AASL Standards Interview with Crystal Smith, Librarian at Blythewood High School

Crystal Smith is one of two certified librarians working in the Blythewood High School library, and she was my supervising librarian during my Fall 2022 internship there. I interviewed her after my internship about the Shared Foundation of Inquiry, from the American Association of School Librarian’s National School Library Standards. I wanted to know some ways in which she believes her library program implements the domains and competencies that go with the ‘Inquire’ foundation. I asked the following questions:

1. What are some examples of the ways in which you are implementing these competencies in your library program?

2. What are some of the resources in your library program that you are using to implement these competencies?

3. Do any of the competencies that you are implementing include collaboration with classroom teachers? If so, please provide examples.

4. What are some of the challenges that you face when trying to implement these competencies?

5. Are there any other comments that you would like to make regarding the Shared Foundation / Competencies and Domains that we have discussed today?

Crystal immediately thought of NoodleTools, a resource her school pays for, so the students and staff may utilize it. NoodleTools is a research platform that provides a way for students to cite sources and organize notes, as well as collaborate with peers, teachers, and librarians. NoodleTools also works with other databases the students use, to import citations/notes in so that information is all organized in one place when planning a research paper. An example that Crystal gave is collaborating with teachers who want their students to begin a research paper. The ‘Think’ domain says “School Librarians teach learners to display curiosity when seeking information by: 1. Encouraging learners to formulate questions about a personal interest or curricular topic. Crystal gave the example of the AP seminar classes coming to the library to begin their year-long research papers. They are encouraged to come up with a question they are curious about and interested in, to do their research on. The ‘Create’ domain says “School librarians promote new knowledge generation by: 2. Devising and implementing a plan to fill knowledge gaps.” Finding credible resources on NoodleTools aides students with making a plan, by helping them organize the resources as they find them. They can tag them as definite resources, possible ones, or definitely not applicable, by using a color coded system. This organization really helps make the plan for gaining new knowledge. She also thinks NoodleTools helps with the ‘Share’ domain, which says, “Librarians guide learners to maintain focus throughout the inquiry process by: 1. Assisting in assessing the inquiry-based research process. 2. Providing opportunities for learners to share learning products and reflect on the learning process with others.” NoodleTools allows group members to share notes, resources, and citations with each other, as well as their teacher and the librarians. At any time Crystal says she can go in to NoodleTools and assess whether students are choosing good sources, and then she can send them notes and feedback.

Some challenges she would say she faces would be with the ‘grow’ domain; “School librarians implement and model an inquiry-based process by: 1. Leading learners and staff through the research process.” Crystal says that while she finds NoodleTools to be extremely useful in guiding students through the research process, she often finds it difficult to get teachers on board with the idea. If they haven’t used it before, they may be resistant to trying something new. She says the best way to combat that is by having a good experience collaborating with a teacher while using NoodleTools, and then having that teacher spread the word to others about how their experience using it was.

Interviewing Crystal really helped me see how the “Inquire” foundation is incorporated into everyday life in the Blythewood High School Library. I had some experience working with the students and NoodleTools during my internship there, but having this discussion with Crystal really highlighted how many competencies we were touching on while collaborating with the teachers and assisting the students with NoodleTools. I would definitely be open to using a platform like that in my future school library!

-Kristen DeAnne Anderson,

ISCI 794, Fall 2022

University of South Carolina