Christie Edwards Durden

Collection Development Assignment

ITEC 7134 Spring 2008

Ebenezer Middle School is a rural school in the Effingham County School district. The 114
faculty and staff members of Ebenezer Middle School serve 948 students in grades 6-8. Of the 114
faculty and staff, 38 are regular academic teachers, 9 are teachers of elective courses, 10 are special
education teachers, and 4 are gifted and talented teachers. The population of students can be broken
down as follows: 16 Asian, 23 Hispanic, 18 multiracial, 182 Black, 3 American Indian, and 708
White. Within the population 116 students receive gifted and talented services, 100 receive special
education services and 5 receive English as a second language services. Reading levels within the
student population range from first to twelfth grade as indicated by Accelerated Reader reports. The
socioeconomic status of the student population is from low income to middle income families. 30%
of students receive free or reduced lunch as compares to the state average of 50% (NCES,
2/23/2008).
Ebenezer Middle is a relatively new school. It has only been in operation for 7 years. Although it
is a new school, it has several strengths in regard to its media collection. As of the last analysis by
Titlewise Collection Analysis of our media center’s total collection we currently have 9374 titles for
an average of 9.8 books per student. Although the average age of the titles in our entire collection is
1997, the collection is in relatively good physical condition (Titlewise, 02/24/08). Ebenezer also
subscribes to United Streaming, Brain Pop, and several magazine publications including Current
Science, Time, and Discover among others. Ebenezer does not, however, subscribe to a literary
criticism database. In addition the school has a mobile lab with 28 laptops and ten stationary
computers all of which have internet access.
The unit of study that I have decided to focus on is global warming and climate change. All
grade levels and subject levels have implemented the new GPS and have aligned the appropriate
curriculum to be taught. As part of the GPS, all subjects have a reading requirement in which
students must read across multiple subject areas and disciplines to form opinions (G.D.E, 02/24/08).
More specifically, all language arts classes have a research standard in which students must use
research to support ideas in their writing. As part of their curriculum, language arts teachers at
Ebenezer Middle require their students to complete a research project. In the past, many students
have chosen global warming or climate change as their focus. Others have chosen environmental
issues like pollution and alternative energy sources.
Social studies and science would obviously receive the most benefit from this collection of
material. From 6th to 8th grade all social studies classes take a look at how humans are causing global
change. Specific GPS standards require 6th thru 8th graders to explain the effects of human activity on
the erosion of the earth's surface, describe methods for conserving natural resources such as water,
soil, and air, explain the impact of global warming and air pollution, explain environmental
problems such as overpopulation and flooding, and evaluate the impact of economic growth on the
environment (G.D.E. 02/24/08). Science students in all grades are also asked to evaluate the impact
that humans have on the environment (G.D.E. 02/24/08). The 6th grade GPS asks students to describe
conservation methods for soil, water, and air (G.D.E. 02/24/08). 6th grade students at Ebenezer are
required to do a research project on a specific country. As part of their project, most of them include
environmental issues that their country is dealing with. 7th graders are required by GPS to describe
the major terrestrial and aquatic biomes on earth and how humans have impacted each (G.D.E.
02/24/08). As an assessment of an ecology unit, 7th grade teachers at Ebenezer have students create a
biome bazaar. As part of their display students are required to research environmental issues that are
of concern in their assigned biome.
The part of the collection that I have chosen to evaluate would fall mostly under social problems
and services or Dewey Number 360. Information could also be obtained from life, earth, and natural
sciences or Dewey Numbers 570, 550, and 500 respectively. The reference section of our media
center could also be utilized for this unit of study. I believe that the weaknesses of these categories
include the overall number of items as indicated in the data tables below that were taken from
Titlewise. The numbers are as follows: social problems and services 100 items or 1.07% of the entire
collection, life science 115 items or 1.23% of the entire collection, earth science 81 items or .89% of
the entire collection, and natural science 42 items or .45% of the entire collection. The total of 839
items in the general science categories or nearly nine percent of the entire collection is a little
misleading. Over 4% of the titles in these categories are actually dedicated to animals. Another
weakness of this section of the collection is the age of the material. Although higher than the average
age of the entire collection, the categories of social problems and services, life, and earth sciences
with an average age of 1999 and natural science with an average age of 2000 are still rather old
when considering a current topic like global warming and climate change. In addition our general
reference materials have an average age of 1993. I wouldn’t think that reference material from 1993
would have any relevant information on global warming and climate change as it applies to today’s
world. Upon browsing through our catalog of theses categories, another weakness of this section of
the collection includes the very limited number of titles that deal specifically with global warming,
pollution, or climate change. Discussion with the 6th and 7th grade teachers also confirms this
observation. Several teachers voiced concerns that when it was time for the 7th grade biome bazaar
project or the research project for the 6th grade, there were not enough resources as all teachers are
required by our county to stay within the same scope and sequence. The mobile lab must be shared
and there are not enough book titles to effectively split between 3 or more classes. Physical
inspection revealed a strength of this section of the collection: the titles that we do have are in very
good physical condition.
Figure 1: Analysis Overview (Titlewise 02/24/2008)
Collection Information

