Collection Assessment 1 Running head: MANHATTAN PUBLIC LIBRARY

Laura Adams, Crystal Applegarth, Amy Crouse LI 855 Collection Development and Management Collaborative Collection Assessment Manhattan, KS Public Librarys Childrens Department December 7th, 2011

Collection Assessment 2 Introduction The Manhattan Public Library is located at the corner of Sixth and Poyntz in the historic downtown area of the city of Manhattan, Kansas. Sitting in an area of tree-lined streets with stately older homes and buildings, the library is in a centralized location within walking distance of downtown shops and a busy shopping mall. Housed in an older stone building, the library is a very inviting place to visit. There are two floors in the main section. The childrens department is located in a separate room just off the central area. This communal area is divided by a hallway featuring comfortable seating. There is a large story time room located just off the childrens section, and the young adult section is under the stairwell in the main room of the library. Although obviously old, the library is well-kept and has received some physical updates over the years. History The Manhattan Public Library was built originally in 1904. At that time, the Carnegie Foundation gave the library association $10,000 to match the $10,000 the community had provided for construction of the building. According to a pamphlet compiled by the library association in honor of the 100th Anniversary celebration of the library, the first director who served from 1904-1942 made a monthly salary of $35.00. At that time there were fifty libraries serving the twelve counties in Kansas (Coleman, 1989). In 1969, the current building was constructed.

Collection Assessment 3 Community Analysis Manhattan, Kansas, nicknamed the Little Apple, is located in the middle of northeast Kansas, right in the center of the scenic Flint Hills and the Tallgrass Prairie. The area was first settled in 1855 when abolitionist pioneers traveled to begin a new life in one corner of the prairie. There were two groups of settlers; the first arrived with visions of a free Kansas. The second arrived when their steamboat, the Hartford, ran aground in the Kansas River. The town they formed has grown into a bustling college community which still retains that small town charm. Manhattan is located 120 miles west of Kansas City and serves a three county, 200,000 population regional area, serving as a leader in education, trade, health care, entertainment, culture and communication. Money Magazine listed Manhattan as one of the Top 10 Places to Retire (2010). The city of Manhattan is probably best known for being home to Kansas State University, the first college to become a land-grant college in 1861. K-State features eight colleges and is a leader in research, teaching and service. The Kansas State Veterinary College is known around the country for its excellence in teaching and research. City Population The 2010 population for the city of Manhattan was 52,836 with 20,008 households. The median age of the population is 23.8. 95% of the adult population has at least a high school education.

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Located just to the West of Manhattan is Fort Riley, home to the 1st Infantry Division known as the Big Red One. The post was established in 1853 and serves as home to more than 60,000 soldiers, family members, retirees and Department of the Army civilians. It is no surprise that Kansas State University employs the largest percentage of the Manhattan area population- a total of 6,028 students, faculty, and staff work at K-State. Fort Riley employs the next largest percentage of employees in the same area: 3,543. The school district falls into third place, employing 1350 people. Manhattan is also a home to The American Institute of Baking, Manhattan Christian College and the Manhattan Area Technical College. All of these colleges have their own libraries on their campuses but use the public library as a resource and as a source for loan materials. Stakeholders With the diverse population of Manhattan, the main stakeholders of the library are, of course, the patrons who visit. The home-schooled students, and the public and private school students who visit the library or utilize the web page for research, are stakeholders. Given the many colleges and universities located in the city, their student populations are also stakeholders in the library. The military population from Fort Riley utilizes the library via inner-library loan from their base library on post. The library itself is governed by two boards: The first is the Manhattan Library Association (MLA) which is the official name for the Friends of the Library group. They are a non-profit, tax-exempt, volunteer organization. This was the group that was formed in 1900 to support the construction of a Carnegie Library, (which still stands Collection Assessment 5

today one block east of the current library building). The Association was reactivated in 1988 and continues to support the library financially as well as through various programs and services. The group raises funds for summer reading programs, author visits and book discussions, as well as providing free books to children through the Kansas Reads to Preschoolers program. Members sponsor an annual book sale as well as maintaining an ongoing book sale corner in the front lobby, named for a founding member of the group. The second group is the Manhattan Library Foundation. They are an independent, non-profit corporation established to support the continued growth and improvement of the library. Independent of the library board, members work to earn additional funding for the library. These funds are used to purchase computers, furnishings, and books. The AV collection is wholly supported by foundation funding. This foundation is comprised of a six-member board of directors and the current president of the Manhattan Public Library Board of Trustees. Each group has individual fliers available at the circulation desk, encouraging membership and participation, which is where this information was obtained. School System The opportunities for education in the city are many and varied. The Unified School District #383 serves the majority of the students through its nine elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school. In 2009, the public schools earned 69 Standards of Excellence for their scores on the 2009-2010 Kansas Assessments.

