Helping students Make the connection between OPAC and the Library Collection

#shelfie lesson to bridge the gap between OPAC and the shelf

One of the areas where students seem to struggle as library users is finding the actual book on the shelf, after they have done a search in our OPAC.  They can search the digital collection and find books they want, and they can browse to find books they want, but get stuck when it comes to putting those two things together.

That is where the #shelfie lesson becomes the bridge to those two skills.  This lesson forces them to search for a specific title and then locate it on the shelf, using a picture as evidence that tehy were able to actually locate the book.  That also helps cut down on the re-shelving of books, since they don’t have to bring it to me, they can just use a shelf marker and then re-shelve it themselves!​

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Click "read more" to get a breakdown of the lesson and explanation of the assessment process!

Lesson Breakdown

Part 1

• Students get a fictitious student profile (10 different versions that I created, each leaning slightly toward one genre of interests more than others).
• They work in small groups to identify information about the person that would help them find a book that student would like to read.
• They look at a list of the genres we have in our library to come up with keywords for their search on OPAC.

Part 2

• Students search OPAC, learning how to apply keywords and use the genre buttons.
• Students find a book that is available. ** we focus on the fiction section so they become familiar with the genrefication of our library
• They record the information they need to know to locate that item on the shelf.

Part 3

• Students work with their small group to locate the book on the shelf.
• They take a picture with the book as a group and post it to our private padlet board.
• They place the book back on the shelf.

Assessment

The part I like about this lesson is that the #shelfie is the assessment.  By taking a picture there is visual evidence that the small group was able to meet the expectations of the lesson.  Additionally, because this is a skill that requires movement around the library space and the location of a particular item, it is much easer to have students do this with the actual collection.

I use the handout they complete to ensure that they didn’t just pull a random book from the shelf for the picture.  And, they showcase their knowledge of the genres with their recommendation for the fake student profile I provided to each group.

Why fake student profiles?

Using the student profiles, instead of having students just identify their own interests and search for themselves has two different purposes.

First, I want them to become more familiar with the genres in our library as for many, it is a different way of navigating the fiction section.  Having a fake profile, means that they have to look more critically at personal interests and hobbies as a tool to identify reading interests.  It also shows them that many readers have interests in more than one genre, as the profiles are multifaceted.

Second, it keeps them from leaning on what they already read or from looking in a section where they may already know a particular book exists.  By practicing this skill with a profile, then hopefully they will be able to apply this practice to themselves when they are asked to pick a book for class or independent reading.

Why small groups?

I primarily use this lesson with my 6th grade students.  They are new to our library and are not familiar with where things are and how the genres are organized on the shelves.  Working in a small group means there is less pressure to find something on their own and they are more confident walking around the library with their friends.  

Same with the picture aspect, they are way more comfortable being in a picture with their peers than if they were to do it on their own. 

The pictures are always entertaining to look at and I keep the padlet up during Part 3 so we can all see the pictures coming in as they find their book and post their pictures.  It definitely keeps them engaged!

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