HAWAII HANDS OVER COLL-DEV: HIT 3A

[Pat Wallace <DENWALL@AOL.COM>]

HAWAII  HANDS  OVER  COLL-DEV
HIT #3A:  9/28/96    Fr Pat Wallace (DENWALL@aol.com):

> On 9/2/96 I posted a query titled MULTICULTURAL COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT
expressing my concern over what appeared to be a
growing dependency on vendors and lack of interest in supplementing
mainstream review & selection sources with " alternative"
sources...............

>On  9/20  I  posted this message to several listservs:
 Let me call your attention to the June '96 issue of
 School Library  Journal "News" on pp 10-11:
        "Hawaii Hands Collection Development to Baker and Tayler"
 announcing outsourcing of all public library collections.

>The response was immediate and voluminous. These hits attempt to
organize the responses to some degree into manageable chunks.  All
messages came directly to me unless otherwise indicated.  I have edited
them slightly for brevity.  On 9/25 I posted HIT #1 with replies from
librarians in Hawaii.  HIT #2 was posted 9/26 and focused on (1) the
need for better training in collection development, and (2) issues of
conflict of interest and inherent limitations of vendor developed
collections.  HIT #3  has been divided into two parts.  Part A includes
responses from school librarians  asserting that collection development
is a primary professional function, not to be ceded to commercial
vendors. Part B consists of letters supporting the advantages of centralizing
book selection.  There will be another HIT devoted primarily to responses
from librarians in public/community libraries.

********************************************************** SCHOOL LIBRARIANS
SPEAK UP : Selection as a Basic Professional Function
**********************************************************

POST #20:  NEW YORK    Pauline Herr, LMS
pherr@int1.mhrcc.org/Sep 22, 96
Arlington Elementary School/Poughkeepsie NY
>>Seems to me this is buying a collection, not develpment.
When I choose books, I take into consideration the special
interests of students and teachers.  These differ from school to
school--even within a school district.  In my school, for example,
I purchase  Sports Illus for Kids; my colleague across the district
buys Rod & Gun.  If a new teachers loves Teddy Bears or frogs or
decides to get nuts over pumpkins, I make a note and try to get some
extra materials on that subject ASAP.  Would a jobber do the same?
*********************************************************

POST #21:  ARIZONA  marthap@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU
Marthap/Hohokam Middle School/Tucson, AZ/ Sep 22, 96

>>I am currently still trying to recover from Baker & Taylor's basic
collection that started my library ten years ago. They included many
duplicate copies of books that have not been read by one student!
The collection did not serve my multicultural, multilingual, and
multilevel population.   Each school is so unique, each staff is
so unique, and each student is so unique--I feel the local
professional is best suited in collection development!!!
****************************************************

POST #22:  MARYLAND   Jane Scott
janes@umd5.umd.edu /Sep 22, 96
Franklin Elementary/Reisterstown, MD

>>Add my name to the list of Library Media Specialists that are
concerned.....I consider collection development to be an important
part of my job!  I  think I can do it better for my particular students,
curriculum and  faculty.   Even in the same school district,  student
abilities, interests and needs vary.  I spend alot of time reading
reviews, sharing them with my staff and analyzing the gaps and
needs in my collection.
>>I grew up in Hawaii and know that because of it's unique population,
flora and fauna, geography, etc. there is a great need for locally
produced material which is probably not something Baker & Taylor
would  carry.
****************************************************

POST #23: MASSACHUSETTS  Marsha Sullivan mrsulliv@seacoast.com/  Sep 20, 96

G. W. Brown Elementary (K-4)/Newburyport, MA

 >>I am appalled to think a library would hand this responsibility
over to a vendor.  Part of doing selection is knowing your patrons
and their interests. When I went to purchase books from a local book jobber
with the librarian from another school, we chose very different subject
matter because our kids have different tastes. While there are basic choices
that everyone would or should have in the collection,
other choices are dictated by patron requests.   I wonder if Hawaii
has addressed this?
**********************************************************

POST #24:  Helen Seagraves--Hcgraves@aol.com
Hood River / Sep 21, 96

>>I have been librarian in 11 schools, elementary, middle, and high
school.  I have never been in a school which would have been best
served by a generic library.

