Selecting for Deselection

Our next assignment is to do a deselection report for one section of non-fiction in our service library.  I'm choosing to do the 500s of non-fiction for a few reasons.  Improving science scores at our school is a huge focus of our school improvement plan and one specific strategy from the plan was to have teachers incorporate more science non-fiction text into their PBLs (Project Based Learning Units).  I felt like it was important for me to choose this section to weed since it was being used by all grades and very frequently throughout the school year.  It is definitely intimidating because of its size (32 pages on my shelf list print-out).  Another reason that I chose to do this section is because our librarian had pulled out a huge amount of books to consider for deselection from this section based solely on the fact that they were not partnered with an AR test.  She pulled these (almost a whole cart-full) at the end of last year but never had a chance to go through them.  I wanted to be able to look through them and see which ones were actually outdated, in bad condition, etc. before they were recommended for deselection from the library.  I didn't think that just because there was no AR test was a good enough reason for taking them out of the collection.

Collection Development Policy

Part 2 of our service learning project was to analyze our library's collection development policy document.  Wentworth's library didn't have one so, instead of analyzing, I got to create a rough draft of a policy for the library.  My librarian was ecstatic - she's only been at the school for a year and has been meaning to create the policy herself but hasn't had the time.  She wants to use mine as a starting point and is willing to let me help her finalize it and take it to the MTAC committee for approval - I'm excited for the learning opportunity.  It was a little intimidating starting the policy from scratch myself but, once I got started, I really got into it.  I think developing the outline spoke to my methodical and logical nature.  I also got to make connections between my community analysis and what I decided to include in the CDP.  I used the Evans textbook and the Brearley School policy example from class as inspiration for the format of my CDP.  I didn't want it to be too "wordy."  The other example that my group and I analyzed in class was REALLY long and a little self righteous.  I didn't want mine to come across that way.  I thought that being very straightforward and concise were important qualities to have in the document. 

Beginning

Now that I've finished my first major assignment for our service learning project, I feel like I can reflect on the experience so far.  The community analysis for my service learning project at Wentworth Elementary school library was very enlightening.  Mainly because it gave me - a teacher at the school - insight into the make-up of our student body and our school goals.  I wasn't sure before I started how the county's demographics and economic situation would affect the school's library but it actually has a profound effect.  My analysis was actually a little long because I had a hard time eliminating information.  I felt like everything that I came across about the community, the school district, or the school itself could possibly affect some decision later on down the road about the users' needs and the library's collection.

It was also very cool to be able to sit down with Kim, the librarian at our school, and really talk to her about her job.  Last year was my first year in the school, actually in the education realm altogether, and I was immediately drawn to Kim and the library.  She seemed to have the coolest job (and only partly because she didn't have to teach classes all day long).  I saw her teaching technology workshops for the teachers and students, working on big projects with individual classes, helping teachers plan really cool integrated lessons, and being a real leader within the school.  I found out, through doing my project, that she does all those things and SO many more.  After talking to her about her ability to collaborate with all the teachers on their planning, I honestly don't understand how school librarians do it without a flex schedule in the library OR without an assistant for that matter.  Kim is stressed this year because her library assistant has been taken away during the mornings to do guided reading, leaving Kim without the ability to sit in on the K-2 teachers' planning times.  Everything that I read pertaining to libraries (especially school libraries) emphasizes the importance of collaboration.  It scares me a little that Wentworth doesn't see that taking away the librarian's ability to meet with some teachers during their planning is a bad thing.