Supported collection size?

In response to my 13-point checklist for school administrators <http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/13-point-checklist.html>, Anne asks:

Under Collection size, you ask if there has been a baseline set for the size of the print collection. I'm having trouble finding guidelines for [the size of the print collection] . Can you please point me in the right direction?

Good one. I don't have a very good answer.

The ALA/AASL national standards have not included quantitative standards for many years, preferring terms such as "sufficient to meet the needs of the program." (I would be delighted to stand corrected if I am wrong.)

That means individual districts or states need to establish such benchmarks. In our district, the district library/technology committee established these "supported collection sizes" about 10-12 years ago:

• Secondary schools 500+ students: 12,000 volumes
• Elementary schools 500+ students: 10,000 volumes
• Elementary schools under 500 student: 8,000 volumes.

These are the "core" collections that we base our replacement budgets on, replacing 5% of each collection each year.

The Minnesota Educational Media Organization's Standards from 1999 state are quantitative using this rubric for minimum, basic and exemplary:

14.Do the collections and resources support the school curriculum?

Materials are professionally selected using recognized review tools. There is a current* print collection of at least 10-15 print items per student, a selection of periodicals, and electronic research terminals for at least 25% of the largest class. Students have access to: a computerized periodical index electronic encyclopedias *Current is defined as the collection having an average age of not greater than 10 years, acknowledging that some areas will need more current materials and some areas will have older materials.

There is a current print collection of at least 15-20 print items per student, electronic research terminals for at least 25%-50% of the largest class. Students have access to: a computerized card catalog of local materials on-line full text periodical databases a wide variety of computerized reference tools like electronic atlases, concordances, dictionaries, thesauruses, reader's advisors and almanacs content area specific reference materials videodiscs and players full on-line access to the Internet educational television programming a wide range of educational computer programs including practices, simulations and tutorials Resources are specifically chosen to support curricular needs.

There is a current print collection of over 20 print items per student, electronic research terminals for over 50% of the largest class. Electronic research materials are available from all networked computers in the building. There is a written collection development policy that shows collaboration with other libraries and outside information agencies. Students have access to: a computerized union catalog of district holdings as well as access to the catalogs of public, academic and special libraries such as MnLink from which interlibrary loans can be made a collection of materials to support local history studies access to desktop video conferencing stations or an interactive television classroom emerging technologies as needed to support the curriculm

Of course things have changed dramatically since these standards were put in place back in 2000. Electronic resources, including e-books, have taken off, eliminating the need for certain kinds of print materials in many schools.

My only suggestion is that you check with your state for numbers and guidance, make a recommendation through your library advisory committee to your administration, and get budget deciders in agreement.

Life was easier with quantitative standards and they aren't as practical today as they once were. Still, it would be nice to have an authoritative voice provide some guidance.

Other suggestions for determining the size of your print collection? 

Do I really look that stupid?

First, please don't answer that. It was rhetorical. But here's why I asked...

I've been on an anti-purchased water kick lately. Partly driven by latent environmentalism, but mostly caused by my refusal to be persuaded that I need to spend good money for water that I have been drinking freely from the tap with no ill effects all my life.

So the LWW and I are waiting for the Pike's Peak Cog Railway to take us up the mountain and I ask a young woman who works at the place if the water in the bathrooms is safe to drink. "Oh, sure," she replies. Then looks at me and thinks.

And adds, "So long as you get it out of the sink."

Which makes me wonder if I actually look like a person who might drink from a toilet. Sort of ruined my whole day.

--------------------------------------

More superlatives: The World's Highest Cog Railroad

The world's cutest real live yellow-bellied marmot. (Suggestion: never call a Colorado biker a yellow-bellied marmot.)

The oldest motel I've probably ever stayed in (run by the same family for 57 years in Manitou Springs). Haven't we all become accustomed to big hotel rooms, big meals, big cars, big beds, big fellow citizens?

World's greatest restaurant built on a dinosaur theme: T-Rex at the Legends in Kansas City. Food was actually pretty good and reasonably priced. Grandson Paul and I posing with the steaming Chocolate Extinction dessert.

 Our other adventures included:

• Hiking a beautiful three miles through Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs
• Taking a lantern-lit tour of Cave of the Winds - ghost stories at no additional charge
• Driving the world's longest and flattest strech of Interstate from Limon, Colorado, to Topeka, Kansas.
• Visiting my little sister in Lenexa and staying at her very nice home.
• Going to my son-in-law's new church without getting struck by lightening yet again.

Good to be gone; good to be home.

