Katie Garner Collection Development for LCMS Description of Site/Environmental Scan Lumpkin County Middle School is a rural, Title
I school in northeast Georgia. LCMS employs approximately 70 teachers and currently serves 866 students for the 2011-2012 school year. Lumpkin County is limited in diversity. Of the 866 students served, eight students are identified Asian/Pacific Islander, eight students are identified African American, 51 students are identified Hispanic, six students are identified American Indian/Alaskan native, and 16 students
are identified multi-racial with the remaining 777 students identified as white. Approximately 54% of the students are male with the remaining 46% being female. Six students are receiving ESOL services, and over 100 students are receiving some type of special education assistance with an additional 100+ receiving gifted education services. As of 2011, 55% of the student body is considered, by Title I standards, to be economically disadvantaged. Assuming an average class size of 25 with a typical heterogeneous grouping, based on these numbers, one would expect to see about 22 white students, zero to two Hispanic students, and zero to one black or Asian students, zero to one American Indian/Alaskan students, and zero one multi-racial students in an average LCMS classroom. Teachers could also expect up to four students with special needs due to disabilities and zero to one English Language Learners. The remainder of the students would be regular education and high achieving students. Gifted students are pulled out into accelerated pace classrooms. Additionally, over half of any classroom would be economically disadvantaged, about 14 students. The focus of the collection development plan requires that specific attention be given to the seventh grade demographic. There are currently 15 regular, gifted, and special education teachers within the seventh grade, and they are divided into three teams of four teachers with three
Katie Garner floating special education teachers. The seventh grade alone accounts for 269 students of the total LCMS student population. There are two Asian/Pacific Islanders, three African Americans, 14 Hispanics, three American Indian/Alaskan natives, five multi-racial students, and 242 white
students. Approximately 30, or 11%, of the students in seventh grade are presently being served for special needs. Only two of the students in seventh grade are receiving ESOL services, and, again, a little more than half of the seventh grade is considered economically disadvantaged. Given the demographic makeup of the seventh grade as well as the entire school, it seems to be most important to provide a collection of resources that speak to the needs of economically disadvantaged students, gifted students, and special education students since they seem to be the largest subgroups. However, it is important to provide some resources as well that will meet the needs of groups in the minority such as English language learners and multicultural students. The Lumpkin County Middle school media center has one general collection to which all students have access, but it is split across the campus with some materials housed at the sixth Grade Academy and some materials housed in the seventh and eighth grade building. The collection currently includes 15,949 titles with 21,837 copies. The book to student ratio is 20 to 1. Aside from the hard copy collection of materials, LCMS currently subscribes to BrainPOP and USATestprep as online resources for content area needs. Both websites provide a variety of digital resources in the major academic areas offering video, interactive tutorial, and online quiz and lab formats. Curriculum Review/Mapping This collection development plan focuses on enhancing the currently held library resources regarding genetics, DNA, and reproduction as applied to plants and animals. While LCMS seventh-graders did well on the CRCT last year, the areas of science and social studies are
Katie Garner
consistently lower than other areas on the CRCT. Science and social studies teachers believe this is due, in large part, to a lack of appropriate resources. The following GPS standard outlines the mastery goal for seventh grade students: S7L3. Students will recognize how biological traits are passed on to successive generations. a. Explain the role of genes and chromosomes in the process of inheriting a specific trait. b. Compare and contrast that organisms reproduce asexually and sexually (bacteria, protists, fungi, plants & animals). c. Recognize that selective breeding can produce plants or animals with desired traits. Following an interview with the seventh grade science teachers, I was able to determine how they interpreted this standard, areas on which they placed a lot of emphasis, and the various assessment strategies they used to measure learning. Much of this discussion also helped to build a collection development plan that was relevant to specific classroom practices and needs. The teachers discussed that they currently use BrainPOP and Bill Nye videos to enhance the material, but that they are lacking in books, other audio-visual options, and manipulatives. Each year they open the genetics unit by staging a crime scene wherein one of the teachers, who was a former criminal investigations chief, demonstrates the role that genetics and DNA play in solving crimes. The teachers then move into a discussion of DNA, unique genetic traits, and chromosomes and chromosomal abnormalities. Typically, the students practice trait distribution with the use of punnet squares, and they are assessed, during this part of the unit, with the creation of genetic pets that are the result of their abilities to correctly utilize punnet squares and understand allele pairing. Students also sometimes develop powerpoint presentations discussing the various chromosomal abnormalities in humans. Moving on to animal reproduction, selective breeding, and a discussion of genetically modified organisms, teachers seem to be slightly more at a loss for materials as the
