Current+Collection+Data

=Collection Analysis=

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Collection Report Analysis:
In the Smiths Station Elementary School collection analysis, there are 555,448 books in this collection with an average publishing date of 1992. We will be focusing on the 500s because this section has the greatest weaknesses and aligns with the needs of the school improvement plan. The Mathematics section (the 510s) has an average copyright date of 1996. There are only 113 books in this section, which makes up approximately 0.71% of the overall collection. The Life Sciences/ Biology section (the 570s) has an average copyright date of 1995. The Life Sciences/ Biology collection has 100 items, and makes up approximately 0.63% of the overall collection. The Plants section (580s) has an average copyright date of 1988. There are 82 items in this section, which makes up approximately 0.52% of the overall collection. Some other areas with weaknesses include the reference collection, which has no books reported in this section. Another weakness is the Professional section where the average copyright date is 1998. There are only 51 books in the professional section, which makes up approximately 0.32% of the overall collection. Another issue of interest that arises from the data is the number of Easy books. The average copyright date of the Easy books is 1989 and there are a reported 7220 books in this section, which makes up approximately 45.35% of the overall collection. When discussing this with Christy, she said that many of these books must be misclassified as Easy books. .

When talking to Christy about the weaknesses of the science collection, she informed us science is not usually taught in the classrooms unless it can be tied into a reading lesson. Smiths Station Elementary does not have a science program taught by the teachers since a formal textbook curriculum has not been adopted and the school faculty is currently focused on improving standardized test scores. We think in strengthening the science sections in the library, this may encourage teachers to do more supplementing of their lessons with science to meet curriculum requirements for the Alabama Course of Study. While most items selected will be of an informational (non-fiction) nature, some fiction items will be selected to incorporate science/math into the current reading curriculum. Christy has asked us to focus primarily on the 580s (Plants), but has also asked us to include items on animals, mathematics, the solar system, and professional resources.