Blog 3 - Reference Resources Beyond Google.

Introduction

At the start of this course I wasn’t really sure what to expect. At first, I was thinking well Reference material is Reference material, not much else to it. Boy was that a misconception. I knew right from defining some of the introduction terms that I would be learning a lot about Reference resources. My first stop was to my school's current Teacher Librarian (TL). Personally I had not really thought about using reference resources, as I usually jumped right on google to find the answer to my questions. I found that our current Library Learning Commons (LLC) had a reference section that was tucked away in the teacher area and all the resources were more than 20 years old. Our school isn’t even 20 years old.

My takeaway from this theme is that Google is not the only place to get information and that there is still a need for students to be exposed to physical reference materials. I am not currently a TL but this course and many of my others have done a fabulous job on allowing me the chance to reflect and envision how I would like to present an LLC to the students in the school.

The Deep Web


 Brandpowder, 2011

I am not the most tech savvy person so when this module stated that we would be exploring the Deep Web I was a little bit hesitant. Throughout my explorations I learned that I am strictly using the surface web and I have no idea what the deep web has to offer. An article that I found helpful in this module was by Dan Price. He states the 12 best search engines that use the invisible web. I tried 2 specific ones. The first was DuckDuckGo. The name seemed like it was kid friendly and even the webpage looked simple and safe or at least had a similar feeling to Google. It was easy to use and produced a lot of similar hits that Google produced but there were also some other websites presented that Google did not find. The other website that I tried was Elephind. This website also has a search but specifically for historical newspaper articles. I didn’t really have any use to search up historic newspaper articles so I didn’t spend a lot of time using this website. 

What is sticking with me from exploring the deep web is that it isn’t as scary to search and when not using the deep web there is more than 50% of information that a Google search is missing. (Beaudry, 2023) The other thing that was stated in a group discussion was information about about using incognito filters, which I love because my husband can’t see the gifts I want to buy him, but it was stated that DuckDuckGo is starting to be used more frequently because people trust that they have more privacy then when they use Google.(Beaudry, 2023) This could be true since we know Google is listening to everything we do. However, is the internet ever private?

Youtube
Grey Literature

Before this course I had not heard much about Grey literature, however, It didn’t really surprise me about what it encompassed. For example, information on a Government website could be considered Grey literature. My wonder with Grey literature is that it might be more current because the information is not put through the same review process but it is harder to locate (Sheridan Library & Learning Services, 2022). So if we are using Grey literature I feel like that the information might not have authority. Back to the BC Government websites, I use this website all the time, so would this mean it is grey literature? In my teaching I have found some great resources that have helped me supplement my indigenous teachings. I am guessing this would be Grey literature. 

Conclusion

These are the 2 areas that stood out to me in this theme.  However, there I did learn and was able to spend time exploring other reference resources that I would like to incorporate into my future LLC. I have felt that as the cheaper option a lot of schools have chosen to go with more digital resources but after this theme I feel like especially in elementary schools there needs to be physical copies that our youngest students can experience. I will now say that I am not just using Google but becoming familiar and confident exploring other reference resources. 

Works cited 

Beaudry, Richard (2023). Lesson 8: Deep Web Discussion.  Retrieved on April 10 from https://canvas.ubc.ca/groups/498663/discussion_topics/1705902?module_item_id=5310102

Guides: Grey literature: About grey literature. About Grey Literature - Grey Literature - Guides at Sheridan Library & Learning Services. (2022). Retrieved April 11, 2023, from https://sheridancollege.libguides.com/c.php?g=509087&p=3481770 

Price, D. (2022, July 12). The 12 best deep search engines to explore the invisible web. MUO. Retrieved April 11, 2023, from https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-search-engines-explore-deep-invisible-web/ 



Comments

  1. MeenaApril 13, 2023 at 4:08 PM

    I definitely agree that print material for young learners is important. The internet can be frustrating to navigate at times and super distracting. I lose the little ones quickly. I think print can be more engaging for young learners, flipping pages, engaging with text and pictures, learning about non fiction text features. These are important skills to grasp early on. Think a balance of both print and digital is important in the LLC. Thank you for sharing!

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