Collection Analysis- Cedar Creek High School
Written By Christine Finn, Margaret Dean, and Kaitlin Sagaas
Professor Catherine Collins
INFO-665-901 Collection Development
We certify that:
 This paper is entirely our own work.
 We have not quoted the words of any other person from a printed source or a
website without indicating what has been quoted and providing an appropriate
citation.
 We have not submitted this paper to satisfy the requirements of any other course.
Signature: __ Christine Finn, Margaret Dean, and Kaitlin Sagaas__
Date: ___December 4, 2010__
Table of Contents:
Cedar Creek High School Library Mission and Demographics…………………………...Pgs. 3-4
Information About the Subject Areas to be Mapped………………………………………...Pg.4-6
Internal Analysis of Subject Areas…………………………………………………………Pgs.6-9
External Analysis of Subject Areas……………………………………………………….Pgs.9-12
Group Strategies and Responsibilities…………………………………………………...Pgs.12-13
Appendix………………………………………………………………………………...Pgs. 14-17
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………….Pgs. 18-19
Information about the Library
The Cedar Creek High School (CCHS) Library Media Program seeks to ensure that
students and staff are effective users of ideas and information. The school library media
specialist strives to empower students to be critical thinkers, enthusiastic readers, skillful
researchers, and ethical users of information. This is done by collaborating with educators to
design engaging learning experiences for students; instructing students and educators in using,
evaluating, and producing information and ideas; providing access to materials in all formats,
including a variety of current, high quality literature to develop and strengthen a love of reading;
and providing students and staff with instruction and resources that reflect current information
needs and changes in technology education (Empowering Learners, 2009).
To support the mission of the CCHS Media Center, the school has developed several
objectives integral to meeting the needs of the community the library serves. They are as
follows:

Selections will include works that widen the boundaries of adolescents’ thinking, enrich
their lives and help them fulfill recreational, intellectual and emotional needs.

Selections will support school curriculum and curricular goals.

Selections will increase access to works for reluctant readers.

Selections will encourage the use of active reading strategies.

Selections will integrate knowledge and ideas such as: compare and contrast, analyze,
synthesize and evaluate.
The collection development objectives support the goals of the Media Center because they allow
the selection of materials that will promote student success.
Cedar Creek is located on 66 acres in Egg Harbor City. This new high school is currently
open to 9th and 10th grade students only. The total student population for the 2010-2011 school
year is approximately 430 students. Cedar Creek will offer an additional grade level each of the
next two years as students are promoted. Cedar Creek has a multi-racial, multi-cultural student
body. More than 40% of its students qualify for free and reduced lunch, and 35% of the student
population comes from single parent homes.
Cedar Creek High School opened in September 2010 with a very small book collection of
only 1696 titles. There were no reference books purchased in the Opening Day Collection and a
relatively large emphasis was placed on teen fiction. Due to budget constraints, the library has
current databases such as Facts on File, ProQuest, and EBSCOhost, but no A/V materials. The
students of Cedar Creek do have access to the collections of their sister schools, Oakcrest and
Absegami and Cedar Creek is a member of JerseyCat for Inter-Library Loan.
Information about the Subject Areas to be Mapped
Cedar Creek High School is unique in offering magnet programs to their students, in
which students have the option to enroll in topic-specified curriculum in order to prepare them
for college. These programs are special in giving students a hands-on experience in a specific
field of study in order to prepare and/or determine their future careers. Cedar Creek’s magnet
programs are science and technologically-orientated. A biology subject area is especially
important in preparing not only those enrolled in Magnet Programs, but students who are
required to fulfill science courses. Cedar Creek is specifically trying to attract students who are
top notch in the scientific field. Biology is one of the required and important courses that
demands many years of preparation in high school to become full ready for a college education.
Students fully depend on accessing a decent of information in their specified interests and
courses, including Biology, from their library. The shortage of information on this particular
subject in the Cedar Creek High School Media Center can imminently determine the success or
failure of CCHS’s magnet programs. Because of the substance of this general course and
credibility it brings to CCHS, it is imperative that the Media Center to obtain more than a
suitable number of materials for their collection to support their students’ overall success.
