Implementing Student Created Readers Advisory

Implementing Student Created Readers Advisory through

Video Book Reviews at L. C. Swain Middle School,
Greenacres, FL
Rebecca J. Radic

University of South Florida

Supervised Fieldwork Project for
Maria Treadwell

Implementing Student Created Readers Advisory

Abstract
This paper outlines the special project created by Rebecca Radic for the students of
L. C. Swain Middle School. The project entailed having students create short video
book reviews, where they detailed why they liked certain books and why they thought
others should read those books. Although the project originally intended to use the
Aurasma app, the technological requirements were not available and the project had to
be reformed. Instead, the video book reviews were placed inside the detailed records of
Destiny WebCat catalog items. The books with video reviews were then collected
under a list which was put in the Copy Categories feature of the schools online catalog.
Though advertised well, the project had little participation. It was only after making the
project a contest with a prize and by several teachers offering extra credit that one
student submitted a video. This video was added to a group of videos Radic and
Sandra Samore created, and the student was presented with a gift card for her
participation. The project could be deemed a failure, yet the idea could be adapted by
incorporating it within school curriculum or within a class in the library, and the project
might benefit more by offering a variety of presentation options. Overall, the project was
still beneficial in learning how advertising, faculty support, motivating techniques, and an
adequate staff are critical to accomplishing library projects.
Keywords: middle school Readers Advisory, Aurasma, advertising media
projects, motivating students

Implementing Student Created Readers Advisory

The Project
Readers Advisory is an important aspect of being a librarian. Having knowledge
of popular books, representations of different genres, and being able to recommend
titles based on books previously enjoyed are skills of an effective librarian, as matching
the right book to the right student is one of the best ways to foster a lifelong love of
reading. However, it can be a difficult task to perform effectively as librarians are often
far removed from the mental states of students. In fact, who better to recommend
books to middle school students than other middle school students who share the same
interests and experiences? For this reason, Rebecca Radic had the idea of a video
book review project to be used as a Readers Advisory for the students at L. C. Swain
Middle School. Students were asked to create short, 30 second video reviews of
recently read books, stating why they liked the books and why they thought others
should read them. Those videos were to be collected into one area, so when a student
asked for a book recommendation, the librarian could point that student to the best
Readers Advisory available, one made by their peers.
Inspiration for the Project
The idea of this project was first inspired while attending the 2014-2015 PreSchool librarian conference, held at Santaluces High School in Lantana, Florida. There,
Michelle Luhtala, the notable librarian of New Canaan High School in New Canaan,
Connecticut, gave a presentation in which she showed how her students used Aurasma
in lieu of book talks. Aurasma is an app with the vision of enable[ing] an augmented
world, where every image, object and place has its own Aura, or virtual counterpart to
the physical object (About Us, 2014, par. 1). Students were able to use the app to

Implementing Student Created Readers Advisory

insert videos that appear as a camera scanned a book cover. The demonstration video
Luhtala presented at the Pre-School Conference can be seen on her blog, in an entry
titled There's an App for That! 50 Apps in 60 Minutes from May 21, 2014.
Aurasma
Radic decided to follow Luhtalas lead and implement a program in which
students could use the Aurasma app in the library to view book reviews made by other
students. Using the app would require free membership both to create and view Auras.
Once an account has been made, a simple Aura say, having a poster launch both a
video and a button to a website can be set up and published to Aurasma in less than
a minute (Become a Member, 2014). Videos are made independent of the app,
saved to a photo album on a personal device, and then uploaded to the app. By
creating a channel in the app, all videos could be added under the same area. Users
would then follow that channel through their own account and would be able to see
digital content from that channel when using the app to scan physical objects. For this
project, students would use one account through the same personal device in the
library. Sandra Samore, the librarian of L. C. Swain Middle School, purchased an iPad
mini for this purpose. Using the iPad mini, students would be able scan a book cover
which would open a video on the screen of a student giving a book review. Radic would
create the channel and upload each video review and link it to the proper book cover.
Aurasma also has the option of inserting URLs, and if a book had more than one review
a link could come up to point the user to other reviews. If students created multiple
reviews, another link could take the user to other reviews by that student.
The Digital Divide and Other Difficulties