>>I was librarian in five elementary schools in Raleigh, North
Carolina.  Each had a distinctive student population. The collection
in each had been developed to meet the particular needs of the
students and teachers in that school. I watched and learned, and
selected materials to build upon the careful collection development building
which had been done before me. Every time I have begun work
in a new library I have spent some time shelving books and working
the circulation desk -- so that I can become familiar with the existing
collection and the patrons. It seems to me that working directly with
the public and materials selection are closely intertwined and
interdependent.
***************************************************
POST #25:  MISSOURI  Peggy Sue LaPorte
mst61@rockwood.k12.mo.us/ Sep 20, 96
Marquette HS /Chesterfield, MO

>>Over the past 30 years, I have opened seven school libraries at
all levels and would never consider letting  B&T totally  select a
new collection. Although their basic collection and those by other
vendors can certainly be helpful, each collection I have worked
with has begun by meeting with departments, teachers, examining curriculum
guides and using previous experience with materials usage.  Certainly
 Booklist, SLJ, Wilson Catalogs and other selection sources
are also used.
****************************************************

POST #26:   INDIANA    Kathy Keck
kkeck@ideanet.doe.state.in.us/Sep 22, 96
Crawfordsville High School/Crawfordsville, IN
>>I find it disturbing that collection development is being left up to
a vendor.  Where does the librarian use his/her professional judgment? One of
the most important parts of my job is developing the collection
in a way that supports and enhances the curriculum.  How will a vendor know
what is happening in the classes?
****************************************************

POST #27:  INDIANA    Charlene Moody
moody@indiana.edu/  Thu, Sep 26, 1996

>>Our library administrators seem to be going the way  [of] vendor supplied
collections.  I have voiced [concerns] at different times about
the shortages of other race/culture items such as display pictures.  In
 choosing materials to show to preschool teachers for multicultural
activities,  other cultures were represented but African American resources
were absent.
****************************************************

POST #28:   UTAH   Kay Honaker   Kay.Honaker@m.k12.ut.us
Media Coordinator/Timpanogos High School/ Orem, UT
Fri, Sep 27, 96

>> I recently opened a new high school library.  My major vendor (Follett)
sent a printout of its recommendations for an opening day collection.
Permabound supplies the same type of information.  I would not have
dared take every book on either list, as some of them flaunt ideas that
are so totally against the local community belief system that I would
be facing  challenges right and left.
>>It seems to me that allowing a totally out of area vendor system to
be the selectors reflects laziness (it's hard work to develop a collection
that is fair and will be accepted) and also the desire to blame someone
else for "mistakes."  I hope this trend doesn't continue, though the
desire to avoid taking responsibility for one's choices is certainly
prevalent in the world in other areas besides library selection.
**********************************************************

POST #29:  WISCONSIN   Phyllis Sigmond / psigmond@lcs.k12.wi.us
Hartland, WI/Mon, Sep 23, 96

>>I support one of our local independently owned bookstores, Harry
Schwartz, in Wisconsin.  Instead of using a jobber for 75% of our
books, we use our 20% discount, and purchase or order from them.
During the summer, when they have their annual sale, I bought over
$5,000 (with a 25% discount).  We really appreciate Schwartz, their
knowledgable staff, services, education outreach department.  You
better believe I tell everyone about ... the importance of independent
bookstores!!!!!!  Thanks for telling everyone about your important issues.
**********************************************************

POST#30:  IOWA    Kathy Geronzin   Library Media Specialist
kgeronzin@po-1.northeast.k12.ia.us
Lake Country School/Goose Lake, IA/ Mon, Sep 23, 96

>> what I do when I need a book from a small press is order from a book
store.   The book *Daddy's Roommate* was published by a small press
that specializes in gay publishing.    I ask my teachers and students to give
me suggestions for the library.   Sometimes I have to use *Books in Print* to
find the titles or subjects they have suggested.
**********************************************************

POST #31:  MISSOURI Carol Ann K. Winkler
winklers@inlink.com/ Sep 20, 96
St. Louis/Librarian, private 9-12 girls school.
Previously a children's librarian for ST. Louis Public Library.

