After reading chapters 7-9 of our text and listening to the presentation by Karen Lowe, what thoughts do you have as you work through the final planning process? Granted. Funds are tight. What creative ways can you think of to enhance/develop your collection without guaranteed funds? How are you going to be ready when money IS available?
This process has given me an opportunity to really dig into the collection in a way that supports weeding in a methodical manner. With tight funds I am going to connect the students and teachers with the online resources available for free to us, this includes the offerings from Grant Wood AEA. While I use every opportunity I can to talk about them, I need to keep an eye out for additional opportunities. As I work through the resource development plan I will also have Follett (or other companies) book lists saved and at the ready for purchase. That way if one day I find out I have money, I can have an order placed the next. I plan on targeting the classroom teachers to help with the selection of the books. For example: my first section to work on at the high school for 2012 - 2013 is the natural science area. I want the classroom teachers to collaborate for collection development so I will ask the science teachers for suggestions and I will have them also look at Wilson's with me to find the best materials for the HS collection. If they know what is the library the more likely it is to be used.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the final chapters in our text and hearing from Karen I have been thinking about what I need to do to get additional funding for my two libraries. Currently we are not able to get approval for any purchase orders at our school for additional supplies or books. This has me getting creative with purchasing new books for my libraries. A few ways that I am purchasing books are from the Scholastic Dollars that we get after having the Scholastic Book Fair at our school twice a year. This has saved me this year so that I am still able to get a few books every month that will interest the students without having to worry about getting my purchase order for my books denied. After completing this class I will also use the data that I gathered and I will be sharing that with our School Foundation in hopes that they will let me purchase new books with money that they have set aside. One final way I want to work on getting creative is to talk to the curriculum director at our school and see if there is money available anywhere that would help purchase books for the library that will align with the current curriculum the teachers are teaching the students. I have a wish list created and a replacement list created so that if funding becomes available I will be able to spend it quickly. This summer I want to start by going through the list of science topics covered in my 2nd-4th grade school and seeing which books we have about those topics and using Wilson's and other review sources to make a list of books that are more current that the teachers could use in their classrooms.
ReplyDeletePosted for Joyce VonGlan:
ReplyDeleteLast night I attended a local Foundation Meeting and discovered how much I appreciate the knowledge that I have gained after reading the chapters in
our Resource Alignment text and listening to Karen, Cheryl, and Mrs. Lowe during our ICN class sessions. There was a request from our technology director asking for over $50,000 for miscellaneous items such as lap tops, ipads, carts, and other items to update our technology in K-12. Her request
was very vague. Needless to say, it did not take them long to accumulate a list of questions they wanted answered before approving any money for this request. The group was definitely not against spending money for technology; they just wanted a specific plan of action. On my way home, I
thought about how our technology instructor should borrow my Resource Alignment book. With a little effort, a realistic Resource Development Plan (three - five years) could easily be adapted to fit the needs of our technology department.
I do plan to request additional funds for the library from our Foundation, but not until I complete a three to five year Resource Development Plan. As our text books stated, “It will be useful not only to present the media
center’s needs to the principal or other administrators who make budget decisions, but it may also be used to make presentations to school board members, community and business leaders, parent / teacher organizations,
other concerned groups or to document needs for grant proposals.” Approaching the Foundation with a definite plan of action will be more impressive and will hopefully meet with quick approval.
This process has helped me to see the benefit in having a plan and sticking to it. Like we talked about in class, it is the “grocery list” to take to the store and you only buy what is on the grocery list.
ReplyDeleteIt really does help you feel organized and as though you have a plan when you know exactly what you are going to go buy for the next couple of years. I don’t have to sit and wonder and ponder and look and think about what I am going to buy, I can just go to the list and start ordering and buying. This process has taken out a lot of the guess work. This then allows you to spend your time on other aspects other than finding materials and ordering materials.
In helping to keep organized, I also (like others in the class) have started to create lists of books for the curriculum areas and Dewey areas for all of my six years on many of the major vendors that I buy from. This way the list is ready to go. While right now these lists might me longer and more expensive than what I can afford, I can wean the list down later. I think also like others mentioned, if you have shown that you have a plan of how to spend the money and that you are not just spending it however the moment may strike you, if extra funds are available an administrator might me more willing to give a little more or try to find extra funding because they know the money will be spend wisely.
