Nonfiction Collection Development
We will consider:
Weeding
Text Complexity
Selection/Purchasing
Why weed?
1. Save space
2. Save time
3. Make the collection more appealing
4. Enhance library’s reputation (for reliability, currency)
5. Keep up with collection needs
6. Constant feedback re: strengths and weaknesses
If you’re hesitant about weeding, this presentation is
probably not for you.
More important –
Common Core shifts emphasis from literary to informational
content as the student moves up through the grades. It also
focuses on building vocabulary that is shared across many
content areas.
We want to purge content that is “a mile wide and an inch deep”
to make room for increasingly complex text.
It also wouldn’t hurt to have more space to set up displays for
low circulating high quality books that would benefit from
exposure.
Common Core standards: ELA
Shift in collection development:
Grade
Share of Literary
Content
Share of Information
Content
4
8
12
50%
45%
30%
50%
55%
70%
Collection Development Plan
Every school should have a policy in place for selection of
materials. Such a policy will help explain the school library
program to the community. It’s also helpful when an item is
challenged. And it serves as a guide when weeding.
See:
http://aasl.ala.org/essentiallinks/index.php?title=Collection
_Development_-_General
CREW Guidelines
Continuous Review, Evaluation, and Weeding
A weeding manual for modern libraries:
https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/crew/index.html
Example:
10/3/MUSTIE = 10 years from copyright
Not used in 3 years
MUSTIE
Warning: Do NOT carve guidelines in stone. Be flexible!
Overview Chart of CREW Formulas
From the Appendix:
Sirsi-INFOhio Reports
CAS: Age of Collection
Sirsi-INFOhio Reports
CAT: Shelf List (Spreadsheet)
Sort by:
 Number of checkouts
 Publication year
CAT: Shelf List (spreadsheet)
Sort on publication year:
Sort on total number of checkouts:
Shared responsibility
Teachers outside the Language Arts department have a role
in developing students’ literacy skills.
Keyword = Collaboration
Informational Text
Grades 1-5
Historical, scientific, and
technical texts.
Includes (auto)biographies,
books about history, social
studies, science, and the arts;
technical texts, including
directions, forms and
information displayed in
graphs, charts, or maps.
Grades 6-12
Includes the subgenres of
exposition, argument, and
functional text in the form of
essays, speeches, opinion pieces,
essays about art or literature,
biographies, memoirs,
journalism, and historical,
scientific, technical or economic
accounts.
Text types
 Argument
Supporting a claim with sound reasoning and relevant
evidence (e.g., US founding documents)
 Informational / Explanatory
Increase subject knowledge
Explain a process
Enhance comprehension
 Narrative
Conveys experience, e.g., fictional stories, memoirs,
anecdotes, autobiographies
Measuring Text Complexity
There are three considerations:
1. Quantitative measures – computer generated
readability score
2. Qualitative measures - levels of meaning, structure,
language conventionality and clarity, and knowledge
demands measured by human reader (educator
analysis).
3. Reader and task considerations - background
knowledge of reader, motivation, interests, and
complexity generated by tasks assigned made by
educators (professional judgment).
Quantitative - Updated text complexity grade band
Quantitative - multiple measures
Qualitative Measures
Because the factors we consider represent continual rather
than discrete levels or stages, numeric values are not used.
It’s about the educator’s analysis. Once the qualitative
measures are factored in, the text complexity band assigned
to a given resource might change, more than likely upward.
Lexile = starting point
College Board’s
101 Great Books
for CollegeBound Readers
http://wcpscollegeandcareer.weebly.com/uploads/7/7/1/1/7711918/college_board_recommended_books.pdf
Reader and task considerations
Teacher’s response to individual student’s cognitive
capabilities, reading skills, motivation, and engagement.
Consider:
 Knowledge and experience
 Purpose for reading
 Complexity of task assigned
 Complexity of questions asked regarding text
In other words, what does the student bring to the table?
And will this work be suitable for what you intend to teach?
What now?
First, determine the quantitative level of the work, if given.
If not, do the reverse – search for resources by grade band
and/or Lexile score and/or AR, etc.
Second, evaluate the text for qualitative measures.
Third, consider how well the text is suited to your lesson
plan, purposes for the text, and your students.
Fourth, place in the appropriate text complexity band.
Text complexity evaluation tool:
Text Complexity Analysis Form
Example – Grapes of wrath
Quantitative measures put the text at 3rd grade level, but
it’s taught in high school because of qualitative
considerations – historical context and depressing storyline.