Implementing Student Created Readers Advisory

Another reason Samore purchased the iPad mini was to offset the schools being
on the wrong side of the digital divide, which is the connectivity gap between lowerand higher-income households and districts (The State, 2014). This means that
less than 20% of students have access to necessary technology at home, and only a
little more than 50% have access to necessary technology at school (The State,
2014). Since L. C. Swain is a Title I school with about 87% of the population eligible for
free or reduced lunch (Gold Report, 2014), it was obvious that the library would need to
provide the technology to accomplish this project. The iPad mini proved useful, as it
was used by two students to create a book review. However, because of the lack of
WiFi connectivity within the library, the Aurasma app would not function in the space
where it was needed. An alternative to using the app had to be implemented so the
project could continue.
Radic and Samore proposed two alternatives: mounting the video reviews onto
Destiny Webcat, the online catalog for the library, or making an independent website to
host the reviews. Unfortunately, this created the problem of making the reviews visible.
With Aurasma, the books could be displayed and the reviews could be viewed in one
area by several students at a time. Now, the students would have to be at a computer
and seek out the reviews at their own motivation. As there was no other option, it was
decided that adding the videos to the catalog would be better than making an
independent website, since it was more likely the students would access the catalog for
other means and might stumble across the videos. The catalog can also be used at
home, though as stated before, this is not an option for many students.
Once it was decided the catalog would be used, the problem became how to put

Implementing Student Created Readers Advisory

the videos on WebCat. It did not seem possible to add the videos directly to a catalog
record. After a phone call to Follet, Radic was directed as to how to add digital content
to the detailed record of an item. This would create a link to a video that could be given
a title and expiration date. Unfortunately, the link was not easily seen and would be
hard to find by a student, as there was no way to see directly from the search results if a
record had a video review. It was Rebecca Smykla, who works with Destiny for Palm
Beach County School Districts Library Media Services, who proposed the solution.
Webcat has a feature called Copy Categories where lists of books can be made by the
librarian. Students can access this feature easily and could find a record list of every
book with a video review. It was only a matter of directing students on how to access
the reviews, which could still be presented together in one place.
Benefits and Evaluation
This project has benefits for both students and the librarian. Students benefit by
having access to reviews with sentiments they would likely share. Recommendations
for what to read would come directly from peers, which would make the review more
trustworthy. Students creating reviews would have a chance to use critical thinking
skills, to showcase their ideas, and to influence their peers. Both students making and
viewing reviews would have the benefit of using technology, which would make for a
more interesting learning environment for all involved. The use of technology and
critical thinking skills aligns with Common Core State Standards, making the project a
fun way to fill curricular needs. Specific Standards coordinated with the project from the
sixth grade level from the ELA-LITERACY area are: RL.6.2, W.6.4, W.6.6, W.6.10,
SL.6.4, SL.6.5, L.6.1, L.6.3 (English Language, 2014). There are comparable

Implementing Student Created Readers Advisory

standards for the seventh and eighth grade levels.

The librarian would benefit from the project by gaining insight into which books
are popular and why. This information could be used to influence purchasing decisions
by determining popular authors and genres. It would also promote the library as a place
of fun and technological advancement, since students would be using technology they
would not be using in the classroom. Even though students would not need the iPad
mini to view the book reviews, they could still use it to film them. The project would
naturally promote whichever titles were reviewed, and the overarching goal would be to
get all books reviewed. If participation were at a high level, reviews could be focused
on certain areas of the library for a period of time, and this focus could be adapted to
national events or curricular endeavors. For instance, since February is Black History
Month, the librarian could display books that promoted this theme that were reviewed by
students, encouraging students to read, review, and promote these books. The Copy
Categories lists could be grouped by types of books reviewed, which would correlate
with the displays. The former could change while the latter remained a permanent
addition to the catalog.
Evaluation of the success of this project was to be measured quantitatively
through analyzing circulation records. Follets Destiny, the automated system at L. C.
Swain Middle School, tracks circulation statistics for the current month, current year,
previous year, and overall history. It would be easy to determine if reviewed books
were being circulated more than previous years. Of course, certain considerations
would have to be considered in this type of evaluation. Battle of the Books is a project
in which participation is high, and these books will circulate whether reviewed or not.

