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Information Literacy for Library Instruction
Electronic Database and Library Catalog Instruction for Elementary School Students
Jessica Branciforte
ILS 504
Dr. Sche
November 30, 2009











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Abstract
Students at a local elementary school are learning the basic concepts of citation and
plagiarism. Alongside this topic, they are doing an annual report regarding ancestry,
immigration and the study of a specific country. This is an information literacy
instructional guide developed to aid in the teaching of that existing social studies course
for local third grade students. As a community library, it is our role to exercise outreach
to local schools and to help teach the research skills needed to find valuable resources at
the library. This tutorial unit will be used to enhance research skills, teach the use of our
digital catalog and cite and evaluate sources of information. Included in this report is the
unit narrative to be provided by the teaching librarian, coordinating handouts, and the
step-by-step process used in finding a resource, evaluating it and citing it. Also included
are small lessons regarding putting resources on hold using the LION system and using
iCONN as a reliable Internet research tool.










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Information Literacy for Library Instruction
Electronic Database and Library Catalog Instruction for Elementary School Students
I. Plan and design an instructional or training project under the Information Literacy
concept for a targeted user group in a specific type of library of your choice.
This is an information literacy instructional guide developed to aid in the teaching
of an existing social studies course for local third grade students. The tutorial will be used
to enhance research skills, teach the use of our digital catalog and cite and evaluate
sources of information.
II. Decide and provide the following information in your project:

Title: Electronic Database and Library Catalog Instruction for Elementary School

Students. "Finding Our Ancestors at Our Local Library"

User Group: The target library user group attending this instructional project
includes third graders from a local elementary school. Students will attend a hands-on
library workshop to help them with an annual social studies project that will help to
develop research skills.
Type of Library: The Essex Library Association is a small Connecticut public
library with a town population of about 6,750.
Nature and Scope of Project: This will be an instructional project that helps
elementary school users to access our electronic catalog in order to search for, find and
evaluate resources used in an ancestor/immigration based research project. Aside from
using the digital catalog and finding books within the library, students will learn how to
put items on hold in order to get them from other libraries. They will also learn how to
search a few reliable websites through iCONN for research information.
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Goals and Objectives: Goals for students completing this instructional tutorial
include general understanding and operation of our public library catalog, the ability to
search for resources in our non-fiction department, evaluation of resources found and an
understanding of resource citation.
Mode of Instruction: Students will rotate in small groups throughout the library
all the while attending a library tutorial with the librarian while sitting at computers
containing the catalog. This library workshop will go from the catalog to the stacks and
will include handouts for students to take home.

II. Post your selected Term Project Title (under the Special Topic-Term Project topics)

in the discussion area.


IV. Prepare the Term Project Report

Introduction

Third grade students attending a local elementary school work on an annual
research project regarding immigration, foreign ancestry and the researching of a specific
country. After research is complete, students will go on to present cultural traditions from
the country that they studied including traditional food, geography, and politics among
other important facts. In turn, these students need sources that are more comprehensive
than the research tools that they typically find using the Google search bar on the
Internet. The purpose of this instructional program is to help students to develop
researching skills. The program will include giving students a hands on tutorial with our
electronic catalog, will ensure that they find the information that they need for the
project, and will teach them how to find, evaluate and cite information found in our
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library. The tutorial will also briefly teach students how to place a hold on a book that is
not immediately available and will give a brief presentation of iCONN as a reliable
Internet research tool for this project among others. The library materials used to teach
this information literacy project would include computers, our electronic library catalog,
our non-fiction department and the World Wide Web.
Outline of Instruction
A small group of students will begin by working with a librarian who will teach
them how to utilize the Lion Catalog system to find a book at the library. Students will
each have a computer to work with and the librarian will pull the catalog up onto a large
presentation screen so that they can follow each step of the library instruction
presentation. Students will also be given a handout, which includes step-by-step
directions and icons to use during the presentation and on their own at a later date.
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Using the LION Catalog System
A Step-By-Step Guide
Included in this section is the narrative and direction provided by the teaching librarian
throughout the instructional project. Please see Appendix A for a coordinating handout.
Use our online catalog at school, at home, or at the library to find the resources you need.
Type http://www.essexlib.org/ to the search bar at the top of your screen.
1. Choose Catalog by clicking this tab at the top of the screen.
2. Look at your options under Search Type at the middle left of your screen. You
should see choices that include: Keyword, Author, Title, Subject, Series, Dewey call
number, ISC Call Number, ISBN, and Barcode. Depending on your search, some
search types will be better than others.

3. For this project, we are researching countries. The best place for us to start is with
Subject although a few others might help us too.

