Collection Analysis 2.docx.docx

Tyson Pentecost LIS 653 The School Library October 25, 2014Collection Analysis and Management Plan

Collection Analysis of Oak Lane Elementary School

I. Collection Sampling

Introduction

Oak Lane Elementary School is located in Hurdle Mills, NC. It is a small, rural school in the Piedmont region. There are 234 students in the school consisting of grades kindergarten through fifth. There are two classroom teachers at each grade level. The majority of the school is made up of Caucasian students but there are a significant number of African American and Hispanic students. These minority populations are increasing each year. The school is about 65% free and reduced lunch so we are not considered a Title I school. The school’s mission is:

Oak Lane Elementary is committed to the success of each of our students. Each day, we prepare our students to discover excellence from within by providing them with appropriate attitudes, knowledge, and skills that will enable them to become successful lifelong learners and productive caring members of society. As a team, we work together focusing on student achievement. All students are expected to work to their highest potential and are encouraged to take pride in their accomplishments.

We use best practice and research based strategies to enhance our instruction. We focus on teaching our students to work together to achieve at a high level and to take responsibility for their progress by setting both individual and group goals. We plan and teach as a team with our main goal being student growth. Through our combined efforts, we work to ensure that Oak Lane students are college and career ready citizens and proud alumni of our school.

The library’s mission statement is:

The mission of the Oak Lane Elementary School Library program is to provide students with the opportunity to become critical processors and passionate seekers of information through the development of literacy, research, and problem solving skills.

The library’s purpose is to help students become college and career ready as is stated in our mission statement. To help students become college and career ready we strongly focus on literacy and problem solving skills. The librarian frequently collaborates with teachers and facilitates research projects with the students. Special programs are hosted in the library to encourage reading, such as boys’ and girls’ book clubs, programs with visiting authors, and story times. Students are encouraged to visit the library to check out books, explore their interests, and work on projects.

The library is organized so that students may find the books they need quickly and with relative ease. Easy fiction books are grouped together, as are chapter fiction books. Nonfiction books have their own wall. Reference books are housed on free standing bookshelves. There are separate computers for check in and checkout that also allow students to search for books that they want. The circulation desk also has a check in/out computer that can be used for looking up books. The library has tables for group work, as well as a space for whole group instruction that includes a Smartboard, television, and a data cart.

Collection Sampling

To gain a better understanding of the collection I physically examined and analyzed a sample of books from the collection. I randomly selected 80 books from the library collection. Twenty were from the fiction easy/everybody section, 20 from the 300s or Social Sciences section, 20 from the 500s or Natural Science/Mathematics section, and 20 from the 900s or Geography and History section. I examined the books and noted their publication date, the date they were entered into the library collection, how often they were checked out over the last two years, and the physical condition of the books.

Physical Condition:

When examining the physical condition of the books I developed a rating scale. A book with a rating of 1 indicates a book that is in deplorable condition. This means that pages can be missing or torn, the cover and pages could be badly damaged by water, marker or crayon, dirt, etc. A rating of 2 indicates a book that is in poor condition but is still useable. There might be cover damage and some page damage, but for the most part the book is intact enough to be read and enjoyed. A rating of 3 indicates a book that shows some signs of wear, usually on the cover, but the inside remains intact and in good condition. A rating of 4 indicates a book in excellent condition with the pages and cover intact and showing little to no signs of wear.

Below is a pie chart that shows the breakdown of the books by their condition.

There were no books that received a rating of 1. This indicated to me that the librarian does a good job of maintaining the condition of the books and weeding out books that are no longer useable. Out of the 80 books 5 of them or 6% received a rating of 2. These books will probably not survive too much longer in the collection due to their condition. They will need to be reexamined frequently to assess their condition. 29 books or 36% received a rating of 3. These books are in good physical condition and do not need to be replaced. A surprising 46 books or 58% received a rating of 4. They were in excellent condition. Most of the books that received a rating of 2 were in the easy/everybody fiction section. This section also had the highest rate of circulation.

Circulation:

I used the library’s Destiny program to find the circulation data for the books I examined. The circulation data is for this school year and the previous one.

The easy section had the largest number of “checkouts” with the majority of the books having been checked out more than five times. One book, A Bad Case of the Stripes, had been checked out 44 times in the last two school years. This was drastically different data than the other classifications that were examined.

The 300s or Social Sciences collection had been checked out much less than the easy collection. While all books in this section that I examined had been checked out at least once the highest rate of circulation was 8 times for the books Airmen of the US Air Force and A Trip to the Firehouse.

