Lane Turbyfill

Collection Evaluation and Analysis

LIS 653

Part One Data Collection

Woodrow Wilson Elementary is one of five elementary schools in the Kannapolis
City Schools district. At the school, there are twenty-seven certified classroom
teachers, sixteen certified non-classroom personnel, eighteen instructional assistants,
three custodians, and two office secretaries. For the main school building, the current
enrollment is 407 students, but the school also has a Pre-Kindergarten program that
serves an additional 80 students. The majority of the students are Hispanic, followed
closely by Caucasian and then African American. The schools mission statement is:
To help students think critically and creatively across disciplines, manage
complexity, embrace technology and value diversity.
With this in mind, the school library program serves to facilitate access to a wide variety
of information as well as technology. The media center houses not only the schools
library collection, but also one of two computer labs as well as the schools technology
resources, such as three full iPad carts. The school has a heavy focus on technology,
and the library program is changing to match this direction. The library mission
statement is:
To prepare students to be life-long learners, informed decision-makers,
users of information technologies, and enthusiastic readers.
Both of these missions have been changing recently with the change in administration,
but the library is doing its best to match the schools goals and meet the students
needs.

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I.

Collection Sampling
For the collection sampling, twenty books were selected from four different
sections of the library: the Everybody section, the 300s, the 500s, and the 900s.
Books were selected randomly and evenly throughout the entire section. The
books were then analyzed by copyright date, date added to the collection (used
to determine the age of the book), total number of circulations (used, along with
the age, to determine circulations per year), as well as the physical condition. A
rating system was set to judge the books, with four classifications: poor (books
that are falling apart, damaged, and must be discarded and replaced), fair (books
that are not as appealing or are beginning to age), and new (books that appear
brand new, whether they are or not). This data was compiled in a spreadsheet
and used to make graphs for each section.
a. Physical Condition

Physical Condition

Poor
Fair
New

Overall, the sampled books were in relatively good condition. There

were only a few that were in poor condition, with pages torn out, spines

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coming apart, or coloring inside of them. This is mainly due to a weeding
attempt where if a student reports that a book is damaged, the book is
assessed by the librarian. The unofficial rule is if the book requires more
than three pieces of tape to be repaired, it needs to be discarded. This
has led to a decrease in the number of books that are in bad condition.
The highest number of books in poor condition was in the 900 section.
This area is used by third and fourth grade for biography and social
studies units throughout the year, and as such, should be kept in good
condition. Without materials that are appealing and in good condition,
students would be deterred from selecting certain important figures to
research, thus limiting their options for their projects. The lowest number
was in the 300 section. Many of these books were in pristine condition,
with attractive covers, but as found in later analysis, many had not been
checked out very much. This may have to do with the physical
organization of that area of the library, since the 300 section is split
between three rows and is very poorly labeled.
While the number of books in poor shape is low, according to this
information, over half of the selected books could be weeded based on
condition alone. This is a startling trend when applied to the whole
collection.
b. Age

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Age of Books in Years

20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0

10 11 12 13 14 15

In looking at the ages of the books sampled, there was a

discrepancy between the copyright age and the date when the book was
purchased. Because many of the books were re-printings of traditional
stories, especially in the 300 section, many of the books appeared much
older than the actual copy was. As such, the date of acquisition was used
to determine the age of the book.
Even so, many of the books are well beyond the acceptable age for
any book, much less books in these areas. To meet the minimum
guideline set by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the
collection must have an average age of fifteen years or less. When
looking at the date of purchase, the selection qualifies, but only just barely.
This guideline, however, uses the copyright date.

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Copyright Dates
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

In looking at the graph based on copyright date, it is clear that the

selection does not meet the NC DPI minimum standard. This creates a
problem in that some of the books have been republished, such as the
outlier The Grouchy Ladybug, by Erik Carle. The copyright date of this
book is 1974, and as such is the oldest book in the selection. The copy of
the book was added into the collection in 1999, which still makes it an
older book, but it would not be outside of the guidelines.
The Everybody section contains many popular childrens stories,
and as such, has a tendency, as with The Grouchy Ladybug, to seem out
of date without actually being out of date. However, even when using the
date added to the collection, a large majority of the selected books are on
the verge of being outdated even based on date added to the catalog.
Many of the books could be weeded and replaced with newer versions,

