Whitefish High School Library Collection Development Policy May, 2011 A. Introduction 1. Mission Statement:

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1 Whitefish High School Library Collection Development Policy May, 2011 A. Introduction 1. Mission Statement: Our mission is to teach library media skills within a library media curriculum so that students can successfully organize, analyze, interpret and synthesize information for class work. We strive to involve students in, and be advocates of, the art of literature, reading, writing, and lifelong learning. These skills are for a student s preparation for higher education and/or as a future member of the workforce. Library s Role in the Community The Library s role in the community is to provide its high school students with the finest library media services possible. The library seeks to work with the Whitefish Community Library and the Montana State Library to provide students with resources they cannot get within the school district. The Montana State Library provides resources such as EBSCO databases and Homework Montana. The library also serves local community patrons at their request. These patrons typically are members of community organizations, former students, or parents of students. 2. Purpose of the Policy The purpose of this policy is to analyze the collection and assess areas of its strengths and weaknesses. It will be used as a tool to define future areas of the collection that should be addressed in terms of subject area and format. With this tool, the library can continue to be responsive to our patrons. 3. Community and User Groups Defined Whitefish, Montana is located in northwestern Montana and has a population in the city limits of 8281 according to the 2008 census. Located in Flathead County, it is located sixteen miles north of the county seat of Kalispell. The economic base of Whitefish is mainly in tourism, timber and service industries. The Whitefish High School currently has a population of 670 students and serves grades Approximately 2000 students go to the Whitefish School District, grades K- 12. High School students generally range in age from The school is considered a Class A school within the parameters of MSBA schools. It, therefore, can be described as a medium-sized school district. There are 40 members of the faculty. Primary users: Students a) a) Ages: b) b) Education levels: grades 9-12 c) c) Occupations: Students (some part/time workers) d) d) Numbers: 670 e) e) Frequency of use: 25,000/year or about 200/day

2 f) f) Reasons for use: Class units, class research, recreation Secondary users: Faculty a) a) Ages: (approximately) b) b) Education levels: B.A. to Ed. D. c) c) Occupations: Teachers: Special Ed., Guidance, Librarians, Student teachers d) d) Number: 44 Faculty e) e) Frequency of use: Two-thirds of the faculty use the library with their classes every year. Occasional users: Administration, support staff, public, library volunteers, meeting place a) a) Ages: (approximately) b) b) Education levels: High School to Ed. D. c) c) Occupations: Administration, clerical, janitorial, general work force, retirees d) d) Number: 11 (in school), 6 (public) e) e) Frequency of use: occasional f) f) Reasons: Reference, recreational, community meetings, equipment loans 4. Patrons Needs and Services/Programs Defined Primary user needs: Students Educational: Book chat/appreciation of literature, library citizenship, media literacy. (Montana Library Standards) Recreational: Students, grades 9-12 have recreational needs, primarily in the area of fiction (40% of circulation) and periodicals (5% of circulation), recreational non-fiction (health, sports). Research: Research needs is for class units in collaboration with teachers. Total class units were 111 in school year. Total classes were 623 during the same school year. Internet Access: Internet access in two labs, automated catalog to the collection, software and hardware to present research. Access to online databases. Librarians help students to meet Montana education standards. Secondary users: Faculty Educational: Library is a media center that supports teachers with computer lab, instructional media equipment and bibliographic and curricular support for classroom units.

3 Services and Programs Defined 1. Bibliographic Instruction (Information Skills) Formal sessions with 9 th graders, included with their English or History class work or in isolation. Pretest given to ninth graders and exit testing to 12 th graders based on the Montana Office of Public Instruction standards for library/ media. 2. Research units (Approximately 100 per year) Units focus on English, Social Studies, and Science, and extend to Foreign Language, Business, Mathematics, Home Economics, and Health. 3. Book Chats The librarians conduct one-on-one book chats with students in 9 th and 11 th grades in English and History classes. These talks are based on the students understanding of plot, theme, character, setting and how the book relates to them personally. These personal dialogues help us in the following ways: Learn what books the students are interested in Learn second-hand about the books. We can then order the books based on their recommendations Get to know the students through their reading 4. Readers Club The Library sponsors a Readers Club, which meets once per month. The club usually attracts fifteen members at each meeting. We use the Pacific Northwest Library Association s recommended senior list of books for members to read. We also incorporate Book One from the Montana Center for the Book. The Club hosts local authors when available. The Club has open membership and includes students, librarians, and faculty members. Pins are awarded to active members at the close of each year. The local PTA and concession sales support the funding of the program. 5. Database Searching The Library provides database searching for the following products: CountryWatch for information on countries CQ Researcher for information on current political and social issues Infotrac for an index and full-text to periodicals World Book Online encyclopedia Opposing Viewpoints for political, social and environmental issues. 6. General Public Library materials such as books and videos may be checked out to residents of the District. Audio/visual equipment may be checked out upon written request for community functions. 7. Technical Assistance for teachers and students We provide assistance for teachers and students in the following ways:

