Using Digital Public Library of America for Inquiry-Based Teaching and Learning – Wednesday, October 21, 2015

The American Association of School Librarians is hosting a complimentary live webinar on Wednesday, October 21, 7:00 PM EST. The webinar, Using Digital Public Library of American for Inquiry-Based Teaching and Learning, will be targeted to school library professionals, and those interested in the topic.

Registration information for the workshop is available at http://www.ala.org/aasl/ecollab/dpla .

In this session, presenters Franky Abbott and Trish Vlastnik will introduce participants to the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). The presentation will include an overview of the site’s useful features for teachers and students doing research, such as maps, timeline, and online exhibitions. Presenters will also demonstrate sample keyword searches to illustrate how participants can find materials on the site most quickly and easily and incorporate them into lesson plans in ways that support inquiry. Finally, the presenters will share specific education initiatives, such as primary source sets for students, currently in development at DPLA.

Program Learning Objective 1:
Participants will understand the history, mission and goals of the Digital Public Library of America and explore the Digital Public of America website through a guided tour illustrating the wealth and breadth of digital resources present in DPLA repositories.

Program Learning Objective 2:
Participants will learn how to use critical, modern digital library technologies, including basic search techniques, faceted browsing (scanning digital collections by elements such as item type and year of creation), map-based exploration, and the use of digital timelines to discover and assess primary sources in the specific context of DPLA.

Program Learning Objective 3:
Participants will understand how to incorporate DPLA resources into lesson plans and to utilize these digital assets in a manner that supports inquiry-based teaching and learning and develops higher order thinking skills by asking students to analyze an image, text, or other item related to a particular subject.

Trish Vlastnik has served students and teachers in both private and public school libraries over the past sixteen years; first as media secretary, then as media specialist.  She has spent the past ten years in Jonesboro, Georgia working as a media specialist in the Clayton County Public School District at the elementary and secondary levels. In 2014, she assumed her current position as the Media Specialist at the new Martha Ellen Stilwell School of the Arts. Ms. Vlastnik has spoken extensively on the subject of incorporating digital resources in instruction as a means to support inquiry-based teaching and learning.

Franky Abbott manages education initiatives at the Digital Public Library of America. She has broad experience working on a variety of digital projects for public engagement and higher education, standards and assessment development for K-12 education, and as an English teacher in grades 10-12.

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Please welcome the Okefenokee Regional Library System as our new project partner!

Letter: Laura S. Walker Collection, 1790-1950. Laura S. Walker Collection, Okefenokee Regional Library.
Letter: Laura S. Walker Collection, 1790-1950. Laura S. Walker Collection, Okefenokee Regional Library.

Please welcome our new project partner, the Okefenokee Regional Library System http://okrls.org/ , and their two new collections, the Okefenokee Postcard Collection (available at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/CollectionsA-Z/pos_search.html) and the Laura S. Walker Collection (available at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/CollectionsA-Z/lsw_search.html ). These collections were digitized as part of the DPLA’s Public Library Partnerships Project (PLPP), connecting public librarians and public library collections with the DLG and DPLA. We have enjoyed the opportunity to work with the Okefenokee Regional Library System, and appreciate the chance to make its resources available online.

Kathleen McClure, the Systems Librarian at the Okefenokee Regional Library System explains that the Laura S. Walker Collection and Okefenokee Postcard Collection are both “of high relevance and interest to the area.”  She notes: “Walker was a civic leader and environmental advocate in Waycross in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many of the documents in the Walker Collection are originals–letters, pictures–of historical significance and should be made widely available for scholars and curious minds. The Walker Collection contains documents that exist in no other place and, until now, in no other form. Laura Walker can be considered a founder not only of the environmental movement, but of Waycross, shaping the history of the area in ways that persist to this day. However, there is a sad dearth of information available on the life of this woman. The Walker Collection glimpses into the personal and civic life of Ms. Walker.”

As for the Okefenokee Postcard Collection, McClure says: “The Eames Okefenokee Postcard Collection shows a glimpse into the past of Waycross, tourism to the Okefenokee Swamp and area industries. The Eames Okefenokee Postcard Collection is unique in its completeness. It is the single largest collection of vintage postcards for Waycross and the Okefenokee area on record. This collection is not only visually and artistically interesting; it catalogs the history and development of the area.”

Plant Avenue, Waycross, Ga.: 1907, 1989. Okefenokee Postcard Collection, Okefenokee Regional Library.
Plant Avenue, Waycross, Ga.: 1907, 1989. Okefenokee Postcard Collection, Okefenokee Regional Library.

McClure recommends looking at a postcard from the Okefenokee Postcard Collection labeled “Plant Avenue, Waycross, Ga.” that “really highlights the changes that have taken place over time.” She adds “The Okefenokee Postcard Collection has given me the idea to make the collection interactive with a photo scavenger hunt, where patrons find the vantages seen in the postcards as they exist today and take a photo of themselves in each location. This would promote not only our collection, but also the Waycross area in a fun way.”

We hope you enjoy these two new collections from the Okefenokee Regional Library System!

 

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