Part 2.6: Collection evaluation (15% of total grade)
The author is working with the Whitehaven Library, located in Memphis, Tennessee, to expand the Young Adult Fiction collection. The author is employed as the Youth Services Representative at this library, which provides him with access to information about the collection that the public would not normally be able to acquire, information that he can then use for the purposes of this assignment. Much of the information for this assignment has been based on his own personal work experience, internal reports and information gained a large number of community contacts.
The collection evaluation tells the selector the degree to which the existing collection (or your proposed collection) is adequate or meets the needs and wants previously identified. A variety of measures and approaches are used. The greater the variety of evaluative approaches used, the more likely that results will be valid and reliable. Each section below should close with an appropriate conclusion or "so what." 2.6.1 Delimit the existing collection. Count the number of items available on your topic. If dealing with tangible items, transform these absolute numbers into size per numbers using the number of potential users from your community analysis. Discuss the meaning of your number of items per likely user ratio. Using the Community Analysis information gathered from Assignment 2.3, it was estimated that there are 2400 potential circulating teens, 1200 potential circulating adults between the ages of 19-25 years, and 1200 potential circulating adults 55 years and above with a total of 4800 total potential library patrons at the Whitehaven Library (Memphis, 2013, Customer Transacting). There are 890 Young Adult Fiction items available for circulation at the Whitehaven Library (Memphis Public Library, 2013) which translates to 18 items for every 100 library patrons. This is less than ideal as the majority of patrons that circulate Young Adult items typically checkout more than one item at a time (J. Jackson, personal communication, November 18, 2013) and the community analysis does not take into account the interlibrary loans that many patrons make use of to request materials from Whitehaven. In authors experience as the Youth Services Representative, Whitehavens Young Adult Fiction materials are sent via interlibrary transit twice a day with an average of six Young Adult Fiction titles sent. This information was corroborated by the Adult Services Librarian that is also responsible for sending these materials (D. Windham, personal communication, October 18, 2013). There are 150,000 total circulating patrons (Memphis, 2013, Customer Transacting) throughout the Memphis Public Library system and if this total population is taken into account and divided by the 40% target population that was discussed in Assignment 2.3, the number of potential library patrons in the Memphis Public Library system that would desire these materials is closer to 60,000 patrons. This would provide a ratio of 1.5 titles for every 100 patrons, and although this number is somewhat flawed in that these patrons are also being served by other libraries, Whitehaven is still responsible for serving these patrons as well due to the collaboration that all of the libraries in the Memphis Public Library system engage in. In conclusion, additional print materials will be incredibly important in supporting not only the needs of the Whitehaven patrons, but the other patrons throughout the Memphis Public Library system. According to Whitehavens Circulation Representative, customers are likely to check out more than one material at a time and are able to circulate as many as 25 items per library card (J. Jackson, personal communication, October 17, 2013), meaning that this ratio needs to be much higher in order to best support its patrons.
2.6.2 Characterize the existing collection: (1) emphasis--which aspects of your topic receive the most emphasis? (2) degree of difficulty--how easy or difficult is the intellectual content for the likely audience? (3) special features--how many items contain helpful special features? (4) currency-- how many items were issued within the last year? The last five years? (5) format--how many items are available in various formats? Any appropriate formats missing? Where the collection is small, the evaluator should examine the collection on an item by item basis considering the quality and utility of each item and how it relates to current wants/needs. 1. Emphasis In the Memphis Public Library Catalog, genres within Young Adult Fiction are not identified. This makes it very difficult to determine the exact number of titles that each genre contains and the author has had to make use of his experience as the Whitehaven Young Services Representative and his personal knowledge of Young Adult materials to answer this question. The author has also consulted with two heavy readers of Young Adult Fiction (T. Austin, personal communication, November 18, 2013 and R, Flood, personal communication, November 18, 2013) to provide a balanced perspective. Books with fantasy elements are estimated to account for approximately 70% of the collection; this includes titles such as Paranormal Romances, High Fantasy and some Dystopian novels. Additional Contemporary Fiction novels will be needed to help balance the collection. Books with romantic elements account for over 90% of the collection, this percentage may even be much higher as the author and his teen consultants struggled to name more than a handful of titles. Additional books focusing on action and adventure will be needed to support patrons, especially teen and preteen male patrons, that do not wish to read about romantic elements. Finally, there is a heavy emphasis on female narrators in this Young Adult Fiction collection, with an estimated 80% of the titles featuring female leads. Books with a male voice would be a welcome addition to this collection and may encourage more male readers to read Young Adult books. This discussion on the emphasis of the collection is important to help determine not only what patrons are reading, but what populations may be underserved.
