Assignment+3

=Introduction= I am looking at the Elgin Park Secondary School library collection. At the moment we have 1267 students, 77 teachers and 34 other staff members (Special Education Assistants/Clerical/Custodial/Youth Care Worker/Safe School Liason). Most of my Teacher-Librarian work with the Destiny Program has consisted of checking books in/out, weeding and deleting titles, clearing fines and running reports for overdue books. I have attached a screenshot of my favourite screen, the Library Information Statistics (taken on June 11, 2012). On this date I had 119 books overdue. I also have 19,343 copies, which works out to 15.2 books per student. This is a good book-to-student ratio considering our library is only 19 years old. Bishop says libraries should have at least ten books for every student. Admittedly there are some worn and tattered books that I have been weeding from the collection since I made this screenshot, so my number of copies is less than it was on June 11th.

I am concentrating on the Social Studies 10 class, which analyzes Canadian History and the development of Canada as a nation. The Dewey Classification for General History of North America is 970 so that is where I will begin my search. My screenshot is a bit difficult to read so I made a table of the same information. I found the following information about the 970s. There is a total of 701 titles in this section.

Collection Statistics Summary 970-979
Above lists the circulation statistics for 970-979 for this month, this year and total. June has not been a busy time for classes in the library, so I am not surprised to see that only 76 books used. All of these are for 971 which is Canada. I pulled these books for a couple of Social Studies 10 classes, and scanned them as 'used in library.' I am glad I did because their use would go unrecorded otherwise, and that would alter my data. I am not sure if the previous librarian had the same policy or not, so I am only able to say definitively that the practice has been upheld since I began the job in February of this year.
 * **Circulation** || **This Month** || **This Year** || **Total** || **Copy Count** ||
 * **970** || 0 [0.00%] || 100 [1.55%] || 225 [0.62%] || 119 [0.62%] ||
 * **971** || 76 [17.97%] || 163 2.52%] || 570 [1.57%] || 437 [2.26%] ||
 * **972** || 0 [0.00%] || 65 [1.01%] || 100 [0.15%] || 40 [0.21%] ||
 * **973** || 0 [0.00%] || 22 [0.34%] || 56 [0.15%] || 82 [0.42%] ||
 * **974** || 0 [0.00%] || 3 [0.05%] || 3 [0.01%] || 9 [0.05%] ||
 * **975** || 0 [0.00%] || 0 [0.00%] || 0 [0.00%] || 2 [0.01%] ||
 * **976** || 0 [0.00%] || 0 [0.00%] || 0 [0.00%] || 2 [0.01%] ||
 * **977** || 0 [0.00%] || 2 [0.03%] || 2 [0.01%] || 2 [0.01%] ||
 * **978** || 0 [0.00%] || 4 [0.06%] || 4 [0.01%] || 3 [0.02%] ||
 * 979 || 0 [0.00%] || 3 [0.05%] || 3 [0.01%] || 5 [0.03%] ||

The average age of all the books in the 970s is 15 years (1997). This means the grade 10 students are learning from books that are as old as they are. Books in the 900s have 15 years as "suggested copyright markers." These books would need to be evaluated in the next while if age was a determining factor for weeding. However, when I look up the records of their value I can see why the are a bit old. They are valued at $17,145, and that was their price at purchase (averaging in 1997) so replacement cost would doubtlessly be higher. There is a little note at the bottom of my report screen that says, "The estimated value of each range assumes that the average of the actual value is a valid approximation of the cost for copies that do not contain price information. This calculation is only an estimate." The replacement value of this small section of books is nearly equal to last year's budget.
 * || **Average Age of Books** ||
 * **970** || 1995 [17 years] ||
 * **971** || 1997 [15 years] ||
 * **972** || 2000 [12 years] ||
 * **973** || 1995 [17 years] ||
 * **974** || 2002 [10 years] ||
 * **975** || 1994 [18 years] ||
 * **976** || 2000 [12 years] ||
 * **977** || 2004 [8 years] ||
 * **978** || 1998 [14 years] ||
 * **979** || 1995 [17 years] ||


 * || **Number of Copies** || **Actual Value** ||
 * **970** || 119 || $5,421.11 ||
 * **971** || 437 || $8,819.11 ||
 * **972** || 40 || $972.80 ||
 * **973** || 82 || $1,402.85 ||
 * **974** || 9 || $206.85 ||
 * **975** || 2 || $50.00 ||
 * **976** || 2 || $51.00 ||
 * **977** || 2 || $50.00 ||
 * **978** || 3 || $60.95 ||
 * **979** || 5 || $110.90 ||
 * **Total** || 701 || $17,145.57 ||

My Observations
The books in this section look good. They were in relatively good order and looked tidy on the shelf. There is lots of room on each shelf to pull off a book without struggle. While they are relatively old with an average age of 15 years, they are in good condition. I have had a couple classes of Social Studies 10 use a cart of these books this month and they were eager to use them and have them available to them for research, especially because their bibliography required reference to at least two books. In cases such as this, I hold the books on the cart and do not allow the books to be signed out so that all students have equal access. In general, books can be signed out by students for three weeks, and teachers for 60 days.