I was asked to speak on behalf of the library at last month's PTA meeting. This was before I had my 5 year plan completed. I showed them my highlighted Follett lists and explained about the 2 colors as well as shared the average age of each dewey category. The PTA members couldn't believe what I was telling/showing them. I had all the proof that they needed to see. They immediately started brianstorming as a group of ways to get the library more money for newer books. The whole time I was thinking why hadn't i thought of "presenting" to them sooner instead of having to be invited. The PTA has genrously given the library $2,000 a year since I've been there, but now with this new information I bet I will be getting more! There are 3 events happening at school between now and the end of the year, so the PTA thought of creating some type of giving tree asking for particular book titles that parents would see when they come into the school. The whole idea is to take a book title off the display and purchase it for the library. We added a line for a dedication name. I can't wait to see how many of the 85 titles I put on there will be purchased by the end of the year. I told the PTA about the 5 year plan that I was working on and told them that I would give them a copy of it when I was done. The PTA treasurer said he would be happy to write grants for the library using the data that I will be sharing with him.
ReplyDeleteOn another note - I called Follett and talked to a very helpful customer service person who walked me through the steps to narrowing my book search. I selected 2010 and newer nonfiction books, (you can specify the dewey range) and i searched for books that were Reading Counts quiz books (my school is huge into Reading Counts) I was able to create quite a list that covered all the things I was looking for in new nonfiction books. This list of course will be for next year, but again it is some "evidence" that i can continue to share with my PTA and principal.
Wow! Encouraging news from PTA. Another "success" story.
DeleteBeing ready when money is available is important. This process of resource alignment has allowed me to be organized and aware of what I have and what I need to best serve the needs of my school. After meeting with the social studies teachers and reviewing the Common Core curriculum standards, I made a list of books to supplement several SS classes offered next year, based on Wilson’s Senior High Core Collection. I am prepared to order next fall.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest “take-aways” from chapters 7-9 are 1) the division of the collection into a five-year plan with a different emphasis each year works very well, 2) my goal is to have a “recommended” collection, not “exemplary” because it is more realistic, and 3) I must keep in mind the addition of databases and eresources when budgeting for books.
My hope is to strike a balance between hard-copy books and eresources to create and maintain a collection that meets the needs of all students and follows the Core standards and curriculum requirements.
I like Sandy’s idea of having lists of books ready on my Follett account so I can order when the time is right!
Though I don’t do book fairs at the high school level because students at this age don’t attend, I am looking into doing a Barnes & Noble Event to raise additional funds.
Some good decisions based on your data!
DeleteI think the best thing about this class so far is the ease with which you can make a start on getting a handle with your collection by using the copyright charts to assess the collection for outdated materials and gaps. Aligning it with the current curriculum in the school/district is harder or should I say more time consuming, but in the end it is great to have a plan. First weed, then make a list, then organize the list by urgency/need, then determine total cost, then use plan to try to convince supervisors for more funding. Administrators like to crunch numbers and know that the funds are being well spent and this 3-5 year plan that comes out of using resource alignment is a great way to develop a solid plan of action for updating the resources at hand. That being said once I know where the need is in my collection, if the funding is tight I can try to build my collection through book fairs, networking for resources (need books in the 600s on dogs--ask the local vets if they'd like to sponsor pet/dog books for the library, ask the dentist if he/she wants to donate funds for more current teeth/dentist books before his/her next talk to the Kindergartners), talk to the principal about doing a penny drive where students raise money to choose books that go with what they are reading in class or with their curriculum units (book on rocks-donated by Mrs. B's 3rd grade class). There are resources out there if we look in the community, but having a plan and a knowledge of why the collection needs updating and funding support goes a long way towards receiving that funding. Additionally, when funds are available I will know what is in the greatest need for purchase, what should be replaced, and hopefully I'll have lists on hand of books/materials to buy so the money can be used quickly to purchase those much needed titles.
ReplyDeleteYou have some great ideas here.
DeleteBudgets are tight, but we do have one. Just knowing what state our collection really is in helps a lot. I know where the holes are. I know our library's strengths. Spending the money when we have it is not going to be a problem, because I know our greatest needs.
ReplyDeleteI have a plan written up for purchasing using the guidelines learned from this class. Of course, I also need to weed. The charts that Karen Lowe included in her book was very helpful!
To make the weeding process go more smoothly, I decided to wait until all of the books are all supposedly back. (end of school year) I can't wait! The kids are going to have an easier time next year finding books that are actually helpful.
It is always a little scary to go to the administration to ask for money. We have a budget, but like everywhere it isn't large enough for all we need. With the data that I now have it will be easier to show why I need more money.
In the last 5 years my library got a $1000 grant for biographies and another $1000 grant for non-fiction. Actually each school in our district received this grant money thanks to a grant from the gambling boats. With the support of bookfair which raises over $1000 in cash plus lots of new books from Scholastic. I feel pretty blessed. Our districts gives each library about $3000 for books, supplies for computers and library. About $150 goes for magazines, and over $2000 each year gets spent on books. I feel I spend that money wisely. Our public library is a consortium of over 70 public libraries. When I spend money on a new series, I'm able to preview the title before I purchase it. Actually, I preview all non-fiction and all everybody books before purchasing them.