4 1. 1. Teach students in the use of : a. a. software programs b. b. electronic catalog. c. c. newspaper and magazine online indexes d. d. online database programs. e. e. ESRI/GIS research f. f. internet etiquette g. g. image scanning technology h. file management i. i. printer maintenance j. general troubleshooting 2. Montana Heritage Project: a. Create PowerPoint presentations for the Whitefish community b. Burn CD s c. Provide recording equipment and space for personal interviews 8. Technology Access We provide access to two computer labs and a min-lab in the library as well as a station to scan photographs. The library is equipped with cable and satellite television. Teachers may check out digital cameras, camcorders, laptops and video projectors for their classroom use. Needs not currently being met: 1. The Library would like to increase collaboration with teachers in order to meet the Montana library/media standards. 2. Students and teachers need to have more access to audio CDs, especially for special education students and recreational uses. 3. Our Inter-library loan process could be improved by adopting the Web ILL product. 4. Community does not have access to the high school s collection via the WWW. 5. The library s Web page needs to be updated by linking to local newspapers and the Flathead County Library more easily. 6. Students should have access to adequate presentation, photo and sound editing software, for example, Photoshop Elements. 7. Students need to be taught media literacy skills, especially copyright issues, as per the Montana OPI standards. 5. Brief Statement Describing the Collection: Our Collection has approximately 13,700 volumes. We usually purchase about titles per school year. This year we purchased approximately 700 items or 5% of our collection. We primarily collect print materials for reading levels, grades 6 to 12, concentrating on grades We also collect fiction for adults that advanced young adult readers would enjoy and use for research.

5 6. Cooperative Collection Management and Inter-library Loan Inter-library loan accounts for less than 1% of circulation. The Library had 19 transactions of which 5 requests were from other libraries and 14 requests were from our library patrons. Inter-library loan is considered a very valuable supplement to the collection, not a substitute for the collection. Currently, we borrow books using the OCLC s LaserCat. With LaserCat ending next year we will plan to use Web-ILL in the future as soon as a librarian is trained. We have no deposit collection arrangements with other libraries. Purchases are made in relation to perceived need of students to obtain materials within our library. Our purpose is to have materials readily available for students in our library. Subscription databases that are too expensive are not considered. We do not rely on ILL for support of patrons primary needs. I would estimate that one-half of our collection is on LaserCat (6000 titles). B. General Priorities, Limitations and Policies 1. Chronological Coverage Currency: According to the attached figures, the library contains, according to published date, the following: Section Ave. Age Biography 1984 Faculty 1997 Fiction 1987 Non-Print 1991 Reference 1987 Older publications are sometimes kept for research purposes, especially in history and literature. This year we have weeded some of the 700s and all of the 900s. We are in the process of weeding the Fiction section. 2. Formats