Collection Assessment 6 Additionally, Manhattan High School was named one of Americas Best High schools in Newsweek magazine for two years in a row (Mathews, 2011).

Other school options include the Flint Hills Christian School, a non-denominational K-12 school, and the Manhattan Catholic Schools, also a K-12 option. The library receives no funding from the school system. Funding comes from the city budget as well as from the two library boards. Library Staff Jennifer Adams is the Childrens Services Manager at the Manhattan Public Library. She holds a Masters Degree in English from K-State and has been in this position since 1999. Adams has a background in childrens literature. She began working at the library in the circulation department twelve years ago. When asked what she liked most about her job, she replied getting children excited about reading, story times, and ordering books. When asked what she liked least, her answer was icky personnel issues and scheduling. Staff Currently, there are three full time staff members in the childrens department: two librarians and one assistant. Three part time personnel work 20 hours per week. Two part time pages shelve for 20 hours a week and complete the childrens staff. During the school year there are a total of six to eight staff members in the childrens section. In the summer months, three part time 20 hour per week positions are added. Circulation doubles in the summer months as does the attendance at story times.

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The library offers a multitude of programs for children, young adults and adults. Colorful flyers at the circulation desk and also in the main hallway advertise these programs. Storytimes include Baby Rhyme Time for infants and lap babies, and Toddler Time which is a program for children ages two to three. Move & Groove Story time is for children ages three and up, and Reading Round-Up focuses on the kindergarten age child. Family Storytime uses books, music, rhymes and instruments to encourage the entire family to participate. In addition to these programs there are afterschool clubs for Kindergarten through sixth grade students. Upcoming special events for the winter months include: author visits, Wii play days, holiday storytimes and showings of popular kids movies. The library also sponsors the R.E.A.D. with dogs program where children can read to a certified therapy dog. Anyone who attends this program six times receives a free book. Library workers invite the local zoo staff in once a month to bring animals and artifacts; attendees to these programs receive a free book and a chance to win a family membership to the zoo. Separate teen events include game nights, live versions of the game Clue, an Anime/Manga club and photo scavenger hunts. A Library after Hours night where games, activities, noise and fun happen by flashlight is a monthly happening as well. According to Adams, the attendance at these events is usually between 150-160 children during the school year. In the summer, attendance doubles to approximately 300. In just the first week of the Baby Rhyme Time there were 31 babies in attendance; 20 babies attended the story time for children age 0-18 months. Collection Assessment 8

It would appear that the staff is very active at planning programs that will interest both the children and their parents. Kind and helpful, library workers comply quickly with any request from children or adults. Collection Development The library has an active, up-to-date collection development policy in place. Adams does the ordering for the childrens department. There are three other managers who order for the rest of the departments in the library. Adams has a standing order plan from BWI for her series books such as Nancy Drew and Warriors. She prefers to order series titles from BWI because their format is free and easy to use. All magazine ordering is handled by the adult services librarian. A variety of magazines are available for both children and parents. Offerings include: The Mailbox: An Idea Magazine for Teachers, Family Fun, Homeschooling Today, My 9 Months, and School Library Journal. Baskets on each table request that patrons please place magazines in them after they finish so library workers will know what patrons prefer to read. The library subscribes to Tumblebooks which is an animated, talking picture book program for kids. Basically the same as ebooks, Tumblebooks takes existing picture books and adds animation, sound, music and narration. The library has always subscribed to World Book Kids but the state is now cutting the funding; so the library will fund this database in the coming year. Amazon is used to purchase most of the DVD and media that the library owns. All of the DVDs and CDs are housed at the entrance to the main room of the library, easily accessible on the shelves.