ReplyDeleteThis class has helped to me to avoid the shot gun method. Before I would read book review magazines. If I saw a book that looked good, I would preview it from the public library, then decide if I should order it for my school library. Now I feel like I have a plan about what areas to tackle first and prioritize the spending.
As I think about ways to enhance my collection, I look towards local resources within my community. Both Pella Corporation and Vermeer have foundations that provide local and statewide entities with funding for projects. Since one of the goals is update my collection in the areas of Engineering and science materials, there is a connection and hopefully funding will be provided.
ReplyDeleteMy fellow librarians and myself met with the district business manager a couple of weeks ago to discuss budgets. We mention that we all have areas that need to be greatly updated and he told us to go ahead and come up with the plan and budget. This most likely would be a one year budget enhancement. So we are meeting next week to write up this plan and then we will present this to him possibly before the end of the school year. I am not sure if these will be funded; we just want to make him aware. Since neither one of these funding sources is guaranteed I will continue to promote online resources from the AEA and use the budget funds I receive each year in an effective manner.
This class helps you get a handle and a focus on the needs of the library both now and in the future. The shotgun method was used by me quite often, although I think we all know how to pick books that kids want to read. There are books that students love that may not be part of the curriculum per se. One of my jobs is to promote books and get kids reading, so it's like being in advertising. That being said, I now have a plan showing where to focus my budget dollars because I took a more careful look at the curriculum and the collection. The highlighted shelf-list is a great visual to see where needs are. I've always got lists going (on several vendor sites) so it's not hard to be ready if funds become available.
ReplyDeleteIt is a lot harder for me to actually ask for money because everyone knows we do have a budget in our schools, but they may not know that it's just never enough. I think sharing this plan, like others have said, is an awesome idea as we advocate for our programs.
I mentioned in the last class that I may focus on our Spanish language materials next because of a dual language class coming in from fifth grade next year. I asked Scholastic to send me some titles for our book fair (it was a BOGO fair so I didn't get a profit from it) and then I asked the principal if she could purchase some of those. She said yes and I got $90 worth of books just like that! I have a book fair in the fall also, and I have a Barnes and Noble fair before the holidays - a great way to get free books. I also signed up on a jobber blog and won 20 hardcover books - fun! The PTO has given me money for Nooks and furniture, and I think they will continue donating. I'm sure they would be open to buying some ebooks for the curriculum once they see the need.
I'm excited to finish the weeding this summer that I've started and be able to see that all of this has paid off immensely.
I was listing thoughts for this blog as I went. It remained a list, not paragraph style, but hopefully understandable.
ReplyDeleteThoughts through final planning process?
•Continuous need to stay in touch with teachers as they complete Iowa Core curriculum work;
•Continuous wish-listing of new purchases on Titlewave
•Continuous replacement list (as weeding occurs)
•Complete and present the 3-5 year plan to the School Board in May or June
•I appreciate the systematic method this class has provided; it lends credibility to the projected plan. And reminds me not to do the shotgun replacements.
•One humor: I’ve been weeding the obvious books in the high school. After school one day recently, some top students/readers stopped by, saw the stacks on the counter, leaned over and glanced at the spines, looked up and said, “you know, I really would never touch any of these” and I smiled. I hadn’t said a word. What an affirmation of the need to weed.
Creative ways of developing collection without guaranteed funds?
•Half Price Books, Salvation Army, Goodwill, etc - © 2005 and better; in making an effort to occasionally get to these places, I’ve been successful in finding VOYA and Wilson titles especially in the nonfiction areas; some of those titles are no longer available through Follett – they are no longer printed; it has made me curious about the longevity of print periods for any books, let alone the highly recommended books; yesterday I found American Shaolin for $1.00 in such a location and it was in the same mint condition as the one I paid full price for in our school.
•Continue to bring to attention of students and staff the considerable collection of Follett eBooks via Keystone AEA
•I find that it helps to see the book before deciding how to purchase it – it doesn’t take much to peruse for font, layout, and visual appeal (and yes, judging a book by its size and cover on occasion).
How are you going to be ready when money IS available?
•Selected items from SLJ or Horn Book reviews are kept on Follett wish lists
•Selected items from the Wilson list are printed and highlighted (with help from content area teachers) for the areas of my weeding (according to my priorities 3-5 year plan)
•Selected items donated from our specified needs list (by school stakeholders/ NF Foundation)
•Request funds from Talented and Gifted programming to provide higher lexile and/or college bound specific items
Thanks for sharing, Pat. Lots of good thoughts.
