Amy Walker

Collection Development Assignment

FRIT 7134—Spring 2010
February 21, 2010

Description of Site and Learners

According to the Department of Education, Dodge County Middle School serves

a total of 803 students in grades 6-8. There is quiet a bit of diversity among the students.

Out of 803 students, over half of the students are white (469 students). The school

consists of approximately 291 African American students, 18 Hispanic students, and 18

Multi-Racial students. A large proportion of the students at DCMS are economically

disadvantaged (494 students). There are also a large number of students identified as

having a disability (104 students). As a teacher at DCMS, I found the numbers to be a bit

surprising. The school appears to consist of about the same amount of African-American

students as White students. However, it is more obvious that many students are identified

as economically disadvantaged.

Fifty-two faculty members are employed at DCMS and contribute to the school’s

success as a Title I School of Distinction. Dodge County Middle School continuously

strives to provide technological advancements for the betterment of educational

experiences for all students. The library consists of one full time Media Specialist and

one full time Media Clerk.

The media center is located on 7th grade hall and without a small sign above the

door one could easily get the media center confused with a classroom. Our middle school

moved into the old high school 2 years ago and very little work went into renovations for

the media center. With only one entrance and no windows at all, the media specialist is

challenged in providing optimal lighting for students. With a collection of about 27,000
books, the media center provides an average of about 30 books per student; however,

some of the collection is very old and out-dated. The library houses about 10 books for

ESL students but provides reading levels for preK- 12 students due to the diversity

among the population. There are about 700 titles that can be found in the audiovisual

collection. Of the 700 titles, about 100 are more current DVDs.

The media center provides 8 VCR’s and 3 DVD/VCR players available for

teachers to check out. The number of circulations for overhead projectors has decreased

over 75% since the school installed Smart boards in all classrooms. Most teachers prefer

using the smart boards; therefore, the circulation for laptop computers has increased

among teachers. Also in the media center is 8 computer workstations available for

research, AR, and looking up research on Destiny, a SmartBoard, and VCRs for showing

movies on the closed-circuit channels. Our school does not subscribe to literary criticism

databases.

There are twelve 8th grade teachers at Dodge County Middle School this year.

There are three special education collaboration rooms, all of which teach a maximum of 7

students. One team of 4 teachers teach gifted students and one team of 5 teachers teach

inclusion. Some of the students are cross-teamed, but all teachers that teach inclusion co-

teach with one special education teacher. All classes on the 5-teacher team teach about

30 students in each class and the teachers on the 4-member team (gifted) teach around 21

students per class.

Eighth grade students make up a very diverse population of students. The reading

levels among students vary from k-12+. There are 2 ESOL students, both of whom are

fluent English speakers, yet struggle with reading comprehension. These students need
lower level books and class accommodations for assignments. There are approximately

36 eighth grade students identified with special needs.

Curriculum Review

For this project, I have chosen to focus on Georgia authors. I would primarily

like to focus on books written by Georgia authors. This subject is taught in the 8th grade.

The following standard is addressed within this unit:

ELA8R4—The student acquires knowledge of Georgia authors and significant text

created by them. The student:

a.Identifies a variety of Georgia authors both male and female.

b.Identifies authors’ connections to Georgia through a variety of materials including
electronic media.
c.Identifies award winning Georgia authors.
d.Examines texts from different genres (e.g. picture books, poetry, short stories, novels,
essays, informational writing, and dramatic literature) created by Georgia authors.
e.Relates literary works created by Georgia authors to historical settings and or events.
f.Explains how Georgia is reflected in a literary work through setting, characterization,
historical context, or current events.
g.Evaluates recurring or similar themes across a variety of selections written by Georgia
authors, distinguishing theme from topic.

Standard Concept Tasks/Activities/Products Resources

ELA8R4 Georgia  Identify a variety of Georgia 1. Computer lab

Authors authors using the following for research
criteria: authors who were born
in Georgia or have lived in 2. The Birthday
Georgia for at least 5 years. Book:
Organize the information by Birthdates,
writing the name, type of genre Birthplaces, and
written by the author, and Biographical
author’s birth place. Sources for
 Identify authors’ connections to American
Georgia using a computer with Authors and
access to a WebQuest and search Illustrators of
engines. Children's Books
 Identify award winning Georgia by Mary H.
 authors using a computer with Munroe, Judith
internet access. Choose one Banja
author to research and read a
piece of literature written by that 3. Computer lab/
author to write a research paper computers with
using APA style citations. internet access.
 Locate and read at least one of
each of the following (must be 4. Various
written by a Georgia author): websites about
picture book, poem, short story, Ga. Authors.
novel, essay, informational
writing, dramatic literature. 5. All resources
Write a review about each genre, found in the
noting the author and year of media center
publication. pertaining to this
 Relate literary works created by topic will be
Georgia authors to historical utilized in this
settings or events. Note the activity.
historical event and utilize the
Georgia history textbook to 6. Georgia
compare and contrasts History
information from the literary textbooks
work to information found in the
textbook. 7. Resources
 Identify the setting, from media
characterization, historical center
context, and current event (if
applicable) of a literary work, 8. Computer lab,
explaining how Georgia is Inspiration
reflected in the literary work. Software, literary
Students will complete this work of choice
information in the computer lab
using a graphic organizer of 9. Model of
choice from inspiration.com. graphic organizer
The completed graphic organizer and rubric for
will be printed in the computer students to refer
lab. to when
 Evaluate recurring themes (civil completing
war) found in poetry, novels, assignment.
essays, picture books, short
stories, information nonfiction, 10. Computer
or plays written by Georgia with access to
authors. Students will document PowerPoint
how the civil war (or recurring software;
theme identified) is depicted in Georgia history
multiple formats of literature and textbooks
 create a PowerPoint presentation
to present the information to 11. Books,
their class. videos, or
websites about
Ga. History.