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Budget Mrs. Adams shared that the community is extremely supportive of the library. Because of this, the budget has not been cut in recent years as it has in many public libraries. The director of the library, Fred Atchison, is very protective of the book budget. When asked what she would get rid of first if the budget was cut, Adams replied that the parent resources would be the first to go, and there would need to be cuts in juvenile fiction and picture books as well. However, recently, the childrens department has been asked to redirect their goals. A recent strategic plan for the librarys goals revealed that community members are most interested in ensuring that there are multiple copies of popular fiction titles so they dont have to wait for an available copy. Weeding Weeding of the collection is done once a year or on an as needed basis. Low usage items are weeded at the end of the year. Old or damaged copies of popular items are replaced. If an item hasnt been checked out during the year, it is discarded or sold at the library book sale. Some picture books and most biographies are low usage items and tend to be discarded on a regular basis. Multiple copies of any items that arent hugely popular are also weeded. Interesting Facts The library has a flyer at the circulation desk that contains fun facts about the libraries usage. 704,030 items were checked out in 2010. 419,276 people visited the library during this time period. 16,417 children, teens and young adults attended library programs. An average of 1,932 people used the computers every week, and meeting Collection Assessment 10

rooms were used on 1,294 occasions. Having such a pamphlet available lets the public know that the library staff is doing their job and responding to the publics wishes. Collection Assessment Jennifer Adams has a background in childrens literature. Her knowledge of childrens quality literature is reflected in the childrens book collection. We found the collection of materials to be extensive, thorough, and quite excellent overall, particularly in the Junior Fiction, picture books, and easy readers sections. All of the award winners one could expect in a childrens collection are there. During the interview, Adams stated that she tries to keep at least one of every Newberry and Caldecott award winners on the shelves, even if it is one of the very old and somewhat obscure titles. (This is a good idea. Like many childrens libraries, the Manhattan Public Library has one of those wonderful library posters hanging inside the childrens department which shows the cover of every Newberry and Caldecott award winner in order by the year of the award). One never knows when a graduate student in Childrens Literature at K-State might come in and need to write a paper on one of the older Newberry winners. K-State boasts one of the finest graduate level Childrens Literature programs in the country. A very old Newberry winner recently came back into style - Mr. Poppers Penguins. Thanks to last years movie version of the book, another generation of children is delighted with this 1920s classic which will always stay fresh. Adams mentioned that she keeps as many of the Newberry and Caldecott Honor books in her collection as she can. While analyzing the collection, we found many

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books with the prestigious Coretta Scott King award, the Schneider award, and the fairly new Dr. Seuss award as well. The childrens collection is divided into the following headers: J Fiction, Easy Readers, J Picture books, J Board & Toddler books, J graphic novels, and J non-fiction. There are also small sections of these: Parenting, Storybook Boxes and Discovery Packs, JF large print, (mixed in with the other fiction books), a few novelty and special give-away books, and J Readers Advisory. Across the hallway, which neatly divides the adult and childrens departments, the sound and movement materials are kept. There is a very nice selection of DVDs, audio books, childrens blu-rays, and a small music collection available on CDs. We were told that the Discovery packs are quite popular with families. There were only 15 of the 44 available on the shelves when we were there. The Discovery Packs are sturdy bag-like containers which hold a few books, toys, and sometimes even an inexpensive musical instrument. Everything inside a pack relates to a particular theme. Some examples: families, sea animals, music, a different language. There are many choices. On each of our three visits to the library, the heaviest foot traffic for families of young children was in this area of sound and movement materials. This was our clue of what not to cut on the budget! State of the Collection Given an agenda to cut 15% from the childrens collection budget, we pondered what makes a book one that stays in the collection and what causes it to get tossed? First we considered circulation of an item. There are approximately 60,000 items in the Collection Assessment 12

childrens department. Because the library couldnt give us a print-out of what was circulating in the childrens sub-sections at any given time, we had to compromise on our circulation statistics. We settled for counting every item on the shelves within their subsections, such as J graphic novels and J Easy Readers. After we received statistics on the exact number of total items in the sub-sections, we knew we would have a fairly good idea of what was circulating and what was not. Another consideration is the timeliness of a book. We checked the copyright dates on every other book in all of the non-fiction books and the graphic novels. We wanted to get an idea, especially in non-fiction, of the copyright dates on each book available. While it is very tedious to go through every item on a shelf like this, it does give one a good idea of many things. You learn what sort of physical condition the collection is in, and sometimes, as when we counted 53 Hank the Cowdog books, you learn that a good series may have passed its peak of popularity. This way of learning your library hasnt entirely died out. It even has some advocates, as learned from, Weeding Library Collections: Library Weeding Methods. During our interview with Adams, she said that she considers all of the following in weeding her childrens collection: How often does a book circulate? Is it an award winner of any kind? Is it unique in any way? (The library has 200 large print J Fiction books-not a bad collection, considering that many childrens libraries would have none. These are a great example of something special that should not be cut from the collection, only updated). Adams also considers the physical condition of a book. A book in really Collection Assessment 13

