Our library, with help and support from the whole school puts on an annual Book Week. The library always plans activities, and this year we decided to create a scavenger hunt that focused on the main areas that students need to work on improving. We had students bring their devices to the library, we present a brief explanation (10 minutes) of how to do everything and then set them free to start working their way through their question sheets.
Research Skills Focused on During this Year’s Book Week
Junior Secondary (Years 6, 7 & 8)
· Why do we need to create a citation?
· The difference between titles and books
· How to locate information about books on online catalogue (i.e. year of publication, author, etc.)
· How to find Accelerated Reader numbers for our library books using the online catalogue + visual search (allows students to see lists of books available that are at their reading level)
· How to find call numbers for books online and on the spines of books to help them in finding books
· Britannica Online – how to log in, search for an article, and then create an MLA citation using the reference generator tool
Senior Secondary (Years 9, 10 & 11)
All of the above skills that Junior Secondary covered &
· Using ProQuest database – how to log in, search for an article, find keywords and create a citation using MLA 7th edition
· How to cite all print materials from our library using Destiny’s citation generator
Post Book Week: Ensuring the Skills Taught are Remembered…
I created this list of skills to share with the teachers at my school. I went to departmental meetings to present this information to teaching staff and offered assistance with any of these areas, whether it be teaching them or teaching our students during their class time. I think it was a really successful way to get the students to have fun while learning and to open up the door for teachers and students to see how the library can help.
Kendra Perkins
www.theinspiredlibrarian.com
www.about.me/kendraperkins
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