Body of the Collection Development Assignment

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Bobbie KeenanCollection Development Assignment

FRIT 7134 - Spring 2009

February 22, 2009

Description of School and Students

Cornerstone Schools was established in 1999. Cornerstone Schools is plural because Cornerstone is anindependent, secular, community of schools. While three buildings are currently in use on the campus (theoriginal building houses a daycare and Pre-K classrooms), three more will be built in the near future.Cornerstone Schools is located in Forsyth County, in North Georgia, a suburban area of Metro Atlanta. TheCornerstone Schools campus has been planned to utilize its 32 acres to the best advantage of its students. Thecurrent elementary school building opened in 2003. This two story building includes school offices, classrooms, alibrary, cafeteria, gym, health clinic, teacher's lounge, elevator, three playgrounds, and an athletic field. InOctober of 2005, the third building opened. It presently houses classrooms for 3rd-7th grades, a computer lab,art & science rooms, an auditorium, music room, spanish class, a second library, and cafeteria. Each cafeteria isalso outfitted with mounted TV screens for the sole purpose of curriculum based DVD or VHS viewing. Thefourth building which will eventually house the 6th-9th graders and is on schedule to open at the end of 2009,

along with an additional full-sized auditorium and gymnasium. The high school is slated to open in early 2011.The interior and exterior of each building was designed to maximize successful learning. Classrooms andhallways are carpeted to minimize noise. Each classroom is equipped with three computer stations. Natural lightis available in each classroom by means of banks of windows and skylights to help minimize eye strainassociated with florescent lighting. Trees surround the buildings to provide a bird's eye view of nature from theclassroom.

There are 20 certified teachers (10 hold masters degrees), three administrators, and five additional staffmembers serving 155 students grades K-7th. Of the 155 students currently enrolled at Cornerstone Schools, 149are caucasian, three are Latino, two are Indian (India), and one is African-American. The school currently has noESOL students. The classes at Cornerstone are differentiated with the curriculum focusing on mastering thefundamentals of reading, writing, and math processes. There are no more than 15 students in a classroom. Asstated before, each of the primary buildings houses its own library. There is one librarian that operates both of

these centers. The 3rd - 7th grade library also includes a computer lab with 16 stations. Teachers at Cornerstoneare certified and experienced so that they can customize the curriculum to meet the needs of each studentwithout taking away from the class as a whole. For example, students that are stronger in a particular subjectthan other students in the class, will be allowed to advance in the curriculum to the level that challenges themwithout frustrating them. In addition if a student requires reinforcement in a given subject, the teacher will re-teach the curriculum in a manner that they best understand.

I've decided to assess the Plants and Animals or Life Science section of my library for two reasons. The firstreason is that the topic of Plants and Animals/Life Science is part the science curriculum in every grade currentlyrepresented at the school. The second reason is that the plant and animal sections of both libraries are some ofthe most visited by the students of all grades regardless of the curriculum. Even though all the current gradesstudy plants and animals in science, I'm only going to focus my assignment on the third, fourth and fifth grades.There are two third and fourth grade classes, and one fifth grade class that is working on the fifth grade science

curriculum. There are six other fifth graders that are in a combined 5th/6th grade classroom, but they are allworking on the sixth grade curriculum in all subjects.

There are two third grade classes. Each class is comprised of 10 students and one teacher. Both classroomsare differentiated with all but four students reading above grade level. There are also two fourth grade classes.One class is comprised of 15 students and one teacher. Seven of the students in the first class are readingabove grade level. Of the remaining eight, four are reading at grade level and four are below grade level. Thesecond fourth grade class is a 4th/5th grade combination class. There are 15 students and one teacher, with sixof the students being 5th graders. All of the students in this class are reading at or above their grade level. Asstated before, there are also six other fifth graders that are in a 5th/6th grade combination class, but they are


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working on the sixth grade curriculum. I did not include them in my project since they have already completedthe fifth grade curriculum.