DeleteThis class reinforced that our non-fiction is dated and our fiction is pretty good. Our fiction is the largest portion of our collection at 40% and it is in the best condition. Fiction also represent our largest portion of our circulation at 49% In the fiction all we need to do is a little weeding and updating of the classics to spruce up the fiction. The other area that isn’t too bad is the 800 hundreds. The average age is way below the cut-off date, but this section doesn’t have as much highlighting as other areas of the collection. However, I realized we need to order some plays for the drama class. This section is old and those plays are used every semester. The rest of the non-fiction needs some help!
ReplyDeleteI also realized we have many items in our collection that are currently checked out to teachers. Some of these probably disappeared years ago and others are permanently checked out to the teacher. Most of these things need to be removed from our circ system, in order to have a better picture of our collection. This will help our average age but it will also lower the number of books we have per student. I really need to delete these items and resubmit the collect to Titlewave so it can be analyzed again.
I like how this process incorporates the curriculum and the Iowa Core, but we are in the process of updating our curriculum so right now it doesn’t seem logical to rely heavily on the curriculum. I can’t remember how many years it would take to cover all the items in the high school Iowa Core, so it seems a little unreasonable to use this excessively. Once the curriculum is developed or as it is developed I will add information to the 3-5 year resource development plan.
Because we are working so hard on our curriculum, I decided to focus on the five big areas and the current research projects that teachers currently do. I believe most of these will stay in the curriculum. English classes have to do research projects so the three hundreds seem like a logical place to start. Plus we have a genetics class that does lots of research, along with the developing nations class. However, our students do not turn to books very often because the Internet and our databases are used heavily. But I can’t help wondering if some thorough weeding and purchasing of new materials would increase the use of books. I really want to try this next year and keep a close eye on the results.
Electronic books are also getting close to playing a major part of collection development. Right now our students will not read an electronic book on the computer. Some of our students are not too excited about checking out our Kindles because they are worried they may break them or loose them. Follett is getting close to providing books that can be read on smart phones or ipads. So electronic books will soon be a bigger part of our collection development options. As a result, I am a little timid about purchasing huge amounts of print books.
Since I used to work at a public library I can’t help wondering why circulation statistics don’t play a role in Karen Lowe’s weeding process. Space is important and usually limited so I believe if a book is not being used it should be gone. I think a little more weeding will happen after the original items that were marked in Lowe’s process are gone. I might give them a year to be discovered and then go back through and weed some items based on circulation.
Our current budget will allow us to improve our collection and once electronic books are a viable option then we should be able to apply for a grant to purchase these.
I do agree that circulation should play some part in the process--one of the criteria for weeding. However, in saying that, I realize that I may also need to promote books as well so that teachers know we have books in areas that support their curriculum but that aren't being checking out. It's sometimes a delicate balance.
DeleteGreat thoughts here.
I remember Dr Safford at UNI suggesting we have purchase orders ready to go for when funds come up - I'm starting to do that now that I have a cohesive plan. I did apply for and received a grant from the Farm Bureau, I didn't apply for that before because I wasn't thinking on those lines before, I was ready to go in no time when that email came out. We have a 2nd grant opportunity in the district that I had written up a request already, so when the notice went out I was able to immediately apply for the grant.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to focus on particular areas, the curriculum and high interest. I feel like the weeding is going so much better and I'm excited to see how the way we've learned to weed will affect our overall average age. Already I can see the shelves are more accessible and full of newer titles. I have a generous budget, but with what I know I feel like we will now do even better with our funds, particularly as the average cost of a book continues to rise.
I feel like I'm more adequately able to articulate our strengths and needs, along with reasons behind the importance of weeding. Teachers are supportive and interested since I'm getting them what they need to support the curriculum areas. The process has helped with our building wide collaboration.
This was a great class for me to take at this time because it was time to start weeding after being in the library for five years. It always seemed to be such a large project I never knew where to start so with Karen Lowe’s recommendation it made weeding pretty clear-cut and like a doable task.
ReplyDeleteHaving a five-year plan seems to be the right way to go into any meeting asking for more money. It gives everyone involved a clear understanding of where the money the money will be spent and why it is needed.
I had the PTO decide to designate funds from a read-a-thon to our library when they heard what I was working on in this class. I also applied for a grant through our Foundation because they wanted some projects that were not “technology” related. Where better to spend money than the library where they can touch more people.
