Empowering School Libraries

Abstract

RefNavi is a digital tool designed to support junior and senior high school students' inquiry-based learning activities and promote collaboration between teachers and librarians. As students use many types of sources—books, databases, websites, and social media—their information-gathering process becomes more complex and often turns into a "black box," meaning teachers and librarians cannot see what kinds of sources students are using or when. This makes it difficult to understand students' progress and give timely support. RefNavi helps students record and organize the bibliographic information of the sources they use. It makes their research process visible and easy to understand. Teachers and librarians can use this information to give advice based on each student's actual needs and stage of inquiry. RefNavi also allows students to share their process with peers, supporting collaborative learning and encouraging information sharing in group work. In addition, it shows how school librarians support students, helping teachers recognize their expertise and the importance of guided information use. This poster introduces RefNavi's key features and shows how it works in real classrooms. RefNavi offers a practical way to make inquiry-based learning more visible, collaborative, and supported