Assignment+4

=Assignment # 4 =

=Weeding Project =

__School District Policies __
According to my School District 63 Saanich Library Handbook, an exemplary school library program with regard to the collection, "provides a balanced, carefully selected, and systematically organized diverse collection of library resources that is sufficient to meet students needs and is continuously monitored for currency and relevance" (p.5). The condition of the materials should be "current and in good repair" and "outdated and worn materials are consistently discarded by the teacher-librarian, according to the guidelines generally accepted by the library profession" (p.6). To me, this means that the articles and books I am reading about weeding would be accepted practice for me to follow. The Saanich Library Handbook also states that an exemplary program "provides a balanced collection of books, software, and electronic resources at the school library program level with a minimum of 30 items per pupil" (p.7).

__Grade Two Life Science: Animal Growth and Change __
For this assignment, I am going to analyze and weed a small section of the Grade Two Life Science Curriculum (2005) called, Animal Growth and Change with a specific focus on Eagles. Eagl es work very well as a topic in our school community for several reasons:
 * eagles are a local raptor and children can see them flying, on the shores of our local beaches and up in their many nests; we can simply go on a community walk and have a decent chance of seeing an eagle
 * all of our classrooms are set up with projectors and computers that give them access to the David Hancock website http://www.hancockwildlife.org/index.php?topic=raptors_victoria1#closeup
 * This is a live webcam that records the life cycle of eagles from mating to birth to eaglets leaving the nest. The camera is recording a live feed 24 hours a day. Our local webcam eagles are called Ma and Pa Sidney and they are on their fourth set of eaglets. The Sidney school students have watched Ravens steal eggs, a rescue crane and crew of eagle specialists take fishing line off of an eaglets legs-he was attached to the nest and would have died. We watch the parents keep the eggs safe by taking turns sitting on them and leaving the nest to eat, watched the eaglets use their egg-tooth to crack the shell, watch the parents feed hungry eaglets, flying practice, etcetera
 * David Hancock is an eagle expert and will give us whole-school powerpoint presentations and small-class question and answer sessions
 * In Brentwood Bay (20 minutes from Sidney School), there is a live raptor demonstration in the spring
 * http://churchandstatewines.com/our-raptors/
 * This is an 'outpost' of their larger site in Duncan, BC. http://www.pnwraptors.com/
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">the raptor place also will come to the school and do live demonstrations on our field
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">our local aboriginal people use eagle feathers in their ceremonies
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">eagles are important to the environment because they feed mainly on road kill
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">classes go to Goldstream park where a naturalist gives guided tours on eagles and how they contribute to the salmon spawning cycle
 * <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">http://www.goldstreampark.com/bald_eagles.htm

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Eagles are an excellent topic to explore because we have rich, local resources. Martinez states, "the culture surrounding your library dictates the collection" (2010, p. 1). It makes so much sense to build a strong eagle collection when it is one of our local raptors.

__<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Data Collection __
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">According to our automated system using L4U, we have 21 eagle resources that are quite old but have circulated in the last year. Twelve of these resources are non-fiction, four are easy fiction, four are fiction novels and one I'm not sure of (PL?). I could not locate several of the resources and L4U said they were in the library. I put a check beside the ones I could find on the left-hand side. The right-hand side shows copyright date and number of circulations.


 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;">Number of Eagle Resources || <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;"> Average Age of Resources || <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;"> Total Number of Circulations ||
 * <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;"> 21 || <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;"> 1993 || <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%;"> 25 ||

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Here are the books my L4U generated with my Eagles search:

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%;">Above are the books I could locate that L4U generated. Several were missing and two were checked out.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px;">Below are the resources I found by looking on the shelves and in my newly organized Science room. I found a poster with relvant eagle information on the back, an interesting Birds of Prey DVD and many, newer, more up-to-date resources that did not come up on my automated eagle search. Any resources with a black marker line through them means they came from Greenglade School six years ago when we amalgamated. I found 27 resources that did not come up on my L4U eagle search.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">I am going to base my weeding on what I physically found, not just on the data generated by the automatic system.

