Weeding Flowchart

The purpose of this assignment is to weed the materials from the library collection at Miracle Beach related to the Grade 3 Social Studies curriculum with particular focus on the relationship between Indigenous people and salmon. For purposes of this weeding/selection assignment I will be examining the sub-section of the library that best serves to meet the needs of the following topics relevant to Grade 3 Social Studies. Most of these items are located in the Dewey section 970-972.

Big Idea # 1: Learning about indigenous peoples nurtures multicultural awareness and respect for diversity.

Big Idea #2: People from diverse cultures and societies share some common experiences and aspects of life.

Big Idea #3: Indigenous knowledge is passed down through oral history, traditions, and collective memory.

Big Idea #4: Indigenous societies throughout the world value the well-being of the self, the land, spirits, and ancestors.

Rationale

Removing books and other materials from the collection is a necessary function if we wish to keep our library collections meaningful and attractive.

1) It makes your collection more attractive since it removes older, dilapidated materials.

2) It makes your collection more useful, since it removes materials that are out-of-date, and therefore no longer accurate.

3) It makes your collection easier to use, because useful materials are no longer “hidden” among materials that are not useful.

4) It makes room for newer and more useful materials.

5) It helps the teacher librarian know the collection better.

6) It can serve as a collection assessment technique because it requires the teacher librarian to really look at the collection, which helps identify the collection’s strengths and weaknesses.

Here is the subsection that I will focus on for the purposes of this assignment;

The books classified as Indigenous resources have a small sticker on the spine label to help identify them among other books found in this section. I see the shelf label needs to be updated to Indigenous as we are moving away from using “First Nations”.

This area needs to be improved upon as it has been neglected for many years. With the new curriculum, Indigenous content has become more prominent across the elementary grade levels. Upon initial observation it was clear that many of the books were not suitable for primary grades. The reading levels were too advanced and the content difficult to comprehend.

According to Mardis, a library collection;

• Should meet both the curricular needs and personal needs of students
• Resources should come in various formats and varying levels of difficulty
• Materials should provide a global perspective and promote diversity
• Resources should reflect the basic humanity of all people and are free of stereotypes
• Library materials that present different points of view in an objective manner
• Materials that will help students develop critical thinking skills and aesthetic appreciation

(Mardis p.58)

The following article from the Government of Canada was useful in helping me decide what books needed to be removed.

1. Resource Production Process
a. Is there evidence that First Nations, Métis or Inuit, as knowledge
keepers, were involved in the creation and development of the resource?
b. Who owns the content or image? Why was it created and when?
2. Language and Imagery
a. Are the terms “squaw,” “half-breed,” “massacre” and “victory” used with
careful consideration and in an appropriate context?
b. Is the term “prehistory” or “pre-contact” used to imply that history began
with European historical documentation?
c. Does the image portray a stereotype such as the drunken or lazy Indian?
d. Does the image blend traditional clothing or regalia from a variety of
nations, or misrepresent the nations within the context or period?
3. Indigenous Knowledge and World Views
a. Are the oral traditions in the historical account, such as stories and
songs, considered to be as credible and important as the written records?
b. Are the diverse cultures, traditions, languages, world views and the
political, social and economic realities of First Nations, Métis and Inuit
represented?
c. Are the knowledge systems and world views portrayed or written from an
ethnocentric perspective?
4. Historical and Contemporary Portrayals of First Nations, Métis and Inuit
a. Does the resource portray negative outcomes for Aboriginal people and
positive outcomes for non-Aboriginal people?
b. Does the resource portray the lands of the Americas, before the
Europeans arrived, as territories that Indigenous people treated with care
and respect?
c. Does the resource represent the diversity of First Nations, Métis and
Inuit experiences?
d. Are there biases or value judgements placed on socio-political traditions
and institutions or on achievements in the descriptions or
interpretations?
Assessing and Validating Resources—Aboriginal Heritage

Using the guidelines from both Mardis and the Government of Canada, this subsection needs to be improved to better meet the needs of all the students at Miracle Beach, not just the Grade 3 class.

The Plan

1. Pull any books that I feel are possible candidates for weeding.
2. Visually examine the books using MUSTIE;

M=     Misleading–factually inaccurate
U=      Ugly–worn beyond mending or rebinding
S=       Superceded–by a new edition of by a much better book on the subject
T=       Trivial–of no discernible literary or scientific merit
I=        Irrelevant to the needs and interests of the library’s community
E=       Elsewhere–the material is easily obtainable from another library

3. Check circulation statistics through Destiny and apply a sticky note with any relevant data. ( Date published, circulation statistics, etc)

4. Place on a library cart until Indigenous Support Worker and Indigenous Liason teacher can take a look at the books and make a recommendation. Invite classroom teachers to give feedback.

5. Invite the District Indigenous Support Teachers to give input on possible weeded material.

6. Once a decision has been made in consultation with others, remove selected materials from Destiny and mark as weeded.

7. Consult District Indigenous Support teachers for recommended replacement material.

8. Explore Strong Nations Publishing, ERAC, and  FNESC for possible replacement materials.

9.  Explore the Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools catalogue (The Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia)

Indigenous-Catalogue-2017.pdf

Timeline: Completion goal of December 2018 (I am only at the school two days a week)

Communicating the Change: 

•  Send staff an email indicating rationale for weeding the subsection and invite them to give feedback on the possible weeded material
• Ask teachers for suggestions for new materials they would like to see added
• Once new materials have arrived, display them at a staff meeting