Worth County Primary School Media Center

Reference Section Evaluation

I evaluated the reference collection at Worth County Primary School for currency and coverage. I began my
evaluation by examining all of the titles and looking at the copyright of each item or set. Next, I printed an
analysis report to find out the actual percentage of the reference collection. At 0.89%, the reference section is
the smallest section of the media center. The reference collection consists of encyclopedia sets, dictionaries,
science and social studies references, and atlases.

We have 3 encyclopedia sets ranging in copyright dates from 1988-1999. I would like to weed the older two copies
and keep the 1999 World Book set. I definitely believe we need and updated set of encyclopedias.

The reference section also contains a number of dictionaries that ranged in copyright dates from 1973-2001. I
think some of the dictionaries need to be weeded as well and only keep the most current ones. There were a few
thesauruses located in this section. They ranged from 1993-2001.

The science and social studies reference materials ranged in copyright dates from 1977-2004. Just like the
dictionaries and encyclopedias, these reference materials also need to weeded.

We have variety of atlases and almanacs that have copyrights from 1975-2003. Again, I think the oldest atlases
should be weeded leaving the more updated ones in the reference section. We do need to add some atlases that
are more kid friendly.

I know I am being repetitive, but the whole entire reference section at WCPS is in desperate need of being
weeded and updated. I also feel that this section should be widened and made more kid friendly.
This is the information collected from the Titlewise Collection Analysis for the entire collection in the media
center. I pulled out the information that I used for the reference section evaluation and highlighted it in the
following graphics.
 Worth County Primary School Media Center
Reference Section Materials Order

QTY Title/Author Publisher Vendor Cost Total Cost

World Book Discovery

World Book
Encyclopedia Worldbook.com $409.00 $818.00
2 sets (2009)

Beginner’s English-Spanish
Trident Press
2 Dictionary Follett $13.66 $27.32
(2004)

Macmillan First Dictionary Simon & Schuster

6 Follett $15.29 $91.74
(2008)
Word By Word Primary Phonics
6 Picture Dictionary Longman (2000) Follett $32.40 $194.40

Math Dictionary
6 DK (2009) Follett $12.74 $76.44

The American Heritage First

Houghton Mifflin
4 Dictionary Follett $12.21 $48.84
(2007)

Maps are Flat, Globes are

4 Round Rourke (2010) Follett $15.95 $63.80
 National Geographic Beginner’s
National
3 World Atlas Follett $16.10 $48.30
Geographic (2011)

The Amazing Pop-up Space

2 Atlas DK (2010) Follett $18.69 $37.38

Scholastic 2010 Almanac for

2 Kids Scholastic (2009) Follett $18.46 $36.92

The Old Farmer’s Almanac For

Houghton Mifflin
2 Kids Follett $8.46 $16.92
Harcourt (2011)

American Heritage Children’s

Houghton Mifflin
3 Thesaurus Follett $12.89 $38.67
Harcourt (2010)

Biography for Beginners: Favorable

2 African American Leaders Impressions Follett $29.96 $59.92
(2007)
Biography for Beginners:
Women Who Made a Favorable
2 Follett $48.96 $97.92
Difference Impressions 2010

Tell Me About Georgia! Author House

4 Amazon.com $9.49 $37.96
(2010)
 Georgia (Statebasics)
Child’s World $102.56
4 Amazon.com $25.64
(2010)

The Georgia Colony

4 Capstone (2006) Follett $5.16 $20.64

Grand Total: $1,817.73