6 The library collects books, periodicals, newspapers (for approximately one month), audio cassettes, videotapes, computer software, audio and digital CD-ROMs and DVDs. We are currently buying both VHS and DVD formats with the thought that we are moving toward DVD. Paperbacks are collected as well as textbooks from teachers. We also use five online databases: CountryWatch,Congressional Quarterly Online, World Book, Opposing Viewpoints and Infotrac. We also provide access to satellite (analog and digital) and cable television. Cable television programs are recorded for teachers upon request. Monthly listings of recommended shows are circulated for the teachers for their information. All copyright guidelines are observed. Most videos are purchased for teacher-guided units and are purchased for the high school level of interest and knowledge base. 3. Multiple Copies Large print or microforms are not purchased. We generally do not purchase duplicates. We only purchase items that are heavily used such as the Shakespeare Made Easy series or inexpensive videotapes that multiple teachers request for the same time period. We also purchase dupliates of titles where theft or wear and tear is a concern such as the school s yearbook or popular fiction. 4. Languages We teach both Spanish and French at the high school. We purchase three foreign language magazines: C est Facile, Mome, and Paris Match. We have purchased videotapes for French and Spanish classes as well as fiction that is in a foreign language. 5. Funding Considerations Librarians are responsible for presenting a proposed budget to the administration at the beginning of the budget cycle (February of the previous fiscal year). Funding for the school is tied to enrollment, but library funding is not tied to a per pupil expenditure formula, per OPI standards. Our budget has approximately doubled in the past seventeen years. Our current budget is $26,000. We do not receive Title IV monies. We have received a grant from the Montana Heritage Project for $1500 for the purchase of print reference books. This funding is expected for as well. The local PTA donated $800 toward the purchase of paperbacks for our Reader s Club program in Collection Responsibilities and Selection Procedures: The two full-time librarians select materials. (OPI requires one and a half librarians for a school of our size.) We take recommendations from faculty and students. We spend almost all of our school non-print allocation on video requests from the teachers.

7 The process for selection is provided in the attached school board policy which was revised and approved by the Board of Trustees in The procedure for ordering books involves reviewing journals: School Library Journal, Booklist, Library Media Connection, etc. and adding titles through online book catalogs. We also consider teacher and student requests. We order books in the fall and buy a smaller amount, 20% or so, in the spring. We primarily rely on journals and Amazon.com s website to support our purchases due to concern regarding censorship. The criteria we use for purchase is to support the standards-based curriculum of the Whitefish High School. We document the curricular units supported by the library and purchase materials to support those units. (See addendum) We purchase fiction to support the curriculum as well as to appeal to the recreational needs of the students, and to a lesser extent, the teachers. We purchase some books from the local bookstore as well as from Baker and Taylor. 7. Gifts Policy We will accept anything offered by the public but we stress that according to board policy we are not obligated to keep it. We would add material if it had historical importance. If gifts are not usable they are retained for a short period and then given to the public library. Both librarians make a decision regarding the suitability regarding gifts in regards to age of material, its attractiveness, and suitability to the collection. We do not appraise gifts and therefore only send confirmation of the titles and number of items, not the value. We have received small donations from townspeople and former teachers. A program of donating a book to the library in a retiree s name has been a tradition for several years. 8. Collection Maintenance We generally weed books on rotational basis each year. We have weeded in the 700s, 900s and fiction sections this year. We need to because studies have shown that weeding actually increases the circulation of the collection. We generally weed when we feel that some materials are outdated and we go by subject area. We use the following criteria for weeding: if the book has not circulated in five years and is ten years old has outdated material, or lost its attractiveness We hope to complete the weeding of the fiction area this year. We then show the weeded books to teachers who may want them in their areas and/or take them to the public library for their annual sale. We discard magazines after five years, newspapers after one or two months due to space limitations and lack of interest. We keep a section of bound Newsweek and Time magazines for a decades unit in history.

8 We keep Montana books that may be somewhat out of date due to local importance and as per the request of the state library. We rebind and repair materials that are of current use and replace items that get heavy use and are beyond repair and/or have lost pages. 9. Complaints and Censorship One of the challenges of being a librarian in our town is that it is so diverse in its viewpoint. We have both the extreme liberals as well as the extreme conservatives. We have current board policy that I am in the process of trying to get revised. It does not adequately provide for the input necessary for a good reconsideration process. I am in touch with the superintendent to revise it. Actually, our old school board policy was better, but with the advent of a standardized board policy revision, the policy was removed. We have not had any informal or formal complaints from staff, parents, or townspeople in about ten years. I believe the Internet is responsible for this to a certain extent. We have an Acceptable Use Policy at the district level that controls, to a certain extent, student use of non-school related information. (See addendum)

9 C. Subject Areas Collected 1. Subjects: Defined by Dewey hundreds. After consideration of the different approaches to define the needs of this collection, we have decided to categorize the broad classification number categories by Dewey hundreds. We have catalogued the 111 units presented in the library within the past year and a half so that we can project our collection needs to the curricular needs of the school. 2. Present Collection Levels 000 s % of collection Strength AV 1 Various formats World Book Online Weakness Per. 14 Heavily used None Ref. 17 Montana Heritage Project grant additional materials Promote remote access Encarta 1999 CD Outdated Reader s Guide Video Need Goldwave or sound editing software Perhaps update 83 print Britannica Update 02 World Book Discard Academic Americana Books <1% Relatively up-to-date Update Collection 100 s AV 2 Recently acquired titles None Per. 0 Plan to order Psychology Today Ref. 1 Three new title purchases Update philosophy Books 1.2% Good range of materials Slightly out of date 200 s AV 3 Supports Comparative Religion None section Per. <1 Christian Science Monitor No other titles Ref. 1 Comprehensive collection Update Religions of the World series Books 1 Reasonably comprehensive Replace older titles 300 s

