1. Running Head: PLEASANT LEA MIDDLE SCHOOL 1
Pleasant Lea Middle School Collection Analysis
Erin Colby and Amy Taylor
Emporia State University

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Introduction
Due to the current economic crisis the Lee’s Summit School District (LSSD) has asked
all departments to reduce their budgets by 15%. This report was prepared to help the Pleasant
Lea Middle School (PLMS) library make their budgetary decisions. Before making any
suggestions, careful consideration was given to the LSSD Selection Policy, which can be seen
below.
Lee’s Summit R-7 School District Selection Policy
Library materials will be selected using the following objectives:
1. Provide materials that will enrich and support the curriculum, taking into consideration
the varied interests, abilities and maturity levels of the pupils served.
2. Provide materials that will stimulate growth in factual knowledge, literary appreciation,
aesthetic values and ethical standards.
3. Provide background information that will enable students to make intelligent judgments
in their daily lives.
4. Provide materials on opposing sides of controversial issues so that young citizens may
develop, under guidance, the practice of critical reading and thinking.
5. Provide materials representative of the contributions to our American heritage from the
many religious, ethnic and cultural groups.
6. Place principle above personal opinion and reason above prejudice in the selection of
materials of the highest quality in order to assure a comprehensive collection appropriate
for the users of the library.
7. Use existing special criteria for the selection of all kinds of materials such as videos,
CDs, tapes and books, for all subject areas.

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8. The general criteria that may be applied to all acquisitions are as follows:
○ Material should have permanent or timely values.
○ Information should be accurate.
○ Material should be presented in a clear manner.
○ Material should be authoritative.
○ Material should have significance.
The above-mentioned criteria will also apply to the acceptance of any gift
of materials, or to the selection of materials purchased with a monetary
gift from an individual or group.
Because the selection policy is so closely tied to the curriculum, a considerable amount of
time was spent analyzing the curriculum. Due to the scope of the curriculum and time constraints
this recommendation will be limited to two core curricular areas for one grade level. 7th grade
Language Arts and Social Studies will be analyzed first because these departments have
complete curriculums that can be accessed online and are heavy library users.
Community Analysis
A thorough community analysis was done to help determine the best collection
development plan. The data below demonstrates a predominately middle class community that is
both fiscally and politically conservative and supportive of education. It also reflects a
community in desperate need of even more education funds. Although Lee’s Summit is an
affluent community, it does not have a large industrial tax-base. Therefore, the district’s budget
is primarily made up of state funds and personal property taxes.

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City of Lee’s Summit
Lee’s Summit West High School opened its doors in 2004 and is the newest high school
in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. William B. Howard founded Lee’s Summit in 1868. At the time of
its incorporation there were 100 citizens, today the city’s population is approximately 93,000.
Although the recent economic downturn has slowed the city’s growth some, the city is
maintaining its focus on improving the business structure. Current projects include the
revitalization of downtown and the completion of Summit Fair, a 55,0000- square-foot open-air
shopping center.
The city has received many honors over the last several years. Including: 2008 Best
Downtown Public Improvement Project, 2008's Best Place in Missouri to Raise Kids, 2009
National Digital Cities Survey WINNER, and the 2010 Missouri Arts Award for “Creative
Community” (City of, 2010)
City population
Lee’s Summit is the 6th largest city in Missouri. Based on a 2007 census estimate, over
43% of the population 25 years and older have a bachelors degree or higher, 96% have a high
school diploma or higher. 64% of the households consist of married couples, whereas 10.6% are
single parent homes. The population has been steadily increasing since the 1960’s but has slowed
some in the last few years (U.S. Census, 2008).
Stakeholders
According to Empowering Learners, for rich learning environments to grow it is
important that SLMS, teachers, administrators, students, and all members of the learning
environment collaborate (2009, p.10.) The Lee’s Summit School District works diligently to
make sure this happens. A list of several “stakeholder” organizations is below:

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○ Partners in Education – A group of over 250 businesses that work with schools to
provide a connection between the business community and classrooms.
○ Citizens Advisory Committee – A group of 40 community members who make
recommendations to the Board.
○ Lee’s Summit Educational Foundation – A non- profit organization whose
mission is to raise private funds to support the district’s educational initiatives.
○ CSIP Committee - District wide committee consisting of parents, teachers,
administrators, and other community members. They write the districts school
improvement goals.
○ TEAM Lee’s Summit – A group of teachers, administrators, and classified staff
who meet regularly to provide recommendations to the board in regard to staffing,
salary, benefits, and working environment.
(Lee’s Summit, 2010)
District Budget
Although the LS school district is considered a premier district in the Greater Kansas City
area, it spends the least amount of money per student. This year it won its ninth Distinction in
Performance Award and its third national Magna Award. The community has been generous
when passing bonds and levies. Since 2004 there have been six bonds or levies on ballots, and all
have passed. However, because Lee’s Summit has little major industry its tax base is small
(Phelan, 2009).
The recent economic troubles have been devastating for the district, prompting across the
board budget cuts and a reduction of staff through attrition. Next year promises to be worse;
therefore the district has put a $.89 levy on the February 2011 ballot (Lee’s Summit, 2010).

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Table 1
Lee’s Summit Budget Summary 2009
Tax Rate $5.9347
(per $100 assessed valuation)
Total Expenditure District Budget $193,161,888
(excluding bond funds)
Annual operating cost per student enrolled $9,148
Teacher starting salary $33,305
Teacher average salary $51,172
Assessed valuation $1,669,005,047
(Lee’s Summit, 2010)
School Board
The school board consists of eight members, seven of which are elected for three-year
terms. The eighth member is the district superintendent. Of the eight members, one has been on
the board for over ten years and two were elected in the last two years. One member is a retired
LS teacher and four members currently have children who attend LS schools. The board is well
respected and there is little dissension among the members (Lee’s Summit, 2010).
Pleasant Lea Middle School
History
Pleasant Lea Middle School opened in 1971 and an addition was completed in 1973. The
school was renovated during the summers of 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1999. The latest renovation
included a new library. Pleasant Lea Middle and Elementary Schools are named for Dr. Pleasant
Lea, a prominent early settler (Pleasant Lea, 2010).

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PLMS is the oldest middle in the LSSD and is located in the oldest part of the city. Of the
three middle schools it highest percentage of students on free and reduced lunch and did not meet
annual yearly progress in communication arts or math for 2008 or 2009 (Missouri Department,
2010).
Staff
Table 2
Pleasant Lea Middle School Staffing Rations 2009
Students to classroom teachers 14
Students to administrators 290
(Missouri Department, 2009)
Table 3
Pleasant Lea Middle School Certification Status of Teachers 2009
Teachers with Regular Certificates 97.3%
Temporary or Special Assignment Certificates 1.4%
Substitute, Expired or No Certificate 1.4%
Classes Taught by Highly Qualified Teachers 97.6%
(Missouri Department, 2009)
Table 4
Pleasant Lea Middle School Years of Experience of Professional Staff 2009
Average Year of Experience 12.0

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(Missouri Department, 2009)
Table 5
Pleasant Lea Middle School Professional Staff with Advanced Degrees 2009
% of Staff with Advanced Degrees 81.7
(Missouri Department, 2009)
Student Demographics
Table 6
Pleasant Lea Middle School Enrollment by Ethnicity 2009
Total 871
Asian 2.5%
Black 12.5%
Hispanic 4.1%
Indian 0.5%
White 80.4%
(Missouri Department, 2009)
Table 7
Pleasant Lea Middle School Student’s Eligible for Free & Reduced Lunch 2009
Percent 17.4%
Number 149

