Annual Activities Report
2005-2006
The Instructional Resources Unit (IRU) continued to build local capacity to improve teaching and learning, focusing on the following major activities.
-
Selection, acquisition, and cataloguing of learning resources, provision of print and electronic access to IRU collections, as well as reference and information assistance. The IRU provided library services in support of K-S4 curriculum implementation, Appropriate Educational Programming, the Aboriginal Education Strategy, diversity and equity education, educational research, and professional learning to address K-S4 educators' needs.
-
With more than 9,000 active registered clients, staff fielded 21,350 queries, catalogued over 8,600 new items and circulated 118,500 resources.
-
The IRU acquired over 1,250 audio-visual items and other non-print titles including resources recommended for Social Studies, German, Biology and Family Studies.
-
Media duplication rights for both VHS and DVD formats were acquired for the upcoming year of CBC, News in Review, and the UNICEF title "If the World were a Village".
-
IRU's web site was actively visited by 3,233,852 clients and visitors using its electronic resources and databases, including fulfilment of 518,418 successful requests for specific web pages. The Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC), as the IRU's main gateway to educational resources, served over 1,117,809 users.
-
IRU launched WebExport, a new service to export customized cataloguing records from its unique database to school libraries in Manitoba. Currently over 95 schools have subscribed to this service.
-
Acquisition, cataloguing, and dissemination of resources identified through the Western and Northern Canadian Protocol and Manitoba Reviews of Learning Resources.
-
New and revised bibliographies and catalogues included New Teachers (2005), Conflict Resolution: Safe Schools (2005), the IRU Periodicals Catalogue (2005), and Manitoba Fiction Writers, Illustrators and Musicians for Children and Young People (2006).
-
Application of leading-edge information technologies both for services and collections, creating a virtual library accessible to all Manitoba K-S4 educators and department staff to support current awareness, including electronic bibliographies and acquisitions lists as well as provision of an OPAC and Virtual Education Information Service.
-
Provision of copyright clearance through the Schools/CanCopy Pan-Canadian Agreement 1999-2004, was extended on August 26, 2004, as well as copyright information assistance and workshops. Development through the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), of a framework for a national digital copyright policy, which was recommended to the federal government for the revision of copyright law. In response to Access Copyright filing a tariff for K-S4 education with the Copyright Board for $12.00/student/annum, the CMEC filed as objectors both to the level of the tariff and to retroactivity. The case will be before the Copyright Board in January 2007. The "Canadian Copyright Information" web site was updated and expanded.
-
Provision of efficient and effective delivery for School Programs Division documents and other education literature, to specified groups and individuals in schools and Board offices via monthly bulk mailings. Approximately 920,000 items were distributed through bulk mail services.
-
Provision of support services are provided to school libraries, including reference and collections assistance, consultations, reviews of new and renovated school library facilities, cataloguing information, a web site and the publication of Automated Library Systems in Manitoba Schools (2005).
For the complete Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth Annual Report 2005-2006 visit: http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/ar_ecy_0506/index.html