2. Difficulty The degree of difficulty can be difficult to measure because the existing collection is designed to support a wide range of patrons. In the community analysis discussed in Assignment 2.3, the primary readers of Young Adult Fiction were determined to be teenagers from the ages of 12 to 18 years, recent high school graduates from the ages of 18-25 years and retirees from the ages of 55 years and up. Although the majority of the readers that are ages 18 years and up will likely find the materials to be somewhat easy, this may be part of the appeal for those age groups. The author primary reads Young Adult materials not because he needs to, but because it can be a way to relax after reading complex graduate level work. This sentiment is shared with some of the other older Young Adult readers that the author has informally interviewed throughout the years, many of these adults have expressed that they enjoy the high interest stories that Young Adult titles often provide and that reading these titles does not feel as much like work as some of the adult titles. It is important to remember that although the readership at Whitehaven tends to be older, the titles themselves are often designed to be read by teenagers and actual Young Adults. The author interviewed a group of five teen readers at the Whitehaven library (R. Roberts, personal communication, November 11, 2013 [note: R Roberts is the only name listed as that patron is over the age of 18. The other readers are under the age of 18 years and the author does not have parental permission to list their names) and all reported that the titles they had read in the collection were at appropriate reading levels. When pressed to provide more information, a few teens mentioned titles that although some words in certain books like Elizabeth Weins historical fiction title Code Name Verity (2012) were somewhat confusing, they did not find it distracting because the book was interesting and they were able to skip over the words they did not know. They also likened this particular book to titles in fantasy or science fiction genres that provide new vocabulary that readers learn throughout the book and did not find it too difficult to understand. In conclusion, the difficulty of the materials was determined to be an appropriate level for most students. The books with high reading levels that are required for school are typically placed in the nearby Classics section and books with an adult level are appropriately catalogued in the Adult Fiction area. These particular books have a range of reading levels that range from middle school to high school, however the fact that they are all high interest materials can help students overcome some of these barriers to reading and can even help teach students new vocabulary.
3. Special features Whitehavens Young Adult Fiction collection will be somewhat lacking in special features compared to many of the other collections throughout the Whitehaven Library, although there will be some to features to discuss that focused on the use of illustrations and artwork. Many of the Fantasy titles have maps of the fantasy worlds at the beginning of the story, notable titles include Christopher Palolinis Eragon series (2001-2011), Michael Grants Gone series (2008-2013) and Rick Riordins Percy Jackson series (2005-2009). Other titles include intermittent full page black and white pictures such as Neil Gaimans The Graveyard Book (2008) or Patrick Ness A Monster Calls (2011). Each of these had approximately five black and white sketches that were included to help supplement the story, although the pictures were not necessarily to the story being told as they are in items such as childrens picture books. The most notable use of illustrations came from Frank Beddors fantasy title The Looking Glass Wars (2006), this included eight full page illustrations and detailed concept art, although once again it added little to the story. The final title that included special features is the most notable: Mishio Fukazawas Witches Forest. This book was different in that it not only included some small illustrations, it also contained a cooking recipe in the middle of the book and a mini pocket monster encyclopedia that referenced the monsters included in the story. These special features were overall very minimal, especially compared to the special features that titles from the surrounding fiction areas contained. In the Classics section, there are several Young Adult titles that have author interviews at the conclusion of the story, such as Laurie Halse Andersons Speak (1999) or the added authors notes in William Goldings Lord of the Flies (1954). The Childrens Fiction section had the most interesting special features; Emily Roddas Deltora Quest series (2000-2002) included high quality collectable cards inside the book and Rick Riordins 39 Clues series (2008- current) had cards that could be used to play an interactive game on the internet that required participants to solve clues in order to win 10,000 dollars (Grand Prize Winners, n.d.). In conclusion, the fictional books in the Young Adult area had extremely limited special features and only included illustrations and maps. Future titles that include interactive web games, collectible cards and CDs will be considered for purchase to help increase interest in the titles.
4. Currency According to the authors circulation report (Memphis Public Library, 2013), 236 items were issued in the past year which accounts for 26.5% of the total collection. This same report identifies 652 items having been issued in the past five years, accounting for 73.2% of the current Young Adult Collection, although the number of purchased materials over the past five years should be quite a bit higher than 652 items as this report would not account for items that have been weeded or marked as missing over the past five years. This high number of titles issued to the Whitehaven Library lends support to the idea that the Memphis Public Library system considers Young Adult titles to be an important investment; the most important thing at this point is assisting the collection development team with choosing the right titles.
