TODAY'S SCHOOL LIBRARY: Meeting the Needs of Today's School Classroom
INFOhio Providing Content and Training for Ohio's Schools

NCOCC - North Central Ohio Computer Cooperative
Richland County Longview Center
1495 West Longview Avenue, Room 235
Mansfield, Ohio
10 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

SUMMARY

IMPORTANT: This is an archive document containing many time-sensitive links. INFOhio does not guarantee the reliability of links to other sites.

     
More than 100 participants in INFOhio -- Users, Providers, classroom teachers, administrators, Governing Advisory Board members, presenters, and staff -- attended the INFOhio State Users Group meeting at the North Central Ohio Computer Cooperative (NCOCC) in Mansfield on Wednesday, May 19, 1999. The meeting focused on instructional development and electronic resources available through INFOhio. Facilitator was Dr. Greg Byerly from Kent State University's School of Library and Information Science. Designed as a workshop-within-a-workshop, the meeting provided information that attendees could take back to their districts and buildings to help students and teachers better use INFOhio resources. SPECIAL NOTE: Two electronic resources are currently available to all Ohio teachers and students, as provided by the Ohio General Assembly through the efforts of the Ohio Educational Library/Media Association (OELMA) and delivered by the Ohio Education Computer Network. The meeting provided training and assistance for incorporating these resources into the curriculum.

The Martha Holden Jennings Foundation provided financial assistance for the session. In addition to several handouts dealing with INFOhio, each district in attendance was provided a copy of the manual and diskette of Web site bookmarks from this year's series of Advanced Information Literacy Skills workshops, conducted by Byerly and Dr. Carolyn Brodie of Kent State of INFOhio.

Information Power / Information Literacy

Byerly used the meeting's first hour to review Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning, a Joint publication of the American Library Association and the Association for Educational Communications and Technology. He explained Information Power's nine standards for student learning and related those standards to INFOhio's DIALOGUE Model for Information Literacy Skills and other INFOhio program elements. Byerly stressed the importance of incorporating information literacy skills into all parts of the K-12 curriculum and of providing a variety of resources to students and teachers in our state.

SiteBuilder™

  Diane Deibel, library/media specialist at Westlake High School, and Linda Ehrnschwender, INFOhio Provider from the Lake Erie Educational Computer Association (LEECA), demonstrated how they have helped teachers use SiteBuilder, a component of Bell & Howell Information and Learning's ProQuest Direct database available as INFOhio's Electronic Resources for Social Studies. Ehrnschwender has developed training materials to help teachers learn the process of developing Web pages with student assignments and activities, pages that can incorporate links to ProQuest Direct articles. Deibel showed examples of Web pages she and other Westlake High School teachers have developed. (Westlake High School and other SiteBuilder samples can be seen on the INFOhio Web page /er/SiteBuilder_samples.htm.)

NetWellness®

Brenda Rose explained how to use NetWellness, consumer health information available through the Internet. (Most of the NetWellness resources are available through INFOhio; the full suite is available at all Ohio public libraries.) NetWellness is a state-funded project utilizing the resources of health professionals at the University of Cincinnati, The Ohio State University, and Case Western Reserve University. "Ask an Expert" is the most popular feature of NetWellness; health care professionals (physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, optometrists, nutritionists, athletic trainers) answer questions within two to three days.

Resources in the Ohio Core Health Collection include health Source Plus from EBSCO, health Reference Center from IAC, and A.D.A.M. Health Encyclopedia. Rose has made her PowerPoint presentation available for faculty inservice sessions. (The link is also available on the INFOhio Web page ../ER/ER.html in the NetWellness section.) She also informed the group that an enhanced version -- NetWellness 2000 -- is planned for July 1999.

Encyclopaedia Britannica Online

INFOhio's new electronic encyclopedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, was demonstrated by Anne Doyle, from EB's Chicago office. She stressed the various features of the online version that make EBO usable for younger students than may have used the traditional print version. Among the features Boyle demonstrated: natural language searching, spelling assistance, the online dictionary (where every word's definition is a double-click away), The World geographic resources for each nation, and the monthly Spotlight features that explain special topics in depth. Of particular value to K-12 is the wealth of evaluated Web links that accompany the EBO articles. (About Encyclopaedia Britannica Online provides more background.)

A packet of sample training materials (ready-reference guide, poster, and table-tent card) was distributed to each district in attendance including a videocassette that provides in-depth training (33 min.) and a summary version (21 min.). EB will provide enough tapes so each district may request one, and area media centers (many with Web access and booking capability) will have three copies for loan, along with the rights to make copies to use within Ohio. EB training materials can be ordered at no charge by any Ohio school. Doyle reminded everyone that state funding has made EBO available to any school-based Internet station through June 2000.

INFOhio's Web OPAC

DRA's Jeff Schilling demonstrated the Web OPAC INFOhio now has available to schools in many of Ohio's DASites. (Others are in the process of implementing INFOhio's Web OPAC over the next several weeks and then will be activated on the Web page.) In addition to the basic elements of the search process, Schilling demonstrated many advanced features now available to INFOhio, including the capability to search various buildings within the district and various districts within the DASite. He also was able to show several other examples of sites using DRA's Web OPAC software; he encouraged everyone to visit the DRA Web page (linked from INFOhio's homepage) to see the wide range of implementation strategies available, especially since INFOhio will be evaluating our current search screens to make user implemented improvements this fall. Each DASite's Web OPAC has a help screen that explains the various search strategies available.
 

Executive Director's Report

The meeting concluded with a presentation from Theresa M. Fredericka, INFOhio Executive Director: INFOhio State of the State and Beyond. After reviewing accomplishments related to each of INFOhio's five components, Fredericka reported on the status of INFOhio's request for additional funding for the next Ohio budget biennium to provide more library automation for schools not yet automated and additional electronic resources for all schools. She also reported that state and federal trademarks have been granted for INFOhio - The Information Network for Ohio Schools, and all INFOhio software vendors have provided letters of Y2K compliance. Fredericka adjourned the users group by challenging everyone to strive for excellence in school libraries at every level.
 

Handouts available:
ALA Issue Briefs for National Legislative Day, 1999
Local Report Card: The Fourth-Grade Guarantee, Ohio Department of Education (February 1999)

Photos provided by Tony Marshalek.