Collection Review

After a trip to the media center and a short interview with the media specialist, I

began to search for as much information about Georgia authors as I could locate within

the media center itself. The media center is organized into fiction and nonfiction books.

On one side of the media center is fictional books. Fictional books are organized by the

author’s last name from A to Z. These books are separated from non-fictional books by

computer workstations.

Non-fiction books are further broken down into categories and are organized and

labeled with the Dewey decimal range that is found in that aisle. All shelves are labeled

with the Dewey decimal numbers that can be found on that shelf. Easy books are located

on the outside row of the non-fiction section and are labeled “Picture Books”. Each

book, unless outdated, is labeled with book level and points.

All reference books are shelved away from the fiction and non-fiction section. The

SmartBoard and 6 student tables separate the reference books from all other books.

When searching for books related to my curriculum, I found that these books were

scattered throughout the media center. All genres were found in each respective area of

the media center for that type of literature. Most of the books that I located, including

fictional books, were very old and looked worn out. Some of the nonfiction books were

old, but had very little wear and tear damage to the book. These books are probably not

used very often and may not be of high interest to the students at the school. Many of the

books found in the media center are older reading selections and should be replaced. The
media specialist informed me that due to the budget, this isn’t possible; therefore, she

doesn’t like to weed any books unless absolutely necessary.

Using the phrase “Georgia authors,” I found 72 books available in the library. I

found 23 nonfiction books, 47 fiction books, and 2 reference books. I also found 2

videos and 1 DVD; however, the videos were about Georgia, not Georgia authors. Given

the amount of books available to use in the media center, 72 books is not a lot of

resources to utilize. Also, given the declining budget over the past few years, the media

specialist informed me that she has ordered very few books and devoted most of the

media center’s financial allotment to technology. The books that were available were

older reading selections dating back to 1912. I plan to address this within my budget plan

and provide students with more current books written by Georgia authors.

After locating these books, I decided to determine circulation of the books in the

library and to determine the circulation of the books in this curriculum area. The media

center houses a total of 27,000. The media specialist printed multiple reports for me to

analyze. In my review of the reports, I found that items in the media center were checked

out a total of 28,700 times during the 2008-2009 school year. This averages to a

checkout total of about 1.06 times per book. Books written by Georgia authors can be

found in all sections of the media center, making a thorough analysis of their checkout

history difficult to determine. Since most non-fiction books are located in the 900 section

of the media center, I researched the circulation for this section alone. Data suggests that

there are 9,751 books available for checkout from this section alone. Of this amount, 23

books can be used in my content area. During the 2008-2009 school year, nonfiction

books were checked out 12,000 times. This calculates to an average of 1.23 checkouts
per book. This is not a very high number when considering the quantity of books

available in comparison to the entire collection in the media center.

Next, I needed to determine how closely these books matched the required

curriculum. Most books written by Georgia authors were fictional. Books were provided

on information about famous people from Georgia. There was one book found that

provided the reader with information about the Okefinokee Swamp in Georgia (written

by Maribelle Cormack). However, there were few books that provided accounts written

by Georgia authors that focus on this state during the Civil War. I plan to focus on this

area as I research available books and resources for my budget plan.

The last aspect of my review dealt with the focus of historical significance found

in the books. There are numerous Georgia authors, but I wanted to see how many of

Georgia’s authors wrote about the place that they call home. I was curious to know how

many books written by Georgia authors were influenced by this state and if it accurately

portrayed Georgia. I have lived in Georgia all of my life (30 years) and I’ve visited many

places in my home state. I wanted to know what students could learn about the state in

which they live when reading the materials found in the media center. I was actually

discouraged when I researched this area because most of the books written by Georgia

authors that can be found in the media center actually have nothing to do with the

historical significance of this state. There were only 3 books that I categorized as being

able to fit under this description. I was also unable to locate any e-books, books included

in the media center’s audiovisual collection, or books in Spanish that were written by

Georgia authors (including translated versions of English books). Books that focus on

the historical significance of Georgia will also be a focus in my budget plan.

 Summary of collection needs:

1. Choose a wide variety of books from all genres of literature in order to supply an

abundance of books written by Georgia authors.

2. Locate e-books written by Georgia authors and provide books to include in the

media center’s audiovisual collection.

3. Choose a large supply of books that have been published within the last 5 years.

Some resources need to be older selections to provide for personal accounts and

memoirs of Georgia authors. However, I will try to provide a more current

selection of fictional books by Georgia authors.

4. Choose books that focus on the historical significance of Georgia and can be used

not only as resources, but also in the Georgia history classroom to make

connections between content taught and Georgia authors.

Budget Summary

After researching this topic using multiple book vendors, I have found a very

diverse list of books that can greatly enhance the resources found within the media

center. In order to complete this, I have determined that I will need $3,914.18. I have

found many relevant titles pertaining to this topic area. I have attempted to cover each

element of the standard with a book, reference book, website…etc. The attached Excel

spreadsheet displays all of the titles that I have chosen for this assignment. I also found

several websites that can be utilized when working within this unit. These websites can

be accessed using the wiki found on http://readgeorgiaauthors.pbworks.com/.