Reflections from the Saibsa Meet – January 2019
SAIBSA job-alike session 2019, hosted by Candor International School, Bangalore. Present were both experienced as well as new Librarians from six different schools, to learn and share ideas and strategies to strengthen and deepen IB philosophy.
The session started with Mr. Kaisar Dopaishi (SAIBSA President), discussion on ATL Skills and how it can help individual teachers reflect on their current practice.
Later, Mr. Kaisar facilitated the program with librarians. Our breakout session began with the tour of the library at the Candor International School. During the tour, we discussed the organization of the library, importance of display boards, library databases, the importance of having a library website and blog, OPAC system, visibility of resources, procurement of resources, collections of non-fiction and other resources to support extended essays, projects as recommended by the IB curriculum. Including books in mother tongue languages are important too.
Ms. Maitrayee from Saranya Narayana International School showed us different features and facilities of JSTOR. There was an exchange of ideas, experiences, and knowledge on other databases like EBSCO, ProQuest and other databases. Mr. Kaisar shared information about Koha as library software.
After lunch, there was a discussion on academic honesty, how collaboration between the Library and IT department can help to improve the digital section of the Library.
Discussions revolved around the role of a Teacher Librarian along with the involvement of Librarian during curriculum planning to help students and teachers with resources and skills. Compulsory login id on My IB, access to ManageBac are essential for librarians. Teaching students media literacy and information literacy, through library sessions with the students to learn about research skills and help the student on citation and reference.
Mr. Kaiser shared a Ted Video: “Do not filter news, the filter bubble”How web companies strive to tailor their services (including news and search results) to our personal tastes, there’s a dangerous unintended consequence: We get trapped in a “filter bubble” and don’t get exposed to information that could challenge or broaden our worldview. Eli Pariser argues powerfully that this will ultimately prove to be bad for us and bad for democracy.
Other resources shared by Mr. Kaiser:
National Digital Library for PYP and mother tongue
International children’s digital library
Library spot
Virtual Middle School Library
Portislibrary.weebly.com
Netvibes – mother tongue
Loyal books
Follet destiny
ASCD magazines
IB review on all subjects
Reflections by Swati Bhattacharya, Candor International School, Bangalore