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but most of the books are classic stories by famous childrens authors, so
the titles would remain the same.
Looking at the 300 section, many of the topics covered are very
age sensitive, such as political science, social issues, education, and
commerce. As such, this area needs to be as up to date as budget allows.
While the sample from this section had fewer books at the fifteen year
maximum based on actual age of the book in the collection, and were
better in relation to the copyright date as well, the books are nowhere near
the age sensitive ages. These books should be no older than five years,
and the average age of the sampling was 2005, and the average copyright
date was 2000. Again, both of these fall within the NC DPI Impact
requirements, but they do not meet the suggested sensitivity age.
As with the 300s, the 500 section contains age sensitive material.
Because this section includes all areas of science, such as astronomy and
medicine, these books are suggested to be kept up to date within five
years. The 500s are slightly more recent than the 300s, having an
average book age of 2006 and an average copyright date of 2002. These
are much better in terms of the NC DPI minimum standard, since both
actually meet the developing guideline. However, with the frequency of
change in these areas, more recent material would be much better,
because of the chance of the material being outdated or even proven
incorrect.
Finally, the 900 section includes biographies, geography, and
history. These books are vital for research in various topics, and as such,

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are again age sensitive. As with both the 300s and 500s, the 900 section
selection had an average age of 2005, and as with the 300s, an average
copyright date of 2000. These are not terribly out of data, but considering
how this information can change, especially the biographies of people still
living, an update would be useful.

c. Circulation

Circulations per Year

20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

When looking at circulation data, the total number of circulations

can be deceiving. As such, this figure was used, along with the age of the
copy in the collection, to determine the number of circulations per year.
With this information, books that have been in the collection for longer are
treated the same as books that have just been added.
Looking at this data, most of the books are circulated on an
average of once per year. For some books, this is because they are new
and havent been available, for others, they simply are not being checked

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out. However, this graph reveals that the outlier, Fancy Nancy: Bonjour
Butterfly, by Jane OConnor, has been circulated an overwhelming
seventeen times per year. This would definitely call for a look at
purchasing more copies of this book and perhaps more either in the same
series or similar.

II.

Collection Analysis
a. Size of the Collection
In total, the library has 11,325 books in the catalog. With an enrollment
of 487 students in both programs, this is an average of 23.25 books per
student. The minimum for NC DPIs Impact model is 10 books per
student, with developing at 15 and outstanding at 20. This means that the
schools collection is well beyond the outstanding guideline in terms of
books per student. When broken down by section though, there are some
areas that are lacking.

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As can be seen by this graph, the largest part of the collection is the
Easy or Everybody section. Because the school serves Pre-Kindergarten
through Fourth grade, there is not as much of a need for the higher level
chapter books. NC DPI suggests this section to take up between 14~25%

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of the collection. As seen in the graph, the Everybody section actually
takes up 27.58%, which is not too far above the maximum.
The school used to serve all the way to Sixth grade, and there are still
remnants of the collection from that time. These make up a majority of the
Fiction section. The problem with this is that the books in the Fiction
section are not only higher level, they are also very dated. Most of them
were purchased when the library extension was built. The collection prior
to the extension had been minimal, limited to a very small work room in
the office. NC DPI suggests Fiction should make up 20~23% of the
collection, and the graph shows that it actually makes up 18.4% of the
schools collection. Again, this is not too far from the guideline, and
exceptions could be made based on the demographics and needs of the
school.
As a minimum, NC DPI suggests 47.5% of the collection should be
Non-Fiction, and in reality, the schools collection has 44.55% in NonFiction. While this number is close, looking through each section reveals
that there are some in drastic need. The 000s, 100s, and 200s all have
low recommended percentages, and the schools collection is close to
meeting them. The 000s are suggested 1%, the school has 0.49%, 100s
are suggested to be 1%, the school has 0.79%, and the 200s are
suggested at 1%, with the school having 0.39%. Moving into the 300s,
Impact suggests 5~13%, and the school has 7.46%, clearly meeting the

