Seaford School District’s Top Librarian Strengthens Students’ Research Skills

Research is her middle name. Scouring every news and technology publication that crosses her desk and consulting with top professionals in her field, she makes sure she stays ahead of the trends and provides the most current and user-friendly research tools for her students. 

She’s Library Media Specialist Joanna McCloskey. Not only is McCloskey approachable in the library, she’s available online as well.

McCloskey designed a digital image of herself for the Seaford High School library website — complete with her British accent — that directs students to a wealth of research tools. Those resources are bolstering students’ research skills and better preparing them for college-level coursework. 

“Understanding how to do research; to take information and interpret it critically, is one of the most important skills students need going into college, and too often it is one that college officials say is weak in incoming students,” McCloskey said. 

Beginning in ninth grade, Seaford High School students are taught information literacy and how to use the library website to find research materials.

“I teach them how to be critics of the information they are getting and what to look for in a site to ensure that it is legitimate," she said. "I teach them about copyright laws, which is ‘huge,’ students need to understand when they are plagiarizing. This extends into media, music and video."

Through data sources, such as SoundzAbound, for instance, students can upload royalty-free music for their research presentations without running the risk of breaking copyright laws. McCloskey created the secure website a couple years ago ago as a pilot with Fred Kaden, the district’s Director of Technology. By clicking on the library tab on the district website, McCloskey’s speaking avatar directs students to a host of information, from research skills, which outlines the research process, to grade-level research assignments that link users to online sources and internet sites, biographical references, online references, internet rules and regulations, and copyright and plagiarism information.

College level databases are aligned with college courses offered at the high school. With her desk strewn with various print materials on natural disasters, McCloskey works on expanding her repertoire of research materials to include more subjects in math and science. She is also working on another module for Earth Science teachers on the environmental concerns behind the concept of “fracking,” or hydraulic fracturing, the process to extract natural gas from the ground.

“Students will need to use libraries more because the Common Core Standards set by the State Education Department require additional fiction and non-fiction to be read, analyzed and reported back in areas beyond English language arts and social studies, to those of math and science,” McCloskey said. 

McCloskey plans meetings with subject teachers to make research suggestions based on the information she compiles.

“There’s a lot of collaboration with teachers, with other librarians in other Nassau County school districts and with technology,” she said. “Library and computers are merging.... This is the future of my field, and the future of how students develop solid research skills for future academic success.”