The next steps for me is to present my plan to our principal and explain what I have come up with. I am also going to start a wish list in my first areas I would like to work on using Follett’s wish list. That way I am ready to go once I get the money I need to move forward. I will continue to seek other avenues to raise money for our library like book fairs, Barnes & Noble events, grants, the Foundation, PTO, and etc…
Thank you for jump starting my 5-year plan. This class was well worth it!
This class has helped me tremendously! In my past five years in this position, I was not very consistent in purchasing books aligned with the curriculum - it was rather a hit-and-miss process. I found that I was quite surprised with the gap areas in our library as I did the shelf list analysis. I now feel that I have a better understanding of the weeding process, and a very focused approach to purchasing resources that align with our curriculum in the areas that contain gaps. With my 5-year plan in hand, I feel that I have a more convincing case for acquiring more funds for the library.
ReplyDeleteI meet with my principal on a weekly basis and look forward to sharing my work and 5-year plan with her. She was very receptive when I shared the goals of this class with her at the beginning, and was eager to see the results when I had completed the class. I'm hoping that she will find a little extra funding for the library! I am also planning to share this plan with the PTC (Parent-Teacher Committee) at their next meeting as they are planning for next year.
This year has been the first year that we had a Family Reading Program "fundraiser" (magazines). This was literally an overnight program that raised over $1500.00. We have also had many donations from parents/grandparents that did not want to purchase magazines but still wanted to give. Awesome!
I also recycle ink cartridges, cell phones, and hand-held devices. We have sent in over 500 lbs. this year, and earned over $200.00. This is a relatively small amount by itself, but added in to the total budget, really helps!
I will look for other grants and programs that may provide other resources, too. As these opportunities come up, I will have my 5-year plan and my Titlewave wish list at the ready!
Some creative suggestions.
DeleteThis class has been extremely helpful as I have always struggled with discarding materials, now I have specific criteria to evaluate the library materials, to assist me in the decision making process of which materials should remain in the collection and the ones that need to be weeded. I will start by weeding the collection and making lists of books on the Titlewave website that I would like to purchase to replace old materials and fill in curriculum gaps. The focus for next year will be on the 900’s and biographies.
ReplyDeleteThe five year plan gives me direction, guidelines and goals to work toward each year. The five year plan and budget are great tools to use when presenting the case for additional funding from the administration, school board or community groups. The simple layout makes it easy to present the facts to people unfamiliar with libraries in a format easy to understand.
As for funding, I will seek what I can get from the school district first, then will search for other donors and possibly look for grants. A sizable portion of the elementary library budget comes from the Box Tops for Education Program, which our school has been involved with for several years. We collect the box tops; give some incentives to students for bringing in box tops to the library. All proceeds go to purchasing library books and Accelerated Reader Quizzes for the elementary. We also have a Scholastic Book Fair in both buildings in the fall. The elementary school has enough sales to receive cash back, the Junior/Senior High building earns enough only to receive books, no money, but this still fills in materials especially in the fiction section to allow designated school funds to be used for other library needs. I also watch for book bargains anywhere I can, quality used book sales, garage sales, discount websites, new book discounts in department stores, etc. One more thing I do to stretch the budget is purchase paperback books when available. I cover all my paperback books with a contact paper type cover, this helps them to last long enough in most cases that I do not need to replace and save the cost of hardcover books for the newest materials and those with heavy usage.
Some good ideas. Thanks for sharing.
DeleteIn thinking of the final steps of the process, I like the idea of having a five year plan for things, but sometimes wonder if that is a little long. Would a three year plan better accommodate and keep a collection fresher? My thought is that if I were to start developing a book plan for five years out, and my budget doesn't allow the purchase of very many materials, some of those books may never get off the five year plan, which means it could be possibly ten years a before I might be able to purchase a title, which is too long.... I see it as a fine line for purchasing when the money isnt there or purchasing the exact RIGHT materials when it does become available is absolutely necessary. I guess it's always good to keep a list of must haves for a time when that money does come in.
ReplyDeleteI will request my budget be increased, but don't feel that telling them about grant opportunities is essential as if they think you can get funding elsewhere, they may not be as likely to expand on what they give me.
My final thoughts as I finished the financial analysis was one of stunned shock! That's a lot of money and I don't know where my district will find it! We are going 1:1 with computers in grades 5-12 this fall and I'm still hopeful that they will continue to see the need for print materials. I also worry that with the funds going toward computers, there will be a decrease in funds going toward books. I will present my findings when I can and hope for the best. I'd also like to find some additional funds. I have two other buildings to do this analysis for - that scares me a bunch! If they are like the high school, I could be looking at $180K over 5 years to bring all three libraries up to where they should be.
ReplyDelete