Date of Analysis 25-Jan-2008 09:24:57

Circulation System Sagebrush InfoCentre
Data Integrity Good: 99.77% holdings recognized
# of Records 9480
# of Holdings 9374
Recognized Call Numbers 9352
Average Age 1997
Enrollment 950
Books per Student 9.84
SACS 10
(Titlewise 02/24/2008)

Figure 2: Natural Sciences/Mathematics - Collection Analysis by 10’s Titlewise (02/24/2008)

The Hundreds Collection Age Items % of collection
500 Natural Sciences/ Mathematics 2000 42 0.45%
510 Mathematics 2000 13 0.14%
520 Astronomy and Allied Sciences 1999 53 0.57%
530 Physics 2000 44 0.47%
540 Chemistry and Allied Sciences 1999 45 0.48%
550 Earth Sciences 1999 81 0.87%
560 Paleontology, Paleozoology 2000 35 0.37%
570 Life Sciences, Biology 1999 115 1.23%
580 Plants 1998 17 0.18%
590 Animals 1999 386 4.13%
Natural Sciences/Mathematics Totals 1999 831 8.89%
(Titlewise 02/24/2008)
Figure 3: Social Science – Collection Analysis by 10’s (Titlewise 02/24/2008)
The Hundreds Collection Age Items % of collection
300 Social Sciences 1999 96 1.03%
310 Collections of General Statistics n/a 0 0
320 Political Science 1998 31 0.33%
330 Economics 1999 54 0.58%
340 Law 1997 51 0.55%
350 Public Admin and Military Science 1998 15 0.16%
360 Social Problems and Services 1999 100 1.07%
370 Education 1999 20 0.21%
380 Commerce, Commun., Transportation 1999 30 0.32%
390 Customs, Etiquette, Folklore 1998 249 2.66%
Social Science Totals 1998 646 6.91%
(Titlewise 02/24/2008)

To improve this section of Ebenezer Middle School’s collection, I decided to focus on purchasing
titles that were up to date and relevant to the new GPS units designed by the teachers. As stated
earlier, the sections of the collection that are most relevant to my unit of study have an average age
of 1999 to 2000. Most of the titles in my consideration file that will be used for student research or
reference have a copyright date of at least 2006 or higher. Also, I have tried to include many titles
that deal specifically with environmental problems like pollution and global warming as that was one
of the weaknesses of the current collection. Although most items that I purchased were informational
or reference books, I also included several teacher resources as well as several fiction books for
interested students. In addition, I have included several books and DVD’s that Spanish students at
Ebenezer would find useful and easy to understand.
References

Common Core of Data for Public Schools (2005-2006). Retrieved February 23, 2008 from
datahttp://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&SchoolID=
130198002550&ID=130198002550

Titlewise Collection Analysis. Retrieved February 28, 2008 from

http://www.titlewave.com/ca/analysis/analysis.pdf?caid=769153&SID=854d7f2336cd
77f8043bc3341680c8e9

Georgia Department of Education (2005-2006). Georgia Performance Standards. Retrieved

February 24, 2008 from http://www.georgiastandards.org/