Blumson, Liz

Turnbull, Deborah

University of Queensland eSpace

Australian School Library Association 
XIX BIENNIAL CONFERENCE 
National Convention Centre, Canberra 
Sunday 10 – Wednesday 13 April 2005 
 
 
Schools, Scholars and Cybraries – Meeting the Challenge 
Liz Blumson, Deborah Turnbull 
The UQL Cyberschool, The University of Queensland Library 
Brisbane, Queensland 
 
“Libraries can make a positive difference to students’ self-esteem, confidence, 
independence and sense of responsibility in regard to their own learning” 
Lonsdale, Michele (2003)  
Impact of School Libraries on Student Achievement: a Review of the Research  
Melbourne, Australian Council for Educational Research accessed 19/07/04 
http://www.asla.org.au/research/summary.htm
 
Abstract 
This paper explores the ways in which the provision of quality, evaluated and affordable online content can cater to 
individual student’s learning styles and needs and assist them in their preparation for university studies and lifelong 
learning. It shows how a Cybrary programme successfully channels student learning into more efficient, skilful and 
productive methods of accessing and synthesising information.  The UQL Cyberschool 
<www.cybrary.uq.edu.au/schools> is a powerful learning and teaching resource for secondary school communities.  
The UQL Cyberschool is an award winning outreach programme from the University of Queensland Cybrary to 
schools in Queensland which facilitates access to quality, evaluated material through subscriptions to full text 
databases. 178 schools, mainly from Queensland, have taken out subscriptions to online resources such as 
Expanded Academic ASAP.  UQL Cyberschool staff, qualified teacher-librarians, work with school staff and database 
vendors to provide cost-effective access, training and technical support.  
The website, available to all schools, provides access to a free fully searchable database of selected quality web 
sites organized by key learning areas, and links to a Virtual Reference Collection and subject gateways. Every year, 
over 200,000 hits are recorded on the site.  
The programme provides training in information literacy for school students and tours of the UQ Cybrary and its 
facilities. In 2004 138 tours and training sessions were conducted for over 3200 students. This is a powerful learning 
experience for school students to ease their transition from school to University. In addition, leadership for schools in 
information service delivery are addressed in an update session and a major seminar each year.  
This paper explores the ways in which the provision of quality, evaluated and affordable 
online content can cater to individual student’s learning styles and needs and assist them in 
their preparation for university studies and lifelong learning. It shows how a Cybrary 
programme successfully channels student learning into more efficient, skilful and productive 
methods of accessing and synthesising information.  The UQL Cyberschool 
<www.cybrary.uq.edu.au/schools> is a powerful learning and teaching resource for secondary 
school communities.  
The UQL Cyberschool provides its services for all schools in Queensland, whether they are 
state, independent or of a religious denomination and the online database discounts, 
technical support and training are available to all schools everywhere.  The online component 
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of the UQL Cyberschool means that its services can be utilized by schools in all areas of 
Queensland, not just in high- density population areas.  Cyberschool team members have 
visited areas as far north as Cairns, west to Mount Isa and many areas in between, to bring 
online resources to distant schools. Local schools in Brisbane and its environs are similarly 
supported. 
The UQL Cyberschool facilitates access to quality, evaluated material through subscriptions 
to online full text databases.  The material in these databases is peer reviewed, academic 
information specifically catering for students, both at school and university.  Many of the 
databases contain full text journal articles, book chapters, conference proceeding and 
newspaper articles, much of which is suitable for the Queensland secondary school 
curriculum.  The selection of full text databases has been an important issue for schools who 
often have few print resources in their own libraries and limited access to others. Using 
information from these products means that teachers and students are assured that the 
information is reliable and authoritative – a concern that can not always be addressed when 
the information is garnered from the Internet through a search engine. The UQL Cyberschool 
provides a web page at www.library.uq.edu.au/schools/cyberdbasestrial.html where teacher 
librarians and teachers can access free trials of electronic databases to evaluate them and 
consider their relevance for the school curriculum and students’ needs before purchasing a 
subscription. 
UQL Cyberschool staff, qualified teacher-librarians, work with school staff and database 
