Annual Activities Report
1997-1998
The Instructional Resources Unit provides Kindergarten through Senior 4 educators with curriculum implementation support, educational research and professional development materials; Department of Education and Training staff with essential library services; teachers-in-training with library services as preparation for teaching; and, all of the above clients, including the general public, with library services to facilitate lifelong learning and parental involvement.
All of the activities of the Unit focus on the following educational outcomes: the improvement in teaching practices and student learning; the increased use of educational research and practice to improve decision making in the classroom and in educational administration; and an increased emphasis on resource-based learning as an educational model in schools.
The Instructional Resources Unit’s staff, organized into teams and quality circles, were focused on the delivery of high quality library/media services for teachers throughout the province.
Reference and Information Assistance
Information assistance was provided to answer clients’ queries and to facilitate educators’ professional growth and planning for best instructional practices. Information was accessed from the Library’s web-based online public access catalogue (OPAC), other libraries’ catalogues, various print and electronic reference tools and the Internet. Over 23,000 ready reference and 6,142 in-depth reference questions were answered for clients. With the installation of a new version of the OPAC, over 3,000 demonstrations of the system were conducted.
Multiculture and Anti-Racist Information
Reference services in the areas of multicultural and anti-racist education assisted teachers to develop attitudes and behaviours in students that respect all people, regardless of their differences. More than 50 consultations on teaching resources on Aboriginal, Anti-Bias Education, Black History, English as a Second Language, Human Rights and the Holocaust were provided. In addition five workshops on these topics were conducted.
School Library Services
27 consultations were provided to assist schools in developing their libraries and to implement the resource based learning model in their classrooms.
Seven school building plans were reviewed where school libraries were new or under renovation to ensure that school libraries conform to standards of construction, Departmental space guidelines and good operational conditions so that students and staff have excellent facilities.
Collection Management
Collection management identifies, selects and acquires resources for the collection in the three broad areas of curriculum implementation, education theory and practice and educational research. These materials support the work of the School Programs Division of the Department and support teachers for the implementation of new and existing curricula, Kindergarten to Senior 4.
During 1997/98, 4000 books were acquired for the collection including those Western Canadian Protocol resources selected for Mathematics and English Language Arts. Videos were added to the collection - 320 VHS hard copy videos for professional development and curriculum implementation; 55 new titles with provincial duplication and distribution rights; and, 185 existing video titles renewed with provincial duplication and duplication rights for curriculum implementation. Selected Cable in the Classroom initiative titles were added as donations. A periodical collection of 300 active titles was maintained. New videos were reviewed for possible purchase. Subscriptions to eight databases on CD-ROM, such as ERIC, were maintained for reference and educational research. Selected areas of the collection were weeded in order to make the collection more current and accessible.
Bibliographic Management (Cataloguing)
Over 5200 print and non-print titles and 300 periodical subscriptions were acquired during the year. Over 5900 items were catalogued, processed and bar coded. Staff, summer students and volunteers continued to input full cataloguing records into the automated system, thus making these records immediately accessible to clients via the online public catalogue. Over 3800 cataloguing records were imported from the National Library of Canada Amicus database to provide quick and accurate cataloguing information to the Library. Several initiatives undertaken during the year were: the conversion of the Library's non-MARC records to MARC records, the adjustment of bibliographic records after the completion of the annual weeding project and the introduction of the periodicals inventory project.
Loans, Media Bookings & Video Duplication
The Library’s collections were circulated. A total of 108, 934 books and small format audiovisual resources were loaned, 3,524 periodicals were loaned to department staff, 318 periodical articles were duplicated for teachers in the field. 36,680 media resources were booked.
Video Duplication
From 1829 video dubbing masters, 11,342 video recordings were duplicated in 811 orders. The dubbing masters covered a variety of subject areas at all grade levels and supported the implementation of the Kindergarten to Senior 4 curricula.
Human Resources/Work Experience/Bulk Mailing
Through an extensive volunteer program, the Unit provided over 3015 hours of valuable work experience for students and other individuals preparing to re-enter the workforce. The unit also coordinated the School Programs Division’s bulk mailing system, distributing over 355,420 items to Manitoba schools and division offices, thereby making communication between School Programs Division and the schools more efficient and effective.
Copyright
An Addendum to the Licence Agreement between Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth, on behalf of education stakeholders on the Minister’s Advisory Committee on Copyright, and Cancopy continues for the schools years 1996-97 and 1997-98. With this licence agreement and the payment of a fee of $2 per full time equivalent student for each of the years, teachers are able to access copyright material as per the terms of the agreement.
Tours, Publications, Displays, and Home Page
The Library conducted 7 comprehensive and more than 25 brief tours of its facility including orientation to its services and training/demonstration on the OPAC.
Bibliographies on the following topics were developed and made available on the Library’s Home Page on the World Wide Web: Assessment, Differentiating Instruction, Educational Renewal, Gender Equity, Integrating Technology into the Curriculum, Media Literacy, and School Improvement through Planning. The following bibliographies were revised: Anti-Racist Education, Asia Pacific, and Black History.
Information regarding the Library’s services, policies, resources, was also posted on the Home Page and was regularly updated. In total, there were 12,754 hits on the Library’s Home Page.
Linking Libraries Initiative
One of the most exciting projects that IRU embarked on this year was the acquisition of a new automated library system. In April, IRU initiated the coordination, implementation and installation of a new bilingual, automated, web-based Library system for both the English and French Libraries of the Department. The automation project partners included: Direction des resources éducatives françaises (DREF), MERLIN and Best-Seller Inc.
From April to July the main project tasks included conversion and acceptance of data from both libraries’ databases and the installation of new hardware, software, Internet lines and cables. During the summer months, staff training was conducted. The new library system was installed on August 11, 1997 and included the following modules: Cataloguing, Circulation, Advance Booking, Acquisitions and an Internet Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC).
Plans are underway for future modifications to the library system including the exporting of catalogue records, further customization of the Online Public Access Catalogue and the creation of an electronic reference library.
The new library system gives teachers and schools direct, electronic access to the Department Libraries’ online catalogues for searching for professional and curriculum implementation resources
