[CASL-L] Media Center reduction

[Cathy Andronik]

Two years ago our district administration presented us with a similar request, though it was to begin the process of changing to the Library Learning Commons Model.  Central Office handed the librarians at the two high schools in town a detailed plan of what needed to be done by all parties, a timeline, etc.  First step was for the high school libraries to weed the collections in a HUGE way to eliminate out-of-date materials--STEM books more than 5 years old, etc.  (Keep in mind that this was after 3 years of no budget for new materials, so pretty much ALL of the STEM collection fell into that category.)  They even got into our Follett records and printed lists of the books they wanted us to discard.  (Let's just say I took that list as a suggestion rather than a command, since after 13 years at the school I know what gets used again and again.)  So my colleague at the other high school and I began the extremely aggressive weeding/discard process.  We got rid of THOUSANDS of books in the final weeks of 2013-2014.  My collection dropped from 25,000 to about 14,000 for a school of 1700 students.  Our shelves were DECIMATED.  The original C.O.  plan was that the empty shelves would be removed to create multi-use spaces.  We're now two years down the road and all we've got are empty shelves and fewer books.  Again and again, we asked C.O. whether we'd get a functional budget to replace all the items we were discarding, with print or e- materials.  Two years now, that hasn't happened, either.  The timeline we were given of all the things C.O. was going to bring in to create a real Learning Commons, especially some incredible tech?  Nothing.  All that's gotten done was Step 1:  Weed.  

Weeding is not necessarily a negative thing.  I know we had outdated things on the shelves, and it actually felt good to get some of them out of circulation in one huge sweep.  However, we did this on the assumption that there would be an opportunity, and money, to replace the weeded materials with new books or ebooks rather than just dump.  

Whatever circ system you use, run a report on outdated books that you would likely be weeding.  Do a search of up-to-date replacements, including both print and ebooks depending on which you think would be used most by given courses, and determine the cost of this collection development.  Stress to your administration that THIS needs to be considered in determining the real cost of the project they have in mind.  Make sure they are ready to make that financial commitment.

When we were designing our new library space 10 years ago, one thing we asked for were three small conference rooms seating 8-10.  They are now constantly in use.  Just yesterday I had kids recording podcasts, and we were using the "little rooms" as recording studios.  I meet with my book club in one of the rooms.  Trust me, from being used "occasionally," conference/seminar rooms will become mainstays.

Good luck!

Cathy Andronik
Teacher Librarian
Brien McMahon HS
Norwalk
--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 11/20/15, Luddy, Jean <JLUDDY at swindsor.k12.ct.us> wrote:

 Subject: [CASL-L] Media Center reduction
 To: "casl-l at mylist.net" <casl-l at mylist.net>
 Date: Friday, November 20, 2015, 8:52 AM
 
  
    Administration has approached me with a
 proposal to add a seminar room to the Media Center. The plan
 would involve removing half of the book shelves, in effect
 half of the print collection. There is not enough room in
 the rest of the facility to shelf the books. So I would have
 to discard a huge amount of books. The seminar room would be
 used on an occasional basis and books could not be shelved
 in the space. If additional shelving is installed in the
 rest of the facility, student seating will have to be given
 up. This room will also take away from the overall useable
 square footage of the Media Center.
      I am gathering information about
 collection size, student population and facility size to
 support my argument that this change will have a serious
 impact on library media service to students. Our school is
 in DRG B so information from those schools will be very
 helpful.
       We have expanded our holdings in the
 Gale Virtual Library and we have a collection of ebooks in
 Follett Shelf. However print still plays a role in student
 learning.
      I have been following the recent
 discussion on collection size and student population. These
 emails have given me some avenues to pursue
      Any other thoughts for strategies
 to discourage this idea will be appreciated.
                
 Thanks for any suggestions and information!
                
           Jean
 
 Jean Luddy
 Library Media Specialist
 South Windsor High School
 860-474-1456
 
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