The Role of Archives and Special Collections in K-12 Instruction

Abstract

With the publication of Studies in Historical Method in 1896, Mary Sheldon Barnes introduced the “Source Method” of teaching history to secondary educators (Cherry, 2010). In this method, students investigate and develop an understanding of history by interacting with primary sources, documents generated in the period of history students are studying. It was not until 1986, however, that a work in the literature of archives articulated the potential for collaboration between archivists and K-12 educators, when Ken Osborne asserted, “if archives are to realize anything like their educational potential, there will have to be a good deal of joint planning and consultation between archivists and educators” (1986, p. 28).Over the past thirty years, many cultural heritage organizations, including state archives, the Library of Congress, and special collections library members of American Research Libraries have undertaken K-12 outreach activities (Cherry, 2010; Visser, 2006). Such activities can serve not only as educational outreach but also advocacy opportunities for archives as institutions and archivists as a profession (Dickson & Gorzalski, 2013). This literature review examines archival and special collections outreach for the K-12 audience, providing a rationale and identifying opportunities for such outreach, describing the current landscape of digital K-12 archival outreach projects, offering examples of non-digital K-12 outreach projects, highlighting projects that exemplify integrated and collaborative approaches, and comparing proposed models for future outreach projects

An Assessment of the Use of Electronic Databases by Academic Staff, Bowen University, Nigeria

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Availability, accessibility and use of library information resources for control of criminality of inmates in correctional centres in South-West, Nigeria

“…reiterated that electronic library is the library where some or all of the holdings of the library are available in electronic format, and the services of the library are also made available electronically-frequent over the Internet so that users can access them remotely. According to Hirsh (2014), the mission of library is to provide both information services and resources that are capable of meeting the research, teaching and learning needs of the users.…”