Reader and task considerations prove to be the deciding
factor: studying the plot, characters, and themes make this
a high school challenge.
Example – Waiting for Godot
Lexile code = NP (non prose) - used for poetry, plays, etc.
AR = interest level UG, reading level 5.4
Finding appropriate texts
Teachers and librarians need to locate more informational
text around topics and themes that are part of the
curriculum. Use available resources to evaluate complexity
and grade band:
 Your school library catalog
 Other school library catalogs
 Recommended reading lists from credible sources
 Electronic resources
 Vendors
CAT or CAT Jr.
Your OPAC 
Search other OPACS
http://sirsi1.lnoca.org/opac/
Search other OPACS
http://leeca5.leeca.org/opac/
Finding a Lexile measure
http://www.lexile.com/fab/
Or, use the Lexile Analyzer for texts not in the Lexile
database:
http://www.lexile.com/analyzer/
Enter text up to 1,000 words in length.
Flesch Kincaid in Microsoft Word
Careful! Results vary with the amount of text tested.
For instructions, Google the following:
How do I find readability statistics in word?
Recommended reading lists
Choose an excerpt of text from Appendix B (Exemplars)
Exemplar materials need not be
used; they are suggestions.
Think of the Common Core not as a
curriculum guide, but as a guide to
instructional design.
Recommended reading lists
Text Exemplars, Appendix B:
Note: More than 30 of these
exemplars can be found in
the INFOhio eBook
collection.
Recommended reading lists
Chicago Public Schools recommended purchasing lists aligned to
the Common Core:
http://cpslibraries.wikispaces.com/purchasinglistscurrent
Lists organized by grade level:
 K-2
 3-5
 6-8
 9-10
 11-12
Recommended reading lists
Cleveland Area Independent School Library Network’s
Recommended Reading List:
https://sites.google.com/site/caislnlists/2011recommended-reading-list/2012-recommended-readinglists
- Fiction and nonfiction, by grade level
Recommended reading lists
Made for each other: paired texts for the Common Core
standards in middle and high school classrooms
- groups works of fiction with informational texts
http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/books/made%20for%20ea
ch%20other%20bibliography.pdf
See also: Cooperative Children’s Book Center
http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/
Got text complexity?
http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/books/detailListBooks.asp?idBookLists=549
Recommended reading lists
Outstanding science trade books at
http://www.nsta.org/publications/ostb/
The mathematics bookshelf at
http://ohiorc.org/for/math/bookshelf/default.aspx
STEM trade books weblinks at
http://www.stemresources.com/index.php?option=com_weblin
ks&view=category&id=52:stem-trade-books&Itemid=126
Other resources
Ebsco
Other resources
Junior Library Guild
http://www.juniorlibraryguild.com/services/commoncore/correlations
Other Resources
Learning A-Z - http://www.learninga-z.com/index.html
Other resources
I have one "preview" company I work with that sends 2 boxes of
books, which is nice but I don't have a lot of input on the subjects they
send, but in some cases it does give me an opportunity to actually
have a book to share with teachers. I only utilize one company as our
district requires me to encumber the entire amount of all the books,
before I can preview them. A few years ago I worked with Children's
Plus and the rep actually did a book preview for me, for the whole day,
and I had the teachers come in and browse, and then use post-its to
note books they would like to have purchased. Perhaps World Book,
Children's Plus, and others would be still be willing to do this? And of
course, there's always the trip to the local public libraries to check out
what they have and bring it back to share with teachers at school.
- Betsey Lee, Orange City Schools
Other resources – iMatrix at http://educators.infohio.org/imatrix/
Other resources
Tasks, units, and student work
- From NYC Department of Education
- Search growing assortment of CC-aligned
tasks, units and student work by keyword,
grade level, subject area or CC Learning
Standard. Or browse.
- Texts included
http://schools.nyc.gov/Academics/CommonCoreLibrary/TasksUn
itsStudentWork/default.htm
Other resources
ELA and Literacy Resources for the
Kansas Common Core Standards
http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=4778
Register and search “text complexity analysis”
 33 hits of titles with recommended complexity band
- analysis included
Other resources
Library of Congress - http://www.loc.gov/teachers/
Teaching with primary sources – classroom materials
include lesson plans, themed resources, primary source
sets, activities, etc.
See also: The Teaching with Primary Sources Journal at
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/journal/
The End
The Common Core State Standards are at:
http://www.corestandards.org/
This PowerPoint prepared by:
Greg.Perciak@nccohio.org