5. Formats Although this Young Adult Fiction collection only includes print fiction materials, there are alternate formats available in other areas of the Whitehaven library and via the Memphis Public Library Website. The author was able to perform a catalog search for Young Adult Audiobooks (Compact Disc, n.d.), however this returned the erroneous result of only three titles. The author compared this with what he observed on the shelves and found that in the library catalog the majority of the Young Adult Fiction Audiobooks are incorrectly identified as Adult Fiction titles, despite having Young Adult stickers on the audiobook box sets. The author was able to perform a physical count of materials and determined that there were at least fifty-four Young Adult Audiobooks as of 11/16/2013, although this will not take into account audiobooks that are currently checked out. These inaccuracies have been reported to library administration so these items can be catalogued correctly in the Memphis Public Library Databases. The Memphis Public Library system also has a limited number of E-Audiobooks available through its website and the author was able to locate a total of twelve titles that would be considered Young Adult Fiction; six titles are meant for Middle School students (Audiobooks, n.d.a) and six titles are meant for High School students (Audiobooks, n.d.b). The selection of eBooks is somewhat more substantial with a total 23 eBooks available through its website; 10 titles are meant for Middle School students (eBooks, n.d.a) and thirteen titles are available for High School students (eBooks, n.d.b). The author also performed a physical count of Graphic Novels adaptations of popular Young Adult Fiction titles as there are no identifiers in the Memphis Public Library catalog and found that there are thirteen items currently available. These include adaptations of Orson Scott Cards Enders Game (1985), Stephanie Meyers Twilight (2005) and Kami Garcias Beautiful Creatures (2009) among other less notable series. In conclusion, materials in alternate formats are somewhat limited and act as a supplement to existing materials rather than a replacement. A separate collection development project may need to be undertaken to focus on building a more substantial Young Adult eBook and E-Audiobook collection, although the relatively high cost of these materials would have to be justified by first establishing sufficient customer need.
2.6.3 Weeds fall into three categories. The first includes items that are not used. Before proceeding, you need to identify an appropriate time period to measure collection use. Then, use transaction records, observation or whatever to identify those items not used. Characterize those items least used. If you cannot do this, say why and move on. What common traits do they share? To what degree is the collection being used? [You may skip this one if developing a collection where you lack access to this information.]. The Memphis Public Library Policy and Procedures Manual section on weeding existing collections ("PPM315: Existing Collections: Weeding, n.d.) recommends the weeding of materials that have not been circulated in the past three years. This also is the most appropriate time period to measure collection use for Young Adult materials according to the authors primary contact (A. Andrews, personal communication, November 12, 2013). The author obtained access to an Excel spreadsheet from the Memphis Library Virtual Branch Manager (K. Dixon, personal communication, November 7, 2013) with information on the number of circulations each item had over its lifetime, the date the item was added to the system and the last charge (checkout) date. The author isolated the materials that had not been checked out within 3 years and pulled these from the shelves to evaluate their usefulness. 23 items fit this criteria, however only 16 of those items were weeded from the collection; the other 7 items will be discussed in the following section. Of the 16 items that were discarded, 13 were categorized as contemporary fiction; however all of these were published over 10 years ago, making them less relevant and slightly outdated for todays teens. The author administered an informal survey to a five teen patrons regarding their opinions on the discarded books and all five agreed that the covers were outdated and boring (R. Roberts, personal communication, November 11, 2013 [note: R. Roberts is the only name listed as that patron is over the age of 18. The other readers are under the age of 18 and the author does not have parental permission to list their names). The other three books were are categorized as high fantasy titles and likewise had boring titles according to the surveyed teens with each book being published over 10 years ago. This collection has seen heavy usage, especially considering its size of 890 Young Adult Fiction titles (Memphis Public Library, 2013). The 23 items that have not been circulated in over 3 years account for only 2.6% of the total collection and this number will change to less than 1% after the 16 materials have been weeded. Using this collection development report, the author has also found that 790 of the 890 items have been circulated at least once in the past two years which means that the Whitehaven library has circulated 88.7% of its Young Adult Fiction materials in the past two years. Looking at the circulation history in the past year reveals that 645 of the 890 items have been circulated, meaning that 72.4% of the Whitehavens Young Adult Fiction materials have been circulated in the past year. These are very impressive statistics to draw from for the purposes of this collection development project and demonstrates the need for new materials due to the broad usage of the materials.
