Multimedia - youtube.com

West Middle School Library
500 Old Perch
Rochester Hills, MI 48309
248-390-5001
248-726-5000

Social Networking - myspace.com

I chose the Worthington Libraries Teens on myspace.com. After looking at many different choices, I picked this one because, even though it's through a public library, it's the teens' space and lists the schools they attend and they even keep a blog. When searching through their links I saw that they recently had a 15 hour Harry Potter party (they had food, animals, contests, drawings, and more!). Following their links I found that they have "volunteens", a summer reading program, book discussions, game night, book recommendations and more. They also have a blog that the teens keep. Their url is
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=105702312.

Browsing Search

Search:
Browsing

Database:
LexisNexis

Just to be different, I decided to try browsing for something to do with having fun in school libraries.

I went to LexisNexis and I had it search for ("School librar*" fun). From those results I started browsing via the left margin that breaks the hits down by whether they are in a newspaper, magazine or journal, industry trade press, newsletter, or aggregate news source.

I decided to browse through the magazine and journal tab.



I didn't like the choices there so I went to newspapers.



The left margin breaks it down by each newspaper.


I browsed through many different newspapers including one in China, the Boston Globe, and USA Today. When I was browsing through Australia's Courier Mail, I found this article about a festival of children's literature.


Ipswich festival of children's literature
The Courier Mail (Australia)
July 10, 2007 Tuesday
First with the news Edition

I thought the browsing search went well, but it took longer than the other searches. I liked that I found a fun activity and that it was from another country.

Citation Pearl Growing Search

Search:
Citation Pearl Growing

Database:
ASP

I thought that the article from the building block search sounded like fun, so I decided to use it and found it on ASP.

Article:
Mock Caldecott Contest in a Day for Grades 1-2. By: Fontichiaro, Kristin. School Library Media Activities Monthly, Nov2006, Vol. 23 Issue 3, p19-21, 3p; (AN 22790690)


The subject terms shown on the page are:
*CONTESTS
*EDUCATION, Primary
*PICTURE books
*TEACHING methods
*CLASSROOM activities

I decided to choose "CLASSROOM activities" which had too many hits, so I added "TEACHING methods" to my search and it returned 35 hits (the original hit was in there at number 20).


From there I chose the following as something that would be fun to do in the library in cooperation with classroom teachers:

A special agent. By: Crowther, Sarah. Times Educational Supplement, 5/25/2007 Issue 4738, special section p51-51, 1/3p; (AN 25290593)


This search was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. I'm not sure if it was the database I chose or not. I did get a good find in the Special Agent article I found.

Specific Facet First- Successive Fractions Search

Search Method:
Specific Facet First/Successive Fractions

Database:
Eric

I thought the first facet to try, the most specific one, would be the (fun or enjo* or amus*) facet. I checked them all and I was right. Even though this first facet was the most specific it still gave me over 8,000 hits.

Since that is far too much to sift through, I then moved to a successive fractions search.

The second most specific facet is the (school librar* or media center*) facet, so that was the next facet I entered. That returned over 200 hits, which is not bad, but I'm going to try my last facet, since I have one left.

I entered (party or program* or activit* or contest*) and received 163 hits.

Not bad, but I'm going to try to narrow this using the limit of only items available via TWU's library.

This narrowed it to 23 hits, which is a very reasonable number to examine.

As I look through the first page, I decide that the following sounds like a perfect find:

Libraries, Learning and Fun

Sharon Coatney

2004

English Article (EJ) 1

Teacher Librarian, v32 n1 p49 Oct 2004

Scarecrow Press, 4501 Forbes Blvd., Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706. Web site: http://www.scarecrowpress.com.

Learning can be packaged and promoted as fun. The youngest learners naturally perceive all of life as one big wonder. It is important for school libraries to be the catalyst in helping to position learning as being the "fun" part of school. Sometimes, the simplest learning activity, embellished and celebrated can become a very meaningful experience to a child....

Availability:	FirstSearch indicates your institution subscribes to this publication. Libraries worldwide that own item: 540 TEXAS WOMAN'S UNIV LIBR Search the catalog at Texas Woman's University Library(Print and Fulltext) Local Holdings Information: . 26-(Sept. 1998-)
External Resources:	Search for Fulltext

More Like This:	Advanced options ...
Accession No:	EJ706499
Author(s):	Coatney, Sharon

Title: Libraries, Learning and Fun

Source:	Teacher Librarian v32 n1 p49 Oct 2004 (1 pages) Additional Info: Scarecrow Press, 4501 Forbes Blvd., Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706. Web site: http://www.scarecrowpress.com.
Standard No:	ISSN: 1481-1782
Language:	English
Abstract:	Learning can be packaged and promoted as fun. The youngest learners naturally perceive all of life as one big wonder. It is important for school libraries to be the catalyst in helping to position learning as being the "fun" part of school. Sometimes, the simplest learning activity, embellished and celebrated can become a very meaningful experience to a child. In this article, the author describes how her school library sponsors a version of the Vocabulary Parade, based on Debra Frasier's book Miss Alaineus. Classroom teachers collaborate with the teacher-librarian to plan and implement the event. Every child receives a list of grade specific, curriculum related vocabulary words. From that list, students are directed to choose a word, construct a costume and prepare to participate in the parade.
Peer Reviewed:	No

I thought this search went very well. I had an extremely reasonable amount of hits (23) and found a very nice hit in there about fun things a librarian has done in her library that promote learning.

Building Block Search - LibraryLit

Building Block Strategy:
s1: school librar* or media center*
s2: fun or enjo* or amus*
s3: party or program* or activit* or contest*

Database:
LibraryLit

Search Strategy:
(school librar* or media center*) and (fun or enjo* or amus*) and (party or program* or activit* or contest*)

Records Found:
98

Search results:



Here's one of the hits:


I thought the 98 hits were pretty good and the first two pages of hits were very relevant to what I was wanting. I especially like the choice above about a mock Caldecott contest for early elementary students.