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(Missouri Department, 2009)
Patron Needs
7th grade students and teachers use the library for research and book checkout. The
typical research project requires a student to write a paper or create a multi-media project using
information they gather from reference books, journals, newspapers, and/or web pages. Teachers
are open to students using both print and online resources. Students have access to the library
throughout the school day and for 20 minutes before school and 20 minutes after. They also have
access to all online databases from home. Students use the database frequently at school and
from home. The library also supports students by providing access to quality, contemporary
young adult literature for recreational reading. The LSSD made a commitment to improving
student reading through Silent Sustained Reading. Therefore all the libraries, including PLMS,
spend a considerable part of their budget on fiction. The lexile range for 7th grade students is
735L to 1065L; therefore the librarians attempt to provide a variety of genres in that range.
Pleasant Lea Middle School Library
Staff
The PLMS library has one full-time librarian and one full-time secretary. The librarian
has worked in the library for two years and is currently finishing her library degree. The
secretary has worked in the library for over 10 years.
Facilities
A recent renovation to PLMS included the addition of a new library. Therefore the
facilities are new and in great condition. There are approximately 30 computers on the library
floor available for student use, a fiction section, and a non-fiction section with reference inter-
filed. There are two teaching areas and several quiet spots for reading.

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Collection Analysis
The primary tool used to assess the collection was a collection analysis report generated
by Follett Titlewave.
Strengths and Weaknesses
There are a lot of strengths to this collection. The collection is large and a substantial
amount is up-to-date, the average age of the entire collection is 1997. The non-fiction section
comprises about 47% of the entire collection. The average age of the fiction section is 2001.
Also, the district has an extensive interlibrary loan program and resource library, which will be
discussed later.
One weakness of the collection is that the average age of the non-fiction collection is
1997; it should be updated. Also, the Communication Arts and Social Studies dewey areas, while
adequate, were small in comparison to the use they receive. These areas are in need of additional
resources.
7th grade Communication Arts & Social Studies Curriculum Collection Areas
The average age of the language section is 1994, the language/rhetoric section 1989. The
Social Studies collection’s average age is 1998. Although these sections are no more out of date
than others, they are used much more frequently and deserve a more up to date collection.
Therefore a major focus of the collection development budget should be on these areas.
The PLMS library collection includes many titles that directly relate to the 7th grade
social studies and communication arts curriculum. For example, the titles listed below correlate
with the following language and social studies objectives: (a) Ancient Rome's contributions to
our government and culture, (b) general knowledge and contributions of Early Middle Eastern

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civilization, (c) develop and apply skills and strategies to the reading process while reading a
variety of poems, and (d) various grammar usage rules (LSR7 Seventh Grade, 2009).
o Ancient Rome: An interactive History Adventure, Racheal Hannel
o Mesopotamia: Iraq in Ancient Times, Peter Chrisp
o Painless Grammar, Rebecca Elliott
o Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem, Jack Prelutsky
Lexile Levels
Middle school students sometimes have a difficult time finding books that fit their
interests and skill level. Therefore it is important for the PLMS librarians to choose books that
meet both of those needs. Lexile levels can be found for some titles in Destiny, the library
catalog. The average Lexile range for 7th grade students is 735L to 1065L; a random check of a
variety of non-fiction titles demonstrated that the PLMS library is fulfilling their obligation.
Also, a catalog search for fiction limited by aforementioned lexile range showed 1508 titles.
This number seems low, however one must factor in that many records do not include a lexile
number and therefore do not show up in any search using lexile limiters
Subscription Databases
PLMS students have access to a variety of online subscription databases. Some were
acquired via the district’s membership to MORENet and the district purchased others. Most are
general databases that contain reference, journal and newspaper articles and cover a variety of
topics. However a few deal with more specific topics. A list is below:
• Academic OneFile
• Electronic Library
• General OneFile

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• Info Trac Junior Edition
• Learning Express
• NewsBank
• Popular Magazines
• Student Resource Center Gold
• World Book Online
Resource Sharing
The LSSD has several ways that librarians can gain access to resource materials that are
not in their library. There is a resource library at the district’s central office, which has an
extensive collection. Also, all of the school libraries participate in an ILL program, which
provide the library with more resource materials.
Action Plan
Our action plan consists of five items that we feel will save the library money, maintain
the integrity of the collection and enable the librarian to keep the collection up-to-date even with
the 15% budget cut. Presuming a budget of $25,000, PLMS will need to eliminate $3,750.
Limit the purchase of multiple copies to five per title
First we will limit the purchase of multiple copies of popular titles to five rather than the
normal 10-15. This will save the library approximately $500, however it will limit the number of
students able to read a given book at one time. To combat this problem, we suggest that the
librarian educate students in using their catalog accounts to place holds and inter-library loan
requests.

