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LS 5003, Summer 2018

DIY STEAM Collection for Children

Denton Creek Elementary Library
Coppell, TX

About Denton Creek Elementary School Library and City

The Denton Creek Elementary School Library is located in Coppell Independent
School District. Coppell ISD is nestled in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area with ten elementary
schools, three middle schools, a ninth-grade center and one high school. Each school
within the district has a school library with a certified school librarian. The schools are
located in the affluent neighborhood of Coppell but Denton Creek Elementary also
serves low-socioeconomic status students in the neighboring city of Lewisville. Denton
Creek Elementary School is one of two schools in this affluent neighborhood that are
classified by the state as a Title I Campus. The student population at Denton Creek
Elementary is diverse, with students from different Hispanic, Asian, and Middle Eastern
countries. Denton Creek Elementary also offers a Dual-Language program to students
with the goal of becoming fluent in Spanish and English.
Due to the diverse student population and the Dual-Language Program at
Denton Creek Elementary, the library provides different collections in a variety of
languages for students to enjoy. Many of the books in the school library focus on
Spanish because majority of our students are studying to becoming bilingual in Spanish.
There are a range of materials offered in our library, ranging from audiobooks on CD,
eBooks provided online, and print books. There are numerous research databases
available for students and educators to use to find information that relates to the unit of
study. The databases are provided on an elementary school level and provide visuals
and audio files for student learning. Finally, the school library provides makerspaces for
students to engage in with their peers. The makerspaces focus on unit standards being
taught in the classroom and are designed for students to collaborate, design, and create
products based on the standards.

Library Mission
The library will provide a safe and engaging learning environment for all students
and staff members to collaborate on innovative learning experiences and activities,
prepare a variety of informational resources for students to explore and engage with
one another, connect with educators to enhance inquiry-based activities for students,
and develop community connections to prepare students to become global citizens for
the future. The library will guide students in becoming dynamic leaders through
collaborate experiences and prepare learners to achieve personal success from within
the library.

Library Goals
1) Provide an engaging learning environment for students to explore different
inquiry-based activities.

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2) Provide a safe and welcoming atmosphere in the library for students and
educators to work on projects and research.
3) Provide flexible seating and work spaces for students to collaborate with
peers on unit projects.
4) Develop relationships with educators by providing support through
collaborating on lesson plans and creating co-teaching opportunities in the
classroom/library.

Library Users
The Denton Creek School Library serves a diverse group of students that come
from a variety of backgrounds. The majority of the library users are students from
kindergarten to fifth grade, followed by educators and staff that work in the school
building. Most of the student users are from affluent homes followed by a small student
population from low-socioeconomic status homes. There is a variety in student
ethnicities, with a large population of Middle-Eastern students, along with Asian,
Caucasian, Hispanic and African American students. Most of the Hispanic students that
are enrolled in the Dual-Language program are English Language Learners who are
learning English for the first time. Their parents also struggle with understanding the
English language. The library also has library volunteers during the day that are parents
of students who attend Denton Creek Elementary. The library volunteers also make up a
small population of library users by supporting the library through small tasks and
checking books out with their children.

Description of New Collection

In regards to the inquiry-based teaching methods, Denton Creek Library will be
implementing a new collection that will provide students with DIY-STEAM books for
elementary-aged children. The DIY STEAM collection will be achieved from the $2,000
donation which was donated by the school’s Parent Teacher Organization (PTO). The
materials added to the collection will correlate with the STEAM-based activities that will
be occurring within the school’s STEAM lab. Students and educators will benefit from
the DIY-STEAM book collection by having accessibility to a wide variety of projects that
will enhance the state standards being covered within the classroom.
While many of the items in the collection will be projects for students to
complete at home with their families, the collection can also be integrated into the
STEAM lab units at school. The DIY-STEAM collection will provide detailed instructions,
materials and content focus information for students, families and educators to follow
when attempting the projects. Fictional STEAM books will also be added into the
collection as a way to inspire students to think outside the box and to use their
imagination and creativity.

Users of New Collection

The intended users of this new collection will be students in kindergarten
through fifth grade, along with educators and families of the school. The collection is

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designed for students to use inquiry-based learning techniques when completing the
DIY-STEAM projects found within the collection books. The library wishes to see
students checking the DIY-STEAM books out to take home and to work on the projects
with their families.

Objectives for New Collection

The DIY-STEAM collection will do the following:
• Expand materials focused on STEAM for students and educators to use when
exploring inquiry-based learning activities.
• Enhance the inquiry-based learning experiences for students by providing
information on designing, creating, collaborating and exploring.
• Educate students, educators, and families on the benefits of using STEAM-based
activities.

New Collection Degree of Depth

The Denton Creek Elementary School Library will provide a new collection for
kindergarten through fifth grade students on an informational level. The collection will
provide information on DIY projects that pertain to an inquiry-based learning
curriculum, focused on STEAM. The library will be restricted to a $2,000 budget that was
donated this school year by the Denton Creek PTO, but wishes to continue the donation
process the following school year in the expectation of implement more in-depth
collection materials on STEAM learning experiences.

New Collection Format Restrictions

The Denton Creek Elementary School Library’s new collection items will provide
a variety of DIY STEAM projects for students to conduct at home or at school, depending
on their classroom teacher and parents. The new collection focusing on DIY STEAM
projects will include different formats of resources. The formats of the materials
included in the new collection will include books and e-Books. The DIY STEAM collection
will not include serials, audiobooks, newspapers, articles, or databases because the
targeted audience is elementary school students in grades kindergarten to fifth.

