teacher Librarian to locate appropriate books that suit the students reading level and also allow for a small amount of challenge.

Three forms of classification systems are used at The Campus Library: alphabetical by authors surname, Dewey Decimal Classification and Genre. The first, alphabetical by authors surname, is used within the early childhood picture book section. This allows for ease of location for the kindergarten and early childhood students as they can go straight to the letter of the alphabet they require. Their Christmas and Easter collections are classified in the same manner. The Dewey Decimal Classification is used exclusively for their non-fiction collections and this is because The Campus Library believes that the Dewey Decimal Classification offers the best and easiest, in terms of location of items, system. It is also a system that continues into secondary and tertiary education, so it allows for students to familiarise themselves with it early on. The general fiction and the senior fiction are organised via genre and within that by authors’ surname. This is to allow the students to develop their own sense of what they prefer to read and identify what are similar authors or series that may interest them. Organising the books via authors surname within the genre sections means that they can be easily located or re-shelved. All three forms of classification suit the purpose for which they are being used for.

With reference to ETL503, The Campus Library was flooded in early-to-mid Term Two and therefore an extensive stocktake and weeding process was undertaken as well as purchasing many new items. This resulted in discussions surrounding their collection and selection policy. The Department for Education (2020) outlines a collection and selection policy as providing guidance about the selection, development, use and review of resources to achieve intended learning outcomes.

This document is still in draft form as the three schools cannot all agree on the document. The document outlines that the individual schools will be responsible for their own teacher resources and student readers and the Campus Library is responsible for the remainder of the collection (hence no mention of a teacher resource collection previously) as well as the digital collection and various ICT and STEM tools. Due to the flooding, the funding process was different as donations were received as well as allocation of further funds from the Department for Education to replace damaged items. This document highlights the importance of student voice by identifying the means that they are using to encourage students to recommend items. These include book fairs, surveys and a request book that is always available.

Hajnalka Molloy, the Campus Library Teacher Librarian is responsible for ensuring that the required processes are followed and for ensuring that their collection and selection policy is still updated (though it is in draft form). She is also responsible to continue to negotiations with all schools to attempt to finalise the policy. Finally, Hajnalka is also responsible for assisting in the teaching of vital information literacy skills across all three schools. I participated as much as I could within the tasks that Hajnalka was undertaking and if I were unavailable to, I assisted in the planning and we had discussions regarding any aspects of her role.

References
South Australian Department for Education. (2020). Selecting and using resources for educational purposes guideline. Adelaide: South Australian Department for Education.