Cornerstone Schools Third Grade Fourth Grade Fifth Grade

Students 20 25 6

Girls 9 12 4

Boys 11 13 2

African American 1 0 0

Caucasian 18 24 6

Indian (India) 0 1 0

Latino 1 0 0

Curriculum Review

The owner and administration at Cornerstone Schools considers Georgia's State standards to be theminimum standard, therefore, Cornerstone's curriculum is based on the National Standards. While our

curriculum includes what is covered in the Georgia curriculum, we are not restricted to it. The National Standardsfor Science for grades K-4.3 regarding Life Science are as follows:

NS.K-4.3 Life Science - As a result of activities in grades K-4, all students should develop understandingof:

The characteristics of organisms

Life cycles of organisms

Organisms and environments

The National Standards of Science for grades 5-8 (with grade 5 being of interest in this project) regarding LifeScience are as follows:

NS.5-8.3 Life Science - As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop understandingof:

Structure and function in living systems

Reproduction and heredity

Regulation and behavior

Populations and ecosystems

Diversity and adaptations of organisms

GradeNational StandardsCode

Concepts and Objectives Resources

Third Grade NS.3 - Life Science Habitats of Organisms

explain what anenvironment is.

give examples ofwhat a habitat is.

explain how livingthings get what theyneed.

describe what

Books about differentecosystems such asdeserts, swamps, rainforests, oceans, andsuburban areas.

Books about rainforests and how thedifferent layers of theforests work togetherand individually.


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makes up anecosystem.

explain whatcommunities andpopulations are.

Plants and AnimalsDepend on Each Other

explain how someanimals hunt otheranimals for food.

gives examples ofwhat a food chain isand describes howenergy passesthrough a foodchain.

explain how

producers differfrom consumers.

Organisms Adapt

explain what anadaptation is.

give examples ofadaptationsorganisms have formeeting needs.

distinguish betweeninherited andlearnedcharacteristics.

Poster of the layers ofthe rain forest.

Books about animalsand plants living invarious extremeconditions and howthey have adapted totheir environments.

Library links to PBSTeachers, TheNational WildlifeFederation, andNational Geographicfor Kids. All areaccessible via thecomputers inclassrooms andposted on the schoolslibrary page.

DVDs - Blue Planet,Planet Earth, andDiscovery's AnimalHabitats.

Annual field trip to theChattahoocheeNature Center.

Fourth Grade NS.4.3 - LifeScience

Plants Inside and Out

describe functionsof different plantstructures.

distinguish types ofreproduction.

explain differentways plants areclassified.

Classifying Animals

identify differencesbetweeninvertebrates andvertebrates.

identify differences

Books about plants,their parts andfunctions.

DVDs Blue Planet,Planet Earth, andDiscovery's AnimalHabitats.

Library links to PBSTeachers, TheNational WildlifeFederation, andNational Geographicfor Kids. All areaccessible via thecomputers inclassrooms andposted on the schoolslibrary page.


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between cold-blooded and warm-blooded vertebrates.

distinguish betweenherbivores,carnivores, andomnivores.

Adaptations of Plants andAnimals

define what aspecies is.

explain howadaptations canhelp a speciessurvive.

distinguish betweenlearned and

inherited behaviors.

Annual field trip to theChattahoocheeNature Center.

Fifth Grade NS.5 - Life Science Looking at Cells

recognize how theinvention of themicroscope helpedpeople study cells.

explain how cellsare alike anddifferent.

identify someunicellular animals.

Cell Structure

identify the parts allcells have.

define organellesand explain whatthey do.

distinguish betweenplant cells andanimal cells.

Cell Processes

explain why cellsneed energy.

diagram howmaterials move intoand out of a cell.

explore how cells

Seven microscopesand an assortment of48 slides that includesamples of plant andanimal cells.

Materials to createwet and dry slides forobservation.

Library links to PBSTeachers, The

National WildlifeFederation, andNational Geographicfor Kids. All areaccessible via thecomputers inclassrooms andposted on the schoolslibrary page.


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get energy fromfood.

explain how somecells make food.

Collection Evaluation

I began my assessment from a collection centered perspecitive. Both of the Cornerstone libraries are clearly

marked with signage indicating which sections are fiction, non-fiction, and reference areas. Within the non-fictionsection of both libraries, additional signage marks each Dewey section, along with book displays that provideanother visual guide for users. All items are individually labeled along the spine with the appropriate Deweynumbers, author name, and building location. For example, if the book's shelf home is in the K-2 library, it'slabeled with a "B", for the B-Library. If it belongs in the 3rd-7th library or C-Library, it's labeled with a C. TheReference Section includes seven sets of encyclopedias. Three sets are shelved in B-Library, and the remainingsets are shelved in C-Library. The newest set encyclopedia set is a Grolier Student set from 2003. The oldest setis an Encyclopedia Britannica set from 1984.

A visual inspection of the libraries suggests that, overall, the collection is in good condition. There are signs ofwear in parts of the collection, primarily due to the fact that the shelves are overloaded. This could be remediedwith a thorough weeding that, I believe, would greatly improve the quality and appearance of the collection as awhole. Weeding has proved to be problematic in the past. The school is independently owned, and the owner

hasn't liked the idea of weeding, due to her being the sole financier of the school. She wanted to retain allavailable resources for the seeable future. However, recent developments, including the hiring of a new andprogressive principal, leads me to believe that weeding will not be an issue in the future.