2.6.4 Before discarding items that appear to be useful but which have not been used, physical and intellectual access should be checked to see if non-use is a function of access. In some cases, where useful, usable items are not being used, the selector should promote these items and make them more visible before considering discard. Identify items which should be promoted and those which should be discarded and indicate why. Of the 23 items that have not been circulated in the past three years, seven have been determined to be useful and usable and will be promoted so to avoid unnecessarily discarding useful materials. In simplistic terms, the items that were discarded were contemporary and high fantasy fiction that had unattractive covers and had a publication date of over 10 years old. The author could not envision why his teen and adult patrons would be interested in these particular titles and previewing them with one of his teen regulars confirmed this lack of interest (R. Flood, personal communication, November 13, 2013). The titles that were not discarded appear promising for multiple reasons. Remembering Raquel (2007) is a contemporary fiction title that was published in the past five years, has an attractive cover and was written by Vivian Vande Velde, an author that appears in Appendix A (Memphis Public Library, 2013) as the author of one of Whitehavens most circulated Young Adult titles. The premise of the title sounds interesting and it is worth promoting to see if circulation of the title improves. Three of the seven potential discards are part of various series and will not be removed as long as the other titles in the series retain a reasonable number of circulations. A common complaint from Whitehaven patrons is when a series is incomplete at a particular branch (R. Flood, personal communication, November 13, 2013) and the author has made it a personal goal to help fill in the gaps of some of the various series. Removing these items contradicts this goal and does a disservice to the patrons that wish to read the complete series at their local library. Two of the titles were not discarded due to the accolades placed upon them. Angela Johnsons Heaven won the 1999 Coretta Scott King Award (Coretta Scott, n.d.) and David Almonds Kits Wildness won the 2001 Printz Award (2001 Printz Award, n.d.). These are both older titles, however the prestigious awards placed upon them affords these titles a second chance to be promoted correctly. The final title has been reevaluated because it may fare better in a different area. The title Lord of the Fries and Other Stories by Tim Wynne-Jones (1999) was catalogued for the Young Adult Fiction area, however the author noticed that it is also catalogued for the Childrens Department at the Central library. At that location, it has had fifty-two checkouts and was circulated as recently as June 2013 (Memphis Public Library, 2013). The author browsed the book and noticed it had a lower reading level than most Young Adult books and found a suggested age range of 10 and up on Amazon.com (Lord of the Fries, n.d.). This item will likely have better checkouts in Whitehavens Childrens Fiction section and the item has been sent to the cataloguing department to have the record changed. In conclusion, weeding these materials not only helped to remove books that were no longer used, it also helped the author locate materials that required additional promotion and a possible location change. 2.6.5 It is important to know which items in the collection are most popular so that you can select similar works in the future. Use the same methods as above to identify the most popular items in your collection. What would you look for in adding items to the collection that will be popular? The author was not able to obtain access to the Holds List for the purposes of this assignment, although the author is able to access a particular items hold list using the Library Catalog if he suspects a title may be in high demand. Instead, the author was able to use the Young Adult Fiction circulation report (Memphis Public Library, 2013) and sort all titles by the number of checkouts to determine what items are the most popular. This is a very useful method of discovering which item copies have been circulated the most, however it should not be the sole method for purchasing items in collection development as it will provide information that is biased against new titles and titles with multiple copies. New titles will not be fairly represented because a popular item that has checked out five times in the past two months will still have less checkouts than a title that has only checked out six times in the past ten years. The other issue is that a title with multiple item copies will have its checkouts split between the items themselves, this may place an item like Suzanne Collins Mockingjay (2010) with 35 checkouts in 8 th place and once again 16 th place with 31 checkouts (Appendix A; Memphis Public Library, 2013) much farther down on the list than if there was only one copy to choose from. With this in mind, the author has provided Appendix A detailing the top 25 items by the number of circulated items. This data will be organized by genre in the text below to get a sense of the genres that are most in demand. Titles from a series such as Mockingjay will not be listed out separately and will be included in its series name to help better organize the titles. Notes will also be made on the various title when appropriate. The House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton (1968) is the most popular title on this list, however this is required for school reading and will not be counted towards this list as it should actually be included in the Classics section. Contemporary fiction focusing on teenage girls rank among the top titles circulated with popular authors such as Sharon Draper, Meg Cabot and Rachel Cohn. These remain an important genre to purchase to best support our teen female readers. Fantasy and Dystopian fiction remain popular, with several of the titles acting as movie tie-ins. Twilight, Hunger Games and Harry Potter rank near the top along with titles that have not yet been adapted to film such as Holly Blacks Tithe. Prior to this assignment, the author had been previously unaware of the popularity of the title Josephine and Solider and has placed orders with his contacts in Collection Development to immediately purchase more of this title and related books in the genre of Historical Romances with African American characters (A. Andrews, personal communication, November 12, 2013). The author had previously been unaware that this was an genre that Whitehaven patrons desired materials in and purchasing a limited number of additional materials may help determine if the interest is in this particular book or related books as well. The final important lesson from this assignment is to consider purchasing more short story collections. RL Stine and Vivian Vande Velde each have highly circulated horror anthologies and Sharon Flake has another popular contemporary fiction short story collection listed in in the top 25 most circulated items. In conclusion, organizing data by circulation checkouts can be a very useful method of locating titles to purchase. Access to this information provides the selector with documented evidence on what materials patrons are actually circulating, and this information can be utilized alongside suggestions from patrons and professional reviews to help ensure that collection development purchases are based on a reliable and accurate view of the needs of a target population.
