Elmwood Park High School Library (Elmwood Park Community Unit School District) in Elmwood Park, IL was awarded an LSTA FY09 In Sync With Technology grant in the amount of $46.436.00. Funding for this grant was awarded by the Illinois State Library (ISL), a Department of the Office of the Secretary of State, using funds provided by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), under the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). Thanks to this funding the library was able to add 41 laptop computers, 4 laser printers, and an LCD projector to the high school library.
Entitled "Moving Elmwood Park High School Library's Reference Collection into the 21st Century: Transitioning from Print to Online Resources", the laptops have made it much easier for our students to access our growing collection of online subscription database resources by improving our student-to-computer ratio in the library from approximately 20:1 to 13:1. We also partnered with the Elmwood Park Public Library to streamline the process by which students can obtain a public library card, thereby making it possible for students to apply for and receive a new card at school. Throughout the school year we collaborated on a number of activities with the purpose of educating students and the community at large about the online database resources available to them, in addition to those through the school, with an Elmwood Park Public Library card.
Both teachers and students were informed about and trained in the use of the new online resources made more readily available to them for their research and information needs as a result of having access to the 41 new laptop computers in the library. Promotional materials were created and distributed, including a color brochure describing the databases, what to use them for, and how to log in to use them either at school or remotely. The local newspaper ran a story about the grant we received, and articles were included in both the high school and the Superintendent's newsletters mailed out to students' homes.
Statistics were gathered monthly on the usage of each of the databases we subscribe to and a count was taken of how many students availed themselves of the opportunity to obtain a public library card at the high school. When all was said and done, it was a disappointing outcome. While teachers and especially students seemed pleased to have the additional bright shiny and new laptop computers to use in the library, despite our best efforts, we did not see much of an increase at all in terms of the number of times the databases were used, nor in the number of public library cards that were issued to students. Less than five students actually submitted applications and received cards at school (out of a student population of about 1000), and after an initial surge at the beginning of the school year, we saw database usage actually decrease each month over the course of the school year.
Of course, the fact that only a very few students got cards through school this year doesn't mean those are the only students who have cards. We would often hear students remark that theyalready have one when we were first promoting the program, and for most of them, I'm sure that's true. (I'm sure some others just said that too!) We actually distributed many more to students in the elementary schools through our appearances at school registration events and Open House events, but that was because the parents of those students requested them, not the students themselves.
Regarding use of the databases, I noticed that teachers were not using them any more than the students were, and they certainly weren't requiring the students to use them, or even encouraging them to use them for their research needs.One thing I've heard both teachers and students say is that it's too hard to find what they need using the databases. They'd much rather find articles on the internet at large with Google, and I would say 99% of them do, most every time. So this is something that I have found extremely frustrating and disheartening, and I'm not sure what the solution is, or if there even is one. The databases are expensive, and for a district like ours, with a very limited library budget, it doesn't make sense for us to spend money on resources that are not being used. Yet if we are transitioning from print to online, with the ultimate goal of reducing and maybe even eventually eliminating most of our spending on print reference sources, then how can we justify eliminating spending on online sources? Do we say our library is just where students go to use Google to find information? I would certainly hope not, but that's what it appears they'd all be happy to have happen.
In researching the situation to see if any other high school librarians are facing the same issues in their schools, I learned that I am certainly not alone, so that is some consolation, though not much. They all seem as stymied and frustrated as I am. Joyce Valenza, in her blog a year or so ago, ran an article entitled Databases: Can We Get Teachers to Love 'em?
(School Library Journal January 12, 2008)
In it she listed about ten things that she feels we as professionals could do to help alleviate the problem, and while I have to say that most I had already tried, there were a few I had to admit I could do better.
One suggestion I thought was particularly good was to use more layman's terms rather than jargon when describing and teaching the databases. For instance, name database links as Find Articles or Find Books instead of using the term or even the name of the database (EBSCO, InfoTrac) since most people, including adults, don't really know what those terms mean. While I have considered this in the past, my thinking then was "well, they're gonna run across these terms elsewhere so they darn well better learn them here" kinda thing. But at this point I'm willing to let that go if it means they'd use them more! (Choose your battles!) The other suggestion she makes that I found worth noting was that most of us need to stop being the "Google Gestapo" is I think how she put it. In other words, admit to students and to ourselves, mainly, that sometimes Google is just fine, and maybe even superior, and focus instead on trying to help students and teachers determine when to use the databases instead. I have to admit that one was pretty right-on for me.
But I also know that because I am not fortunate enough to be able to be at the high school all of the time, due to the fact that I oversee four other school libraries in our district, no matter how good of a job I feel I am doing teaching and assisting both teachers and students in their use (or not!) of the online resources we have, if I could be there all of the time, I'm sure I could do even better. But I have to deal with my reality, and that is that I can't be there all of the time. Consequently, a good part of the responsibility for whether or not our students use the database resources we subscribe to must also fall on the teachers. If the teachers don't see the value, then why would the students?
I had considered hiring a video developer to create a series of short, informational and motivational videos for teachers that were lively and fun, outlining in very basic terms the reasons why it's important for our students to know how and when to use them, thinking maybe that would have more of an impact on them, but I will need to obtain another grant to be able to afford it! However, I did hear from one of the developers I spoke to that one of the universities in the area had contacted him to do the very same thing for the very same purpose, so maybe these will be available to us at some point down the road. In the meantime, I will keep plugging awayat my mission. Like the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make 'em think--OR drink!