The second subject area chosen for analysis was biographies. Although the Dewey
Decimal number for biographies is 920, the Cedar Creek High School Library assigns a
designation of B for biographies and BC for collective biographies. Additional biographical
profiles can be found within broader works of non-fiction. For example, the title Contemporary
American Poetry: "not the end, but the beginning" by Sheila Griffin Llanas, located in the poetry
section of the library, contains biographical information about contemporary American poets.
This group chose to analyze the biography collection based on the popularity of
biographies among teens and the potential for these books to be used by teachers throughout the
school. The New Jersey Academic Standards require student proficiency in the reading of
informational texts (New Jersey, 2010). Cedar Creek teachers have expressed an interest in
incorporating more non-fiction books into English classroom instruction and one English teacher
will be attending several sessions of a non-fiction symposium during the 2010-2011 school year
(Finn, C., personal communication, November 22, 2010). A review of educational literature
revealed strong support for the use of biographies in a variety of secondary school settings.
Biographies can be used to complement the subject matter found in textbooks. Due to the
narrative style of biographies, Daisey (1997) reported that Math and Science students became
more engaged with the subject matter, while still learning core concepts. Daisey found
biographies especially useful in reaching girls and ethnic minority students. Kirchhoff (2008)
also reported the value of incorporating biographies into the Science curriculum. Kirchhoff
found biographies helped students to place scientific discoveries within a historical context, to
gain a deeper understanding of the scientific method, and to realize the contributions of women,
people of color, and other underrepresented groups.
Holocaust and Genocide Studies was chosen as our special emphasis area and is a
required element of curriculum in the state of New Jersey. All high school juniors must spend
time learning not only about the Jewish Holocaust, but about genocide around the world. The
Media Center strives to support curriculum goals and promote students’ ability to achieve. To
this end, it is necessary that the Cedar Creek Media Center make available a suitable number of
resources for its patrons to accomplish this objective. Because Holocaust and Genocide Studies
is mandated for juniors, the fact the Cedar Creek will have juniors next year makes this an
important special emphasis collection to analyze now, in order to determine what to order for
next year.
Internal Subject Areas to be Mapped
The Magnet Programs that Cedar Creek High School has to offer to their ninth and tenth
grade students are stepping stones for success. Because these grades reflect the first of many
years that they will be consistently preparing for college, the appropriate materials are needed to
support the curriculum they will be receiving. The Biology collection of the Cedar Creek Media
Center is a selection of relatively new materials that has a wide range of different types of
subjects that focus on material related to biology. Because the selection is books is so new, this is
an advantage to the collection thus far as the material presented in the books offered in present
and up-to-date. Strengths of this collection is that although the selection is small, there are a
decent number of books equally presented on each type of material including evolution, genetics,
marine biology, and the very basics of this natural science.
Without justifying the equality of the selection of biology, the collection reveals many
weaknesses. Because the selection of biology books totals 23, there would be .0535 books per
student with 430 students attending Cedar Creek High School. This number is in addition to the
initiative that many of these children are enrolled in magnet programs and are focusing on
Environmental Science as their topic of interest, and would be sharing a small amount of books
with many of their peers. Ho and Loerstcher note the difference in school populations as a
consideration in judging the quality of a school collection. Because CCHS only houses 430
students in two grades, the amount of books split between two grades may be considered
acceptable. The percentage as noted by the Senior High School Library Catalog for Cedar Creek
High School is actually higher than the recommended percentage listed, giving the school a leg
up in at least one collection.
The biography collection of CCHS consists of new materials which were purchased as
part of an Opening Day Collection for the 2010-2011 school year. This is an advantage when
compared to many school collections where non-fiction materials may be kept in the Media
Center far beyond an acceptable number of years. The biography collection includes books on a
diverse selection of personalities, including historical figures as well as figures from popular
culture. A definite strength in the collection is the variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds
represented by the titles; this diversity is critical in a multicultural community such as Cedar
Creek. Writing in The Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, Hebert, Long, and Neumeister
(2001) also found biographies to be valuable resources for intellectually gifted high school girls,
who often struggle to reach their full potential. A review of CCHS biographies found a selection
of subjects (Grace Hopper and Barbara McClintock, for example) which would provide excellent
role models for this group of students. When additional purchases are made for the collection, it
will be important to ensure that sufficient titles reflect the contributions of women in a variety of
occupations and academic disciplines.