Implementing Student Created Readers Advisory

These books also have no circulation history to compare, since they were added to the
collection this year. Therefore, older added fiction books, nonfiction books, and
biographies reviewed would give a better indication of the effectiveness of the project.
Using the reviews for future purchase considerations could be evaluated in the same
way, by reviewing circulation statistics of purchased books.
Method
From its initial inception, the project constantly evolved as it necessarily adjusted
to new demands and obstacles. Before the project could be introduced to the students,
steps were implemented to ensure the project could be carried out according to its
objective. Once it was determined that the videos would be added to the record details
of catalog items, students were informed of the project.
Advertising
Sixth grade students originally heard about the project before its method of
presentation was fully determined. The third week of school, every sixth grade student
attended a library media center orientation through their Social Studies class. At this
orientation, students were asked to make a video book review and send it to an e-mail
address created especially for the project, LCSBookReview@gmail.com. The students
were told that these videos would be shared in some way, and it was emphasized that
this would help Radic complete an assignment for her Masters degree. At this time,
bookmarks had already been made that gave comprehensive directions for making and
submitting a video book review, and each student was given one. This bookmark can
be viewed here: http://www.weebly.com/uploads/4/1/7/3/41739205/25103_orig.jpg.
Since seventh and eighth grade students did not receive a library media center

Implementing Student Created Readers Advisory

orientation, they were informed of the project as they came in with their classes for book
check outs. Copies of the bookmark were kept at the check-out desk, and students
were prompted to take one as they received books. These bookmarks were in a pile
with other bookmarks, and when it was determined students were only taking the other
bookmarks, those were removed so that only the bookmarks containing the project
information were available. This compelled the students to take these bookmarks, with
the hopes they would read the information and submit a video, even if they were not
explicitly asked to do so.
After a few weeks passed and no videos were submitted, further advertising
methods were implemented. A poster was created that was displayed at the check-out
counter, with the bookmarks splayed out below. This poster told of how the project was
now made into a contest, as described below. This display could be seen as soon as
anyone entered the library media center and used bright colors to make it visually
appealing. The poster itself was simple, but attached below was a paper listing the
contest rules. A picture of the poster can be seen here:
http://projectpictureslcsms.weebly.com/uploads/4/1/7/3/41739205/2853481_orig.jpg.
Once the contest was created, the information was taken to the morning and
afternoon announcements, which is viewed by every homeroom. A brief but informative
speech was written for the student anchors to recite. The speech gave the project
information, what role the students would play (in creating and submitting video book
reviews), and the contest information. The announcements were repeated every other
day for the last two weeks of September.
Being the Example

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It was considered prudent to create some examples by which to lead the

students. Samore produced this idea by making a video and submitting it to the
provided e-mail address. She made a short video reviewing The Apothecary by Maile
Maloy and even predicted it would be made into a movie. Over the next few weeks she
made two more videos, and Radic made two videos as well. An extra benefit to these
examples was that they helped promote the Battle of the Books competition, as four of
the five books reviewed were Battle of the Books titles for this years competition.
Unfortunately, since these videos were made, one of the books has been weeded,
which also removed the video book review. Although it was lost on Destiny WebCat, it
can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/n4Nxzsiz5WE. The other videos can be viewed
under the Copy Categories tab of L. C. Swains Destiny catalog here:
http://destiny.palmbeach.k12.fl.us/district/servlet/presentlistsitesform.do;jsessionid=06C
41907E0F9A4ADD1638FD76FECC453?districtMode=true# (select Middle Schools,
select L. C. Swain Middle from the list, select the Catalog tab, select the Copy
Categories tab (on the top right), then select the list titled Books with Video Reviews).
From the list, click any title to open the detailed record page. Here under the Explore!
section will be a link with the format Title of the Book-Video Book Review. The only
student reviewed book can also be found on this list.
Student Motivations
Although every sixth grade student and a good portion of the seventh and eighth
grade students were told about the project, there appeared to be no intrinsic motivation
to participate. Intrinsic motivation includes the desire to participate unprompted and the
desire to do well by helping Radic with a homework assignment. Perhaps there are

