Reference Material

Should we abandon the idea of reference material altogether? Or should the term be kept only for non-borrowable print resources in the library?

I’m not sure if we should abandon the idea of reference material altogether. It depends on the actual resource, the school community and the context. Working in a  primary school library I have been asked by students if they could borrow reference material and have usually had to say no.  I did however have a Tibetan student just this week  ask me if he could  borrow a picture dictionary and take it home to help with learning English. It was an easy decision to say yes as the resource was not overly expensive or difficult to replace if need be and he would be unlikely to sit and read it during library time.  In the past some reference materials were very expensive and difficult to replace such as a collection of traditional encyclopedias.  New online versions have devalued those outdated physical versions. But what do we do with the old now? You can hardly allow students to lug volumes of encyclopedias home for borrowing, but having said that in the last two years they haven’t been touched at school and we are wondering what to do. 

My school is currently trialling an online encyclopedia and the students are excited and navigating the information successfully. The benefits of the online version far outweigh the older physical version. All students have access 24/7. Our visually impaired student has access to enlarged( text), special needs students  have varying reading levels and our English as a second language students EALD  are are able to translate information into most languages.

Information is all about providing equal access at any time or place  and traditional models of  using reference material don’t  fit this any more. Maybe it is time to loosen up a little!