Assignment+5


 * __ LIBE 463 New Resources __**

At the start of the course when I originally looked at the course outline I was excited by this assignment. The prospect of being able to “spend” money and revamp a collection area in the library sounded exciting and to be perfectly honest in my opinion (at that time) the easiest assignment of the course. However as fate would be this turned out to be the most difficult assignment of the course. Who would have thought that spending $1500 to $4000 dollars would be so difficult? I should have known better as it is when I go clothes shopping and I have money I can’t find a single thing that I like, but with an empty wallet the choices seem endless! ** Process ** My first task in starting this assignment was reading chapter 9 Acquisitions and Processing in the course text. In addition I read chapter 2 in Reference Skills for the School Library Media Specialist by Ann Reidling. Reiding states that “the collection of the [school library media center] are developed and evaluated collaboratively to support the school’s curriculum and to meet the diverse learning needs of the students (pg. 15). The area of the library that I decided to improve the curriculum resources for was on the topic of Canada or specifically geography, provinces and territories. I started this assignment by compiling a list of online school publishers, distributors of books and other resources. I then decided to choose resources that were based on criteria mentioned in Reidings book. The age of the book needed to be published in the past 5 years if it was non-fiction. It also needed to be from a reliable source. I also wanted to make sure that each resource “purchased” would add something to the collection. To ensure that I was making wise purchases I consulted book reviews of magazines and journals. While I was not able to find reviews for all the books I did find more than I expected. Since I am on maternity leave at home I could only rely on online catalogues to “purchase” from. The first thing I found out was the distributor websites are often difficult to navigate and either do not offer online pricing without an account or they do have a link to their catalog online. The second issue that made this assignment more difficult than I had anticipated was at least from the online catalogues there is not much to order on the topic that I picked. Initially when I was looking for books, videos and other resources on the topic of Canada I was only able to “spend” $450 dollars of my budget. My immediate thought was, “I guess that is why there are not many resources in the school library on this topic.” I then broadened my purchases to include mapping as a topic area. Mapping falls under Human and Physical Environment in the B.C. Elementary curriculum and is an area of study from Kindergarten to Grade 5. This is an area of the library catalog I discovered was lacking when I completed the Collection Evaluation Assignment. My budget “spent” at the end was $2,087.95 on 28 items.

 

** Conclusion ** While this assignment proved to be the most difficult, it is ultimately the most applicable to the job of a teacher librarian. When spending school funds it is important to know the book collection in the school and understand the needs of the users. When “purchasing” new books for the collection I tried to find titles that where of high interest and low readability. Many titles of books regardless of the awesome content that they provided are beyond the reading level of the students at the school that I teach at. Purchasing high interest and low readability materials ensures that all students have access to the information. I also included a subscription to Discovery Education. Pricey as the subscription may be I think the access to the material is outstanding and in particular as we head into an era of individualized learning invaluable as teachers try to develop curriculum tailored to individual student’s needs and interests.

** Vendor List ** [|Amazon.ca] [|Kids Can Press] [|Crabtree Books] [|Kids National Geographic] [|Library Video Company] [|Discovery Education]

** Book Review Sites ** [|CM Magazine] [|Quill and Quire]

[|School Library Journal]

** References ** Bishop. Kay. (2007). The Collection Program in Schools: Concepts, Practices, and Information Sources. Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited Riedling. Ann. (2005). Reference Skills for the School Library Media Specialist Tools and Tips. Ohio: Linworth Press.