vendors to provide cost-effective access to online databases.  The UQL Cyberschool acts as 
a conduit through which schools can subscribe to a number of databases by using the one 
agent, and on behalf of schools they negotiate discounts to commercial products to bring 
them within reach of school library budgets. Cyberschool staff also act as an advocate for 
schools and regularly liaise with vendors of full text online databases to make them aware of 
the financial constraints under which schools operate.  
The UQL Cyberschool has been very successful in its ability to attract and retain schools and 
currently 178 schools, mainly from Queensland, have taken out subscriptions to online 
resources such as Expanded Academic ASAP (a multidisciplinary database with full text  
articles), and other full text databases such as  Australia and New Zealand Reference Centre 
or Electric Library Australasia.  The increased uptake by schools of online databases is 
occurring as the IT infrastructure in schools is becoming more able to cope with demands of 
Internet access and computers become more readily available to school students, both at 
school and at home.  As school communities become more at ease with accessing 
commercial online information they take out subscriptions to Reference databases such as 
Britannica Online for Schools, World Book Online and Webster World, as well as subject 
databases such as Grove Music Online and Grove Art Online. 
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UQL Cyberschool staff, who are qualified teacher-librarians, work with school staff and 
database vendors to provide cost-effective access, and also provide training in the use of 
these databases.  They visit schools that have subscribed to databases and through a hands-
on workshop instruct teachers in the best ways of searching these databases. The training 
sessions explore the most appropriate ways to incorporate these searching techniques into 
the school curriculum and also demonstrate the application of information literacy in online 
learning. 
As well as supporting information literacy in schools UQL Cyberschool staff also provide 
technical support for schools that need assistance in setting up and maintaining their access 
to online resources. The UQL Cyberschool offers quick and immediate solutions to access 
problems, saves schools the costs and time involved with contacting different customer 
support services in other states, and provides feedback to database vendors about more 
complex access issues. 
As well as facilitating access to commercial databases, the website at 
http://www.library.uq.edu.au/schools provides access to a free fully searchable database of 
selected quality web sites organized in Queensland senior secondary subject areas at 
http://cyberschool.library.uq.edu.au/index.phtml .  These websites are selected by University 
of Queensland Cybrary librarians and by UQL Cyberschool Coordinators and are chosen for 
their relevance to the curriculum.  There are also links to the Virtual Reference Collection, 
which provides answers to specific questions - addresses, facts, figures, statistics, definitions 
and dates at http://www.library.uq.edu.au/internet/vref.php. School communities also have 
free access to Avel, http://avel.edu.au/  a portal to quality internet sites chosen by experts on 
Environmental, Engineering, and Computer Science; Agrigate, http://www.agrigate.edu.au/ 
an agriculture Information gateway for Australian researchers; and Weblaw, 
http://weblaw.edu.au/weblaw/index.phtml a gateway to online Australian legal information 
which provides lawyers, students, researchers and lay professionals with annotated links to 
up-to-date, quality assessed Internet resources.  Every year, over 200,000 hits are recorded 
on the website, and the following positive feedback from one of the Cyberschool members 
indicates the usefulness of the web page:  
‘I have just completed a series of lessons with students on how to establish the 
“authenticity” of websites and I have found the information on the Cyberschool 
homepage invaluable for this task. I have also been bringing to the students’ attention 
all of the other good information available to them on that page - the list of reference 
materials, the list of authentic sites organised by KLAs (Key Learning Areas), the 
differences between subject directories and search engines etc…’Head of Department - 
Resources, Large Brisbane State High School 
The UQL Cyberschool also provides training in information literacy for school students and 
tours of the UQ Cybrary and its facilities. This is a powerful learning experience for school 
students and helps to ease their transition from school to University. Schools from all over 
Queensland bring their students to visit the University of Queensland and to use the Cybrary 
to conduct research for assignments, which is usually directly linked to specific curriculum and 
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assessment needs. UQL Cyberschool staff run information literacy training sessions that 