2.6.6 Those items which are not useful because of level of treatment, language, lack of accuracy, and obsolescence should be identified. Items which are no longer useful should be weeded even if they are being used. In some cases, where a variety of viewpoints need to be represented in the collection, one may retain items which are inaccurate and/or out of date. Most information professionals will use inclusion in a standard best list as an indication of quality, utility, and accuracy. In some fields where currency is important, and where information cumulates, copyright date, publication date, or date added to the server may be a good proxy for accuracy. To what degree is the existing collection useful? Provide examples of not useful items and why. Identify particular items for discard as appropriate.
Language was not considered to be an issue for this collection, all the materials are written in English and no materials were found to have language inappropriate for their target audiences. Materials that are obsolete or outdated are the biggest issues in a fiction collection and the author used the Memphis Public Library Systems Young Adult Fiction weeding policy to help determine what materials needed to be weeded. PPM 315 ("PPM315: Existing Collections: Weeding.") states Any title over ten years old that is no longer featured on reading lists is suspect and should likely be weeded. With this policy in mind, the author was able to locate Young Adult Fiction materials that had been entered into the system more than ten years ago searching the obtained Circulation Report and sorting by the date each record was created (Memphis Public Library, 2013). This search returned eleven titles for review. Of these eleven, four had already been discarded in Section 2.6.4 based on a lack of usage over the past three years. The remaining seven titles are categorized as Contemporary Fiction and although the author performed general Google searches on each title, only one appeared to be notable: Betsy Byars The Summer of Swans. This particular title won the 1971 Newbery Award (Newberry, n.d.), an award provided to notable Childrens Fiction titles, and although it deserves to be included in the collection based on the idea that it still appears on some reading lists, it should be included in the Childrens Fiction area. The author performed an online catalog search and found three copies available in the Childrens Fiction section at the Whitehaven Library (Summer of the Swans, n.d.), making this particular copy unnecessary and able to be safely discarded. In conclusion, the majority of the collection is considered to be useful. The remaining 879 titles have been added to the collection less than ten years ago, this may be in part because the Whitehaven Library was built in October 2004 (Jones & Orrin, 2013) and the author as informed by his manager that the building received brand new collections when it was built (T. Braswell, personal communication, November 15, 2013 ). These scattered titles from before 2004 may have been donated from other library branches, however they do not adhere to the collection development weeding policy described above and can safely be discarded. Finally, the usability goals of a nonfiction collection are very different from a fiction collection, if the primary purpose of nonfiction is to inform, it could be argued that the primary purpose of fiction is to entertain. These materials meet this goal based on the circulation statistics discussed in previous sections; as long as they are being used frequently enough, they are shown to be meeting the needs of the readers.