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suggestion. For 400s, the suggestion is 0.5~5%, and the school has
1.69%, a low but acceptable number. The 500s are suggested 5~10%,
and the school exceeds this with 13.95%. For the 600s, 5~10% is again
suggested, and the school meets that with 6.84%. The last few sections
are the ones that are clearly lacking. The 700s are suggested 4.5~10%,
the school only has 3.36%. The 800s are suggested 4~10.8%, and the
school clearly fails to meet this with only 2.04%. And finally, the 900s
should have 20.5~24.8%, and the school is terribly lacking in this section,
with only 7.55% in this area. It is clear that these areas need to be
replenished simply based off the number of entries in the catalog.
Outside of the common areas, the school has several sections that are
not covered by Impact. These include the Story Collection, Paperbacks,
Audio Books, Books on Tape, and Software. The Story Collection,
Paperbacks, and Software sections have mostly been weeded out, but a
few still remain, mostly based on error. The Audio Books are meant to be
labeled under Books and Tape, an area of the library that sees a lot of
attention. This area was developed many years ago, and has recently
become very useful with the implementation of Daily 5 and the Caf.
These involve five different reading strategies, one of which is being read
to. The books on tape allow teachers to facilitate this strategy without
having to be the one reading the books to the students. Many of the
teachers still have cassette players assigned to their room, so they let

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students pick the book they would like to hear and read along to and set
that up as a center.

b. Age of the Collection

Based on the Titlewise report run through Destiny and Follet, the
average age of the schools collection is 1993. The minimum guideline
from NC DPI suggests an average no older than sixteen years from the
current calendar year, which puts the school well behind this guideline at
21 years. This graph shows the entire collections copyright date by
decade:

This graph shows that a majority of the books were copyrighted in the
1990s, with a large amount in the 2000s and 1980s. This makes sense,
since the collection was expanded in 1995 so a majority of the books were
purchased then. In trying to bring the average age up, the chances of
countering this many books purchased in one decade would be slim
without discarding at least a few of the older books in the collection.

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This graph shows the age of the collection, by section:

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Collection Evaluation and Analysis
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As shown, there are some areas of the library that are much more
dated than others. The oldest section is the Books on Tape, with an
average age of 1984. Again, this area is unique to the school, and fits a
need of the teachers. While the section could be updated, possibly
moving from cassettes to CDs, the area is still useable and accomplishes
its intended goal.
The next oldest area is the 200 section, with an average age of 1989.
As such, not only is this section lacking in number of books, the books that
are in the collection need to be weeded based on the age. As a NonFiction section, the books should not be allowed to be too aged, because

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these books are used by students for research, and older books could
have outdated or incorrect information.
Next is the Biograpies, at an average of 1991. This subset of the 900
section is suggested to be within ten years for an individual biography, or
20 for a collection, as per Impact. This would set an average age of 2004
for individuals or 1994 for collections, neither of which is met by the
collection. And since the majority of the schools books are individual
biographies, this area of the collection needs a lot of work. This section
was weak in terms of numbers, and is also weak based on age.
The Biographies are a subset of the 900 section, this chart analyzes
the 900 section by tens:
900
Geography and History

1991 7

0.06%

910

Geography and Travel

1993 81

0.72%

920

Biography, Genealogy, Insignia

1988 48

0.42%

930

History of Ancient World

1995 28

0.25%

940

General History of Europe

1994 53

0.47%

950

General History of Asia

2003 27

0.24%

960

General History of Africa

2000 14

0.12%

970

General History of North America 1991 229

2.02%

980

General History of South America 2006 4

0.04%

990

General History of Other Areas

1990 9

0.08%

Geography and History Totals

1993 500

4.42%

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This chart shows that not only are the Biographies out of date, the
other books in that tens range are even older, bringing the average down
to 1988. This is the oldest range within this section by several years.
The Titlewise report suggests that the 910 part of the 900 section be
kept within 5 years of the current calendar year, which it clearly is not. The
report shows that 86.08% of the books in 910s are beyond this five year
limit.
Another area that is beyond acceptable average age is the 300
section. This area includes the social sciences, such as political science,
education, and customs. Many of these areas are age sensitive, and
should be kept up to date within five years, as per the Titlewise report.
This chart shows the different sections of the 300 section by tens:
300
Social Sciences
1994 71
0.63%
310
Collections of General Statistics n/a
0

0.00%

320

Political Science

1989 37

0.33%

330

Economics

1988 51

0.45%

340

Law

1998 7

0.06%

350

Public Admin and Military Sci.

1992 7

0.06%

360

Social Problems and Services

1996 70

0.62%

370

Education

1988 36

0.32%

380

Commer., Commun., Transp.