__<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Weeding Criteria __
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">According to Bishop, when doing inventory, it "is the process of examining each item physically and also checking for records of accuracy" (2007, p. 125) that will help you to know your collection. I put all the resources I found through L4U and through my physical searching, on a table and went through each resource. Bishop states, "weeding the collection will improve the appearance and use of the collection, as well as ensure that the information in media center materials is accurate and up-to-date" <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">(p. 127). Just getting water damaged and 'smelly' books off the stacks has helped. Our library shelves are so overcrowded that choosing one book often ends up with a pile on the floor. Allen maintains, "students cannot efficiently find quality information if outdated, wrong, or poorly presented information is overcrowding your library shelves" (2010, p. 32).

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">I am following the MUSTIE acronym that Moore (n.d., p. 6) refers to to indicate when to deselect an item from our eagle collection. I deleted ten books ranging in age from 1979 - 2000. The average age of book was 1991.5.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">A couple of the books that we had multiple copies of will go to a Grade Two classroom, the rest will be donated to Compassionate Warehouse, a non-profit book distribution society or to 1,000 Books. The Ministry of Education document believes in the options of donation to agencies as well. I did not find a written school district policy on this but contacted the head of Saanich Teacher Librarian Association, Bonnie McComb and she said I could give them away like we have been doing. She also said to be very careful not to just pass on our 'musty old book problems on to others'. Her final words to me were, "be strong! A well weeded library creates room for new things".

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 17px;">These resources came up on my automated search:
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">__Animorphs: The Arrival__ by K. A. Applegate // This fiction novel has not circulated in one year and the pages are falling out (like the glue has quit holding). //

__Eagle-Eye Ernie Comes to Town__ by Susan Pearson // This fiction novel is 21 years old and smells really bad. No circulation for the past year. //

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">__Nature's Hidden World: Birds of Prey__ by Michel Cuisin //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">This non-fiction book has old-fashioned, painted pictures, yellowing pages, small text and is 31 years old. We have many other, more suitable birds of prey books. //

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">These resources I found by looking on the shelves:
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">__Eagles__ by Deborah Hodge //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Lovely non-fiction book but we have three other copies so have chosen to remove this one because it is the most worn. //

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">__Welcome to the World of Eagles__ by Diane Swanson //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">This non-fiction text has water damage and we own two other copies. //

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">__Eagles, Hawks, and other Birds of Prey__ by Lynda Dewitt //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">This non-fiction text has a boring layout, // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;"> //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">boring pictures and way too much text. //

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">__Amazing Birds of Prey__ by Jemima Parry-Jones //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">This non-fiction text is a wonderful book that has been repaired with so much tape that it won't stay open-very frustrating to look at. We have other texts (even one by the same author) that are just as good so no need to replace. //

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">__A New True Book: Birds of Prey__ by Lynn M. Stone //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Non-fiction text that has no text features. We have more suitable up-to-date books with better features. Published in 1983! //

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">__A New True Book: Bald Eagles__ by Emilie U. Lepthien //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">This non-fiction 1989 book is damaged by felt pen and is also refers to chemical spraying of DDT (banned in 1972) that is such out-of-date information that it is irrelevant to students at this age level. //

__<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Beautiful British Columbia: The Book of Eagles __ //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">A beautiful book of non-fiction and fiction that is falling apart at the binding. I may try to order a new one. //