2.6.7 The last of the major weeding categories consists of those items which are not usable because of physical condition. This would include broken links, digital files that do not download properly or are corrupt as well as books or periodicals that are worn or torn. Examine tangible items for wear and damage. Items which are not usable or need attention now so that they will be usable in the future should be divided into these categories: (1) those that should be fixed or repaired and (2) those that should be discarded. Identify and briefly discuss those items which are no longer usable. The staff at the Whitehaven library are very thorough at finding items that need to be discarded due to wear and tear, circulation staff will oftentimes discard materials without having to consult with reference staff, but will leave these materials for reference staff after discarding them so reference staff can determine whether the items should be reordered. The author was able to find three titles that needed to be discarded due to poor physical condition, each title will be detailed below with observations made from the author and one of Whitehavens Circulation Representatives (J. Jackson, personal communication, November 18, 2013). Josephine and the Solider by Beverly Jenkins (2003) The pages have started to yellow with age on this paperback book and the binding was loose, so the one of the Circulation Representatives attempted to glue the binding and place booktape on the spine of the book to keep it in good condition. This proved to be ineffective and the author and Circulation Representative later found a missing page near the end, so this title was discarded. Killing Mr Griffen by Lois Duncan (1978) Opening this book revealed that binding had split in half and the Circulation Representative determined this could not be repaired. The author also found torn pages and underlined sections throughout the book and discarded this title. Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix (book 5) by JK Rowling (2003) The pages in this book were dirty from overuse, a small animal seemed to have nibbled on some of the pages and there were signs of water damage on some of the pages. The binding was otherwise tight and none of the pages were lose. Based on the water damage and possible mold, the book was discarded without attempting repair. In conclusion, three titles were determined to be unusable and in need of discarding. One repair was attempted, however it was found to be ineffectual. Overall, the various collections at Whitehaven are closely monitored to ensure that materials are usable and that only materials in good physical condition remain. This is especially true for collections such as the Young Adult Fiction collection that are heavily circulated as it provides circulation and reference staff with more frequent access to the materials and ensure that the materials are not easily forgotten.
2.6.8 Has weeding created a gap in your collection? How should this gap be filled? Weeding these materials has created a gap in the collection, however it is a small one. A large number of contemporary fiction materials needed to be weeded, however they were unused for over three years and most patrons will not notice the removal of these items. The biggest loss to the collection will be Beverly Jenkins Josephine and the Solider (2003) and JK Rowlings Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix (2003) due to their popularity. Josephine and the Solider was one of a very limited number of historical fiction books and the only historical fiction focusing on an African-American girl. The demographics at Whitehaven are almost exclusively African-American (Whitehaven, n.d. page 4) and this title or ones similar to it will need to be ordered immediately. The other major loss will be Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix as it is Whitehavens only copy of the fifth book in the series and removing this item will leave this very popular series incomplete. This will also need to be ordered immediately to ensure that readers will have access to this series at the Whitehaven Library. In conclusion, this weeding project has not significantly impacted the Whitehaven Library. The author has been periodically weeding materials in the Young Adult Fiction area and those responsible for collection development have been very generous with providing new materials to replace these items. Patrons will still have access to materials at other branches and this will make for a more attractive collection now that materials in poor condition and materials that have not been circulating have been removed.
2.6.9 Identify or create one or more selective or comprehensive "best list" for your collection. Remove from the list those items that are clearly irrelevant to local needs and wants. Match the list against local holdings and produce a holdings percentage. Compare items held with those available for use to produce an availability percentage. Multiply the holdings percentage by the availability percentage to arrive at a performance rating. How does the existing collection perform? What does the performance ratio or percentage tell you? One of the most thorough annual lists for readers ages 12-18 is the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (2013 Quick Picks, 2013). A committee of librarians and teachers selected 59 Fiction titles for reluctant readers, although the full 59 titles will not be included here because some of these choices are not categorized as Young Adult materials and would not be purchased for this area. All of these titles will be detailed in Appendix B (2013 Quick Picks, 2013); the three titles that are not categorized as Young Adult Fiction have been crossed out, but still remain on the list while the items the Whitehaven Library owns have been highlighted in the Appendix [Authors Note: This appendix has been removed due to potential copyright issues, the full list can found at 2013 Quick Picks, 2013.] Of the 56 items remaining, 14 items are owned by the Whitehaven Library. This provides a holding percentage of 25%. As of November 18, 2013, 13 of the 14 items are currently available at the Whitehaven Library, with only one copy of Ellen Hopkins Tilt currently checked out (Tilt, n.d.). This provides an availability percentage of 92.8% Multiplying the Holding percentage of 25% and the Availability percentage of 92.8% provides a performance rating of 23.2% Each of these percentages are problematic, the Holding Percentage needs to be increased and additional titles from this Best of list should be evaluated and considered for selection. The Availability percentage is rather high, but that could also be taken that the materials are not circulating; a Best of list is only useful if the target population agrees and wants to read the titles. In conclusion, YALSAs recommended list is just one resource used to find high quality new titles. It should be used as a resource and not as the sole deciding factor in the selection process; each material will still need to be evaluated on its own merits to determine whether it meets the needs of the Whitehaven patrons.
