Running Head: COLLECTION

Collection Evaluation and Development Plan Allison Hood Georgia Southern University

In partial fulfillment of the requirement for FRIT 7134 Dr. Lucy Green March 8, 2011 Description of the site/environmental scan

COLLECTION Twin City Elementary is located in Emanuel County, Georgia. According to the U.S.

Census Bureau, Twin City has 1699 residents. The ethnic makeup of the county is 60% AfricanAmerican, 38% Caucasian, 1% Hispanic, and 1% Multiracial. Twin City Elementary has been in existence since 1903. After a much needed newer school, the current facility was constructed in August of 1999. The school population consists of 580 students for the 2010-2011 school year from Pre-k to 5th grade. The total number of teachers is 32, with 2 administrators, 1 media specialist, and 19 support staff members. The school qualifies for Title 1 services due to the high population of students who receive free or reduced meals. With the school having been recently built, a large focus was placed on incorporating technology into the building. In addition to a computer lab, the media center contains 30 Internet available computers. I chose to evaluate the portion of the media center collection that pertains to the Civil War, which is included in the fifth grade social studies curriculum. Currently, there are 86 fifth grade students of the following ethnicities: 49% African-American, 46% Caucasian, 2% Hispanic, and 3% Multiracial. Four regular education teachers serve these students in four classrooms. The media center is located in the main area of the building directly across from the main entrance doors. It is easily accessible by all grades. It is home to 1487 titles, which include books, periodicals, and audio visual collection. The audio-visual collection can be easily viewed in each classroom via the media centers central audio-visual control system. In addition to the print and audio-visual materials, the media center provides several outside resources that students can access from home or at school. These resources are used frequently by students. In addition, many social studies teachers require that students use and cite

COLLECTION these resources when completing class projects. Below is a list from the schools webpage showing the online resources provided through the media center.

Curriculum review/mapping The topic of the Civil War is addressed completely in the fifth grade Social Studies Georgia Performance Standards (GPS). A few historical figures from the Civil War are also included in the Social Studies GPS for third grade and forth grade. The relevant GPS are listed below with the fifth grade key units of study, activities, and assessment products. SS5H1 The student will explain the causes, major events, and consequences of the Civil War. a. Identify Uncle Toms Cabin and John Browns raid on Harpers Ferry, and explain how each of these events was related to the Civil War. b. Discuss how the issues of states rights and slavery increased tensions between the North and South. c. Identify major battles and campaigns: Fort Sumter, Gettysburg, the Atlanta Campaign, Shermans March to the Sea, and Appomattox Court House. d. Describe the roles of Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, and Thomas Stonewall Jackson. e. Describe the effects of war on the North and South.

SS4H7 The student will examine the main ideas of the abolitionist and suffrage movements. a. Discuss the biographies of Harriet Tubman and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. b. Explain the significance of Sojourner Truth to the abolition and suffrage

COLLECTION movements

SS3H2 The student will discuss the lives of Americans who expanded peoples rights and freedoms in a democracy. a. Paul Revere (independence), Frederick Douglass (civil rights), Susan B. Anthony (womens rights), Mary McLeod Bethune (education), Franklin D. Roosevelt (New Deal and World War II), Eleanor Roosevelt (United Nations and human rights), Thurgood Marshall (civil rights), Lyndon B. Johnson (Great Society and voting rights), and Csar Chvez (workers rights). b. Explain social barriers, restrictions, and obstacles that these historical figures had to overcome and describe how they overcame them.

Collection Evaluation I began the collection evaluation by visually searching the media center. I focused my search on materials relevant to history and the Civil War. The search yielded the following results: 63 books and 9 videos. Of the 63 books, 30 were non-fiction and 33 were fiction. All of the non-fiction books that were not biographies were assigned call numbers of 973.7. There were 4 easy books identified. When I calculated the percentage that these materials comprise of the entire collection, I found that they account for only 2.9 % of the total titles in the media center. The average age was calculated for each type of book identified in the catalog search. The biographies had an average age of 1991, and the other non-fiction books had an average age of 1993. Fiction books had an average age of 1992.The average age of all of the identified

