Author: Pru

SCIS and Scan

Scan is a quarterly, professional refereed journal produced by the NSW Department of Education and Communities. It focuses on the interaction between information in a digital age and effective student learning.

What’s in Scan?

Articles and school stories plus resources reviewed from a curriculum perspective, plus research and research-based articles.

Contact the Scan Editor for further information or visit the School Libraries and Information Literacy website for a subscription form.

Connect to a taster of articles from Scan this year.

Research columns
Dr James E. Herring presents the findings of a study which explored the views of Year 7 students on information literacy practices and discusses the implications for teacher librarians and teachers.

In the second research article, Mal Lee considers what it means for schools to be networked communities. The practical implications and potentials are illustrated with reference to Broulee Public School.

Reviews

Scan resource icons

Each issue of Scan includes 80+ e-resource and website reviews as well as picture books, fiction, professional and information resources reviews and more. Reviews for e-resources, including e-books and apps, indicate fees, registration or devices as needed. Icons (see table) are used for quick reference.

SCIS and Scan

SCIS record numbers and barcodes are provided with Scan reviews to facilitate creating orders in SCISWeb.

SCIS records for resources reviewed in Scan are also available for download in bulk as SCIS Special Order files [SCISWeb log in required].

600 ELR schools selected

The Educational Lending Right (ELR) project for 2011 has commenced with 600 Australian schools being asked to participate.

Participation involves running a small software program or performing an ordinary backup, depending on the library management system. Feedback from schools indicates that participation is quick and easy, taking only minutes to do. From the results we are able to create a book count of titles held in the schools.

Author Justin D'Ath

The Australian Government uses this data to calculate payments to Australian book creators.

Australian book creators highly value the income they receive from this important cultural program.

Justin D’Ath, author of over 30 books, says…

Whenever I receive emails from children who’ve read my books, I ask where did they get them? Ninety per cent come from school libraries. If it wasn’t for ELR, I couldn’t afford to be an author.

If you are asked to be part of the project, please respond as soon as possible. You will receive a $20 gift voucher from Curriculum Press in appreciation of your assistance.

More information is available from ELR or telephone 1800 337 405 (outside Melbourne); 03 9207 9600 or email elr@esa.edu.au.

ELR – Encouraging the growth of Australian writing and publishing

New SCIS Catalogue

From 3 October 2011 the SCIS catalogue will undergo a major upgrade.

This involves implementation of

Design concept for SCIS catalogue
  1. a new version of the Voyager library system which underpins the SCIS service
  2. a new, more intuitive interface design for the SCIS Catalogue
  3. a new server platform.

We will endeavour to keep disruptions to a minimum during this time.

You will be able to follow the progress of the upgrade via:

  • news postings on the SCIS website
  • the SCIS twitter account and
  • email messages to subscribers.
    Please ensure you have a valid email address registered with SCIS so that we can keep you informed. Simply log in to SCISWeb,  and go to My Profile to add or update your email address.

Authority files: getting started

Are you new to SCIS authority files, or not sure about the best workflow for your library? This post outlines the decision making process as a simple guide to getting started with authority files.

Why should we load SCIS authority files into our catalogue?
Check out this post on why SCIS authority files are valuable.

How do we decide which file(s) to download?

SCIS Authority Files page

When you are faced with the SCIS Authority Files page for the first time, there are three key decisions to consider.

  1. Subject or Name authority first?
    SCIS provides authority files for subjects and for names. We suggest you start with the subject authority file as this provides maximum benefit to searchers of your catalogue.
    Then repeat the process for the name authority once you have completed the subject authority.
  2. Reference only or Full authority files?
    Reference only Authority Files are highly recommended as the minimum for all schools. Importing authority records with see or see also references greatly enhances the power of search for users of your library system.
    If most of your catalogue records are sourced from SCIS and you do little or no original cataloguing, loading the SCIS Reference only Authority Files is a good first step. Note: You can always load the full authority files later if you find you need these.
    Full Authority Files contain the entire set of authority records from the SCIS database.
    Does your library have a qualified cataloguer who creates a significant number of original catalogue records, and would benefit from access to the full list of SCIS headings from within the cataloguing and/or authorities module of your library system? In this case the Full Authority Files could be the best choice.
  3. MARC or ascii format?
    Different library systems require different formats for importing SCIS authority files. You will need to check with your library system vendor support team about which to use. Please ensure you consult the most recent documentation for your system.