1987 60

0.53%

390

Customs, Etiquette, Folklore

1992 506

4.47%

Social Sciences Totals

1992 845

7.46%

With an average age of 1992, not only does this section not
meet the guideline for Impact, which is a maximum of ten years, it is also

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well beyond the age sensitive limit for many of the tens. Titlewise
suggests limiting the 320s, 360s, 370s, and 380s all to a maximum of five
years before weeding. This chart shows the the percentage of books in
each section that are out of date:
320-329
Political Science

96.88%

361-369

Social Problems and Services

89.71%

370-379

Education

87.50%

380-389
Commer., Commun. and Transp.
75.00%
These sections clearly need to be weeded and updated, because the
material in these books is definitely out of date, but some of it could very
well be wrong because of how quickly trends in each of these topics
change.
A section of the collection that is not too far out of date is the 500
section. This section includes science and mathematics and takes up a
substantial portion of the collection. The average age of the section is
1997, which is still not within the ten year maximum suggested by Impact,
but is closer than many of the 300 and 900 sections. However, Impact
suggests a five year maximum for books about space. This chart shows
the 500 section divided into tens:
500
Natural Sciences/Mathematics

1993 107

0.94%

510

Mathematics

1999 106

0.94%

520

Astronomy and Allied Sciences

1989 97

0.86%

530

Physics

2000 94

0.83%

540

Chemistry and Allied Sciences

1988 9

0.08%

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550

Earth Sciences

1997 156

1.38%

560

Paleontology, Paleozoology

1997 65

0.57%

570

Life Sciences, Biology

1997 81

0.72%

580

Plants

1995 54

0.48%

590

Animals

1998 811

7.16%

Science/MathematicsTotals
1997 1580 13.95%
The 520s include all books about space, which again should be limited
to a maximum of five years old per Impact, and the chart shows an
average age of 1989, well outside the appropriate range. The Titlewise
report shows 92.31% of the books in the 520s are outside this five year
limit. Titlewise also suggests limiting the 570s to five years as well, and
while they are in better condition than the 520s, an average age of 1997 is
still not close to acceptable. The report shows 93.75% of books in this
range to be out of date.
c. Format of the Collection
The collection is composed of seven main types of materials:
Everybody, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Books on Tape, Magazines, DVD movies,
and eBooks. The largest portion of the collection is devoted to print
books, with 5,043 copies in Non-Fiction, 3,123 in Fiction, and 2,084 in the
Everybody section. Books on tape as second, with 433 copies. The
magazine collection in the library has decreased substantially in the past
years because of the cancelation of all but one subscription for the library
but, thanks to community donations, there are still magazines available in

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the library for students to browse. This graph shows the comparison
between these seven types:

Number of Resources
eBooks
4
DVDs
57
Magazines
80
Books on Tape

433

Fiction

2084

Everybody

3123

Non-Fiction
0

5043
1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

The DVDs in the collection are for teacher check out and use, and are
stored in the professional collection. Under the old catalog labeling
system, they were included as Software, but with the changes in district
policies and the ability to install software, any actual software has been
discarded from the collection. The majority of the DVDs are of The Magic
School Bus, but there are several documentaries, a series on plants, and
another on important historical figures and their lives.
The eBooks were a recent addition, and there are currently only nine
titles in the collection. These were a test to see if the teachers could use
them in their classrooms, what format would work best (single check out
or unlimited), and if students would have technology available to them that
could be used to view the eBooks. The teachers enjoyed having the

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eBooks, but all agreed that having the unlimited check out of each eBook
would work best, so that each student could view the eBook on their own
while the teacher was projecting it onto the board. Also, with the recent
increase in iPads for students, it was clear they would have the technology
to access the eBook collection. With access to the online catalog
available at home, student could also check out eBooks outside of school,
an idea that has discussed with teachers. They are unsure how to go
about this, but liked the idea. In the future, adding to the number of
eBooks would greatly help not only the teachers, but also the students,
especially with accessing the library any time they need it, even if it is after
school hours.
Because the school uses Destiny, the students are able to access the
library catalog twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. The catalog is
linked to from the start menu on any computer within the school, and there
are links to it on the librarians web page. However, the visibility and
knowledge of this resource is very low. In the coming years, there needs
to be development, both with students and teachers, on how to find and
use the online catalog, not only for finding physical materials within the
library, but for accessing the eBooks that are currently in the collection and
those that will hopefully be added in the future.
Moving forward, several sections need to be focused on. With the
expansion of eBooks and the ability for students to listen to these

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materials, the books on tape collection can be phased out. This would
eliminate the need for outdated technology in the classrooms as well as
open up space in the library. The magazine collection has suffered, and
funds need to be devoted to purchasing subscriptions for the school, not
only for students, but also for the librarian and teachers. There are
currently no professional journal subscriptions either.

