Intellectual Freedom is not an easy concept for many students to grasp. Middle school level is where we really start to emphasize it in the curriculum. From my experience as a media specialist in an elementary school, I learned that when students borrow information to use in reports, oral presentations, and multimedia presentations, we introduce them to the idea of giving credit to their sources, but the format for doing so varies by grade level and even from teacher to teacher. By high school, students are expected to be able to correctly cite their sources, at the end of their documents as well as in-text.. Middle school is where that important bridge occurs.
After visiting middle schools in the county and observing what my middle school-age son was required to do for research, I soon learned that middle school students were usually required to keep a list of their resources using a fill-in-the-blank format and turn this in with their assignment. I collected several samples, and then set about creating my own Keeping Track of Sources forms (with several improvements) for the new middle school. I wanted the form to further bridge the gap and teach the citation process, so I designed my form with the blanks in the proper MLA format. I also made certain to separate out web sites and online subscription databases to help the students understand the differences between the two. I also created separate sheets for print resources and electronic resources and run them off on different colors—again, to reinforce the different resource types. My forms include a place to number each resource, so that students can refer to it on their note cards and in their documents. This also helps prepare them for high school where they will be required to cite each piece of borrowed information in-text with the resource it came from.
Website evaluation is another huge obstacle in teaching intellectual freedom and information literacy. Many middle school students have not yet learned to evaluate web resources. Middle school is the first time they are allowed access to the web, and even then access is very limited. Yet, by high school, students will be expected to use and evaluate information from web in their research. I consulted numerous web evaluation tools. I wanted to create one that was not too cumbersome to fill out, yet comprehensive enough to be reliable. The UMS Website Evaluation Form is the result of my efforts.
By the time we started having our first faculty, leadership, and department team meeting in the late summer, I had all of these forms in place. I presented them to the leadership teams and then with their support, introduced them to the faculty. They are the standard forms to be used in all research activities at UMS. Each teacher was given master copies to reproduce. Copies are available in the media center and on the media center website for easy access.
As more and more class assignments are requiring students to create multimedia presentations, I found that I needed to address how to correctly use copyrighted materials in student presentations, and how to cite resources there as well. In my Media Center Reference Handbook, I include a page specifically showing students how to do this. When students create these presentations in the media center, I always check to see that they include this information.
As for the privacy of users of the media center, several policies are in place. Many are provided by the circulation software. For example, students must login to the OPAC to search for books, place books on hold, and check on the status of their books. This information is protected by a student password. When a student sees that a book they want is out, the system will list the date it is due, but will not list the name of the patron who borrowed it. Although I am able to retrieve that information at the circulation counter, I do not reveal that information to the students. Students check out materials by scanning their individual barcode at the circulation counter. I run these barcodes off on label paper for the students at the beginning of the year and we place them inside their student agendas. I am certain to run the labels off with just the name of the student printing, not the numbers of the barcode, further protecting the students’ privacy.
By the time my students leave middle school and enter high school, I feel confident that they have a firm foundation of understanding intellectual freedom and privacy.
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