The 500s collection circulation data much resembled that of the 300s collection. There was one book that really stood out, Megalosaurus, a book about a dinosaur, which has been checked out 21 times.

The 900s collection was the least checked out section. Of the books examined, all of the books have been checked out at least once but most have only been checked out 1-5 times. When looking in Destiny I noticed that the majority of checkouts for this section were done by teachers. Only one book had been checked out more than 5 times. It was Diana Princess of Wales, and it had been checked out 11 times.

Publication Date:

I analyzed the publication dates of the 80 books I selected. Certain books need to be weeded if they are “out-of-date and no longer authentic- this condition occurs very frequently with science material, but no single subject is immune” (Morris, 2010).

Easy Books:

The easy book section was fairly up-to-date. The oldest book was published in 1985. It was How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which is still popular with students today. In the sample of the books I pulled there were no easy fiction books published within the last 2 years.

300s

While most of the oldest books in the 300s selection were folklore, there was one book on North Carolina government published in 1993. According to Morris, “Remove books on government after 10 years” (Morris, 2010). There was one career book, Airmen of the U.S. Air Force, published in 2009. Morris states that you should, “Remove careers after five years” (Morris, 2010). This book will probably need to be removed after this year, but it was one of the most circulated books in this section so a similar book should replace it.

500s

The 500s pure science section is a section that has to be updated more often than others. According to Morris, “Most books [are] out of date in five years” (Morris, 2010). In the selection of books I pulled none of them were published in the ‘90s. The books published in 2000 were both books on math so they would still be relevant. One of the books published in 2002 was about math and two others were about plants and animals. Morris states that “Botany and natural history books can be kept longer [than five years]” (Morris, 2010). I would say that this section has been kept up to date and continues to be added to regularly.

900s

The outlier in the 900s section was, The Diary of Anne Frank, published in 1967. This book is still relevant today. Another book that has a fairly old publication date is Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution, published in 1987. While this book has an older publication date the content is still relevant. Morris says to, “Keep only outstanding materials about wars and other historical events” (Morris, 2010). I think these two books would qualify. Most of the books I selected in this section were biographies, which remain pertinent for a while, especially when they are about historical figures. For biographies Morris suggests to, “Replace older volumes whenever better ones become available” and to “Keep up with personalities of both political and historical figures” (Morris, 2010).

II. Collection

Size of Collection

Oak Lane Elementary School Library has a total of 5,562 books and 234 students. That means there are about 23 books per student. This meets the NCDPI IMPACT outstanding collection guideline. According to IMPACT, for a collection to be considered outstanding it must have 20 books per student (IMPACT, 2008). Below is a breakdown of the collection by Dewey Classifications.

The Easy Fiction books make up the largest percentage of the collection. The IMPACT guidelines suggest that only 14-25% of the collection be Easy books (IMPACT, 2008). We slightly exceed that number with 28% of the collection being Easy books. The next largest section is the Fiction section. Again we exceed the suggested percentage range of 20-23% by having 25.61% of our books being Fiction. We just meet the IMPACT guideline standards of 5-13% for the 300 section with 5.47% of our collection being in the 300s or Social Sciences section. Our 500s (Natural Science/Math) section exceeds the suggested 5-10% guideline. The 500s section makes up 11.83% of the collection. The area of most concern is the 900s section. IMPACT recommends that 20.5-24.8% of the collection be composed of 900 books. Oak Lane’s 900 section only makes up 6.36% of the collection.

For the most part, according to the IMPACT standards, our collection is fairly balanced. Since adopting the Common Core, there has been a big push for Non-Fiction text. Our librarian has done a great job of adding Non-Fiction text to the collection, however there clearly needs to be more books added to the 900s section.

Our collection can also be compared to the Follett School Solutions Core Collection.

According to this comparison, we are lacking in the 300s section by almost half while we exceed expectations in the 500s section. This Follett Collection has very different standards for the 900s section than the IMPACT standards. They recommend that a little less than 10% of your collection be made up of 900s books. So we are not as far away from meeting standard here as we are with the IMPACT standards. According to Follett, we have too many Fiction and Easy books. Based on Follett School Solutions Core Collection comparison, we still have too many Fiction and Easy books and are lacking in the 900s and 300s section (Titlewave, 2014).

Age of the Collection

The average publication date of Oak Lane’s collection is 2002. This chart breaks down the collection into decades.

The majority of the books were published from 2000-2009. I think Oak Lane is doing well with keeping the collection current because there are a little over 1,000 books in the collection published in 2010 or later and we are only half way through this decade.

The following chart breaks down the age by Dewey section.

