Assignment+3+Collection+Evaluation+&+Report


 * The Task**

Tasked with mapping the collection of a library which is not "my library" is a challenge. Firstly, as full-time teacher, I am limited with the time that can be spent watching students interact with the collection. Secondly, reports and data run from an automated system can only be completed by the benevolence of an already busy teacher-librarian who has work of her own to complete and is doing me a big favour. Finally, I am confined by the limitations of what catalogue searches can glean. With all of these limitations, I have plowed on to create a survey of the my school's library collection focusing on resources for English 8, namely literature-related and fiction books.


 * Collection Evaluation & Report**

Collingwood School Library Collection: Morven Campus Overview

As of January 12th, 201

Number of Records: 1004 Number of Holdings: 11405 Average Age: 1995 Student Enrollment: 700 Items per student: 15.99

Collection Analysis Pertaining to My Focus Area (The analysis was completed using Titlewise)

General fiction Average age: 1997 Items: 2935 % of Collection: 26.22% Balanced Dewey Comparisons: FLR 20.50% Difference: 5.72% Balanced Dewey Comparisons: Wilson 20.40% Difference: 5.82%

Literature and Rhetoric

Average age: 1990 Items: 905 % of Collection: 8.08% Balanced Dewey Comparisons: FLR 6.5% Difference: 1.58% Balanced Dewey Comparisons: Wilson 6.5% Difference: 1.58%

The best way to evaluate a library collection is to compare it against expected norms and against other comparable libraries. Follett Library Resources provides such a service which our teacher-librarian has taken full advantage of. According to this analysis, our library collection is on average 16 years old. The fiction component which is most relevant to my focus-area, English 8, is 14 years old, while the titles in the 800's are on average 21 years old. This is clearly an aging collection, badly in need of some updated Language Arts-related resources. Walking amongst the collection, it is evident that many of these books are old. When I asked our teacher-librarian if she was concerned about the age of the collection, she explained that she has no intention of replacing these books with other traditional resources. As components of the collection age or wear, she will toss them and replace them with more online, database resources and ebooks which will more than make up for our aging book population.

Using Titlewise, an indepth analysis of the entire collection was completed. The Figure 1 demonstrates the percent each classification makes up of the collection while Figure 2 shows its age.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Observing the Collection

A walk through the fiction paperback and hardcovers is a step back in time. Yellowing, beat-up covers easily make up 30% of the collection. With many of these donated by helpful parents, these books sit unused and unappealing on the shelf. How many copies of the //Lovely Bones// need to be in the collection? (We have four.) There are countless older novels by authors like James Michener and Leon Uris that are cringe-worthily discoloured and warn. For whom are these kind of books laid out? Aren't they just filling space? Are they there just because we might as well put something on the shelves just in case we have a taker? Cluttering the collection with books that are not appealing and are unlikely to be used does not make for a good collection and is very overwhelming for a grade 8 student looking for a novel to read in class.

The 800's are also filled with older books that are unlikely to be used. While these books about old dead writers don't require a lot of updating, I have never seen a student pick one up for research and definitely not for pleasure. As an experiment, I brought my English 8 class into the library and asked them to use our poetry books and/or the internet to find a poem on the theme of discrimination. Only one student picked up any of the poetry books that had been pulled for them. The others explained that searching on the internet was so much easier than flipping through the books.

Doing a random survey of a book shelf in the fiction section, FIC MAC to FIC MAH, there are twenty-three books on the shelf, only nine of the books were published after 1996. Four paperbacks are so yellowed, I didn't want to touch them.

As I am a full-time teacher, the only time I can spend watching students interacting with the collection is before and after school and in four days of sitting the library I have observed students use the computers and read magazines and newspapers, but not a single student picked up a book. One of the learning assistance teachers came in and borrowed two books she selected for her students to read. She explained that if she sent the students themselves, they would be too overwhelmed as the shelves of paperbacks would be far too intimating for her two students and they would not know where to start. One of the library assistance explained to me that she was not surprised by my observation as few of our students use our books. There are avid readers who most often come in at lunch to borrow books. Because we have our own classroom libraries, our Middle School students do not need to borrow library books to meet the requirements of our reading programs.

Strengths

Despite the age of the material, I believe the library fiction collection offers a wide assortment of novels for Grade 8 students. Dividing the collection between Middle and Senior school material means that Grade 8's can easily direct their search to the material most appropriate for their age level and that they are most likely to enjoy. However, it also means students are unlikely to push themselves and take on a more challenging piece of literature that could help broaden them as readers.

Weaknesses

The 800's offers little appropriate for Middle School students. With //Blooms// literary analysis books and reams of good old English literature offerings, my English 8 students find little appealing and relatable.

An additional weakness is the very thin graphic novel collection. It is the only shelf I observed that had clearly ben perused. There are seventy-nine books listed as graphic novels in the collection. Some are missing from this display as they are in a new book display elsewhere in the library. Only one book is checked out, but nine books are missing. Without security, it is easy for books to walk away from our library, and the graphic novels are popular victims of the thievery. I believe the graphic novels would be a powerful tool, popular with reluctant readers in grade 8. With visual literacy as an important component of the English 8 curriculum, it is imperative to grow this aspect of the fiction collection.



To Improve the Overall Quality of the Collection

Based on my observations of students in the library, resources don't need to be on the shelves; instead, money needs to be spent on online databases and ebooks. Our students are plugged in. They are interested in quick, easy access to information, and using their digital devices. The graphic novel section is one shelf that deserves special attention. Middle School students enjoy graphic novels, and visual literacy is an important part of the curriculum. I don't believe the online version of these books is quite as appealing to students. With 11% of the graphic novel collection missing,it is clear that students are using this portion of the collection. This leads to another important recommendation. The library should consider installing a security system, otherwise, what physical resources we have are likely to keep making their way out the door.

Reflection on the Process

The collection of data for this assignment was quite a challenge. Because I am not in a library, I had to rely on the assistance of the teacher-librarian who kindly ran off a couple of reports and shared the major overall collection report she completed in January. Observations were a challenge as I had to try to get into the library when I was not teaching or running tutorials to observe how the library collection is used. The hands-on look at the collection was probably the easiest comment as it involved spending some time in the stacks, looking at books and thinking about the resources with a critical eye, one I have never applied to it before.

I would hope in the future, when I have my own library, I would have the time and access to more accurately observe how the collection is used by students and teachers in a variety of ways. I do know that if I ever have a library and one of my colleagues comes along asking for some assistance because they are taking a course where they need to evaluate a collection and they need me to run all kinds of reports in order to complete the assignment, I will do my very best to help.