4. With your mouse, choose Subject by clicking it and make sure that it appears in the
Search Type box.

5. For now, we want to find the books that we have today in this library. Look at the
right side of the screen where it says Select Collection. Be sure that it says Essex
Library Association. If it doesnt, choose it just like you chose Subject on the
other side.

6. Now you are ready to start your search. Type in the name of the country that you
have chosen in your classroom.

7. Lets use Italy as an example. Look at all the results that were found! Many of them
are very specific including biographies, art, architecture and even fictional stories. We
want facts, and hopefully a book that contains lots of different aspects about your
country. Lets choose the first choice labeled Italy.

8. This page is important. Here you can make a few choices before you decide to go
looking for a book. We can see the title, the authors, the department of the
library that the book is in, and number which will help us find it. Please make sure
that it says Childrens Non-Fiction. Dont forget to look at the date! You may want
to decide if a resource is too old, and you can find this information before you even
track down the books by looking at this page for the book in the catalog.

9. But Wait! We own the book, but is it actually available? Many others are doing
the same project as you. It may have been checked out! Look toward the far right of
the screen. Does it say Available? If not, it may have a the date that someone is
supposed to bring it back. It may also say something like Missing Mending or
Program Use all terms that mean you wont be able to find the book in the stacks.
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10. Choose at least two books that you want to select from the stacks. Take a piece of
scrap paper and pencil and write down the call number, including any letters you
might find afterward.

11. This is different than finding a picture book or a book in your favorite fiction series.
Instead of only using the authors last name, were using numbers which
separate subjects by category. Most of the books about countries are going to be in
the 900s section.

12. Lets find the books! Please know that sometimes books are a bit out of order, or
perhaps the one youre looking for is on display. Check for your call number, on the
display shelf and at the end of each stack for those that have been pulled but not put
away.

13. You should have 1 or 2 resources congratulations! But how do you know which one
will be best for your project? Take the time now to decide which will have the best
information. Its always possible to work with a whole selection of books, but you
should take time to sort through books in case one is not very helpful or
informational.

Ways to evaluate your resources: Check the copyright date. If your book is twenty
years old, you know that things have changed in that country. Its important to have
information on the history of the country, but you do not want an out-dated book!
Still unsure? Compare one resource to another. Is one easier to read? Does it have
clearer pictures or is just newer? Still cant decide? Take a quick peek to see if
that book actually has what you need. If you want to know about cultural food, for
example, you can use the table of contents, or the index of the book to see if it lists
food. Quickly flip through the page numbers given to see if what you need is actually
in there.

14. Sometimes youll find what you need right away. Sometimes the book will be
missing, or after youve evaluated a resource, youll find its not what you want after
all. This is the time to go back to your computer and back into the catalog. You can
start the process over by searching with Keyword or Title and you will find
things that werent pulled up the first time that you searched.

15. Sometimes, youll have a book in mind, but know that its not at this library. Its
easy! Pull out your library card and put it on hold. If you dont have your card with
you, a librarian can look it up for you. (Please see Appendix B for the Placing Holds
handout.)

Heres what to do:

Today were looking for books on our country, but your project is also about finding
your ancestors. There is a childrens book called, The History of Emigration from
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Italy owned by the Durham and Norwich Libraries. That means we dont have it, but
we can find it. Type in that title and select the search term Title. When it comes up,
it will say if its available in those libraries. At the bottom of the page you can choose
the second button that says Request Hold. Click it! A new screen will appear
that asks for your last name and patron ID number (which is the number listed under
the barcode on your library card.) Consider this your library card fingerprint there is
no one else with the same barcode as you, and this is used to order your books and
keep track of them for you. It is important to choose Essex Library as your pick up
location. Unless you are doing your project on Italy, do not hit the submit button
otherwise a book will come for you that you dont actually need. If you were
requesting it, you would then click the submit button and the hold will be set in
transit to our library for you. The library will call you when its here for you to be
picked up. You should never feel like you cannot get resources that you need. Give
yourself a few extra days to do a research project. If what you need isnt here, were
always happy to get it for you! The best part is, you can place holds or check our
catalog from home using the same steps you used in the library today!

Using iCONN, the Connecticut Digital Library as a reliable research tool.

Many students use Google for research information. While Google can help, it often
provides too many choices or information that is not always reliable. There are, however,
wonderful Internet resources and the Connecticut Digital Library is one of them. We
suggest that you try iCONN for future research projects of all types! For today, well take
a quick peek at what it has for information on ancestry, genealogy and countries.

1. Type in www.iconn.org

2. Type your library card into the bar and press Login.

3. For this project, click Genealogy(Heritage Quest) on the side bar.

4. Choose Search by Census. You can search with your family name to see when
people came from and in what year they were found. You may find a grandfather,
uncle or even great grandmother! This is a good search to do with a family
member who would recognize older family names.