COLLECTION books taken as a whole was 1993. As I reviewed the publication dates, I was pleasantly

surprised that the collection was relatively new. Most of the books appeared to be in good shape. My goal is to purchase broader material for the media center to improve the selection of this collection. Using information generated from the online catalog, I also examined the circulation statistics for the non-fiction materials pertaining to the Civil War. I found that of the 20 books with 973 call numbers, there have been 32 total checkouts this school year. The average check-out per book was 1.0. For the number of students attending this school, this check-out rate is very low. Next, I conducted a visual inspection of the materials that pertained to history and the Civil War. I first looked at the biography section to see the condition of these books. Only a few of the biographies had worn covers. Many of the covers of these books appeared to be in good condition. The corner of one book cover was bent beyond repair and the spine was being held together with tape. The appearance of most of the books was inviting and in good condition. The oldest books that I found were among the biographies, particularly Abraham Lincoln. The only issue that I discovered in the review process of the biography section was the selection. There was only one book on an African American and there were not any books on females. In the non-fiction section, the books appeared in good shape in appearance. Only a few of these books were bent or had to be repaired with tape. These books would be very easy to overlook during a visual search. Most of the non-fiction books were not dated and were in fair condition. The fiction books also seemed to be in fairly good condition with some signs of wear. It was obvious that these books were handled more than the non-fiction books. One book had loose

COLLECTION pages and the cover was repaired with tape. Another books spine was so worn that the call numbers were not visible. These books did not invite me to pull them off the shelf. I also examined the video collection. Unfortunately, this collection was extremely weak. The collection consisted of only 3 materials that dealt with the Civil War. I will focus this

collection development on expanding the video collection. There were also no EBooks available. That will also be a focus. Finally, I examined the relevant materials to determine how they matched the curriculum content. I listed the different subtopics that were identified in the curriculum review and then recorded the number of materials available to address each subtopic. According to the results, there are only two items that significantly address any of the battles of the Civil War. I noticed that the reading levels of most materials were focused around the fifth grade. This is a problem for third and forth grade students who need materials on the historical figures as required by the GPS. Also, younger students who are interested in the Civil War and those seeking materials for pleasure reading would have trouble reading most of the books pertaining to this topic. Throughout the assessment of the collection, I noticed a lack of multicultural materials. Of the materials identified for this assessment, there are no materials written in Spanish even though there are some students who speak Spanish. Also, I found few books addressing the role of women or African Americans in the Civil War. This is definitely an area of weakness in the existing collection. I have focused my collection development to cater to these issues.

Materials Order The materials I have selected were chosen with our students and teachers in mind. These titles represent easy books as well as fiction and nonfiction titles at varying reading levels to

COLLECTION reach all learners. Items in this proposal were selected with the benefit of professional review whenever possible. However, I have selected books that have received reviews because I feel

that the books I chose are of value and add to the overall goal of the media center. I feel that this proposed collection would greatly supplement the available titles in the current collection and begin to fill in the absence of multicultural material that also focuses on minorities The majority of the print materials proposed have Accelerated Reader Quizzes included meeting the growing need for AR titles. Theses books are correlated to social studies standards that are addressed by the teachers at Twin City Elementary. Spanish titles, multicultural titles and lower reading level titles were included in this proposal. Multiple resource formats were incorporated in this file, including DVDs and E-books. Using EBooks will encourage the movement to the 21st Century Learner. .

After evaluating the needs of the learners, teachers, and the current collection, I completed an order summary. I explored the resource of 9 different vendors, but I discovered that many of the vendors had the same titles. Therefore, I narrowed by vendor list to 6 and I was able to comprise a list of materials that covered the selection that I was looking for. Based on the analysis of the library materials, school demographics, learners, and teacher input, I need up-to-date information that will interest. When designing this collection development plan, I addressed the following concerns: Up-to-date nonfiction materials and biographies Additional Fiction Videos, especially ones that portray the lives of African Americans during the Civil War Books written in Spanish Civil War wiki for online resources Budget Summary

COLLECTION After thorough investigation of materials covering the topic of the Civil War, I chose several different vendors to meet the needs of my learners and teachers. I purchased most of the books for the library from Delaney Educational because of the quantity of materials available

and the ease of use. I then had to use many resources to cover the other needs. Up-to-date videos definitely needed to be added to the selection in the media center. For this, I chose Video Library and focused on African American culture during the Civil War. For the Spanish resources, I chose to use Title Wave. The total cost of the collection is $3999.43. I have also created a wiki of web resources that teachers will find useful when teaching standards that involve the Civil War. Please see the following link for my webquest.

http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=89554