When the CCHS library collection is compared to the collection recommended by the
Senior High School Library Catalog (as cited by Ho and Loertscher, 1985), it becomes apparent
that the CCHS collection is over-weighted toward fiction (Table 5). The CCHS collection is
9.85 % biographies, compared to a recommended level of 12.60 %. However, CCHS currently
has only ninth and tenth grades. The shortfall in biographies would be hardly noticeable if
compared to the recommended Junior High level of 10.00 % (Ho and Loertscher, 1985).
Hopefully, as grades eleven and twelve are added to the school during the next two years,
additional library funding can be used to bring the collection into balance with the recommended
levels.
Sadly, the Holocaust and Genocide Studies collection doesn’t even come close to
meeting the Fair standard set by Ho and Loertscher (1985). There are only 17 titles available for
student use in the library. With 430 students currently attending CCHS and more than that
expected for next year, there are barely .0395 titles per student on hand in the Cedar Creek
Media Center. This is a slim number to say the least. Because the state of New Jersey has
determined Holocaust and Genocide Studies to be an important aspect of the high school
learning experience, the Cedar Creek Media Center needs to increase the number of titles
available to its patrons studying the Holocaust. The lack of available reference material and the
feeble number of titles available for student use are clear weaknesses in the Holocaust/Genocide
Studies Collection. The strength of this collection is that the titles currently held by the library
are diverse in their lexile levels, meaning that there is something for every kind of reader. When
selecting materials to add to the collection, it is imperative that materials of various reading
levels are chosen to meet the needs of the Cedar Creek High School student population.
External Analysis of the Mapped Subject Areas
Oakcrest High School is part of the Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District
and is a sister school to Cedar Creek High School. Larger than Cedar Creek, Oakcrest is home to
approximately 1800 students. While the student body is larger than that of Cedar Creek, the
demographics and the number of at risk students mirror the population of Cedar Creek. The
similar demographics, the common mission statements, and the communal collection
development policy make Oakcrest a comparable High School Media Center. The Oakcrest High
School Media Center serves a student population of 1800 students in grades 9-12. The Media
Center contains 12,720 items for a ratio of 7.07 items per student. This compares to 3.94 items
per student in the Cedar Creek High School Media Center. The library collection at Oakcrest is
more balanced and follows the percentages recommended by the Senior High Library Catalog
more closely than does the Cedar Creek High School collection. This is to be expected at a longestablished school. However, a major problem with the Oakcrest collection is the age of the
collection. From data provided by Mandie Dorrell, the librarian at Oakcrest, it was determined
that the average item at Oakcrest has a publication date of 1980 (Dorrell, M., personal
communication, October 8, 2010). A collection analysis produced by TitleWise shows that many
subject areas have greater than 85% of titles exceeding the acceptable age in years. In
comparison, Cedar Creek has an average date of publication of 2007 (Finn, C., personal
communication, September 17, 2010), illustrating a major advantage in utilizing an Opening Day
Collection for a new high school.
Unlike Cedar Crest High School, Oakcrest High School does not offer magnet programs
to their students in any of the four grades. This is important in the realization that all subjects in
the Oakcrest Library can and should be at an equal level of importance. Their collection of
Biology books, in comparison to other natural sciences in their library, is higher than Cedar
Creek, even though the school lacks any sort of specific programs. With over 1800 students, the
percentage of books per student in the biology section is just about .105, making the selection
much larger, however, much is the selection can be considered aged. A study of the Collection
Analyses proves that many of Natural Science and Biology books were published between 1970
and 1980, which lacks the quality of information the students are receiving in this library. Cedar
Crest’s exemplifies in its ability to offer up-to-date information in books of quality, rather than
quantity.
The two high schools analyzed for this report had collections with similar ratios of
biographies to students (.4558 for Cedar Creek and .4661 for Oakcrest). However, biographies
make up a lower percentage of the Oakcrest collection (5.71%) compared to 9.95% of the total
collection at Cedar Creek. The collection at Oakcrest showed a greater number of biographical
titles assigned to other Dewey numbers, but this may be just a local cataloging preference.
Although the TitleWise analyses provided by the school librarians did not specifically address
age sensitivity of the two biography collections, a search of the online catalog for Oakcrest
revealed that 79% of the biography titles have publication dates prior to 2000.
Both of these high schools must find funding to improve their biography collections.
Cedar Creek should gradually increase the number of biographies to accommodate the needs of
an expanding student body. Oakcrest should take steps to address both the number of
biographies and the age of the collection. Weeding should be done at Oakcrest to provide a
current selection which will appeal to the student population.
