Action Research Plan

TE 893
Andy Brenn
Deshler Public School
Introduction
Our high school media center is run by Deanna Maschmann who is only
a part-time media specialist because she teaches social studies part-time
also. Due to Deanna being busy both teaching and running the media center,
she always finds time for new topics to be added to the collection but doesnt
always have much time to weed out the old books that are out dated or
arent used ever. I was discussing with Deanna which area she said probably
needed weeded the most and she mentioned the science non-fiction books.
She has some books that supply students with good information, but she also
has some books that are out of date when it comes to accurate information
and some that just dont get used. I decided that I needed to look up some
more information on proper weeding before I started to eliminate any books.
I also decided that I needed to do a survey with our two high school science
teachers, and also some of our sophomore students who are taking science
classes this year to see what they would like to have added to the library
collection. All of our high school students have school issued laptops for
them to use, so I am also going to check and see how much the teachers and
students really use the library for project information.

Literature Review
When I was searching for new science non-fiction books to add to the
library collection in the Library Sparks magazine, I came across a section in
the magazine that was full of tips. The tip that caught my eye was the
acronym MUSTIE thats used to decide if a book should be weeded or not. It
stands for M: Misleading or factually inaccurate, U: Ugly, S: Superseded, T:
Trivial, I: Irrelevant to the needs and interests in the community, E: Elsewhere
obtained. I was very happy to have spotted this handy acronym to help me
with weeding.
While I was searching for articles about methods for weeding, I came
across Library Weeding Methods written by Stanley J. Slote. Slote (1997)
stated that weeding will increased the satisfaction of the readers. A lack of
weeding often results in tightly packed shelved and books stored in
inconvenient locations, both of which tend to reduce user satisfaction. He
also mentioned that weeding not only helps out the students when they are
searching for materials, but it also helps out the staff by having to use less
time to but books back onto shelves and taking inventory at the end of the
school year.

I found a book called Less is More: A Practical Guide to Weeding

School Library Selections, that mentioned why everyone needs to do
weeding in their libraries. Every library needs to make weeding a priority at
least once a year because students may find themselves using incorrect
information. Baumbach and Miller (2009) mentioned that students may also
learn to not trust the information they find in the media center. The school
library isnt used as much as it used to be due to our school being 1:1 with
laptops for grades 3-12. Baumbach and Miller talked about how online
materials are getting more and more use each year. They did mention that
Books may be useful for finding in-depth information and establishing
context, for helping students who have difficulty reading from the computer
screen, or for ensuring access to resources for those who are without
computer access at home. So while its easier to find information on your
computers, there is still a need for accurate and useful information in your
library for the students who dont have access to a laptop.
Data Collection
Since I am going to make suggestions on replacing materials that got
weeded I decided to get data from three sources. I have a list that Deanna
and I made of what has been removed from the science non-fiction area in
the high school library and why it got removed.
Removed Materials Data:
Removed Material

Reason for Removal (MUSTIE)

Garden Flowers in Color

U, S

Physics Tell Why

U, E

Uluendo

U, I

North with the Spring

U, S

Color Key of North American Birds

Taxidermy

U, S, I
I

Encyclopedia of the Animal World

M, S, T

I noticed that when I was looking at the removed materials from the science
non-fiction area that there are still books available to the students that are
more up to date and will supply them with more accurate information.
Secondly, I did a quick survey with some sophomore students who are
currently taking science classes this semester and asked them if there were
any materials that were difficult to find or you couldnt find in the library.
Survey Data
Results from Student Surveys Grade 10(11 Surveys Completed)
Research Use of
Reported Topics

Additional Materials
Needed

# of Students Requesting
Materials

Human Anatomy

Skeletal Books

5 students (45%)

Physics

None

Biology

Cell Biology, Agriculture,

Ecology

4 students (36%)

Thirdly, I surveyed our two high school science teachers, Mr. LeFave,
and Mr. Vieselmeyer who teach Chemistry, Biology, and Anatomy and