According to the NCDPI Impact document, “The five time-sensitive sections of the media collection, referred to as the “Big Five,”: Science (500s), Health and Technology (600s), Geography and History (900s), Government and Economics (300s) and Reference. The copyright dates in these materials should be within five to ten years, with some exceptions. For example, in the 500s, plants and animals are exceptions; in the 300s, holidays and folklore are exceptions.” (IMPACT, 2008).

The 300s section’s average publication date is 2003. This is just a little past the 10-year mark for discarding books. When I looked at the breakdown by the 10s it shows that the oldest books are in the folklore category, which can be kept around a little longer.

The average publication date of the 500s section is 2006. When looking at the breakdown by the 10s the oldest section is the 580 Plant section, the average publication date being 2000. The newest section in the 500s, with the average publication date of 2009, was the 520s section Astronomy and Allied Sciences.

The average publication date of the 900s section is 2007. The section in the 900s that has the oldest average publication date is the 920s Biography section. The average publication date of this section is 2002.

The average publication date of the Easy section is 1998. There isn’t an age limitation for the material in this section. The IMPACT document just says, “Use standard selection tools for evaluation, weeding, etc.” (IMPACT, 2008).

From examining these records I think that our collection is fairly up to date. I think we need to add newer books to the 300 and Easy section. As I mentioned earlier, there has been a big focus on adding Non-Fiction books to the collection. This may mean that keeping our Easy section up to date might not have been as much of a priority.

Format of Collection

The only type of materials available for circulation are books. Here is a chart showing the different types of books available for checkout.

While the library does subscribe to magazines, it only allows them to be read in the library or borrowed on a limited basis. The titles Oak Lane subscribes to are American Girl, ASK, Boys Life, Highlights for Children, National Geographic Kids, Our State, OWL, Ranger Rick, Sports Illustrated for Kids, and Zoobooks. I spoke with the librarian and she said she stopped circulating magazines because the magazine coverings got sticky and messy and were too much of a hassle. There are also no e-books in our collection. These categories will be added to the five-year plan.

Curriculum Related Areas

Morris states, “The school library media center’s program for helping students and staff in the use of materials depends largely on the curriculum. It is the school media specialist’s responsibility to provide the expertise and leadership necessary to ensure that the school media program is an integral part of the instructional program” (Morris, 2010). I chose to examine what Oak Lane’s library had to offer for the 4th grade standards for science and social studies. The science standard I examined was:

4.P.1 Explain how various forces affect the motion of an object.

4.P.1.1 Explain how magnets interact with all things made of iron and with other magnets to produce motion without touching them ( Essential Standards, 2011)

Magnetism is in the 530 section of the Dewey Decimal System. As previously stated, the size of our 500s section slightly exceeded the IMPACT guidelines, as well as those of the Follett School Solutions Core Collection. When analyzing the Titlewise Analysis by the 10s, our 530 section has 46 items and makes up 0.83% of the collection. The average publication date of this section is 2008. When digging further into the Analysis, I see that there are 5 books that refer specifically to magnetism in the title. According to the age sensitivity chart on Titlewise, the 530s section is not outside of the acceptable age range. One title, Magnets by Natalie Rosinsky, is over 10 years old (Titlewave, 2014).

I also did a search through Destiny like a teacher or student would do. When I searched the word “magnet,” nine titles were found. All of the materials found were books. The newest title was from 2014, while the oldest title was published in 1998.

For the size of the school and collection I think that 9 books on magnetism is sufficient. To improve this collection I think a few of the older titles need to be weeded out and replaced with newer titles. I also think materials other than books, such as DVDs, streaming videos, and hands on materials, would enhance the collection and support the instructional needs of the teachers and students.

The social studies standard I chose was:

4.H.1 Analyze the chronology of key historical events in North Carolina history. ( Essential Standards, 2011)

According to the North Carolina Essential Standards for Social Studies, “Fourth Grade is the first formal introduction to North Carolina, its ethnic diversity, its rich culture, the economic energy of its people, and its geographic regions. Fourth Grade students explore the social disciplines of history, geography, civics and government, culture and economics through the context of North Carolina.” (Essential Standards, 2011). American history in the Dewey Decimal System is classified as 970. Looking at the Titlewise Analysis it shows 216 titles categorized under North American History. Closer examination reveals 13 titles under the 975.6 category, which is North Carolina History. These books deal with the history of the state in general, as well as the history of our county. The oldest title was published in 1999. The newest title is from 2013.