Finding Kids InfoBits on iCONN: (Please look for Appendix C for an accompanying
handout.)

5. Type in www.iconn.org

6. Choose the green link that says And Much More! on the far left.

7. Choose the first that you see: Kids InfoBits

8. Choose the History and Social Studies Picture
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9. Choose Social Studies (The picture with the Statue of Liberty).

10. Here you can search in topics like ethnic foods immigration population and
more. You will be linked directly to articles with research information. They will
give you the title, author and all other citation information so that you can cite
information in your report if you need to.

This instructional library session will only benefit young researchers if they
understand each step as fully as possible. To ensure that this is the case, a four-step
evaluation criteria process has been developed.
Pre Assessment
A brief pre-assessment will be delivered prior to the Information Literacy instructional
project to see how comfortable students are with using the library catalog and finding
resources. Questions would include:
Where is the Childrens Non-Fiction department located in our library?
Can you find me a book with the call number 923.4?
Do you feel comfortable using a digital catalog?
If you are using words that you took directly from a textbook, can you paraphrase them

or do you need to cite them?

Short Term Questionnaire

1. A short-term verbal questioner would be used in the closing of the instructional
project. This would be included in order to ensure, among each small group of students
that learning outcomes have been achieved. Questions might include:
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What are two great ways to search for a topic in the Search Type section of the digital
catalog?
You have found the perfect book in our catalog. Before you leave the computer to find it,
where can you look to see if its available?
You want to put a book on hold from home. What do you need to do so?
How can you tell if a resource is up-to-date?
What web sites can you use when Google is just not good enough?
Post Assessment

Using the questions delivered in the pre-assessment, ask students to answer them as a
post assessment. Ask students who are unsure about the answers to talk with you about
questions. Compare pre and post assessments for learning outcomes and growth.
Long Term Follow Up

A long-term follow up might include speaking with classroom teachers one month from
project, and then again at a later date to see if students are using and expanding on
research skills learned, as well as if they show that citing skills have been improving.
A Writing Manual Aid for Third Grade Students

Local teachers have recently started citation basics with their third grade students.
While they will not go over every element of using MLA format, they do hope to give
students a general idea about plagiarism, citation and bibliography lists. This simple
presentation was made to accompany the information that the teachers have already
introduced to their students. The first part of the process is an explanation, and the second
a hands-on practice session where students find citation information in a book provided
to them.
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The following presentation accompanies a workbook with information regarding
citation basics given to each student by their teacher. This is an exercise meant to help
them utilize the information in their workbook.
Organizing your Sources


If you know that you want to use a quote from a textbook in your report (and most of
your paper will be filled with quotes) its best to keep a stack of index cards with your
research books and notes. When you find something you like, write it down, word for
word and add quotation marks to remind you that you havent paraphrased it at all.

Every research paper NEEDS a bibliography! The WORST way to write a research paper
is to leave your bibliography work for the last moment before turning your work in. You
need to be very accurate with punctuation and need to be sure that you give credit to the
writer or researcher who produced the information that you are using.

Every time you find a book that you know you will use for your paper, start an index card
for it! There are hot spots in the book that are going to give you all the information
needed for your index card. Heres what to do when youre using MLA format.

Begin writing on your index card all the way to the left. Each line under the first will be
indented from then on.
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o Author/editor: Look on the Front Page, Spine, or Title Page. Write
down the entire name, Last Name, First Name, Middle Initial.
o Title: Look on the Front Page, Spine, or Title Page. Write down the
entire title. Once youve written it and added punctuation, underline it,
or its not complete!
o Where was the book published? This can usually be found at the
bottom of the title page. Youre looking for the name of a city or town.
If its hard to find, check out the copyright page. Add a colon after the
city!
o What is the name of the publishing company that published the book
you are using? After your semi colon, list the company and then add a
comma.
o Complete your citation with the year of copyright. Some books have
newer editions so be sure to show the year of the one that you used.
End your citation with a period.

Lets practice. Grab your paperback copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone.

Step one: Get your index card.

Step two: Drag that pencil all the way to the left and begin. You may think you know the
authors name by heart but be sure to double check. Last Name, First Name Middle
Initial. You should notice a dilemma! This book does not include a full first name for the
author. You should then write down what you find on the title page.
Write the full title of the book in your hand. It should look like:
Rowling, J.K.

Next step, find the title! Remember to capitalize the same words that you find capitalized
on the title page. You should have:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. Underline it and add a period at the end!!!

Lets find the place that the book was published.
New York is the first place listed among places published.

Lets find the publisher. Check the title page!
You should have written Scholastic Press and added a comma at the end.