d. State Standards and the Collection

The role of the school library program is to help provide students with
the information they need as well as enriching and building on to what the
teachers are working on in the classroom. As such, the collection needs
to be built around the state standards so that there are materials available
on all topics that are taught in the school. With this in mind, the Titlewise
report provides a graph comparing the school collection to their database
of suggested titles. This database is built on the standards and what
Follet suggests, but there is also a focus on what librarians are adding into
their collections when they create their own. This is the graph comparing
the schools collection to that of the Follet Library Resources database:

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This graph shows that, while the school is lacking in some areas, there are
more than enough materials in others. Some of the areas that are below
the suggested amount, such as Reference and Professional, are not as
important as others. To determine if the collection is able to meet the
needs of the school, two standards from the North Carolina Essential
Standards for Thirds Grade were chosen, one from Science and one from
Social Studies.
1. Social Studies: Essential Standard 3.H.1.2
This standard comes from the History portion of the third grade
Social Students standards, and says:
Analyze the impact of contributions made by diverse historical
figures in local communities and regions over time.
It is important to look at this standard because it matches directly to the
Biography section. Students are expected to know how historical

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figures shaped the local communities and regions. This standard can
also be expanded to apply to all historical figures and how they
affected their respective communities.
A) Current Materials
In looking at the graph from Titlewise, the Biography section is
clearly lacking. Follet suggests that 7% of the collection should be
in the Biography section, and the collection currently has just over
3% devoted to this section. Not only that, Titlewise also shows that
the materials that are in the collection are heavily dated, a serious
problem for students trying to do research on recent figures or
those that are still alive. A biography about a single person should
be no older than ten years, and a collection of biographies no more
than twenty, and this section of the library averages at twenty three
years old, meaning some of the books are much older than that.
Also, with the exception of very famous people, like Martin
Luther King Jr., the collection contains only one copy of each
biography. This means that students are unable to find materials
they can use on their own if someone else has chosen the same
person.
Another concern is the format. The lack of copies could be
diffused if there was an eBook in the collection that could be used
by more than one student at a time, but at the moment, the only
eBooks in the collection deal with mythology. There are a few
documentaries about important historical figures, but these are

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meant for teachers, and there is not even time for teachers to show
a documentary on every single person their class has chosen to
research, unless they are limiting who the class can pick.
B) Needs
There are currently 354 copies in the biography section,
covering about 200 different people; a study was done last year in
order to give the teachers a list of names of people students could
find books on in the library. Overall, this is a substantial number,
but that is before taking into account that Titlewise marks 209 of the
copies as out of date and needing to be weeded. This number is
based off of fifteen years, which is actually more forgiving than the
ten recommended by Impact. Even without removing any books
based on condition, this leaves only 145 copies in the Biography
section.
Estimating that each student would have three different print
sources to select from, and knowing that the current third and fourth
grade enrollment is around fifty students, this means a minimum of
150 books for the section. In addition, another study should be
done to make sure there are at least seventy five, if not more
individuals for students to choose from.
Looking in Follets Titlewave search, there are 190 different
Biograph, Autobiography, or Biography collection books in library
hard back. The majority of these come with an eBook version that
can be bought with unlimited access. To boost the Biography

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section back up to closer where it should be, fifty-five titles should
be bough, paired with their eBook version. This expands the
section back up to 200 books, with unlimited duplicates of each of
the new titles, allowing for students to use the same book to
research the same person. Using the average cost of a book from
TitleMAP of $19.47, and an average eBook with unlimited access of
$28.00, this purchase will have an estimated cost of $2,610.85.
2. Science: Essential Standard 3.P.2
This standard is from the Science portion of the third grade
standards and reads:
Understand the structure and properties of matter before and after
they undergo a change.
Again, this standard is important because it is addressed by a specific
area of the library, the 530 section, Physics. The standard requires
them to not only understand the differences between the states of
matter, but also what happens when one state begins to change into
another.
A) Current Materials
There are ninety-four books in this section, with an additional
three in the professional section and two videos. Titlewise does not
estimate a percentage of the collection that should be accounted
for by the collection, but this is a rather reasonable number. But,
when narrowing down to those books within this section that are