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reasons for this lack of intrinsic motivation, such as a lack of confidence, yet it was
apparent that extrinsic motivation would need to be supplied.
The first form of motivation came by making the project a contest. Students were
incentivized to make multiple videos by offering a raffle ticket for each video submitted.
Raffle tickets would be entered into a drawing on November 3, 2014. Three winners
would receive Barnes & Noble gift cards of differing denominations. At the time, this
raffle was presented as the first drawing, in hopes that there would be an opportunity for
additional drawings throughout the school year. Unfortunately, due to lack of
participation this became the only drawing. In fact, there was no need for an actual
drawing, as only one student was eligible to win. This student was presented with a $25
Barnes & Noble gift certificate on the morning announcements, where she was
recognized as the only participant.
It is peculiar that the gift card was not incentive enough to participate. Perhaps
students were not interested in Barnes & Noble and would have preferred a different
type of gift card. Another reason could be that Barnes & Noble is a bit far from the
school, and students might not have transportation or the ability to shop online. In any
event, the winning submission only came after teachers were solicited to offer extra
credit. All teachers were solicited, and several English/Language Arts teachers
announced to their classes during book check outs that their students would receive
extra credit for video submissions. It is unclear if the winning student made her video
because she would receive extra credit, but the timeline of events seems to suggest this
was the motivating factor.
Results

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The students were constantly reminded of the project since its advertisement
was unavoidable. Both Samore and Radic talked to students individually about making
videos, and several seemed amenable to the idea. For this reason, the failing results of
the project were that much more disappointing.
Student Responses
There were actually two female students that came to the library to film video
book reviews in October: the winner and another sixth grader. The winning student
reviewed the book A Mango-Shaped Space: A Novel by Wendy Mass, and the other
student reviewed Praying at the Sweetwater Motel by April Young Fritz. Unfortunately,
the second student did not return a signed permission form, though one was given to
her at the time of filming. To be able to post the video book reviews online, where
anyone can access them, students need to get their parents consent and have them
sign the districts PBSD 1941 Release and Consent for Student Information
Publication form. Among other things, the form gives permission to use the students
video image on web sites. Follow up requests for the signed form were submitted to the
students teacher via e-mail, but to no avail. Unfortunately, without this form, it is illegal
to use the students video in the online catalog.
Why the Project Failed
It can be assumed that several factors influenced the failure of this project. The
biggest factor was month-long diagnostic testing that happened in October. During this
time the library was closed 18 of 20 days so computers could be used in the facility.
The library was closed an additional day and a half due to a Teacher Work Day and an
Early Release Day. Even during the few times the library was actually open that month,

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many students and teachers presumed it was closed, or needed the extra class time to
catch up on material. Testing had a negative effect on the momentum both students
and teachers felt at the beginning of the school year. Everyone became worn out and
tired of the rigorous procedures necessary for testing. In addition, the morning and
afternoon video announcements were not presented during this time, so unless a
student entered the library media center, the constant reminder of the project would not
be bestowed upon the students.
As suggested earlier, confidence could have been a factor in the lack of student
participation. Perhaps students would have been more confident if there were formal
speech classes offered at the school. If there were, students would be familiar with
giving short speeches and would know how to write, practice, and deliver a short
speech, like the requested book review. In fact, some students came to film but were
not prepared and were not able to make a review without looking down at note cards.
They were encouraged to practice delivering the speech without aid and to come back.
There was an expected level of performance needed to make the videos appealing to
others. Sadly, the students did not return. The reason the students were told to come
back was because Samore was the only person available at the time and had to be
available for classes coming for book check outs. If the students had come on a
Monday or Friday when Radic was there, she could have helped the students while
Samore assisted with check outs, or vice versa. Therefore the lack of support staff was
also a factor in this project being less successful that it could have been.
Other students wanted to do a book review as a group, but this would have
complicated the contest aspect of the project, as only one raffle ticket would have been

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assigned, and there was no way to split the prizes among numerous students. Other
students did not want to participate since the videos would not be on the morning
announcements, and these students wanted a wider recognition than the Copy
Categories feature offered. With the Copy Categories, students have to seek the book
reviews. If the videos were put on the morning announcements, everyone would see
the students work. This idea was suggested to the video production coordinator, but
she was not open to the idea.
Another consideration in analyzing the projects failure is the method of
presentation. It is possible that students were not accessing the few reviews that were
made, as many students do not even access the catalog when coming in to check out
books. If students were on the catalog and on the Copy Categories tab, it is still
possible the videos were not seen as the links do not pop out at the user. The best
solution was to have Samore or Radic sit with the student and show them how to
access the videos, which was not often possible. If there were more videos to offer in a
wide variety of genres, or the videos were more visible and easier to access, students
might have been more excited at the prospect of a user-made Readers Advisory and
would have recognized the importance of the project.
Support
Support both outside and inside the library media center would have changed the
outcome of the project. If students had come to do the project during the times Radic
was there to assist Samore, students would have had the attention and ability to
complete more reviews. However, Samore is usually the only staff within the library,
and she has no student or parent volunteers; the lack of staff hindered this project just

