Mallory Goetz

Artifact #5: Collection Map

Description of Project

The Collection Map was an assignment which required a lot of time sitting near the shelves evaluating books!  In the Smiley Middle School library, I chose to focus on mapping the General Fiction section and the Dewey 300s.  In addition to these general areas, I looked at books on the topics of mythology, Holocaust literature, earth science, and geography in order to evaluate how well the library supported these areas of curriculum.  I looked at each section and evaluated them for collection size compared to the size of the student body and the quality of the materials based on a 4-point quality rating.

Professional Reflection

The biggest thing I learned while doing this project was the importance of keeping your library up to date! The Smiley library was in pretty bad shape.  The number of books was very low compared to the amount of students who were supposed to be accessing the library, the materials that were there were out of date, and materials, ultimately, did not support the curriculum.  This project went hand-in-hand with my earlier project of a user needs survey.  Students were asked what they were getting from the library and what they wanted from it.  Students overwhelmingly said they simply were not using the library at all because it was outdated and did not, “have anything good,” in it.

A library that is not kept up-to-date is not serving its users.  Like in the Smiley library, I learned very quickly that kids are not going to pick up a book that look like it has been molding on the shelf for the last 20-years—even if it is a wonderful book.  I took this lesson with me to my current position as the librarian at the International School of Panama and one of the very first things I did was to weed.  ISP had a similar problem to Smiley—lots of outdated, low-quality books and content of those books did not match the school’s curriculum needs. Because of this project, I knew that in order to make the library a well-used space I would need to address the problem of my collection. This project made it possible for me to put the collection map strategy and knowledge into use.  My library is now a very busy place and book checkout is 75% higher than it was the year before!

This Collection Map project has definitely directly impacted my career as a librarian right from the start! Proof of the collection map strategy, weeding, and adding to the collection working, a student said, “Wow, this place is actually starting to get cool—you actually have things I want to read;”  high praise from an 11^th grader.

Demonstrated Competencies

1: Reflective Practice

This Collection Map is a wonderful tool for solving collection issues.  It actually gets to the heart of what is not working in the collection and giving you a starting point for then how to fix the collection like I was able to do at ISP.

2: Program Analysis and Planning

This project helps me develop the library program by providing quality materials to students and constantly revising the collection to keep it at its best and most useful.

3: Design and Development

The Collection Map develops the collection in a very deliberate way—making sure that the collection supports teacher needs by aligning to the curriculum and that it supports student needs by being kept current and appropriate.

4: Evaluation and Assessment

The Collection Map also allowed me to evaluate the effectiveness of the library program.  It was easy to see that the collection was not effectively reaching students or the curriculum at Smiley Middle School.

6: Management

The data provided by the Collection Map helps to improve the library program and helps me as the librarian to change the collection itself and to change the way the collection is seen.  Student perception of the collection is almost like a part of the collection itself.  If the student perceives the collection as useless, then they will never come in and use the library or the collection. If students perceive the collection as useful and current then they will use it—even if there is a book or two that does not look the part.