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actually about matter, students find only sixteen copies, five of
which are outside the in-circulation materials in the Professional
and DVD sections. The Titlewise report also shows that of these
sixteen copies in the collection, seven of them are out of date.
Also, the standard goes beyond just understanding the
properties and differences between the states of matter. The
number of books that can be found discussing the process of
changing between the states of matter is reduced even farther to
eight.
All eight of these resources are in the circulation area of the
library, but they are all physical books. This means that if a teacher
checks out books about matter and takes all eight of these, there
are none available for students. Even if teachers do not check the
books out, the collection can only meet the needs of at most 8
students.
B) Needs
Because third grade is not the only grade to cover matter, this
section of the library needs a lot of work to get it up to a point where
it can meet the needs of the entire school. The first issue is the
lack of even physical materials. The library should have more
books discussing the process of changing between states of matter
and how they are related in that way.
Another useful investment would again be eBooks. Because
multiple grade levels teach material on matter, eBooks would allow
teachers to differentiate their lesson, as well as use the same

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materials across grade levels. Since none of the school is
departmentalized, most teachers teach the same material at the
same time, meaning that a whole grade level, possibly multiple
grades, could be teacher matter simultaneously. Physical books
can only go so far, whereas an eBook with unlimited access can
serve so many more.
As such, the library should purchase an additional thirty books,
with their corresponding eBooks. Estimating book cost at $19.47
and eBook cost at $28.00, this would cost $1,424.10.

Part Two Collection Data Analysis

At face value, the library collection seems quite impressive; any library that can
boast 11,325 copies must be in good shape. The book shelves are full, except a few
that have been left empty, seemingly on purpose. A quick glance doesnt reveal any
major issues. But, when consulting data about the books that are in the collection, the
issues begin to arise.
While the collection is large, a staggering majority of the books are well beyond
their weeding date. A TitleMAP report run through Destiny, the online catalog, compares
the collection to the minimum, developing, and outstanding classifications from the
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction:

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To meet outstanding, the collection should have at least twenty books per student, and
the books should have an average age no older than 2005. Woodrow Wilsons
collection meets the requirement for number of books per student, with an average of
21.5 books available for each of the 500 students, but falls drastically short of the
average age, which in reality is 1993. The purple pin in the top left of the graph shows
where the collection is in terms of the blue shaded regions on the right.
However, the benefit of having so m any books is that, in order to meet the
minimum standards and reach the yellow pin on the graph, the collection needs to
simply discard those books that are too far out of date. A majority of these books were
purchased when the library expansion was built, and while there have been additions to
the catalog since then, the sheer number from that time period is holding back the rest
of the collection.

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This graph shows the age of the books in the collection by decade:

This graph shows exactly how many books were added to the collection right around
the time the expansion was built. If the school was to purchase more books to counter
the average age issue, almost 4,000 books would need to be purchased in order to
account for the amount bought in the 1990s alone. The TitleMAP report also include a
graph comparing the price of purchasing without weeding in order to update the
collection to weeding and then purchasing:

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To purchase enough books to bring the average age of the collection up to 1999, the
library would have to spend $91,665, whereas if the library was going to discard books
and then purchase, the total cost would be $0. This is because there are enough books
in the collection that if those that were beyond acceptable age were discarded, the
school would still have enough books per student to meet the minimum guideline.
In addition to the books that need to be weeded out based on their age, a
sampling of books in the collection was done to judge the physical condition. Of the
eighty books that were randomly selected, over half were rated fair or poor, both of
which could be discarded based on condition. This graph was made with the data
gathered in this sampling:

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Physical Condition

15%

Poor
Fair

43%

New
43%

This again proves that, while the collection may appear well in order at a glance, there
are major issues within it. Students do not want to read books that are falling apart,
have coloring in them, or have been damaged in the past. As books age, their covers
also begin to fade, and the pictures are outdated, both of which are deterrents for
students.
With all these weaknesses, the collection does have its strengths. While the data
does reveal issues with age and condition, the at-a-glance appearance of the library
does motivate students to want to see what all kinds of books are there. Not only this,
but the collection includes an overabundance of Everybody books, picture books that
are good for all ages. Many of these are classics, such as Eric Carle, Mercer Mayer,
Mark Teague, and of course, Dr. Seuss, the Berenstain Bears, Clifford, and Curious
George. The collection also offers a wide variety of books on tape, which may not be as
excited for the students as they view the library, but they enjoy them when the
classroom teachers set up listening stations with these materials. There are also many

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different areas that are in tune with the standards the teachers are working on in their
classrooms. Again, the books in these areas could use some updating, but there are
resources available.
A possible strength for the library is the abilities of the online catalog, Destiny.
Through Follet, Destiny is able to provide eBooks to students. Since Destiny is
available continuously, whether students are in school or at home, eBooks would be a
great resource for students to use without needing to be able to physically visit the
library. Currently, the eBook selection is limited to nine titles on Greek mythology, which
were bought paired with the physical books in order to help meet the fourth grade
curriculum requirement on mythology. While eBooks are considerably more expensive
than the physical book, they can be purchase with unlimited access, allowing teachers
and students to all have access to the book at the same time. With the large number of
iPads in the classrooms for students, this would be a great resource to take advantage
of.