A quantitative assessment tells me that the collection, as a whole, is comprised of 14,532 books. With acurrent enrollment of 155 students, that makes the ratio of books to students around 90:1. The focus of thisassessment is on the Natural Science Section, specifically the Dewey Section 570-590 or Plants and Animals.The Plants and Animals section ties in directly with the Life Science units taught in the third, fourth, and fifthgrades. There are 477 books in this section. That makes up only 3% of the entire collection. Despite the fact thatit makes up only 3% of the entire collection, it is still the largest non-fiction section. In addition to being thelargest non-fiction section, it is also the oldest, with the mean age of 10 years. The mean age of the collection,as a whole, is six years.

From the user centered approach of assessing the section, I discovered that out of the 477 books, only 160 ofthem are relevant in regards to the third, fourth, and fifth grade Life Science curriculum. Speaking to the fourthgrade teachers, I learned that they don't venture outside of the textbook activities in teaching the Life Scienceunit, with the one exception of the annual field trip to the Chattahoochee Nature Center. Fifth grade also doesn'tuse the library for Life Science unit activities. The primary reason for that, is because there currently aren't thatmany resources for that unit in the library. Except for the encyclopedia sets, there are only four books in thecurrent collection that discuss the cellular world, none of which are on the appropriate grade level. Fifth grade,instead, relies heavily on the use of the seven microscopes, 48 prepared slides, and gathered samples fromhome as well the school's wooded grounds for their Life Science unit. I should mention, that all slides andmicroscopes remain in the science lab at all times and are not part of the library's inventory. Third grade gets themost use of the library when it comes to the Life Science. They do a large project every year where the teachersdirect students to the library to research various animal and plant habitats, food chains, food webs, and predatorand prey relationships. As a direct result of repetitive use due to this particular project, the books that cover

those topics, have far more wear than others in that section.

The fact that the mean age of this section being 10 years old does not get the qualitative assessment off to agood start. Last year, 23 new books were added to 570-599 Dewey section at the request of the first gradeteachers to supplement their science curriculum. I only added five new books to that section that are age andcurriculum appropriate for the grades I have focused on in this assignment. As far as the multicultural aspect inthis section, there are more than a few multicultural references in the the books with copyright dates from 2003to the present. This includes seven Spanish language books in this content area. These books with variousmulticultural references represent 101 books in the 570-590 Dewey section. I believe that our collection is quitedeveloped in regards multicultural representation. I should say that while the Spanish books are part of the


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library's inventory, they are shelved in the Spanish teacher's classroom. I purchased them at her request lastspring, and she uses them in her Spanish curriculum.

There are 48 audiovisual items in the collection, and three of them could be used in teaching the Life Scienceunits for these grade levels. All three have been purchased within the past year by the owner of the school. Norequests were made for them, they were just purchased and are available for check out. Currently, there are nomagazine subscriptions or e-Books in the collection. I have recently learned, that multimedia projectors are beinginstalled in the middle school classrooms over the summer. This will undoubtedly open up a whole new area forthe media center, that hopefully will include e-Books. In my opinion, e-Books are a practical resource for ourschool to invest in, mainly because of our limited space.

Budget Summary

Out of the $4,000.00 theoretical dollars given for this assignment, I spent $3,361.65. The focus of mypurchases were on updating the content area, with the idea that weeding will be done to remove many of thebooks that brought the mean age of my 570 - 590 Dewey section to 10 years. I made purchases that wouldliterally create a section that provides useful resources and supplements the 5th grade (and 6th-8th) sciencecurriculum. I also chose to purchase models of cells for the fifth grade (and beyond) curriculum. Materials thatwere purchased for the third and fourth grade curriculums update, increase, and enhance the current materialsthat were already available to them.

Since, I was recently informed that multimedia projectors have been purchased and will be installed thissummer, I selected quite a few audiovisual items, as well as eBooks. I think eBooks are very practical for ourlibraries, because of space limitations. I realize that eBooks currently are just not as attractive to some, becausethey don't actually take up shelf space. It's just another adjustment that educators, parents, students, andlibrarians are going to have to embrace as education evolves. Not only do I believe that what I purchased willgreatly enhance our current collection by curriculum standards, I also believe that what I purchased would begenerally appealing to the students. I sought materials that were informative and attractive. Books that studentswould check out whether they have an assignment on that topic or not.

Documents

Body of the Collection Development Assignment