Fall 2003
Web-based reference resources—databases, encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, directories—have ballooned in number during the past several years. As a frequent midnight researcher, I greatly appreciate the ability to search ERIC and other databases 24-seven. For my online reference students, many of them living in small towns in Montana and beyond, the Web compensates for the lack of a major library. School librarians are working hard to expand the number of Web-based resources in their K-12 school libraries.
The accelerating migration to virtual reference resources raises a raft of questions for educators: What is available, both for free and for a fee? What resources do students need in order to have access to information anywhere, anytime? What information skills do they need to effectively use these resources? Is the virtual movement a natural extension of the high school library?
Although schools started investing in online resources only a few years ago, access is now nearly universal. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has reported that fully 99 percent of U.S. schools have Internet access, 85 percent from classrooms. Money invested in Web-based subscription databases often provides better access to information for students than print or CD-ROM because they can be accessed anytime, anywhere—from the school library, the classroom, the home. Students also report that they are using the Internet to complete homework assignments—94 percent use it for research, and 78 percent believe it helps with homework, according to CyberAtlas.
The growing number of virtual high schools also increases the need for virtual reference services. CyberAtlas found in 2002 that more than half of U.S. high schools are offering online courses. Kids taking online courses need online resources, such as full-text databases and interlibrary loan (ILL), that might not be available in their local school library.
Many states have set up virtual libraries to meet this need:
Although many of these electronic resources are fee-based, there also are a number of reliable free resources, including not only traditional reference resources (bibliographies, encyclopedias, geographical resources, biographical resources, "ready reference," and government documents), but also Web sites where students can contact experts in various fields or receive help with their writing.
Examples of these Web-based traditional resources include:
In addition to finding resources to inform homework assignments, students can also find homework help sites, such as:
Many CD-ROM databases are now available via the Web, for example, Wilson's Reader's Guide to Periodic Literature, NewsBank, Academic ASAP, General Reference Center, Magazine Article Summaries, and SIRS Online Access System. Frequently updated, many of them with full-text articles, they provide access to information anytime, anywhere. Many states, including Montana and Oregon, have formed consortia to subscribe to Web-based databases, decreasing the subscription cost for individual schools, through networks such as Montana Library Network, OSLIS, and Galileo.
With a wealth of information at their fingertips, the question many school librarians ask is, "What reference resources do students need to access from a remote location and what information literacy skills do they need to gain the most benefit from them?" Most of the questions that a librarian answers are "ready-reference" questions. So, for students to be able to answer their own ready-reference questions, they need the appropriate Web-based tools: dictionaries, thesauruses, almanacs, and directories; encyclopedias; and then databases.
To help students evaluate free sites effectively, several grade-level evaluation tools are available under "Internet Information" on Kathy Schrock's Guide to the Internet (http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide). For help with grammar or format, students can find style guides in the Internet Public Library (www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/ref73.00.00/). The Citation Machine (www.landmark-project.com/citation_machine/cm.php) helps students format their bibliographies.
Besides technology literacy, kids need skills for locating information. They need to learn how to use a card catalog—or, in today's environment, an online public access catalog—to access their school library's collection and other libraries' collections, too. When possible, school librarians put their catalogs on the school library media center's Web site. They need to use search terms effectively, using a subject heading list or a source like the Online Computer Library Center's People, Places, and Things, which lists more than 50,000 common terms. Boolean searching, where the little words AND, OR, and NOT are big in importance, helps students narrow their searches and refine their search strategies.
As the need for access to more information increases, along with students' ability to access these Web-based resources, school librarians need to create a virtual library for their students. The virtual library, with links to reliable reference resources, extends the physical collection and library hours and lets students learn to use Web-based resources in a protected learning environment. Online tutorials on the media center's Web site are a big help, too.
So in answer to the question, "Are virtual libraries a natural extension of the high school library?" I say, absolutely.
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