Part Three Collection Development Plan

In order to get the library collection up to date, and in doing so up to NC DPIs
standards, there is a large amount of work to be done. As such, the work will be divided
up into a five year plan, each year focusing on a different area or need of the collection.

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1. Year One Weeding
Because of the amount of weeding necessary to get the collection up to date,
4,877 as per the TitleMAP report run through Destiny, the entire first year needs
to be spent going through the current collection and weeding books out. This
process will take an extended amount of time because not only do books that are
out dated need to be removed, but also books in poor condition or that are
unappealing on the outside.
The Titlewise report includes a list of all titles, by section of the library,that
should be weeded based on age. This means that the process will simply entail
printing the report and finding those books. This will be done in sectional chunks,
so as not to disrupt large areas of the library. First will be the Non-Fiction, since
this section of the library can be divided up into 100s and weeded at that level.
This will require a large amount of time devoted to it, as the correct books must
be selected, then discarded in the system, bar codes removed, and the inside
stamp marking the book as library property overlayed with the Discard stamp.
Once Non-Fiction is done, then Fiction would be weeded, followed by Everybody.
This entire process will cost the school nothing in terms of a budget, but will
require a large amount of time devoted to it. Without two staff members devoted
to the library and a constant class schedule, this will have to be done over the
whole year when time allows.
If there is time remaining in the year, the eBook collection needs to be
developed. At the moment, access and titles are limited, as well as visibility of

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these resources. As such, the professional development should be offered to
train the teachers on how to access the eBooks. While in training, teachers can
give ideas about what materials would be best to purchase in this format. They
are the experts on their curriculum and know what tools would fit in well with their
lessons and needs.

2. Year Two Non-Fiction

With the large amount of weeding out of the way, the collection will
considerably smaller. As such, a slight rearrangement of the physical
arrangement of the collection will be in order. A facility layout will be discussed,
drawn up, and implemented to aide in the organization and access of this smaller
collection. However, expansion must be kept in mind, as the collection will meet
the minimum standard, and in order to reach developing and outstanding, the
collection will need to grow.
To begin this growth, the Non-Fiction section will need to be redeveloped.
This area provides both students and teachers with materials related to all areas
of instruction: math, science, language, and history. As such, the now depleted
collection will need to be reinforced.
As it stands now, the 900 section is an area of the collection that is in dire
need of help. After the weeding from year one, the number of copies in this
section will be far below the recommendation from the Titlewise report. As such,
this will be the first area restocked. The focus of this restocking should be the
Biographies, since this tie directly into third and fourth grade units and projects
that are taught each year. This area was largely out of date, and will be mostly

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removed. There are currently 354 copies in this section, and there will be an
estimated 209 removed in weeding.
To begin, 150 titles should be added to the Biography section from the Follet
Library Resource catalog. These can be paired with an unlimited eBook to allow
multiple students to use each resource, if funds allow. Using the average cost of
a book from TitleMAP of $19.47, and an average eBook with unlimited access of
$28.00, this purchase will have an estimated cost of $7,120.50.
Next would be the remainder of the 900 section. As of right now, there are
500 copies in this section, and it is projected that 285 will be discarded in the
weeding process. This is over half of the copies in this section, another area of
the library that matches up with lessons taught in the classroom every year.
Third and fourth grades discuss location, in terms of school, city, state, country,
and continent, and the 900 section includes all books about geography.
Kindergarten also does lessons on maps and legends, which are included in the
900 section. Many grade levels discuss Native Americans around Thanksgiving,
and materials about these peoples and the early settlers are included in the 900s
as well.
To bolster this section back to near where it was, an additional 200 titles
should be purchased. These may not be as useful in eBooks, but copies of
eBooks could be individually selected based on teacher need. This purchase
would be estimated at $3,894.
Adding these together, the restocking of the 900 section will add 350 copies
and cost an estimated $11,014.50. This will not restock one book for every book
weeded, but it will help to bolster these areas.