Criteria for Inclusion

The items selected to be included in the new DIY STEAM collection at the Denton
Creek Elementary School Library follow strict guidelines when being considered as a new
item into the collection. Each item that is being selected into the new collection must
have two of the following criteria to be included: positive reviews from a respected
source, is an award winner book, listed in a core list, found within an opening day
collection, has a key author who is well versed in the topic and has an outstanding
reputation in this topic, a key work from history, has a key publisher, is on the best seller
list, has a National Association Recommendation, is located in a world class
collection/institution, or professional expertise chip. The budget for the new collection
is $2,000 for the upcoming school year.

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Responsibility for New Collection

The Denton Creek Elementary School librarian will oversee the library volunteers
who volunteer daily in the school library. It is the librarian’s responsibility to manage the
daily routines of the library, like teaching mini-lessons and preparing materials in the
makerspaces, deciding on the new collection materials, and deselecting materials that
do not meet the library’s collection criteria. The library volunteers can assist the
librarian in her daily routines of the library.

Gifts
The Denton Creek Elementary School Library would greatly appreciate accepting
gifts in the form of physical and monetary donations. Gregory (2011) states when
accepting donations for the library’s collection, the gifts will follow the same criteria as
used when purchasing materials. The school library holds the right to keep, sell, or give
away any donations that are given to the library. Before the library is able to accept the
donation, the library staff must examine the physical condition of the materials to make
sure current items in the library collection are not affected by the donated materials.
The library is unable to provide a monetary value on the gifts donated to the library, but
the library can provide a receipt showing when the materials were donated and the
quantity of items given to the library.

Item Challenges
The Denton Creek Elementary School Library abides by the principles put in place
by the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights. The Library Bill of Rights
states “when an item is challenged from a library’s collection, the item cannot be taken
out of the collection because of the origin, background, or views that contribute to the
items creation,” meaning the item cannot be challenged based upon objections of a
person or group. When a patron has a reason for removing an item or relocating the
item within the school library, the patron will be provided with a copy of the school
library’s collection development policy and the reconsideration form (American Library
Association, 2016). Once the patron has reviewed the library’s collection development
policy and filled out the reconsideration form, the library staff will submit the
reconsideration form for a formal review process.

Weeding Policy
The Denton Creek Elementary School Library understands that the process of
deselection of materials in our school’s library collection is crucial in keeping our
library’s materials up-to date and providing the latest information for our library’s users.
The weeding process occurs due to needs of making space for materials that are best
suited for the learning needs of our students. When conducting the weeding process,
Gregory (2011) states that Slote provides seven reasons for needing to weed the
library’s collection. The guidelines for needing to weed the library’s collection are as
follows: does the collection stimulate circulation, does it save space, save time for users,
enhance the appeal of library, establish credibility with other district libraries, provide

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support to our learner’s needs and interests, and provide room for new technology to
be integrated. The Denton Creek Elementary School Library adheres to the guidelines
provide by Gregory (2011) in making sure the school library provides a 21st century
learning environment for all learners.

Collection Evaluation
The new collection being implemented into the Denton Creek Elementary School
Library will be evaluated on a yearly basis to help determine whether items need to be
added or deselected from our collection. The collection materials will be evaluated
through several different methods. Gregory (2011) has provided a few methods to aid in
the evaluation process. The first method that will be used in evaluating the collection
will be through the circulation statics. The librarian will pull circulation statics on a
monthly basis and at the end of the school year, review the monthly circulation data to
determine whether more items should be added to the collection. The second method
that will be used when evaluating the new collection will be interlibrary loan requests.
The Denton Creek Elementary School Library is among many schools in the district that
provide STEM/STEAM-based learning experiences to their students. At the end of the
school year, the librarian will review the interlibrary loan data to determine how often
the collection materials were used at other campuses in the district. The final method to
evaluate the new collection will be through user surveys. The library will provide an
educator and student survey at the beginning and end of the school year to receive
feedback on the collection materials and the effectiveness of the materials were in the
classroom and home environment.

References:
Challenged Resources. (2006, July 26). Retrieved from
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/challenged-
resources

Gifts and Donations. (2017, December 25). Retrieved from

http://www.ala.org/tools/challengesupport/selectionpolicytoolkit/donations

Gregory, Vicki. 2011. Assessment and Evaluation of the Collection, Including Deselection
(Weeding). In Collection development and management for 21st century library
collections (pp. 115, 119-121). NY: Neal Schuman.

Gregory, Vicki. 2011. Acquisitions. In Collection development and management for 21st
century library collections (pp. 94-95). NY: Neal Schuman.

Gregory, Vicki. 2011. Collection Development Policies. In Collection development and

management for 21st century library collections (pp. 40). NY: Neal Schuman.

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Gregory, Vicki. 2011. Collection Development Policies. In Collection development and

management for 21st century library collections (pp. 50-51). NY: Neal Schuman.

How to Respond to Challenges and Concerns about Library Resources. (2016, December
8). Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/tools/challengesupport/respond

Selection Criteria. (2017, December 19). Retrieved from

http://www.ala.org/tools/challengesupport/selectionpolicytoolkit/criteria