Program Learning Outcome 3

The Collection Management & Analysis Plan (CAMP) and the Community & School Analysis (CSA) required that we take a deep look at our collections and how our communities. This data was then utilized to make suggestions on one specific emphasis area as well as goals for the next 5 years. While we might feel that we "know" where the holes in our collection are, many school librarians lack the funding necessary to make those purchases. Having the data and evidence to back up these needs plays a big role in convincing stakeholders to provide more of a budget and comes in very handy when putting together a grant proposal.

The CSA project had us take a deep look at the makeup of our community and our school. The school I was working at had a poverty rate of 58%. This is a number that is vitally important when trying to get grants and also important when understanding where our students were coming from. The cycle of poverty has shown us that at-risk students enter school with a vocabulary deficit (Adams, 2013). This was sadly apparent at Southern Pines Elementary School. Knowing the cultural makeup of our students, another element included in the CSA, is yet another reason to advocate for multicultural literature at a variety of reading levels. Sometimes understanding where your students are coming from helps you support them better along their journey.

The CAMP began with a completely data driven look at the state of the collection. Putting together both circulation numbers as well as the age of specific areas of the collection, you could see which areas of the collection were utilized the most and where they fell flat. These numbers made it easy to give evidence as to why the school I was working in needed to put resources toward graphic novels which represented 3% of the collection and 20% of circulations. By further analyzing this portion of the collection, the data organized was able to give visual evidence of the need for diverse titles.

When making key decisions, considering the evidence and making assessments of the current situation are vitally important (Moniz, 2010). Those who control the purse strings want proof that they money is needed, not simply a feeling that the librarian has.