Policy and iPads: a few ISTE10 impressions

The conference formerly known as NECC for 2010 is over. Most of us are home or getting there (as we know from our colleagues' tweets). Before everything fades, I'd best get a few thoughts down...

iPads. Good grief. I know Apple has sold two million of the things, but I didn't realize half of them would be in the hot little hands of ISTE attendees. I don't remember ever seeing such a rapid adoption of a technology before. On a five member panel last Saturday, each of us had our little devices propped up in front of us. (OK, that sounds wrong.)

Mine is still a love-hate relationship. I finally remembered that I had 3G connectivity that allowed me to connect when wi-fi was busy/slow, but the thing is still not a presentation device so I still wound up shlepping two devices (and accessories) on the days I presented. I am getting better at keyboarding, learning a few little tricks for finding punctuation easily, but everything still seems clunky. I am in awe of David Warlick's adoption of his iPad!

It's nice to know that we can all preach and pontificate about educational strategy, yada, yada, yada, but deep in our hearts we all know it's really all about the toys.

Policy, policy, policy. I heard less about funding and more about restrictive policies being a barrier to technology use in schools this year. Scott McLeod at the Leadership Bootcamp gave us "what for" about over filtering being a detriment to student learning. A great panel on Wednesday afternoon that included my hero, Anne Collier, spoke to the intelligent development of Digital Citizenship that stresses critical thinking, not control, to create students who are safe.

A question that needs exploring is what the conscientious educator does when personal values conflict with organizational/governmental rules. Ignore them? Pervert them? Subvert them? Just whine? Practice what Cheryl Lempke called "positive deviation?" Dangerous ground for those who want/need a pension...

PLNs. Developing networks of supportive, challenging colleagues was a stressed in about every session I attended. Have we simply given up on our schools providing meaningful learning experiences for progressive educators? A related question that came up in my session was "How do we get people to read those who disagree with them?" I, as usual, stuttered without a good suggestion. Ideas?

Information jungle - qualitative filterers needed. More so than at any conference, I felt hammered by the torrent of new resources, new tools, new voices. The SIGMS Smackdown was both awesome and unnerving. I hope librarians (who sponsored the event) ramp up our efforts to become not just locators of new resources, but evaluators. What if the librarian "introduced" every new book published to his/her staff and students when it became available? Nooooo! We need to make evalution and selection of technological resources a bigger part of our jobs.

In my notes, but no source: Why is WD40 named WD40? 'cause the first 39 WDs didn't work.

Mobile devices: Soloway and others made a compelling case for smartphone-type devices being the educational platform of the future. He describes three types of devices: laptops, "carry alongs" (netbooks, pads) and mobile devices (no mention of desktops and labs) and asks, "Which one are you never without?" While I can personally relate to the larger screens being an asset to my learning, I am still struggling with getting much more than reading/listening/viewing done on the itty bitty screens. And for the phone that is not an iPhone or Android, there is a genuine "app gap" that needs addressing.

Twitter and GoogleApps were the software stars of the sessions, of course. Amazing to see the the lines form for very basic GoogleApps introductions. I went to one hoping to learn cool tricks to do with Forms, but got depressed as the presenter talked about how determine a spreadsheet's cell coordinates. And Visicalc came out when??? Didn't hurt, I suppose, that Google announced Iowa and Colorado both made state-wide adoptions of Apps during the conference.

Leslie Fisher in her Twitter session said she divides her tweets into 1/3 resources, 1/3 humor and 1/3 personal. Sounds like good advice. Yes, I am Twittering again. blueskunkblog if you want to follow, but don't get your hopes up too high.

Are we all becoming ADD? A good deal of criticism surrounded Sunday night's keynote by Jean-François Rischard. OK, his slides were text heavy and his presentation style was formal, but did people actually listen to the important message? I was a little embarassed by the junior-high style antics at the Bloggers Cafe and snarky posts following. Have we finally become a society that will only pay attention to speakers who only use pretty pictures, jump and emote, and do it all in less than 18 minutes? Sigh...

Be a leader and make the print program optional, please ISTE. 'nough said.

ISTE has become my annual "sugar-rush" of a conference. It's a high dose of information, ideas and contacts - and I love it like I love eating a candy bar when bicycling. Not real sure how "good" it is for me, but there it is.

More than anything this year, I would have enjoyed just sitting down for an hour or so with some people whose ideas I respect to just visit. (I missed EdubloggerCon.) Didn't happen as much as it has in the past and I am sure it is my fault. But I miss it.