Plagiarism: “You Quote It, You Note It!

As this term draws to a close and assignments are handed in there may be time to reflect and then refresh. This ten minute tutorial from Vaughan Memorial Library is a visual reminder of the facts, pitfalls and consequences of plagiarism. It also teaches responsible ways to avoid plagiarism.

Try this Plagiarism Checker
or… Upload your assignment and have its contents checked for free

21st Century Information Transliteracy

Dr Gail Bush from the National Louis University speaks about the way we need to view and use information when it is available in abundance from many sources. She says that in the 20th Century we used valid information to “answer the question” but now there are so many sources of information we must “question the answer”.

Dr Bush says we can’t trust every information source so we need to think critically when assessing information. Students need to be challenged to be open to changing perspectives under valid opinion. Students need to learn to question the validity of sources and look for perspectives and bias.
Read more here: http://www.nl.edu/news/informationtransliteracy.cfm

Digital Literacy: Finding information is one thing – using it is another!

The role of teacher Librarian is to foster and improve Digital and Information literacy across the school. Both teachers and students need to become expert information users.

“In the white paper Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action, professor Renee Hobbs from Temple University mentions skills that show digital and media literacy, including accessing information, solving problems, working collaboratively, communicating effectively, and analyzing data and evidence.

Teacher Librarians assist collaboratively with the implementation of Information Literacy into the curriculum. Read more about this in this post on the Converge site:

Follett Challenge entries are a source of inspiration

The winning entries of this challenge have been published and focus on the work done in school libraries – a great source of ideas and also advocacy for the role of Teacher Librarians in school libraries everywhere.
In Australia, 2012 is the National Year of Reading and I know that in our library we will be working hard to promote literacy in all subject areas with a focus on integrating the library (IRC)and Teacher Librarian in teaching and learning activities across the school (K-12).
View the winning entries here:

TED talk by inspirational School Librarian, Dr Joyce Valenza

Dr Joyce Valenza is well known worldwide by Teacher Librarians for her innovative use of technology in schools and her contributions to the development of Web2.0 tools integrated into school research practice. She regularly visits Australia to share at our professional development conferences.