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School Library Resources substantially reflect the Great Southwest's social and cultural diversity.

Southwest’s 8,366 square foot Media Center holds 8,084 current and diverse print titles that meet the needs of our population and school reading initiative. Mrs. Friday has worked to make sure that not just our students but all middle school students in the district have access to eBooks and audio-books through Overdrive as well. She helped in district efforts to cultivate a large collection of all the best titles for all Brevard students. Because of this, students at the Great Southwest have access to 8,084 print titles, 2,443 e-books, 554 audio books, plus all the resources that come with our Gale and World Book databases. Every student considered below grade-level (60% of the school) also has access to Learning Ally where Mrs. Friday loads eBooks and audio-books for them to read.

There is a large computer lab with computers available for research, coding, working on school projects, or logging books for the 20 Book Challenge. Southwest has a growing collection of professional development resources for teachers available.

Mrs. Friday has partnered with The Brevard Schools Foundation, and local engineering companies such as Jacobs and Northrop Grumman to create a student-driven MakerSpace which includes Osmo, circuitry sets, collaborative building sets, a 3D printer and pens, a Silhouette Cameo, two class kids of Makey Makey, various robots, and tablets and iPads. The MakerSpace is used to implement 21st century skills and STEAM curriculum across the campus. She uses Breakout Boxes, works with students to make green screen videos, and will try anything that enhances instruction.

The Media Center is used for meetings, events, trainings, and professional development. The Media Center also houses many of Southwest’s student organizations.

The library has one state certified, full-time Library Media Specialist and one part-time assistant. The Media Center at Southwest has truly become the heart of our school.

Collection Development

When Mrs. Friday took over the Media Center at The Great Southwest, the library was overfilled and the collection was outdated, There were 18, 851 books, the average age of the collection was 1993 (in 2016), and the collection was 72% nonfiction. There was no digital collection at all. Mrs. Friday has worked exceptionally hard to weed and update and make the space somewhere kids want to be with titles they will read. It has been a major priority to develop a collection reflective of our demographics and to build a more diverse and inclusive collection. Mrs. Friday uses the state allocation funds, grant money, and Amazon wish lists shared with the community to help build the collection. She also serves on the Sunshine State Young Readers Award Committee which has brought in approximately $10,000 in new books for Southwest.

The average age of collections in Brevard is 2001. The current age of Southwest's collection is 2008.

Mrs. Friday uses recommendations of students, both submitted through a Google form and through conversation to curate lists of books to consider for purchase. Award titles, Project Lit titles, SLJ recommendations, and teacher and student suggestions are all taken to the Library & Literacy Committee for consideration. This committee consists of:

• Mrs. Friday --Librarian
• Ms. Pron --Media Assistant
• Mrs. McGregor --ELA Department Head and GAPP team leader
• Mrs. Watkins --8th grade Reading teacher
• Ms. Ross --7th grade Reading Teacher
• Mr. Doucimo --Literacy Coach
• Mr. Vacca --Social Studies Department Head
• Ms. Burch --GAPP Science teacher
• Ms. Irwin --ESE/ASD Teacher
• Mrs. Denny --ESE Teacher
• Mrs. Brown --ESE Teacher
• Project Lit Book Club students

Previous Collection Stats

Current Collection as of Dec. 2019

Current Collection as of March 2020

2019-2020 Book Orders

2018-2019 Book Orders

Southwest Middle Media Page

Shelf List by Dewey Decimal System Classification

Materials Requests from Staff & Students