So, how do we proceed with download and import?

  1. It is advisable to do a full backup of your library system before loading authorities for the first time.
  2. Download the required authority file from the SCIS Authority Files page [SCIS Authority Files subscription required].
  3. Activate the process in your library management system to import or upload the authority file.
  4. Run any updating or indexing workflow required by your library system.

How do we know the authorities are working?

  1. Do an OPAC subject search for a common non-preferred term, such as
    Cooking (should redirect to Cookery), Chickens (should redirect to Poultry) or Hurricanes (should redirect to Cyclones).
  2. If you loaded the Full Subject Authority File, then check in your library system’s authorities or cataloguing module for new subject headings from the latest SCIS Subject Heading List.

Further help for SCIS Authority Files

Want some websites?

The National Library of New Zealand Services to Schools team maintains a set of high interest topics pages with links to selected quality websites on topics such as Seasons, Wearable Art, Brain Science and the Rugby World Cup 2011.

We have selected these resources to help you when you need online information relating to popular curriculum based topics. To make sure the resources are appropriate we’ve used the following standard criteria: accuracy, authority, coverage, currency and objectivity.

High interest topics from National Library of NZ

Add these topics to your library catalogue

SCIS provides MARC records for a range of websites each month and these are available for selection and download via the SCIS Special Order Files new SCIS websites page [SCIS login required]. Use the Last month option to preview websites added recently (including the National Library of NZ topics) and select those appropriate for your library.

To order and download SCIS records specifically for the National Library of New Zealand’s high interest topics:

  1. Open the document: SCIS numbers for NLNZ topics  [Word format]
  2. Delete any topics you don’t wish to download
  3. Hover over the left hand column of this table until the black downward arrow appears. Click to highlight the column, and then copy the SCIS numbers
  4. Paste these into the SCIS Create Orders box and click the Process Order button [SCIS login required]
  5. Save the usmarc.dat file from the SCIS Orders table to your computer, and import it to your library management system.
  6. Check by title or subject that the records display as you expect them in your library catalogue’s search module.

If you know you want the full set of 47 topics then open this file of SCIS NLNZ order numbers only. Then copy and paste the SCIS order numbers into the SCIS Create Orders box and click the Process Order button [SCIS login required].

Want more websites?
Do let us know what kind of websites and topics you are looking for in SCIS.

One world, many stories

The displays are up, the winners and honour books are announced and the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Book Week 2011 celebrations have begun.

In the months leading up to Book Week school library staff have been planning, creating and publishing lessons, activities and displays – in both their physical and online library spaces. Library email lists have been full of people sharing ideas, resources and tips for where to purchase that special display item.

One World, Many Stories display by Brenda, Marden Education Centre Library, SA

While it is impossible to acknowledge everyone who has contributed to the Book Week commons, the following links provide a few examples of the creative ideas, the shared resources and the range of technology tools used for Book Week related activities.

We would love to hear about Book Week in your school.
Post a comment on the blog or email us.

Connections 78

You can now read the latest issue of Connections at the SCIS website.

Seven strategies to develop your advocacy toolkit

Strategies
Strategies by Boris Drenec CC-by-nc-sa

Karen Bonanno provides a series of advocacy activities to help school library staff influence policy, advising that to bring about change requires consistent and persistent effort to shift perceptions. She advocates maintaining regular positive activity supported by strategies such as identifying a memorable message, capturing killer statistics, gathering startling facts and statements and leveraging the network.

Personal learning network put to great advantage

Leonie Dyason and Rachel Fidock, teacher librarians from Mooroopna Secondary College (MSC) share their experiences of the Personal Learning Network (PLN) program, run by the State Library of Victoria (SLV) and the School Library Association of Victoria (SLAV). They outline how their practice has changed through application in the library, in team teaching and in troubleshooting. A list of useful Web 2.0 tools is provided.