poor condition may need to be tossed and then quickly re-ordered! Poor condition may be a result of it being well-used. Although Adams doesnt like to buy paperbacks, (their shelf time is so brief), she does purchase several, almost exclusively in Graphic novels and in J Fiction. Patrons demand for certain series such as Goosebumps require it because so few titles in the series are even published in hardback. Collection Development Policy A crucial factor in the make-up of collection materials is this: What do your patrons want? For this reason, Adams kindly shared her collection development policy with us, (see attached, COL1 Collection Development Policy). The policy states that materials selected are intended to meet the diverse reading, viewing, and listening needs of library users, both expressed and those determined from community demographics and areas of interest. The Manhattan Public Library follows the ALA Guidelines for the Formulation of Collection Development Policies, 1st edition. In this guideline, the Manhattan childrens collection would fall under the middle category, General Interest/Study. This type of collection focuses mostly on purchasing popular or current titles, with an emphasis on frequent weeding of the collection. The majority of the works would be current and would be written by well-known authors, although classics and significant works in the field would be represented to a lesser extent. The collection development policy also states that, the library does not collect materials to meet the specific curriculum needs of educational programs at any level.

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This basically means that the public library does not strive to fill the local childrens reference or educational needs. Students are expected to get that from their school libraries. There is however, a special emphasis on early readers. The policy maintains: The library supports early literacy, with collections to help prepare young children enter school ready to learn, read, write, and listen. This mandate is expressed well in the collection. At the time of our visits, fully 50% of the Easy Readers were checked out, a great circulation percentage. In selecting materials for a collection, the following are to be considered, popular demand for a title or subject matter, the reputation of the author or publisher, timeliness, accuracy, indexing and other organization of the material, reviewers opinions, literary or artistic merit, social significance, cost, condition, quality, local interest, and the availability of the materials elsewhere. Increasingly, the availability of the internet as it is used as a research/reference tool has influenced the decision to purchase non-fiction childrens materials. Simply put: fewer non-fiction and reference print materials are bought because many children will not access them; they go straight online to get their information. Action Plan After perusing all of the Manhattan Childrens Library collection for many hours over three visits, an action plan was formed. We suggest the following simple measures. Cut funding in these areas, according to these percentages: Cut 20% off of J Fiction, (keeping the major award winners as part of the librarys core collection). Collection Assessment 15 Cut 20% off J Non-Fiction

Cut 10% off Graphic Novels Cut 15% off J Picture books/J Board/Toddler books

With a budget of $5300 allowed for the total juvenile book budget, the cuts would be reflected as: $2800 off the $1400 allocated for J Fiction $2000 off the $10,000 allocated for J Non- Fiction $400 off the $4000 allocated for Graphic novels $2700 off the $1800 allocated for J Picture books/J Board/Toddler books The total cut in funds would be $7900-more than the needed $7550 cut proposed. Reasoning: J Fiction is not circulating well. The percentage that was checked out when we visited hovered at almost 20%. Thats not awful, but its not indicative of wide usage either. J Non-Fiction is not circulating widely at all, (stat?). A lot of the material seemed to be either outdated or repetitious. Graphic novels actually circulate quite well, but as Adams noted: 80% of the ones checked out constitute about 20% of the Graphic novel collection. Some of those extraneous ones need to go.

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J Picture Books are one of the biggest draws and at least a quarter of them stay checked out at any given time. But with over 11,000 of them, many are just in poor condition. There are many multiples that could easily be cut.

In addition: We would suggest keeping all of the Easy Readers! They are a truly hot item. Adams said that their circulation rises considerably during the summer reading months. We would recommend using the extra funding, from the budget cuts of $350, to buy more Easy Readers. They are not easy to find but they are so well used. A trend in publishing seems to be starting. Publishers are beginning to print some truly great, funny Easy Readers, such as Mo Williams series, and the incredible Mercy Watson series.

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References Coleman, R. (1989). History of the Manhattan library association. Manhattan, KS: Manhattan Public Library Board. Kansas state university. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.k-state.edu Manhattan public library. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://manhattan.lib.ks.us/ Manhattan area chamber of commerce. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.manhattan.org Mathews, J., (2011, June 20). America. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/highschoolchallenge Slote, S. (1982). Weeding library collections: library weeding methods. (4th ed.). Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited. Top 25 places to retire. (2010, October 10). Money Magazine, Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/real_estate/1009/gallery.best_places_retire.mo neymag/25.html