COLLECTION PLAN

Based upon the demographics of the community, the quadruple increase in the Vietnamese population clearly shows a need for Vietnamese Bilingual books. A Vietnamese bilingual collection would reach the student population, which begins with pre-kindergarten age 3 all the way up to fifth grade. Included into that demographic would be parents, grandparents, relatives and educators for classroom and home use.
Currently the library has a small collection of Vietnamese books in varying formats and reading levels, and is mainly for students and staff. The teaching materials will assist in lesson planning, meeting TEKS, ELPS, language arts and culture exploration.
The goal of the collection is to increase cultural awareness, comfort the new students with familiar stories, and allow teachers to compare and contrast stories from different cultures.
A second small collection features books written in Arabic in a variety of formats and levels, and is mainly for students and staff. The teaching materials will assist in lesson planning, meeting TEKS, ELPS, language arts and culture exploration.
The goal of this collection is to increase cultural awareness, comfort the new students with familiar stories, and allow teachers to compare and contrast stories from different cultures. Both collections are in a beginning phase and periodically new books are added when avaiable.

SELECTION

Materials will be selected based upon the following criteria:
Selection must have at least two positive reviews or awards from an educational or editorial source that is not a personal or publisher comment from a website.
Selection must provide different points of view and provide different educational levels.
Selection must be age and reading level appropriate, focusing on grades Kindergarten through second, with some materials in the grade three through five to reach higher reading levels.
Selection must align with curriculum needs and standards.
Selection must show authentic representation of Vietnamese culture, dress and design.
Selection must meet high standards in presentation, format, readability, content, accuracy, artistic or literary quality, and educational significance.
Selections are designed to provide information that will motivate students to examine their own attitudes and behavior, to understand their rights, duties, and responsibilities as citizens, and to make informed judgments in their daily lives.

CHALLENGES

Challenges might be brought up, but it is the job of the library to provide materials for any sort of research, comparison or contrast, and not to become the sensor of the community. Folktales and fairy tales represent a cultural timeliness. These selections represent a stereotype and style that can be used in a constructive, educational way to promote understanding and acceptance of differing cultures.
Any challenge can be made to the librarian either in writing or electronic message. Once received, thirty days will be taken to assess the concern and a decision to be made. The librarian, the principal and the campus cultural representative will review the concern and make a decision. If it is decided that the challenge has merit and a valid concern the book will receive a checkout note that will flag the student that this book might contain material not appropriate for their level, and that parental permission must be obtained before the book can be checked out. If it is discovered that the book is highly inappropriate or contains vast inaccuracies, then the book will be put with the professional materials, available only for staff checkout.
The challenge form is available at the bottom of the library page or can be found in the library. The electronic form is a Google document which is converted into a spreadsheet format for the purpose of collecting data on the library.

COLLECTION EVALUATION

The new collection will be evaluated based informal observation and formal documentation. Informal observations will be taken by teachers and the librarian as the students search for materials to read. Documentation will be backed by circulation records. The librarian will keep in contact with the teachers who are using the materials for bilingual education and the librarian will also keep in contact with the district bilingual representative to stay effective and provide adequate materials Teacher input will help target the collection’s gaps. Community usage and comments can also contribute to decisions will then be made if the collection is being successful. The collection will be deemed successful if the circulation statistics show an increase of usage and positive feedback from teachers and community representatives.

GIFTS

All gifts and donations are subject to the same standards as outlined in the collection development policy. All materials donated will become property of the Pioneer Crossing Elementary Library and will either be added to the library collection or given to students for their personal collection during R.I.F. (Reading Is Fundamental) week. Rare and valuable materials we will be honored with a bookplate unless the donor requests to remain anonymous. All monetary donations will be used to improve the library collection in any area the librarian chooses. Birthday Books will receive a book plate honoring the student’s birthday and a thank you card acknowledging the gift. Donors will be required to sign a Donor Contract indicating the donation or gift is irrevocable and subject to the statements set forth in this Gift Policy.
The donor’s contract is available at the bottom of the school library website and can be submitted electronically as a Google document which will convert to a spreadsheet for documentation purposes, or printed out and handed in to the librarian.

WEEDING 

Materials are weeded based on the following guidelines. 
Misleading and or factually inaccurate materials.
Materials that are damaged and worn beyond repair.
Out of date materials.
Poor examples of selections.

All discarded items will be moved to the professional materials as these will provide comparison and contrasting examples suitable for teaching. Materials that are excessive copies will be offered to other campuses that do not have the particular selection. In donating these items Pioneer Crossing Elementary Library helps maintain an open and working relationship with the public library and community.