Janelle Goodrich

Collection Development Activity

December 1, 2019

Since I am currently a librarian at Scio Central School District, I wanted to do my own

library collection analysis because it is very apparent that my collection in the elementary school

library needs to be updated. Since I have never done a collection analysis before, I asked the

School Library Systems Director at CA BOCES, Cece Fuoco to teach me how to do a collection

analysis and to teach me how to read the analysis. We ran a collection analysis just for the

elementary school library. The collection analysis was rather shocking.

The first thing we noticed was the average age of the collection was 2001. That means

that these books are more than ten years old an are outdated. This isn’t always a problem for

fictional text, but it can be a problem for non-fictional text because the information could not be

accurate at this point. However, we did find that the library is a good mix of fiction and non-

fiction. 45% of the text was fiction and 55% was nonfiction. We also noticed that the collection

by interest level is pretty even throughout all of the grade levels, excluding professional texts.

Cece and I were still concerned about the average age of the collection. We know the district

will not provide us with all of the money needed to update the nonfiction section of the

elementary library. We looked at the collection analysis broken down by Dewey. 49% of the

titles were aged and only 15% of titles were 2014 and newer. The 500 through the 700 Dewey

section of my library is the most popular, but is also the most aged with the 500 section average

age of 1997, 600 section average age of 2000, and the 700section average age of 2001. These

sections are the sections we want to focus on updating.

 Perma-bound is one of the vendors that is used because of their selection of books they

offer. Books are either purchased in hard cover or perma-bound edition because they hold up

better and last longer than paperback books. Books in the 500-700 sections are the most popular

and will need to hold up to excessive student use. No ebooks will be purchased at this time

because we are not a 1:1 school and students do not have full access to comupters/technology

full time.

Bibliography

Bridgman, R. F. (2004). Robot. New York: DK Pub.

 This book is within the interest level of students, is within the dewey section being

enhanced, and students have asked about adding robot books to the collection.

Carraway, R. (2012). Slithering snakes. New York, NY: Gareth Stevens Pub.

 This book is within the interest level of students, students use book about snakes for a

project, will replace damaged and outdated snake books.

Challoner, J. (2014). Eyewitness hurricane & tornado. New York: DK Publishing.

 This book is within the interest level of students, teachers have recommended this book

for curriculum purposes, will replace outdated weather books.

Clutton-Brock, J. (2014). Dog. New York: DK Publishing.

 This book is within the interest level of students, dog books are very popular within the

library, and this book will replace other damage dog book.

Clutton-Brock, J. (2014). Cat. NY, NY: DK Publishing.

  This book is within the dewey section being enhanced, cat books are very popular within

the library, and this book will replace another damaged cat book.

DK. (2017). Dk Eyewitness Books: Insect (Library Edition). DK Publishing (Dorling

Kindersley).

 This book is within the interest and reading level of the students, this book will replace

another damaged and outdated insect book.

Galat, J. M. (2017). Cats. Washington, DC: National Geographic.

 This book is within the dewey section being enhanced, cat books are very popular within

the library, and this book will replace another damaged cat book.

Keppeler, J. (2020). The Unofficial guide to studying oceans in Minecraft. New York:

PowerKids Press.

 This book is within the interest and reading level of the students, Minecraft is very

popular within the library and the book covers two topics (oceans and Minecraft). The

author happens to be my cousin and if I ask, the book will be donated by the author

saving money for the library.

Keppeler, S. (2020). The unofficial guide to engineering in Minecraft. New York: PowerKids

Press.

 This book is within the interest and reading level of the students, Minecraft is very

popular within the library. The book covers two interest topics (engineering and

Minecraft). The author happens to be my cousin’s son and if I ask, the book will be

donated by the author saving money for the library.

Lambert, D. (2014). Dinosaur. NY, NY: DK Publishing.

 The book is within the interest and reading level of the students, the book will replace

one of many dinosaur books that are damaged and/or outdated.

Lipkowitz, D. (2011). The Lego ideas book: unlock your imagination. London, England: DK.

 The book is within the reading and interest level of the students, Lego books are very

popular in the library, the book is within the dewey section being enhanced, and it will

replace another Lego book that is damaged.

McCarthy, C. (2017). Dk Reptile. NY, NY: DK Publishing.

 This book is within the interest and reading level of the students, the book is within the

dewey section being enhanced, this book will replace a very popular reptile book that is

damaged and outdated.

Publishing, D. K. (2015). Dk Eyewitness Books: Universe. DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley).

 This book is within the student interest and reading level, this book is recommended by

students, and it will enhance the science section of the dewey with up to date information

about the universe.

Switek, B., & Csotonyi, J. (2016). The T. rex handbook. Kennebunkport: Applesauce.

 This book is within the student interest and reading level, the book is within the dewey

section being enhanced, will replace another T-Rex book that is damaged, and all

dinosaur books are widely popular within the library.

Symes, R. F. (2014). Rocks & minerals. DK Publishing.

 This book is within the student interest and reading level, it is recommended by students

and teachers, the book will replace another book about rocks and minerals that is

outdated.