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3. Year Three Non-Fiction cont.
The 90s are just one portion of the Non-Fiction section and there are many
more than will need to be restocked. The two that are most important after the
900s are the 300 and 500 sections. These again are used yearly as they
coincide with curriculum taught in the classrooms.
The 300 section is labeled Social Science, and includes topics such as
education, law, political science, social issues, customs, and folklore. As such,
this area has a wide variety of books, used in a wide variety of lessons. This
area includes all books about holidays and their traditions, all books about
money, a large portion of the books about community helpers, as well as the
entire collection of fairy tales, folk tales, tall tales, myths, legends, and fables.
These are used by all grade levels in several different literacy units, such as the
fourth grade unit on perspective that uses different versions of the Cinderella
story. This section currently has 845 copies, and will lose an estimated 502
copies through weeding.
Because these materials are so vital, this loss needs to be almost completely
counters. As such, 300 new books should be purchased in order to rebuild this
section. Using the average cost from TitleMAP, this would cost around $5,841.
The other section that needs to be restocked as soon as possible is the 500
section. This area includes all materials on Science and Mathematics. The
fourth grade rock cycle materials are in this section, second grades weather
materials, first and kindergartens materials on animals such as bats, owls, and
spiders, STEM related material dealing with the life cycle of a plant are found in
this section, as well as many other topics, such as space, dinosaurs, and

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measurement. There are currently 1,580 copies, with an estimated 761 up for
weeding. This is again almost half of the resources available in this area, but it
does leave a considerable amount in the collection.
Since a large amount was already devoted to the 300 section, which was in
more need based on sheer lack of numbers, the 500 section will not be similarly
restocked. An additional 250 titles should be added to this area, costing an
estimated $4,867.50.
In total for the year, these purchases would and 550 copies and cost an
estimated $10,708.50. This will again not replace every book discarded in the
weeding process, but it will get these sections back up in numbers.

4. Year Four Everybody

The Everybody section is one of the most frequented areas on the library.
This is where beginning readers go to find an easy picture book that, even if
there are words they dont understand, they can follow along through the
pictures. Books in this area range from a first grade reading level all the way
through sixth grade, so even the older students are able to find a book that they
can read and enjoy thats on their level.
Currently, there are 3,123 copies in this section, and there are an estimated
2,114 that are dated. This number may change, depending on what books are
selected to keep based on popularity. Regardless of the final number, the
Everybody section will see one of the largest amounts weeded out, and will need
to be rebuild heavily afterwards. As such, there should be 600 books purchased
for the Everybody section. This will cost an estimated $11,844.00.

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5. Year Five Fiction
The Fiction section has been in need of restructuring, since it still contains
some of the books left behind from when the school still housed sixth and fifth
grades. As such, there are many books that are beyond the interest level of
the students, and many are not being checked out. Because most of these
were added to the collection decades ago, they will be removed in the
weeding process. There are currently 2,084 copies in this section, and an
estimated 1,398 copies will be removed.
This section was saved for last because of the unique demographic of the
school; because we do not server fifth grade, the number of students reading
chapter books is slightly less than an average elementary school. Also, many
of the students prefer the Non-Fiction or Everybody sections to the chapter
books, claiming they take too long to read. However, there are a good
number of fourth grade students who choose to challenge themselves with
chapter books, so this section cannot be allowed to run out.
To maintain a large enough collection in this section, an additional 400
books should be purchased to compensate for the books discarded from this
section. This will be an estimated $7,788.00, less than the previous years.
This gap has been left in case there are potions of previous years that were
not accomplished, they can be account for now.
In total, for all five years, the budget will be an estimated $41,355. This amount
is right in line with the suggestion from the TitleMAP report that will bring the collection
up to standards in terms of age. In all, this will add 1,900, bringing the estimated total

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after weeding and purchasing to 8,348 books, with an average of 16.7 books per
student enrolled. Both of these figures match the NC DPIs developing collection
stardard.

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Bibliography
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Instructional Technology Division.
IMPACT: Guidelines for North Carolina Media and Technology Programs. Aug.
2005. PDF. <http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/dtl/resources/impact/7impactrevision.pdf>

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Essential Standards: Grade 3 Science

Unpacked Content. 28 Mar. 2011. PDF.
<http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/acre/standards/supporttools/unpacking/science/3.pdf>.

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Essential Standards: Third Grade

Social Studies Unpacked Content. 29 Mar. 2011. PDF.
<http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/acre/standards/supporttools/unpacking/social-studies/3rd.pdf>.