>>Selection is one of the PROFESSIONAL duties of the librarian.
When I took this job I had to disabuse all the faculty of the notion
that my book budget was theirs to divvy up and spend.  What ARE they thinking
in Hawaii?
****************************************************


POST 32#:  Martha Oman/ Sep 20, 96
msoman@sailors.steamboat.k12.co.us

>>I am very concerned about this trend.  It is my professional opinion
that the curriculum of the school is a large part of what drives the
collection development decisions.  How can someone--even a
well-informed person--who is not part of that teaching community possibly
know how to meet the needs of the learners in that school?  There is a core
of literature and information which could be generically selected.  However,
meeting the needs of each individual school is the responsibility of the
library  professional in collaboration with the teaching staff.
**********************************************************

POST #33:  Gayle Hodur    ghodur@redshift.com
RE:  Multicultural Lit. /Sun, Sep 1, 96

>>I work in a school with a high degree of Spanish-speakers. Not only
do we need good materials in Spanish, but we need multicultural
materials in Spanish. Many of these kids never see anything beyond our
county, and some never get much farther than the couple of towns
around us.

>>I do order from jobbers, but I also order from anyone I can get good books
from. I really want Spanish literature in my library, but the publishers seem
to be pretty slow about catching on to what's needed. There are many colorful
books for primaries, but the middle grades and middle schoolers are left out
in the cold. Publishers tend to translate heavy-duty classics, like Jules
Verne and other Victorian authors. While these are good stories, my Spanish
readers don't have the reading skills for these authors and neither do my
English readers!

>>Many subjects just aren't out there in Spanish, from a jobber or
anyone else. I have a terrible time getting good science project books,
info about basic American government system, and materials about
countries of the world, religions, states of the U.S., etc. Spanish
language periodicals are rarely directed toward middle graders and
are usually very expensive.

>>Also there is very little help for cataloging any of these materials in
Spanish. Most of the records I received back in my recent retroconversion had
no notes or subject headings for the Spanish materials--not even English
notes or headings.I am trying to put some of them in myself, but
I can't find a consistent way to do it, and there seem to be no tools.

>>I want so much to give my Spanish-speaking students the same opportunities
that my other students have. I don't feel that they can
"put off" their education for several years until they learn English.
There are no library skills materials printed in Spanish that I know of.
And if I plan a literature unit, I usually can't back it up will books,
because there aren't any. It's very frustrating.

**********************************************************

POST #34 :   MASSACHUSETTS   Johanna Halbeisen
jhalbei@k12.oit.umass.edu
Woodland Elementary School(K-4)/Southwick, MA/ Sep 2, 1996

>>I'm going to be building the collection in my new school pretty much ground
up (most books in the library are (c) circa 1975).  My long
range plan, aside from getting a really good multicultural collection
in there, is to get the teachers to see why and how to use it to do
antI-bias/social justice in one's teaching.   My big plus is the principal
who sees the need.  In my last school we did a BIG thing in November
on Puerto Rico and  LOTS of Black History in  Jan and Feb.  Integrating
into the curriculum wasn't a possibility.  I'll bet the people who say
avoiding  stuff with blatant stereotypes is censorship are not the ones who
try to educate kids to see the stereotypes.

>>I compile my list and order whatever I can from the jobbers (esp the
ones that give discounts and data disks).  Then I order whatI can't get
from jobbers from the smaller publishers.   You can't not buy all the books
that have Indian stereotypes in them.  Your collection would be pretty
thread-bare.  This job is one of being alert all the time and being VERY
tactful so people will listen when you say something about this stuff.
I pray for patience!!