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Review Databases and eliminate one or two which can be accessed via Mid-Continent
Our next step is to review the online databases PLMS currently utilizes and cross-
reference them with those provided by Mid-Continent Public Library. Mid-Continent allows all
LSSD libraries to access their online database via a school library card. Therefore the librarian
can eliminate one to two database subscriptions that have comparable information available
through Mid-Continent. This will save the library approximately $2000.
Move to a 6-year rather than a 5-year rotation for technology replacement
Pleasant Lea Middle School currently implements a 5-year technology rotation of
outdated technology. Extending the rotation by one year, will give the library a savings of
approximately $2,000. Although the older equipment may cause tasks to take longer and require
more visits from the district’s technology department, it will have little impact on students.
Conduct a Patron Survey to determine areas of focus
The students and teachers are the primary patrons of the PLMS library; we feel the PLMS
librarian can get a better idea of what resources they need and deem valuable by conducting a
patron survey. The survey will focus on language arts and social studies needs. From the survey
we hope the PLMS librarian can reallocate money to purchase materials for outdated or under
served areas in that part of the collection.
Pay special attention to Dewey areas with the most need based on curriculum
Our final recommendation is to create a curriculum map; comparing what is being taught
in the classroom to the resources already in the collection. This will help save money because the
librarian can focus her attention on those areas of need.

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Conclusion
Pleasant Lea Middle School has a great library with a considerable amount of resources
available for students and teachers to use, if some resources were reallocated the collection could
be even better. If the PLMS librarian implements these five simple ideas, the library will be able
to save approximately $4,500 and use some of that savings to improve the areas noted in this
report.

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References
American Association of School Librarians. (2009). Empowering learners: guidelines for school
library media programs. Chicago, IL: American Association of School Librarians.
City of Lee's Summit. (2010). City of Lee's Summit. Retrieved from
http://cityofls.net/
Lee's Summit R-7 School District. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.leesummit.k12.mo.us/
Library media center. (2010). Pleasant Lea Middle School. Retrieved from
http://plms.leesummit.k12.mo.us/
LSR7 School Board. (2003). Instructional media centers/school libraries: Selection and
reconsideration of materials. Retrieved from
http://broncos.leesummit.k12.mo.us/boardpolicy.nsf/polid/IIAC-R/$File/IIAC-R.1C.pdf?
OpenElement
LSR7 Seventh Grade Communication Arts Curriculum Team. (2009). Seventh grade
communication arts curriculum guide. Retrieved from
http://r7online.leesummit.k12.mo.us
LSR7 Seventh Grade Social Studies Curriculum Team. (2009). Seventh grade: Eastern
hemisphere. Retrieved from http://r7online.leesummit.k12.mo.us
Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. (2009, December 16). Lee’s
Summit RVII Pleasant Lea Middle School 2008-09 school accountability report. Missouri
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Retrieved from http://dese.mo.gov/
planning/profile/building/arsd0480713080.html

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Phelan, J. (2009, April). Q & A: Questions and answers about the Lee's Summit R-7 finances.
Our School: Lee's Summit R7 School District's Community Newspaper, pp. 3-8. Retrieved
from http://www.leesummit.k12.mo.us/pdf/publications/OurSchools042009.pdf
Pleasant Lea Middle School. (n.d.). Lee's Summit R-7 School District. Retrieved from
http://www.leesummit.k12.mo.us/schools/ms/plms.htm
U.S. Census Bureau (2008). 2008 American community survey 1-year estimates. Retrieved from
http://cityofls.net/Development/Demographics-and-Statistics.aspx