Gansevoort Elementary Library Annual Report 2013
The Mission of the Gansevoort Elementary Library is


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To help students become independent readers, researchers and thinkers
To encourage a passion for reading in all formats
And to teach 21st Century information literacy skills so students can be college
and career ready
This report is broken into four sections:
 Reading
 Research and Technology Integration
 Collection Management
 Budget
Reading
Total loans (book check-outs) for the year: 9,374
CIRCULATION BY GENDER
4106
Boys
Girls
4980
Total number of overdues: 1,752
Most circulated title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, by Jeff Kinney
Most requested title: For Boys Only: the biggest, baddest book ever, by Marc Aronson
Most popular subjects circulated, by classification
599 science (animals) : 1098 loans
Picture Books : 998 loans
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Gansevoort Elementary Library Annual Report 2013
796 sports : 599 loans
Graphic novels : 338 loans
600 technology/inventions : 235 loans
300 social sciences : 117 loans
Series fiction : 58 loans
Biography ( almost exclusively Justin Bieber!) : 22 loans
Reading Promotion Goals for 2013-14:
Incorporate Scholastic Book Fair into library lessons
Incorporate one or two strategies from Dr. Steven Layne's book, Ignite a Passion for
Reading school-wide
Use the newly rolled out My Big Campus as a forum for students to respond to literature;
i.e., blogging, video, online discussion
Research and Technology Integration
iPads were used weekly to access the online catalog for books (OPAC), and to research
with online tools. Many research activities were brief, but one was extensive: the Third
Grade Australian Animals Research project(description below).
Students used iPads to access World Book and Grolier's (online encyclopedias) to
research, take notes, and complete a brief expository writing sample about an animal of
their choice. Afterwards, they used their animal knowledge to complete a 'script' about
their animal. Using the iPads, they made their animal 'talk' by reading and recording
themselves over a picture of their 'talking' animals.
Technology Goals for 2014, some of which need IT Department assistance:
 Obtain a wireless printer and/or email functionality on iPads in order to retrieve
student work
 Allow librarian to install appropriate apps at point of need instead of going through IT
request on website, which was completely ineffective
 Install productivity apps (Keynote, Pages, iMovie, or other similar) so students can
create meaningful content using technology
 Use iPads to administer online assessment tools created with Google Forms, or
Nearpod, on a regular basis (ticket out the door, etc.)
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Gansevoort Elementary Library Annual Report 2013
Collection Management
Holdings Statistics
10, 035 titles in collection, split evenly between fiction and nonfiction. This is actually
unusual. Most school collections tend to favor nonfiction, as nonfiction is what most
children like to read. The Common Core also favors nonfiction.
2,803 circulated titles
Completed inventory of fiction section only, due to time constraint. Will inventory
nonfiction next year. An alternating schedule such as this seems appropriate, especially if
it is done without an aide.
1306 titles deleted (weeded). My priorities were 700s (sports), 550s (astronomy, weather,
and VHS tapes as most teachers need DVD format. Items are weeded because of the
following:
Inaccurate or outdated information (especially in science and technology)
Poor physical condition of material
Redundant (multiple copies and shelf space is at a premium)
Material non supportive of school's curriculum
Inappropriate for K-4 (left over from when school included grades 5 and 6)
400 new items were added
Even after this massive weeding, (approximately 10% of the entire collection!) the
average copyright age of the collection is 1993. This is still twenty years old, and
well below the best practice recommendation of 10 years from current calendar
date.
Goal for 2013-14 will be to continue to update the collection by:
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Replacing the VHS collection with DVDs
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Weed the 600s (technology) and 100s (philosophy, but oddly enough includes
computer science) and replace with newer titles
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Purchase e-books for use with the iPads.
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Via the BOCES School Library System we are purchasing two new databases,
Pebble Go and BookFlix, both of which feature informational text online
interactive books with all the nonfiction text features students need to learn. They
also pair nonfiction texts with appropriate fiction texts for comparison.
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Gansevoort Elementary Library Annual Report 2013
Budget
State Allocation=$2,496 (all of it spent)
Titles from Common Core exemplar list
Three month subscription to Junior Library Guild, with intention of renewing for
complete school year in 2013-14
Picture books, audio books with cd (for library centers or classroom use) and easy readers
District Allocation=$2,634 (District supply budget was frozen mid-year; I still had
$1,300 left unspent.)
Magazine subscriptions from Alini Magazine Service
Library supplies from DEMCO
In addition, I received two units of Supplemental Grant money from my BOCES School
Library System of $1,000 each. This grant must be used for a unified collection that will
be loaned via Inter-Library Loan. I targeted the 796s (sports).
Budgetary Goals for 2014:
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Continue to purchase new DVDs, particularly science, math and social studies
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Target purchases toward nonfiction, primarily technology (600s and 100s)
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In 2014-15, target 900s (geography, exploration, biography) for updating
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Purchase e-books for multi-user simultaneous use with iPads
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