LIBE 467 Assignment 3

 

LIBE 467 Assignment #3

Evaluation Plan

Andrea Koehn

 

1.       Analysis of the Reference Collection:

The school in question is a K-7 school that has been an operating school since 1969. It used to have a larger student population (up to 400 students) but has maintained a student population around 200 for the last decade. Because of its age, the library collection can be out of date. Even though most of the main collection has been curated and maintained, the printed reference materials are on average, 30-40 years old. They have been stored in a back room and were covered by other teaching materials and are not well used.  Below is a breakdown of the print materials that are currently in the collection.

 

                Less than half of the printed reference materials are located on the reference shelf in the library collection due to the age and relevance of the materials. This section is drastically out of date and requires almost a complete overhaul. Only a third of the print resources are worth keeping in the collection.

The Digital Resource collection is excellent and well curated. Our digital reference materials are purchased through the District Learning Commons and shared to all of the school libraries. You can see the comprehensive list here. There are encyclopaedias, periodicals, databases, and much more. Many of these resources are difficult to label using the print categories as they tend to cover multiple areas. Access to digital resources can be difficult in the school building as the only devices are a class set of desktops in a computer room that is away from the library. Computer time is allotted at the beginning of the year and the scheduling allows for little to no flexibility.

 

2.       Rationale for Change:

The printed collection as a whole is out of date and inaccurate. The materials are old, unappealing, and irrelevant to the student population. The inaccuracies and age make them largely unusable for the teaching staff as well. There are exceptions, such as the Canadian Geographic Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada Series which is current, accurate, and adds a wealth of information that is not found in other sources. The reference materials that still add value to the collection are housed within the library and students and staff are permitted to sign them out and take home as they would any other material but browsing is still quite low and circulation is minimal.

Currently, the print reference section is largely unused. There is little to no student learning happening with these resources. The only resource that has been used in the last few years is the Canada Geographic Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada Series that is being used by teachers as a source of information. Drastic changes need to happen to the print materials in the reference section of the Library. Materials older than 10 years need to be evaluated on an individual basis to determine whether they add anything to the collection and possibly removed. I believe 4-5 current atlases should be added to the collection that are both accurate and visually appealing. There should also be up to date dictionaries and picture dictionaries available. The school tends to have around 20 ELL students who do not speak English at home and many who are new to Canada. Visual dictionaries and Second Language dictionaries would benefit them.

 

3.       Implementation Plan

The first step in the implementation plan is to set aside funds from the 2023/24 school year library budget to acquire new reference resources. Since the yearly budget is only 2,000 $ for a school of 200 students, the maximum amount allocated to the reference section would be $500. If that is not enough to meet the needs of the reference section then the same amount of the budget will be allocated in subsequent years to build the section up to a functional capacity. I anticipate roughly 200 for atlases and 200 for encyclopedias with the remaining 100 being used for a few dictionaries.

Next, surveying the school population and their print reference needs is essential. I know already from conversations that atlases are needed. I would like to purchase at least 5 atlases of different makes as well as some with special focuses. (For example, a night sky atlas, or a space atlas, or a dinosaur atlas) Most classes have dictionaries in their classrooms but I would like to purchase one or two for the library as well. I would like to also purchase some encyclopedias like the National Geographic series that includes a science, animal and space encyclopedia as I believe students would be interested in those. But in order to determine if there is a need for other reference materials (like Poetry guides of dictionaries and so on) I would need to do a survey of students and staff. For the staff I will hand out a simple survey like the example below. For students I will conduct informal conversations with students to see where their needs and interests lie. Most students and staff turn to the internet to have their inquiries answered so I will need to build the reference section around interests.

Sample staff survey:

 

What reference materials would you like to see in the library collection? Circle all that apply

Atlases                                         Encyclopedias                                 Dictionaries

 

Thesaurus’                                    Anthologies                                      Subject Specific Dictionaries (ie.

Language or poetry)

 

Requests: _______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

                As new materials arrive in the library I will weed out the older, out of date materials. The reference section is at the end of the non-fiction section and could use some signage and highlighting. I will also be showcasing encyclopedias and atlases in library book talks and teaching how to read/use them. I will be showcases the new resources in staff meetings as well.

                Once the section is established and students and staff are aware of the resources the section will be monitored and curated based on use and need just like the other areas of the library collection.

 

 

References:

Canadian Library Association (CLA). (2014). Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons. Retrieved from http://llsop.canadianschoollibraries.ca/

Riedling, A. M., Shake, L., & Houston, C. (2013). Reference Skills for the School Librarian: Tools and Tips. Santa Barbara, California: Linworth.