We have 56 DVDs and Videos from 970 - 973.92. Some are being signed out, and are favourite resources of teachers. Others are all but useless. I found one VHS from 1978 that has never been checked out, at least not according to the computer system. I spoke with a few of the Social Studies teachers and they told me they prefer DVDs to VHS because they are able to play the films through their projectors and the content is more modern and generally more interesting for students. They also told me their department head has a stash of teacher resources that they use for certain units, and they do not use the library materials for these units. Audio Visual materials can by signed out by students for one day, and teachers for 60 days.

We have many books in the reference section for 970 - 979 as well. Most are encyclopedia sets, and all reference materials were in excellent condition. Reference books can be signed out by students for one day, and teachers for one week.

I am currently in the process of integrating reference materials in with the general non-fiction collections so it will be easier for staff and students to find all the print-based materials the library has to offer. At the moment the reference section is virtually overlooked.

Reflection
I do not think a library is ever 'done.' It's always a work in progress, and each day that passes brings the collection one step closer to obscurity and irrelevance. Evaluating and weeding a library collection must be a well-planned and ongoing task. Elgin Park Library benefits from having a Teacher-Librarian with a Masters of Library Science degree who has left me with a very orderly, well-stocked and well-weeded library.

There are some duplicate titles, but I think this is good as it allows students in different groups to have access to identical material simultaneously. Age is becoming a factor, and some books need to be looked at in a case-by-case scenario. Continued integration of reference books into the general non-fiction will also help with student accessibility.

On thing I would like to see would be a searchable category in the catalog for Social Studies 10. I found it difficult to navigate our computer program looking up titles that correspond with the class. When I looked in the system I could see that some categories have been made for other subjects (usually individual units for classes) or teachers. It would be wonderful to have that set up for Social Studies 10 as well.

I was happy that I could get into the 'Report' section of Destiny and figure out how to do these reports. This week I learned that I will be placed in a continuing assignment as a high school librarian and I know I will be doing similar reports and analysis in preparation for submitting my first budget request in September. This assignment has relevance in the workplace and has already helped me prepare for the challenges of being a Teacher-Librarian.

Running these reports also helped me see the impact I have had on the circulation statistics in the library. My policy of scanning books as 'Used in Library' helped me to see a fuller picture of their use for in-class research, and I will definitely continue doing this in the future. In Chapter 12 Bishop discusses how the evaluation for the collection "should be based upon how well the collection serves the needs of users." I think that I would like to have more time with the Social Studies 10 teachers to get feedback from them, as well as their students. Quick exchanges in the lunchroom are good, but there is room for a deeper discussion. I would be sure to do this before purchasing any further resources for the library.

I found that some of the barriers to evaluation that Bishop mentioned did apply to me. I am busy integrating reference materials into the general collection, while simultaneously taking inventory of the entire collection. I do feel a lack of time to complete these jobs with only ten more working days and no assistance. Adding on collection evaluation at this time of the year is an added burden, and I think in future years I will try to do it earlier in the school year, or as an ongoing project.

I also initially felt concerned about how I would find my quantitative data for collection mapping and budgeting proposals. Thanks to this assignment I no longer have that fear. It was just a matter of going in the 'Reports' section and having a look around. In the summer I'm going to have the district run a Titlelist Report on my new library so I can compare it with what I can find in the Destiny Program.

Thanks to the computer system I know I am only 30% done inventory. Interestingly, I have completed inventory for the fiction section. I think that I read somewhere that an mix of 40% fiction with 60% non-fiction is a good balance for a library. My partial inventory tells me that fiction is holding a smaller percentage; however, I have yet to take inventory of the Audio Visual room, and such of that would be Fiction. I suppose to see what the non-fiction is I should go there next for inventory and see what percentage I finish at. This would be another interesting way of evaluating the collection to aid with funding decisions.