Ten reasons why Google can’t replace learning!

Bev Novak questions the idea that searching can replace learning. Her ten questions challenge teachers and parents to consider the distinction between information and knowledge, and to refine what they mean by learning and how learning is best achieved. This article is reprinted from her NovaNews blog.

The evolving role of the school library and information centre in education in digital Europe

This article outlines research by Dr Helen Boelens into the role of school libraries in digital Europe, using the Kalsbeek Information Literacy Matrix (KILM).
A poster: ‘Read’ in European language terms is provided for download.

The Hub: campaign for quality school libraries in Australia

This article by Georgia Phillips provides an update on the activities of the Hub campaign for quality school libraries in Australia, following the release of the Australian Government’s report into school libraries and teacher librarians in Australian schools. It includes an overview of the current state of school library staffing in Australian state and territory government schools.

Print the complete issue of Connections 78, term 3 2011

Cataloguing e-books

A new version of the SCIS Standards for Cataloguing and Data Entry, including guidelines for cataloguing e-books, was published on the SCIS website in December 2010. The SCIS Information Services Standards Committee (ISSC) spent some time grappling with the issue of multiple e-book formats and providers before making a number of policy decisions.

The following presentation outlines issues related to cataloguing of e-books and is based on a SCIS ISSC discussion paper.

MARC my e-books
View more presentations from SCIS

SCIS at SLANZA 2011

SLANZA On the wave
The School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa SLANZA 2011 conference kicked off on Sunday afternoon 17 July at St Cuthbert’s College in Auckland and SCIS is pleased to be part of this exciting three day conference.

Tricia Nathan and Pru Mitchell from the SCIS  team are at Stand 3 on Level 1 of the Information Centre Exhibition space. We look forward to catching up with New Zealand school library staff, library system vendors and presenters. There are several SCIS presentations happening throughout the programme.

SCIS at SLANZA
SCIS at SLANZA

Monday 18 July
Collection development life savers (Tricia Nathan) in the Auditorium 11.00-11.45 am

Giving your collection real authority (Tricia Nathan) in I09 2.40-3.25 pm

Tuesday 19 July
Professional learning horizons (Pru Mitchell) in the Media Lab 11.00 am-12.40 pm

Wednesday 20 July
MARC my e-books (Pru Mitchell) in I09 2.30-3.15 pm

SCIS will also be part of the conference social media stream at Twitter @schoolscatinfo and our new Facebook page.
The conference hashtag is #slanza11

OPAC enhanced

From July 2011 SCIS is pleased to announce the addition of enhanced content services to SCIS OPAC from Syndetic Solutions and LibraryThing for Libraries via a new subscription with Thorpe-Bowker.

ThorpeBowker logoWhat is enhanced content?
The bibliographic records in SCIS OPAC are enhanced to display additional detail about resources; information such as plot summaries, author notes, awards and reviews.

This content is sourced from third party services and delivered to SCIS by linked data based on ISBN.
Scroll down the page to view the external enhanced content fields which often appear slightly after the rest of the SCIS bibliographic record page loads.

Why add enhanced content?
SCIS OPAC is a valuable starting point for school staff looking to identify books, digital resources and websites to support the curriculum.
While providing catalogue records is core business, SCIS recognises the value of enhancing the catalogue record where possible with any information that may help school staff discover and review resources of interest.

What type of enhanced content is available?

Can enhanced content be added to our school library system?
Enhanced content in SCIS OPAC is a display feature only and reviews, tags and other enhanced content will not be downloaded with SCIS records. Some library system vendors have negotiated agreements to provide enhanced content in the local school library system for an extra charge. Consult your vendor if you are interested in enhanced content services for your local system.

How can I provide feedback or ask questions?
We hope you find the additional content valuable for resource selection and that it enhances your discovery of learning resources and fiction in SCIS OPAC. SCIS welcomes feedback and questions about SCIS OPAC enhanced content, either as a comment on this blog, or via email scisinfo@esa.edu.au.