Katie Garner unit reduces down to a simple discussion and paper/pencil assessments. I have evaluated the collection and built the collection development to, hopefully, enhance a unit of study that the teachers already seem to do well. Collection Evaluation The first thing I noticed upon becoming the new Media Specialist is that teachers and
students, aside from the occasional Bill Nye video, rarely utilize the resources in the media center. So far this year, only four teachers in the entire school have requested that I pull books or other resources for them or their students, and none of the seventh grade science teachers have made any such requests. More specifically, the genetics unit came and went without a single request beyond a Bill Nye video on genes. The highest circulated materials regarding anything to do with the aforementioned standards are relevant fiction novels. So, utilizing use-centered measures as the first of four assessment techniques already reveals a weakness in the specific areas this standard addresses. Building on the revelations of the use-centered measures, I decided to survey the teachers and students regarding their lack of use of library materials. Because, most of the students have no context for utilizing library resources related to the specific standard, I asked them to tell me their greatest stumbling blocks to research in general. The most often complaints were that there are never enough materials to go around and that they sometimes have difficulty finding exactly what they need. They also disliked having to go across campus to retrieve materials needed on their side of campus. The most common complaints among seventh grade science teachers with specific attention to the chosen standard included a lack of materials and the age of the materials. The results of my quick survey, logically, led me to my own physical evaluation of the materials. I did find that we have very few books related to GPS content standard S7L3, and those
Katie Garner we do have are not only chronologically outdated but also physiologically outdated. It is
unfortunate that the collection has so few materials in this area because after weeding what should be weeded, there is almost nothing left. Our audio-visual materials, though few, are acceptably current and available in usable formats, and our relevant fiction collection also seems to be acceptable and appropriate. Each of our classrooms, however, are equipped with projectors and smartboard technologies that seem to be ahead of our library resources. All areas of the library (audio-visual, digital, and print) need some sprucing up. Next, I consulted the catalog for a more specific analysis of our available resources. I used the following keyword searches: genes, genetics, DNA, cloning, chromosomes, traits, reproduction, selective breeding. I used these keywords so that I would be sure to address the language of the standard and simultaneously address whether the library contains materials that meet the standard. Naturally, keyword searches do not always return relevant results, but I have included the break down of each keyword search without sources that I have deemed irrelevant. Keyword Genes Genetics Print Fiction 1 source 21 sources Print Non-fiction Dewey Range 6 sources (500s) 3 sources (600s) 2 sources (B) 1 source (100s) 1 sources (300s) 10 sources (500s) 9 sources (600s) 7 sources (B) 1 source (300s) 6 sources (500s) 3 sources (600s) 2 sources (B) 1 source (100s) 4 sources (600s) 1 source (600s) 1 source (B) 1 source (100s) 1 source (300s) Audio-Visual 5 sources 1 source Multi-cultural None None
DNA
None
3 sources
None
Cloning Chromosomes Traits
10 sources None 1 source
2 sources None None
None None None
Katie Garner 2 sources (500s) 1 source (600s) 2 sources (100s) 7 sources (500s) 5 sources (600s) 3 sources (600s)
Reproduction Selective Breeding
None None
4 sources None
None None
As many of these sources overlap, it becomes plain that all areas our are media center are lacking regarding just the number of resources available, but the age evaluation of these resources is even more disheartening. Using the same keyword searches, I conducted a quick age analysis of our available materials. The results follow: Keyword Genes Genetics DNA Cloning Chromosomes Traits Reproduction Selective Breeding Average Age 2001 (11 years) 2001 (11 years) 2005 (7 years) 2002 (10 years) 1994 (18 years) 1998 (14 years) 1992 (20 years) 1982 (30 years)
Although some of the results appear to be somewhat current, others are grossly over aged. Moreover, according to the standard five-year age limit for science resources, all of the average ages are too old. In general the teachers and students were right to be frustrated with the lack of relevant and current resources. This section of the library, among others, needs a lot of attention. Materials Order/Budget Summary *Please see included attached file entitled, CD Consideration File for materials order and budget summary.
