Component A: Collection Development 

The library staff applies professional guidance to build an appealing, balanced and inclusive library collection that aligns with curriculum and school goals, reflects students’ needs and interests, and is guided by input from the school community. Additional criteria: presents accurate and current information from reliable sources; presents a variety of viewpoints; authentically represents society’s diverse cultures and lived experiences; responsive to the language needs of the school community; represents a variety of formats and reading levels that meet students’ diverse learning needs.

Component A - Evidence

Professional Guidance 

To build and maintain a relevant, updated, and desirable collection for our students, we rely on our professional experience, collection data, district policies, and have regular meetings and trainings with our District Library Media Center (DLMC). Staying up to date on professional learning, curriculum, and current purchasing guidelines directs our priorities and purchasing decisions. At the start of the 2024 school year, Ms. Stulock and myself met with the Director of the DLMC. We reviewed our collection statistics and the state of the collection following a large weeding project in the Spring of 2023. With guidance from the DLMC, an increased budget for the 24/25 year, a grant for young adult books from the DLMC, and a grant for books in Spanish, we began purchasing and filling in the collection. Parameters regarding currency, content, professional reviews, etc., are provided by the DLMC and guide our team through the book selection process. At the end of the Fall 2024 semester we were the first library to bring our collection up to a proficient level - meaning on average the collection is less than 10 years old. We were the first school in the district to accomplish this task! While improvements are still being made to increase books per student we have accomplished the task of creating a current and relevant library.

DLMC Procedures for Selection: 

Two positive reviews for fiction titles before purchasing and one positive review for non-fiction titles. The most efficient means of checking for reviews on fiction and nonfiction is to look online for reviews from the sources below. More often than not, you will have to visit more than one site to get reviews. In selecting materials for purchase, the library staff evaluates the existing collection and consults: reputable, unbiased, professionally prepared selection aids.  The reviews should be from professional journals not amazon or good reads.  Examples are: School Library Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, Horn, or Kirkus.

• Follett Titlewave - www.titlewave.com

• Perma-Bound - www.permabound.com

• Novel List - DCL database. Need to have a public library card to access at home. 

• Specialists from departments and/or grade levels

• DLMC staff

• Personal recommendations from teachers and/or other librarians.

Materials are considered for purchase on the basis of:

• Overall purpose

• Timeliness / Permanence

• Importance of the subject matter

• Quality of the writing

• Quality of the production

• Quality of the medium selected

• Readability and popular appeal

• Authority

• The reputation of the publisher or producer

• Format and price

• Requests from students and staff

• Avoidance of stereotypes

• Two Age-appropriate and positive reviews

  • Titles should be appropriate for the students in your school.  As an example,  a 5-8 designation would be acceptable in elementary schools but a YA designation would not be acceptable for elementary schools. YA may be appropriate for MS and HS but reviews need to be read closely to determine if the book is appropriate for MS.

    • Example:  Red Queen is rated YA.  It is not appropriate to have this title in our elementary schools. (even if some parents are fine with their student reading the book).  Looking at the reviews in Titlewave, you have two reviews for 9th and up and three reviews for 13 and up.  You can easily defend this book at the middle school level.

Criteria for Selecting Non-Fiction and Reference Materials:

• Accuracy / Authority / Organization

• Written by a qualified author or specialist

• Accurate, current information

• Avoidance of stereotypes

• Generalizations supported by facts

• A clear distinction between fact, theory, opinion

• Adequate coverage for intended audience and purpose

Bindings choices:

• Library-bound materials are the most cost-effective binding choice for books. Our vendors offer different guarantees depending where you purchase from.

• They have a far longer circulation life than hard-back trade bindings.

• Paperbacks should not be purchased.

Professional Development 

Spanish Reader Collection

At the beginning of the semester I met a student that recently emigrated from Colombia. Her integration into the school was going poorly and she spent her class time in the library looking for books in Spanish. Unfortunately, we had a very small collection of easy reader books that were originally intended for our students learning a new language, not those that were already proficient. This prompted us to begin ordering a handful of popular titles in Spanish. After looking at the demographics of our students that speak Spanish at home, along with district data on Spanish speakers, we felt it was worthwhile to built a Spanish Reader collection that can be used throughout the district. I wrote a grant to the ACORN Foundation asking for $5000 for books in Spanish. The goal was to purchase two titles in Spanish for each common book (required) for each grade along with building a collection for native Spanish readers and to support our advanced and AP Spanish classes. In April of 2024 we were awarded the full amount requested. As of December 2024 we have added over 200 books in Spanish, 10 copies of the common books in Spanish, and inspired a Spanish bookclub. Future plans entail creating displays for other libraries in the district to help promote the collection. It is now an ongoing collection development project backed with annual funding in our regular budget.

Resource and Research Classes

Each semester we have several classes schedule time to come to the library. The needs of these classes vary depending on curriculum. For instance our Resource classes often have lower level readers or students with learning disabilities. We curate bibliographies to assist in finding information in various formats and reading levels. In the Fall 2024 semester we created a scavenger hunt in the library for students to learn how to locate information and use our various systems (look up station, printers, book recommendation gum-ball machine, etc). One of the items on the scavenger hunt was to bring a device and download SORA (our ebook and audiobook app) to explore different formats and reading options. We regularly share with students the option to have ebooks and audiobooks as alternative formats to assist in their preferred learning process.

Additionally, our research classes have begun scheduling times to come in for non-fiction titles. We collectively build book carts with relevant information, book talk a few of the books, then assist students in finding and researching information for their projects. During these exchanges we also discuss and notate the subjects students are interested in researching. We use this data (along with statistical analysis of the collection provided by Titlewise) to build our non fiction purchasing orders.