__<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Reflection __
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">The first thing I did was generate the L4U report on eagles and then physically search the stacks and Science room. I took all the resources home so I could spend more time looking at them closely. The easiest part was looking at the resources. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing what we had and loved the photographs of eagles. The hardest part was weeding books that had nice pictures but small text or inappropriate text. It was easy to deselect an obviously damaged or smelly book.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">I would use the same process next time. Using L4U is important to me. I need to feel like I can run the 'tech' part of the library when my library tech is away. I liked having both the generated report and the books in front of me. I felt like I was making educated decisions, not just gut-instinct reactions.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">The theory I learned helped me to make the hard decisions like when a book still looks good but there is a better resource in the collection. I like that I have the theory behind deselection for when I speak to my administration and my colleagues. I feel they have been so respectful of my decisions and now they will be even more confident in my abilities. I love the language of deselection.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">All my weeding over the next several years will be for inventory purposes, too. I believe it is the only way I can check on whether L4U is accurate to what is actually on the shelves.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">I have studied eagles for several years at Sidney Elementary School and haven't seen many of these resources. I relied on the library staff to provide me with resources and I guess if they weren't catalogued in a way that made them acessible I didn't get them. Clearly, I need to look at the existing cataloguing and searching in L4U. Bishop is clear that we must keep "accurate records of what is in the collection" (p. 119). I found this first hand to be true or the library will not provide access to all the potential materials available. My Library Tech was shocked when I showed her my findings. This will be an area for further exploration.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">I left a sticky note on each item I wanted my library tech to deselect, explaining my reasoning. This was excellent for showing her respect (11 years as Sidney's tech) and to help her to understand my decisions. My tech knows she is to talk to me if she disagrees with any of my deselctions (over 1500 since September). She does a lot of book circulation and knows what moves and doesn't move!

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Sidney School Library has a lot of good eagle books. If I had not physically looked on the stacks I would have missed many good books. By browsing in the Science room I found a great poster and a relevant DVD. I feel like even though many of our resources have older copyright dates, the information is up-to-date!

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Even removing ten books in this eagle section made a difference. Like Bishop states, "many benefits come from weeding a collection, including the creation of more space" (p. 124). Every time I remove even a small section of materials, space is freed up and the library does look more attractive and orderly. I am able to put some books on little easels and display them now.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Dickinson puports that 'weeding is a professional responsibility" (2005, p. 24) and I truly believe this to be true. An overstuffed, smelly library is not appealing to any of it's users. I have felt overwhelmed since taking on this job due to the amount of weeding that is necessary. Even the small job of weeding the eagle resources took me several hours. As the new Teacher Librarian I am going to "make weeding a continuous part of the administrative routine of the library" (Dickinson, 2005, p. 24). I am going to make it a short (15 minute) weekly task and work in small sections and track my progress like Dickinson suggests. That being said, at this moment, I am doing at least one afternoon a week for around four hours of strictly deselection. It is too big of a job for now to only do the fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes a day is my long-term goal. I also have a poster up in my office tracking the areas I have weeded and the dates.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Our on-line databases that we subscribe to also have great resources on eagles. I have not ignored these-I just know I will not be deselecting these great on-line resources our district subscribes to through the ERAC bundle.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">In summary, I wholeheartedly agree with Allen (2010, p. 32), that "weeding is as critical as selection of new materials" when ensuring the development of a quality library collection. I love to purchase new resources, just like I like new clothes! Every time a new item comes in I try to discard an older piece of clothing. I believe that, "school library media collections should also be in a continuous state of change" (p. 33). When something new comes in, something not working anymore should leave...

__<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">References __
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 12pt;">Allen, M. (2010). Weed 'Em and Reap: The art of weeding to avoid criticism. //Library Media Connection 28(6)//, 32-33. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Bishop, K. (2007). //The Collection Program in Schools: Concepts, Practices, and Information Sources//. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">British Columbia Ministry of Education. (2002). //Evaluating, Selecting, and Managing Learning Resources: A Guide.// Ministry of Education, Province of British Columbia. ====

====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">British Columbia Ministry of Education. (2005). //Learning// //Resources Grade Collection-Science Grade 2.// Victoria: Ministry of Education, Province of British Columbia. ====

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Dickinson, G. (2005). Crying over spilled milk. //Library Media Connection 23(7)//, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">24-26. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Martinez, M. (2010). The collection isn't yours: Balancing personal agendas with library agendas. //LIScareer.com: Career strategies for librarians//.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Moore, J. (n.d.) //Guidelines for Collection Evaluation and Weeding//. Retrieved April 8, 2010.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">//School District 63 (Saanich) Library Handbook//.