2.6.10 The last and most important evaluation is to match the specific list of wants and needs generated from the community analysis with the existing collection to identify strengths and gaps. From the perspective of the community wants and needs, discuss the gaps and strengths of the existing collection. Print materials related to popular culture, such as books related to recent movies, were one of the top requests from Assignment 2.3s Community Analysis. The Whitehaven Library owns approximately 20 titles according to the authors circulation report (Memphis Public Library, 2013), however this number needs to be drastically improved to meet the high demand of patrons when a new movie is released. Two examples of this are Orson Scott Cards Enders Game movie (Enders Game, 2013) and Suzanne Collins Catching Fire movie (Catching Fire, 2013) that have each released in the month of November. The author has had frequent requests for the books these movies are based on and the author has observed hold lists with over a dozen patrons waiting on each book in the past month. The Whitehaven Library needs to anticipate these requests in the future and ensure that enough materials remain for patrons when they are most needed. Contemporary fiction titles were another highly requested genre from the community analysis, the Whitehaven Library owns approximately 90 titles in this genre, but this accounts for only 10% of the total collection and additional titles will be needed in the near future. Alternate formats such as Graphic Novels, eBooks and E-Audiobooks were mentioned as being in high demand during the community analysis, although this could not be substantiated through the circulation report, the limited options available also demonstrate a need for additional purchases to provide a greater variety of materials. One strength of this collection is that there are a large number of fantasy and dystopian novels, these are circulating at high levels as demonstrated in the top circulating items in Appendix A (Memphis Public Library, 2013) and it appears that the new titles, such as the ones in Appendix B (2013 Quick Picks, 2013), will continue to be published and highly praised. Many of movies and TV shows that are based on Young Adult books are also typically categorized as Fantasy and Dystopian fiction and purchasing these items may help fulfill the goal of amassing a sizeable collection related to highly sought after popular culture materials.
2.6.11 In a brief summary, describe and comment on the state of the collection.
The Whitehaven Library has a very impressive existing collection with 72.4% of the collection having been circulated in the past year. This is a collection that is well used and will only benefit from a wider variety of high quality materials. The materials are considered to be usable in that they are constantly evaluated for potential weeding and a large portion of this collection is very good physical condition. The level of usefulness is debatable; this collection does now provide new information in the way that nonfiction materials might, however frequent circulations and loyal patrons that visit the author looking for more materials help demonstrate that many patrons view the collection as valuable in some way. Whitehavens Young Adult Fiction collection is an impressive collection that shows much promise and can only benefit from additional high quality titles.
References 2001 Printz Award. (n.d.). American Library Association. Retrieved November 17, 2013, from http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/bookawards/printzaward/previouswinn ers/2001michaell 2013 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers. (2013). American Library Association. Retrieved November 17, 2013, from http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/quickpicks/2013 A. Andrews, personal communication, November 12, 2013 Audiobooks - Juvenile Fiction - Middle Grades. (n.d.a). Memphis Public Library Digital Media Collection. Retrieved November 17, 2013, from http://memphis.lib.overdrive.com/B0922D04-DB48-4651-9219- 22A10ED9088A/10/50/en/SearchResults.htm?SearchID=17864183s&SortBy=C ollDate Audiobooks - Juvenile Fiction - Upper Grades. (n.d.b). Memphis Public Library Digital Media Collection. Retrieved November 17, 2013, from http://memphis.lib.overdrive.com/B0922D04-DB48-4651-9219- 22A10ED9088A/10/50/en/SearchResults.htm?SearchID=17864184s&SortBy=C ollDate T. Austin, personal communication, November 18, 2013 T. Braswell, personal communication, November 15, 2013 Compact Disc Fiction - Young Adult - Whitehaven Library. (n.d.). Memphis Public Library Catalog. Retrieved November 17, 2013, from