Resources

There were so many parts to think about in the module while exploring the areas of resources we are responsible for managing. Promoting 
reading support by supplying books that address student interests (student advisory), resources both print and digital that support the new 
Curriculum and professional resources that teachers request to have on hand that support learning in the classrooms. 

I do find it challenging to understand all areas of the new curriculum when we are supposed to be the experts on it. I find the lists that book 
companies like ULS supply to our district to be helpful when looking at purchasing new resources. They align each one to the new curriculum to 
show what grade level and topics they fit into. I will take a look at some of the vendors listed as I have never purchased books in this way before. I would like to spend some more time on Pro D learning more about it in ways that are meaningful to TLs. 

I listen to what students want as well as Kids books staff as they usually steer me in a good direction about what to try at our school. I guess a 
concern here would be knowing what percentage of the budget should be used for purchasing books for student advisory.

I don't feel that Professional Resources should be included in the LC budget, however I can see how TLs might have input as to which resources 
could support teacher need. After just browsing through one of the links included in the lesson I found a brand new e-book resource just released 

(Everyday Problem-Based Learning: Quick Projects to Build Problem Solving Fluency). I was just yesterday discussing ways to support a grade 7 
teacher's class in learning research skills. He felt it necessary to back up to the basics of exploring text features, note taking, questioning and 
organizing ideas. The resource covered all these areas in each of it's chapters. The only problem was that I couldn't see a preview of the book 
and I would have like to. 

After reading the article on magazines, I was convinced to rethink my intentions of discontinuing them but will canvass our students first. I also 
want to look more closely at the hi-lo books we have after looking at Orca Publishing.

LM-NET item:

"Don't try to weed the entire collection in one year (especially your first year). Pick 1 or 2 areas of focus (e.g. 500s and 100s or 700s and 400s). Don't try to do 2 large areas (e.g. Fiction and 500s). During this year, spend a good chunk of your budget adding new materials to these areas of focus. Follett's Titlewave is a great place to start. 
www.titlewave.com"

I agree with this advice after having just finished a huge time consuming weed of the entire Fiction section last year. I removed almost 1000 books that were old, tired, smelly, dusty or not circulated. I was confronted with the problem: What if they were just in a poor location to be noticed? It 
required a lot of personal discretion, but I had to make decisions to get through it. As well, I had a few very dedicated voracious grade 7 readers 
readers help me genre-fy each book left by classifying it with one of 8 genres we decided on. Big huge job. I wouldn't tackle this again unless I 
knew I was going to be remaining in a school LC for a number of years. With that being said, I can whole heartedly agree on the 15 minutes a week of weeding as well as tackling one section at a time to become more familiar with the collection.



After browsing the ERAC document on Evaluating, Selecting and Managing Resources, I was quite blown away at the amount of work that would be necessary if I evaluated every single resource in this way.  I found some parts of the document to be quite helpful and educational for me.  When thinking about adding resources for specific challenged or gifted students, I will have some guidelines to help me choose what is best for their learning styles.  I have already been grappling with this having a few students in mind who need reading materials that can fit their interests and abilities.  I also like the Digital Resource Evaluation form and would use this when purchasing a resource that may need to service many students.  I think these forms would be better used as guidelines of things to consider when making changes to our collection.  Something I took away from this when adding to our fiction and series sections, is to consider including material that connects to the curriculum rather than to only purchase books being requested by students.  It puts the responsibility on the TL to influence students about their reading choices in ways that will support their learning in meaningful ways.
I think I will print some of these forms to put up in a place where I can reflect upon them in a big idea sort of way rather than to fill them out.  Unless of course there are difficult judgement calls on particular resources, then going through the process may be