Physiology to parts of the sophomore class. The survey I had for them
allowed for them to suggest new materials for the library collection so it
would help out with supplying information for their class projects.
Results from Teacher Surveys
Research Use of
Reported Topics

Additional Materials
Needed

Alternative Energy

Solar Energy, Wind

Energy, Nuclear Energy

Global Warming

Climate Changes

Stem Cells

Bones and Cartilage

Repair

Interpretation of Data
After looking at what the two science teachers recommended for our
library collection, I dont think that our selection is all that bad. They stated
that some of the students who requested materials for the library dont look
very hard to find the topics they need. The teachers said the information for
those projects is available in the library you just have to look. After receiving
the surveys from the two teaches, its evident that we need information on
global warming, and multiple areas that involve biology.

Plan for Implementation of Changes

After completing the weeding of the science non-fiction section and the
data I received about materials missing in the school library I created a list of
resources we need to order. I really focused on the biology area because
there such a variety of topics you can cover in biology. I looked up resources
on Titlewave, and JLG (Junior Library Guild) Backlist for suggestions.
After completing this project and informing Deanna on what topics our
science teachers would like to see more of in the collection, she said that we
wont be able to order everything at once but shell try and get the
collections more up to par with their subjects. She also noticed that when we
were weeding, she has good topics in the collection its just that some of the
resources arent used because they are so dated. So she said she will make
sure she sets aside a time at least once each school year to see if anything
needs removed. She really enjoyed getting information from the science
teachers on what they would like to have in the library, so she is planning on
sending surveys to all the high school teachers to see what they would like to
eventually have added.

Please Be Sure To Scroll Ahead For The Next Page

Teacher Survey
Name:___________________________
Resources for Library
March, 2015
1. What projects did your students need to research information on this year?

2. Did you have your class visit the library for these projects? If not, why?

3. Do you prefer to allow your students to use their laptops or the school library?

4. What resources do you allow your students to use for information on projects?

5. If there are resources missing in the library that are needed for your curriculum,
what are they?

6. What internet sites do you recommend for your students to use in your class?

7. What sites are frowned upon for student use?

8. What ideas can you give me for making the library more usable for your classes?

Student Survey
Name:____________________
Resources for Library
March, 2015
1. What projects have you completed this school year?

2. Did you happen to use the school library for your projects? If so, which projects
were you in the library searching for information?
3. Does there happen to be any resources that you cant seem to find in the school
library?

4. What do you prefer to use for researching materials? School library or your
laptop? Why?

5. What internet sites do you use for information on your projects?

6. Why do you only use those research sites for project?

7. Does your teacher give you certain sites to use if you arent going to use the
information supplied in the library?

Suggested Resources for Ordering

Title
Advances in Earth Science: From
Earthquakes to Global Warming
American Heat: Ethical Problems
with the United States' response
to global warming
Artic Thaw: Climate Change and
the Global Race for Energy
Resources

Author
P.R.
Sammonds,
J.M.T.
Thompson

Copyright

Publisher

2007

Imperial
College Press

Donald A.
Brown

2002

Rowman &
Littlefield
Publishers

McPherson

2014

21st Century

Examining Nuclear Energy

Cooke

2013

Energy and Waves through

infographics

Rowell

2013

Clara House
Lerner
Publishing
Group

Amazing Feats of Biological

Engineering

Abramovitz

2014

Essential
Library

For the Good of Mankind?: The

shameful history of human
medical experimentation

Wittenstein

2013

Lerner
Publishing
Group

The Double Helix Structure of

DNA

James D.
Watson

2001

Touchstone

References
Baumbach, D., & Miller, L. (2009). Less is More: A Practical Guide to Weeding School Library
Collections (pp. 3-10). Amer Library Assn Editions
Slote, S. (1997). Weeding Library Collections: Library Weeding Methods (p. 4). Libraries Unlimited.
Tips from the Trenches. (2014, September 1). Library Sparks, 6-6.