When I searched Destiny for “North Carolina” I found 39 titles. While not all of these are about North Carolina history, I was still very impressed that we had so many titles related to our state. This is a huge resource for 4th grade teachers. When I narrowed my search to “North Carolina History” I found 23 titles. Most were nonfiction but some were fiction books from the American Girl collection. This search included books from categories other than 975.6, such as a book about North Carolina lighthouses and their history with a 387.1 call number. I think that our collection on North Carolina has a sufficient amount of materials. Just like my suggestion with the science resources, I think that adding more materials with formats other than books will help make the collection better.

Data Analysis

From the data collected I found that our library is making great strides to keep materials current and relevant to the students, teachers, and the curriculum. Below I will outline some strengths and weaknesses of the collection. Solutions to problems will be discussed further in the collection development plan.

Strengths:

· Number of books per student exceeds IMPACT guidelines for an outstanding collection

· Books are in good physical condition

· Collection has been updated with many new Non-Fiction books (due in part to the adoption of the Common Core state standards)

· Meet or exceed the recommended percentage of books in the Easy, 300, and 500 section. (According to NCDPI IMPACT)

· Collection is relatively up to date with the majority of the books published after 2000.

· The average publication date of the entire section is 2002, with the average publication date of the 500s section being 2006 and the average publication date of the 900s section being 2007.

· Many books available to support the curriculum, especially in regards to information on North Carolina.

Weaknesses:

· The 900s section does not meet IMPACT’s recommended percentages and needs to be added to.

· The Easy section’s average publication date is 1998 and should be updated.

· The 300s section’s average publication date is 2003, which is past the 10-year mark and needs to be updated.

· Lack of different formats of materials.

III. Collection Development Plan

1st Year

The first thing I think that needs attention is our Easy section. It is the most used part of the library. While the size of the collection isn’t an issue, the average date of materials is. The average age of the Easy section is 1998. While Easy books don’t need to be replaced as often as Non-Fiction books, I feel that 1998 is a little old. I think that by adding 100 new Easy titles the collection will be updated and it will give the students new material. Another update to the collection would be to subscribe to magazines and add them to circulation. Currently students are only able to read the magazines while they are in the library, and occasionally the magazines are informally loaned out to students. The librarian said that magazines were too hard to maintain when they were checked out, so she stopped circulating them. She did tell me how much the students loved reading them and that they are a good source of Non-Fiction informational text, so I think it is important to add them back to the collection and to circulation. My suggestion is that we subscribe to 6 magazines that are of high interest to the students and begin circulating them.

2nd Year

The second year I wanted to focus on updating the 300s or Social Sciences section. The average age of this section is 2003. This is outside of the recommended 10 years for this section. I think that replacing some of the older titles with 50 new titles from the 300s section would update this section. The big focus of the 2nd year is creating an e-book collection. Students are very engaged by e-readers, and adding these to the collection will keep up with evolving technologies. This year the focus is mainly acquiring the e-reading devices. I suggest adding 30 Kindle tablets and 100 e-book titles to circulation.

3rd Year

For the third year of the collection development plan the main focus is adding to the 900s section. According to IMPACT guidelines, the 900s section should make up 20.5-24.8% of the collection (IMPACT, 2010). In Oak Lane’s library the 900s section makes up only 6.36% of the collection. Adding 200 titles to the 900s section will greatly increase the size of this section. During the third year 200 more books will be added to the e-book collection.

4th Year

During the fourth year increasing the e-book collection will continue to be a priority. A hundred new titles will be added to this collection. By this time the 500s section will be out of date by 10 years because currently the average publication date of the collection is 2006. By replacing 100 of the oldest titles the collection will be updated. Another important part of updating the collection is adding DVDs to the circulation collection. There are currently only books available for check-out now. By adding DVDs, a new format will be added to the collection and both teachers and students will be able to view material that enhances the curriculum.

5th Year

During the fifth year of the collection plan the Reference section will be updated by buying a subscription to an online encyclopedia. This would be a better alternative to buying a new set of encyclopedias because the information is easily updated. The Fiction section will also require some updating by the 5th year, so 100 new Fiction titles will be added. 100 more e-books will be added to the collection as well.

Bibliography

Morris, B. J. (2010). Administering the school library media center. 5th ed. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Instructional Technology Division. (2008). IMPACT: Guidelines for North Carolina Media and Technology Programs. Raleigh, NC. Retrieved from http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/dtl/resources/impact/7impact-revision.pdf

Public Schools of North Carolina. (2011). NC Essential Standards. Retrieved November 01, 2014, from http://www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/standards/new-standards/

Titlewave. (2014). Titlewise Analysis. Retrieved from http://www.titlewave.com/main?SID=0a914070336189e30ea1412a5ed2d7f8