http://mpub.ent.sirsi.net/client/default/search/results?qf=LIBRARY%09Library %091%3AWHITEHAVEN%09Whitehaven+%28415- 2781%29&qf=ITEMCAT1%09Item+Category+1%091%3AFIC_YA%09Fiction %2C+Young+Adult&rm=DEFBASERM|||1|||1|||true&lm=SPOKEN_REC Coretta Scott King Book Award Recipients. (n.d.). American Library Association. Retrieved November 17, 2013, from http://www.ala.org/emiert/cskbookawards/recipients K. Dixon, personal communication, November 7, 2013 eBooks - Juvenile Fiction - Middle Grades. (n.d.a). Memphis Public Library Digital Media Collection. Retrieved November 17, 2013, from http://memphis.lib.overdrive.com/B0922D04-DB48-4651-9219- 22A10ED9088A/10/50/en/SearchResults.htm?SearchID=17864469s&SortBy=C ollDate eBooks - Juvenile Fiction - Upper Grades. (n.d.b). Memphis Public Library Digital Media Collection. Retrieved November 17, 2013, from http://memphis.lib.overdrive.com/B0922D04-DB48-4651-9219- 22A10ED9088A/10/50/en/SearchResults.htm?SearchID=17864471s&SortBy=C ollDate R. Flood, personal communication, November 13, 2013 R. Flood, personal communication, November 18, 2013 Grand Prize Winners. (n.d.). Scholastic - 39 Clues. Retrieved November 17, 2013, from http://the39clues.scholastic.com/winners J. Jackson, personal communication, November 18, 2013 Jones, T., & Orrin, C. (2013). The city and its libraries: Increased need and a vital future. [2013 Strategic Plan Report]. Memphis Public Library Intranet, Memphis Public Library, Memphis, TN. Lord of the Fries and Other Stories. (n.d.). Amazon.com. Retrieved November 17, 2013, from http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Fries-Other-Stories-Wynne- Jones/dp/0789426234 Memphis Public Library and Information Center (2013) Annual Stats Report FY2013. Memphis Public Library Intranet, Memphis Public Library, Memphis, TN. Memphis Public Library (2013, September 30). WHI Young Adult Circulation Report. Obtained via internal communication. Memphis Public Library, Memphis, TN: [Memphis Library Virtual Branch Manager] K. Dixon. "Newbery Medal and Honor Books, 1922-Present." American Library Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/ newberymedal#70s "PPM315: Existing Collections: Weeding." Memphis Public Library Intranet. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. http://www.memphislibrary.org/ppmwiki/index.php/PPM315:_Existing_Collecti ons:_Weeding R. Roberts, personal communication, November 11, 2013 "Summer of the Swans." Memphis Public Library Online Catalog. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. http://mpub.ent.sirsi.net/client/default/search/results?qu=summer+of+swans&qf= LIBRARY%09Library%091%3AWHITEHAVEN%09Whitehaven+%28415- 2781%29 "Tilt - Ellen Hopkins." Memphis Public Library Catalog. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. http://mpub.ent.sirsi.net/client/default/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ ILS$002f815$002fSD_ILS:815764/ada?qu=tilt Whitehaven Domain Directory. (n.d.). The University of Memphis: Infoworks. Retrieved November 17, 2013, from http://cbana.memphis.edu/Neighborhoods/Whitehaven6.pdf D. Windham, personal communication, November 18, 2013
Appendix A: Top 25 Circulated Items in YA Fiction Hamilton, Virginia The house of Dies Drear / Virginia Hamilton 65 Cohn, Rachel Pop princess / Rachel Cohn 59 Collins, Suzanne, 1964- Catching fire / Suzanne Collins 44 Jenkins, Beverly, 1951- Josephine and the soldier / Beverly Jenkins 38 Draper, Sharon M. (Sharon Mills) November blues / Sharon Draper 36 Meyer, Stephenie, Breaking dawn / Stephenie Meyer 36 Stine, R. L Nightmare hour / by R.L. Stine 36 Collins, Suzanne Mockingjay / Suzanne Collins 35 Black, Holly Tithe : a modern faerie tale / Holly Black 34 Meyer, Stephenie, 1973- Eclipse / Stephenie Meyer 34 Rennison, Louise Angus, thongs and full-frontal snogging 34 Collins, Suzanne, 1964- The Hunger Games / by Suzanne Collins 33 Cabot, Meg Princess in waiting / Meg Cabot 32 Johnson, Angela Gone from home : short takes / by Angela Johnson 32 Rowling, J. K Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 32 Collins, Suzanne Mockingjay / Suzanne Collins 31 Rowling, J. K Harry Potter and the half-blood prince 31 Brashares, Ann The second summer of the sisterhood / Ann Brashares 30 Moore, Stephanie Perry Sober faith / Stephanie Perry Moore 30 Myracle, Lauren, 1969- Kissing Kate / Lauren Myracle 30 Vande Velde, Vivian Being dead : stories / by Vivian Vande Velde 30 Flake, Sharon Who am I without him? : short stories about girls and the boys in their lives 29 Nixon, Joan Lowery Nightmare / Joan Lowery Nixon 29 Haddix, Margaret Peterson Just Ella / Margaret Peterson Haddix 28 Lore, Pittacus I am number four / by Pittacus Lore 28 Note. Memphis Public Library, 2013