assist students to identify and locate relevant information using online resources and 
University of Queensland Library resources; improve their research methods by utilizing 
increased access to appropriate, relevant and wide ranging resources both print and 
electronic; and gain skills in the information literacy process, as part of the student 
developmental continuum of skills. These training sessions are particularly important in 
fostering students’ transition from senior secondary school to university, while also preparing 
them for study at university and their lifelong learning journeys. The students gain first hand 
experience of searching a university library catalogue and locating the resources required to 
find the information for actual assignments that are being researched at school. They become 
familiar with the University Cybrary web page which is accessed through the UQL 
Cyberschool page. The Cyberschool web page was specifically designed to reflect the 
Cybrary web page and minimise student orientation difficulties.  The success of the 
Cyberschool training is reflected in the increasing number of students who have attended 
sessions. In 2004 nearly 1600 school students had tours of the University of Queensland 
Library, and over 1400 school students received training in using the Cybrary catalogue to 
locate resources for assignments that they were researching. The usefulness of the tours and 
training is summarized by the following comments:  
‘I commend the UQ Library staff for consistent high levels of professional and 
personal service to and support of Teacher Librarians and Teachers. Accessibility of 
resources….is a key issue which has been met. School personnel are being assisted 
in the skilling of staff and students which will undoubtedly have a beneficial effect on 
the quality of learning and confidence of the overall population of schools using the 
service.’ Teacher Librarian, Queensland Independent School 
In addition to database provision and training , leadership for schools in information service 
delivery is addressed by the UQL Cyberschool in a half-day update session and a major 
seminar each year.  Free professional update update training sessions for teachers and 
teacher-librarians are also provided on a regular basis and address challenges associated 
with information technology and learning. Previous sessions have covered issues such as:  
• integration of online electronic resources into teaching and learning; 
• Information Skills at the University of Queensland; 
• Information Literacy Planning Overview; 
• advanced Information Retrieval using online electronic resources; 
• full text electronic databases; 
• plagiarism. 
There have been two full day seminars held for teacher librarians, teachers and Principals 
during the last two years.  The first seminar, held in 2002, considered the impact of 
technological change on student learning and the impact that this has on libraries, particularly 
school libraries.  The second seminar in 2003 addressed the need for advocacy for school 
libraries, and the seminar to be held in 2005 will look at the way libraries need to utilize space 
to meet the needs of students and the way they use developing technologies.  
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The UQL Cyberschool also provides information to member schools by managing a 
discussion list for its members, where information about online resources is disseminated, 
and it produces a Newsletter each term with information about information literacy and online 
resources. 
As a result of the activities and services outlined in this paper the UQL Cyberschool has 
become, in the seven years since it was launched, an award winning outreach programme 
from the University of Queensland Cybrary to schools in Queensland.  The programme has 
been recognised both within Australia and internationally and was awarded the Australian 
Library and Information Association Award for Innovation in 2001, and in 2004 the 
International Association of School Librarianship/Softlink International Excellence Award. The 
UQL Cyberschool staff look forward to further developing links between schools and the 
University of Queensland and the fostering of information literacy and lifelong learning for 
both secondary and university students. 
Further reading: 
Blumson, L., Fleming, N., & Turnbull, D. (2002). UQL Cyberschool - Reaching out for you! 
Access [Australian School Library Association], 16(2), 24-27. 
 
Blumson, L., & Fleming, N. (2002). Libraries for Lifelong Learning. EdViews, 11(21), 10-11. 
 
Dent, Andrew. "UQ Hosts Seminar for Cyberschool." Australian library News.103 (2003): 3. 
 
Fleming, N. (2004). Beyond Google: The UQL Cyberschool enhances the search for 
information in the online electronic world. Curriculum Leadership, 2(26). 
 
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Schools, scholars and cybraries – Meeting the challenge

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Schools, scholars and cybraries – Meeting the challenge

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