Last but not least, what year was it published? Where were you during the year found on
the copyright page? End it with a period! You should have found: 1998.

When you complete an index card for EACH source that you use, place them in front of
you so that you can shuffle them around. Place them in a vertical line, from top to bottom
using alphabetical order of the first word on the page. You now have a rough draft of
your bibliography or Works Cited that will become the last page of your paper.
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Explain to students that their teachers want them to be able to do in-text
citations. Show them that an example of this might be explaining to the reader of your
paper that, J.K. Rowling shows us that Harry dislikes Malfoy when she writes, Harry
never believed he would meet a boy he hated more than Dudley, but that was before he
met Draco Malfoy (143). Remind students to add the authors last name within
parenthesis if you do not introduce him or her before the quote. Explain to students that it
is simple to go from a quote that was saved on an index card to a research paper.
Citations make it easy for the reader to know that what is in a paper isnt stolen, or where
to find a quote in the actual book if they want to look that part of the story up.

After gathering and recording citation information has been practiced, a brief
introduction to plagiarism will be conducted. All of the students will be together, circled
around the librarian in the program room. It will be important to use examples that matter
to the students to help them make a connection between artwork, music and research.
Use The Mona Lisa as an example.
Then use the song Over the Rainbow from the film the Wizard of Oz as an example.
Take clips from one, and ask students if that music or artwork belongs to someone. Ask if
that artist or musician deserves credit for that work. Explain that they also own rights to
the artwork, or music by law.
Use the same art, or music clip, but change it slightly. Ask students if the artwork,
or song now belongs to the person who changed it because it was altered. They should
make comments about how you just stole it or that it still sounds the same and
shouldnt be taken from the artist who created it.

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Explain that ideas, found in books or articles are the same way. Ask how a
student feels after writing a bibliography. How about the whole paper? Would they just
want to give away that work to someone who doesnt have to think or lift a finger?
Explain the importance of citing references and giving authors and publishers the rights
they deserve. Explain the repercussions, like losing a job or having to leave college if
caught stealing ideas. Emphasize the idea that plagiarism can easily be done, even if by
mistake and that everyone doing research should always be careful to cite the source.































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Bibliography

Aaron, J. (2006). The little, brown essential handbook. (5
th
ed.). New York: Pearson

Education.

Catalog. (2009). http://www.essexlib.org. Retrieved November
25, 2009, from Essex Library Website.

InfoBits. (2009). http://www.iconn.org. Retrieved November 23, 2009 from

Connecticut Digital Library Catalog.

Rowling, J.K. (1998). Harry Potter and the sorcerers stone. New York: Scholastic

Inc.



























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Appendix A
Catalog Search Handout
Search our catalog like a pro!
Use our online catalog at school, at home, or at the library to find the resources you need.
Start by typing http://www.essexlib.org into your Internet browser search bar.

1. Choose Catalog by clicking this tab
at the top of the screen.

2. Look at your options under Search Type
at the middle left of your screen.


3. With your mouse, choose Subject
by clicking it and make sure that it
appears in the Search Type box.

4. Look at the right side of the screen
where it says Select Collection. Be
sure that it says Essex Library
Association.

5. Start your search. Type in the name
of the country that you have chosen
for your project.

6. Lets use Italy as an example.
Choose the first choice labeled
Italy.

7. This page is important! Here you can
see the title, the authors, and where
the book is located. Please make sure
that it says Childrens Non-Fiction
and see when the book was written.







8. But Wait! We own the book, but is it available? Make sure it says so under
status before you go to find it on the shelf!
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Appendix B
Placing Holds Handout

HOLD IT!

Need a book that we dont have? Placing a hold only takes a minute, and once you do,
another library will package up that item and send it over!

1. Take out your library card and find your barcode number.

2. As an example, use your search box to search the title, The History of Emigration
from Italy. Be sure to select Title as your search type. You will also need to search
All Lion Libraries not just Essex Library Association.



3. You will be brought to a page showing you information about this book, including the
location where a copy can be found. We now know that it is in both the Durham and
Norwich libraries.






4. Does at least one library have an available copy?



5. Look for the Request/Hold button at the bottom of the page and click on it.





6. You will need to type in your last name and library barcode number where it says
patron ID number. Choose a library that you live closest to for a pick up location.
Complete your hold request by clicking submit.


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Appendix C
Using InfoBits through iCONN Handout

1. Using any computer, connect to the Internet and type in www.iconn.org into your
search bar.








2. Click on the green link that says, and much more! on the left side of the screen.




3.Choose the first choice that you see: Kids InfoBits
4. Now you can search by term, or chose any of the subjects listed on this page!


















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