10 AV 12 Reasonably up-to-date Update Power Game series Per. 7 Includes CQ Researcher online and None professional journals Ref. 18 Opposing Viewpoints Online Weeding and updating, esp re new SAT tests Books 10.4 Reasonably comprehensive Update Opposing Viewpoints Print series 400 s AV 1 Recent titles Need to communicate w/teachers re Destinos, pop. videos, books on tape Per. 3 Good support for French Need Spanish Ref. 11 New Am. Heritage dictionaries None Books <1 Supports demand, textbooks on reserve Description: Minimal Better communication w/teachers re their needs 500 s AV 7 Recent titles added Needs weeding Per. 2 Good cross section of titles None Ref. 7 Basic collection Needs weeding and updating Books 4.1 Updated collection Needs weeding 600 s AV 9 Good collection Some need re-cataloging Per. 18 Good collection None Ref. 5 Meets needs Needs weeding: New Drug set and technology titles Books 4.5 Good cross section Needs updating 700 s AV 6 Basic Collection Communicate w/drama teacher re updating Per. 30 Strong circulation Update Ref. 3 Basic sources Update Sports Almanac Books 4.6 Good coverage Needs updating

11 800 s AV 14 Strong Shakespeare collection Update Per. 5 Basic list; acquired English Journal None Ref. 8 Basic Needs updating Books 8 Strong Collection Needs weeding and updating 900 s AV 23 Strong collection None Per. 10 Good collection None Ref. 28 Strong collection None Books 14.3 Strong, basic collection; weeded this year None BIO AV 6 Strong, basic Needs diversity Per. N/A N/A N/A Ref. N/A N/A N/A Books 6.1 Strong collection Need popular subjects FIC AV 16 Strong, basic collection More student oriented Per. N/A N/A N/A Ref. N/A N/A N/A Books 24.5 Basic Collection Needs new titles and weeding 3. Future acquisitions levels or goals Changes Priority Time Action Frame 000 s Update 83 print Britannica Purchase Update World Book Purchase Discard 98 Americana Replace Add sound-editing software Purchase 100 s Order Psychology Today Purchase Update philosophy titles in Purchase reference 200 s Religions of the World series Purchase

12 300 s New government videos Purchase Update CQ Press Books Purchase Update College Prep materials Purchase Update Opposing Viewpoints series Purchase 400 s Talk w/foreign language teachers re Destinos series, popular movies, books on tapes and Spanish magazine Pictorial dictionaries Purchase 500 s No action 600 s Update drug reference set Purchase Update and weed technology ½ Purchase reference 700 s Update AV drama/tech area Purchase Add updated Sports Almanac Purchase 800 s Update drama books Purchase 900 s No action BIO Need more popular subjects, weed Purchase and weed 4. Special Collections: FIC Continue to add popular fiction Purchase We discourage the use of non-circulating materials in our library. We do keep a set of Whitefish High School annuals dating from the 50s that circulate upon request. We have a set of scrapbooks documenting student life from local newspapers from 1988 to the present. We also have copies of the student newspaper from the 1930s to the present.

13 D. Policy Implementation, Evaluation, and Revision The librarians will evaluate this policy every three years. We anticipate going through the same process: collecting data from our Follett software program in regards to currency, reviewing circulation statistics and collection percentages. Other sources of information are available in annual reports and with students. We plan to revise this document in March, Librarian Librarian Principal Superintendent Chair, Board of Trustees Date Date Date Date Date

14 Appendices: 1. Collection Age by Call Number 2. Category Statistics 3. Collection Statistics 4. Whitefish High School Library Units Whitefish High School Library Units related to Corresponding Dewey # and the percentage of those areas of study in relation to entire library unit curriculum. 6. Whitefish School District Board Policy on Selection 7. Whitefish School District Board Policy on Reconsideration 8. Whitefish High School Acceptable Use Policy 9. Worksheet for statistical analysis