Conversations should take place with educational leaders at both buildings to ensure that
collection additions reflect the needs of faculty as well as students. Loertscher (1985)
emphasizes the importance of collaboration with curriculum developers and faculty as part of the
collection building process. The Professional Development Plan for the Greater Egg Harbor
Regional High School District (Greater Egg, 2010) states as a district goal that teachers will
“continue to investigate and incorporate interdisciplinary learning to emphasize the core
curriculum connections between various subjects.” Biographies should be offered to teachers as
an excellent avenue for expanding opportunities for interdisciplinary learning. Finally, as the
school librarians work toward improvements to these collections, Ann Moore (2005), writing in
the School Library Journal, offers valuable tips for choosing biographies for student use. Moore
emphasizes the need to check biographies for accuracy, writing style, and student aids such as
glossaries, timelines, and maps. Carefully chosen biographies may provide educational value and
inspiration for all members of the school communities.
Additionally, Oakcrest’s Holocaust Studies collection consists of 118 titles. With 1800
students that is only .0656 titles per student. While this is double the number of titles available
to Cedar Creek students, it is still well below an acceptable level. Like Cedar Creek’s collection,
the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Collection at Oakcrest does not even meet the Fair standard
set by Ho and Loertscher (1985). These are hardly acceptable numbers. For students to be
unable to go to the library and find appropriate material regarding Holocaust and Genocide
Studies is deplorable. In the state of New Jersey, every board of education shall include
instruction on the Holocaust and genocide in an appropriate place in the curriculum for all
elementary and secondary students (New Jersey Department of Education, 2010). These
requirements must be considered as districts and schools develop curricular programs to meet
these standards. Clearly Oakcrest and Cedar Creek need to work on their collections if they are
going to comply with state law.
Group Strategies and Responsibilities
We began work on the Collection Mapping assignment shortly after completing our
group Collection Development Project. Christine Finn suggested that we continue to work with
the collection at the high school where she serves as librarian. Her position in the Media Center
gave the group easy access to information concerning the library’s mission and demographics, as
well as knowledge of the courses offered at the school. Christine was also able to coordinate with
the librarian at Oakcrest High School for information about that collection. Although we did not
have a formal group leader, Christine served as an informal manager, keeping us on track and on
schedule.
We reached an early decision that our special emphasis area would be a Holocaust
Collection. Each school in New Jersey is required to study the Holocaust and other genocides
and Christine knew that the Cedar Creek library did not have a collection that provided adequate
support for this area. Margaret Dean chose to work on Biographies due to a personal interest in
this area, and in the hope that some of the work done would be useful in her public library.
Initially, Environmental Science was chosen as the third area, because Cedar Creek serves as a
magnet school for students interested in this field. It was later decided that Environmental
Science would not work as a general area of emphasis due to its interdisciplinary nature, so
Biology was selected instead, with Kaitlin Sagaas taking responsibility for that area.
In preparation for the report, we read through the Collection Mapping articles that were
provided in the class file. The report was prepared by dividing up the work among the group
members. Christine prepared the initial sections of the report that described the library and the
school. Each group member wrote the sections of the report that related to their area of the
collection, and each member contributed information for the various tables in the Appendix. As
the report was written, Margaret worked on the References list and Kaitlin worked to piece the
various parts of the report together. Throughout the process, we kept group members informed of
our progress through postings on the discussion board and the file exchange.
Our group was able to accomplish the objectives of this assignment through cooperation
and communication among the group members. Most of the difficulties we encountered were
with the general areas of interest and involved questions about how to evaluate whether
particular titles fit within the subject area. Although the two libraries we compared were part of
the same school corporation, the cataloging was not consistent, with Oakcrest High School
making greater use of special breakout call numbers such as the one for Oversized Books. This
served as a good reminder that our efforts in this group assignment represent only a portion of
the collection mapping strategies described by David Loertscher (1985). One of the areas
discussed by Loertscher is the adjustment of call numbers and subject headings to make
collection analysis useful for a particular school setting. For example, Cedar Creek might want to
consider adding a subject heading that would identify books for use within the Environmental
Science curriculum. Overall, this assignment proved to be a valuable experience for all three
group members and helped to prepare us for future work in collection management.
Appendix:
Table 1
Collection Map
School Name: Cedar Creek H.S.