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as it often hinders being able to maximize the help Sandra is able to offer her patrons.
Support outside of the library could have had a positive effect on motivating more
students to participate. The drama club coach, Dr. Pressey, had originally been
supportive of the idea and had said she would get her club to do the project during their
meeting time. She even took adequate permission forms for all of her students.
Samore often followed up with Dr. Pressey and even offered to film the students. Yet
for some reason, the project was not undertaken.
Though teachers were receptive to giving extra credit, none were willing to go
beyond. The reading coach was asked to do the project with her students in her
reading club. This would have been a great opportunity since these students were
constantly in the library doing Read 180 quizzes at the computer. It would have been a
perfect time to get students on the WebCat viewing the videos already posted. Even
administration who agreed the idea was did not follow up to see how the project went.
Adaptations
Aurasma would have been the ideal presentation for a project like this, since an
interactive book display could have been created that would have drawn students to the
idea and enticed further participation. Students would have been able to directly see
the impact of such a project and how fun it could have been. However, there are still
other adaptations that could be made to create more success in regards to the technical
abilities of the library media center at L. C. Swain.
One adaption would be to offer a variety of formats in which to produce book
reviews. This gives students the ability to choose the best method of their expression,
and giving students a choice in their artistic expression would have attracted more

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attention. Reviews could be written, spoken without video, or as a video. Videos could
have the option of more creative freedom and could be presented as skits in groups or
as a solo presentation. This would accommodate for the different learning styles and
confidences of the student population. Destiny WebCat is also set up to receive written
book reviews, so the varied formats could still be accommodated into the same project
and use the same Copy Categories feature. However, there would need to be a way to
indicate if a detailed record contained a video review or a written review, since these
features are found in different areas within the record.
If teachers would have participated in the project it might have enhanced student
motivation, as teachers are the natural role models after which students often conform.
Further, if teachers had the time available in their already full curricula, the project could
be introduced as a class project through Language Arts or Reading classes. This would
fulfill Common Core State Standards since critical thinking skills are necessary to
analyze books and persuade others to read them. The project implemented on a class
wide level could be presented as a contest where students all read the same book and
tried to make the best persuasion for others to read it. Students could vote on the best
submissions, which would align with teaching evaluating skills. It would also be
beneficial if the students were brought to the library to learn about and complete the
project, perhaps at the elementary level where the librarian has instruction time, and the
project could have been implemented into a lessen plan.
Another adaptation would be to change how videos were presented to students.
It has already been explained that the video links do not draw attention from the user.
An independent website, as previously considered, could be created to display the

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submitted videos. The advantage of this is that the videos could be grouped together
much like with the Aurasma app. Multiple reviews of the same book could be grouped
together or on their own subpage. The same could be done with multiple books
reviewed by the one student. With an independent website students could off their work
outside of the school setting. Other schools could access the website and students
from L. C. Swain could act as Readers Advisory to students from other schools, which
might also help with motivating participation. The challenge to this format would be to
drive student usage to the website, though to aid in that aim the website could be
mounted onto the homepage of WebCat, which students would see before they were
able to access the catalog. Other schools could also be invited to view the homepage
and make Readers Advisory videos of their own.
Conclusion
Although the project did not have ideal results, the process and necessity of
adapting to new factors was extremely beneficial and realistic. The trials and errors will
help guide future projects, even if those projects are different in nature or scope. This
project also helped demonstrate how support, advertising, and motivation techniques
are vital to successful endeavors. In addition, the experience was a great example of
why having a support staff within the library media center is essential, with which a
project could receive the proper time and attention by those involved. Because this
project highlighted how important support and an adequate staff are to the success of
the librarys undertakings, this project could be used to help advocate for collaboration
between teachers and librarians and for the need of a media clerk or other support staff
within the library media center.

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