Number of students: 430
Total Collection: 1,696
Number of total collection items per student: 3.94
Number of items
per student
Number of items
General Collection Areas
1. Biology
23
.0535
2. Biographies
196
.4558
17
.0395
Special Emphasis Area
3.
Holocaust Studies
General Emphasis Areas
Exemplary
Special Emphasis Areas
7.0 -
Superior
1.20 -
Good
.60 -
- 2.0 Exemplary
- .25 Superior
2
- .15 Good
.4558 -Fair
.30 -
1
3
.2395
- .10 Fair
.0395
Total Collection
0
3.94
Mediocre
8
16
Making
Progress
24
Good
32
Excellent
40
Exemplary
Note: Three component parts of a collection are charted. At the base of the map, the total collection is
graphed horizontally and compared with the national standard of 40 items per student.
Taken from David Loertscher Collection Mapping: An evaluation Strategy for Collection Development
Table 2
Scale of the Total Collection Graph
Label
Mediocre
Making Progress
Good
Excellent
Exemplary
Items per student
0 – 7.9
8 – 15.9
16 – 23.9
24 – 31.9
32 – 40.0
Taken from David Loertscher, Collection Mapping: An evaluation Strategy for Collection
Development
Table 3
Collection Map Worksheet
School Name: Cedar Creek High School
Number of Students: 430
Total number of items in the collection: 1,696
Number of total collection items per student: 3.94
Total
General Emphasis
Biographies
Reference
000
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Biography
Fiction
Story Collection
Easy
Periodicals
Professional Collection
Specific Emphasis
Biology
Holocaust Studies
0
37
41
40
197
43
103
120
120
109
161
167
529
28
0
0
1
0
2
0
1
1
0
1
1
4
9
15
162
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
16
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
6
6
0
0
0
0
Total Segment
1696
196
21
17
Items/Student
3.94
.4558
.0488
.0395
Table 5
Distribution of Collections – Cedar Creek High School
Dewey Area
Reference
000
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Biography
Fiction
Story Collection
Easy
Periodicals
Professional Collection
Total Segment
Percentage of
Total Collection
Recommended List
Percentage
(Ho & Loertscher, 1986)
0
2.18
2.42
2.36
11.62
2.54
6.07
7.08
7.08
6.43
9.49
9.85
31.19
1.65
0
0
0.06
3.0
1.32
1.81
1.71
13.74
1.87
4.60
7.15
7.93
13.85
15.89
12.60
9.42
2.61
0
0.5
2.0
100.02
100.00
Difference in
Percentage
-3.00
0.86
0.61
0.65
-2.12
0.67
1.47
-0.07
-0.85
-7.42
-6.40
-2.75
21.77
-0.96
0.00
-0.50
-1.94
Recommended List Percentages were taken from Senior High School Library Catalog as cited by
Ho and Loertscher (1986).
Bibliography:
American Association of School Librarians. (2009). Empowering Learners: Guidlelines
for School Library Media Programs. Chicago: American Association of School
Librarians.
Daisey, P. (1997). Promoting equity in secondary science and mathematics classrooms with
biography projects. School Science and Mathematics, 97(8), 413-418.
Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District. (2010). District Professional Development
Plan. Retrieved from: http://www.gehrhsd.net/index.htm
Hebert, T. P., Long, L.A., and Spers Neumeister, K.A. (2001). Using biography to counsel gifted
young women. Journal of Secondary Gifted Education 12(2), 62.
Ho, M.L., & Loertscher, D.V. (1985). Collection mapping: The research. Drexel Library
Quarterly, 21(2), 22-39.
Kirchhoff, A. (2008). Weaving in the story of science: Incorporating the nature of science into
the classroom through stories about scientists, discoveries, and events. The Science
Teacher 75(3), 33.
Loertscher, D.V. (1985). Collection mapping: An evaluation strategy for collection development.
Drexel Library Quarterly, 21(2), 9-39.
Moore, A. W. (2005). “Setting the Bar for Biography.” School Library Journal 51(11), 38-39.
New Jersey Department of Education. (2010). Common Core State Standards Initiative.
Retrieved from: http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards/english-language-artsstandards/reading-informational-text-6-12/grade-9-10/
New Jersey Department of Education. (2010). New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education.
Retrieved from: http://www.state.nj.us/education/holocaust/curriculum/