I haven’t added much to this category this year … mainly because my favorite mentoree from last year has fewer questions this year 🙂

Here is the latest one:

Question:

I met with [admin] last spring to talk about how to report statistical and non-statistical data  every month.  I’m starting to attempt to do this on my own since several of the workshops I have been to have stressed the importance of showing the # of students and staff using the library and the correlation between these statistics and performance.  Aside from the several Mandarin reports about the number of books that circulate each day I’m looking for a way to keep track of the number of classes, students & staff I see on a daily basis (mainly how to keep track of students since they don’t always come with passes).

I was wondering if you kept this kind of data or submitted a monthly report to your administrators with this information.  If so, do you have any electronic forms you could send me that I could adapt?

Answer:

This is  one of my many weaknesses.  I have never been asked for such a report, and have never offered to do one.  However, I DO provide information at the end of the year to my building principal as part of our “summative” evaluation.

I keep a portfolio folder for each year.  Into it I toss various paperwork having to do with projects accomplished, workshops attended, research projects added or modified etc.  At summative time, I prepare a very simple report which includes these statistics:

1.  A list of new projects or majorly modified projects

2.  A list of workshops attended, with a brief explanation of what I have done, or plan to do with the information.

3.  A report on how many research classes and how many students have used the library – the raw data and a daily average (more on that later)

4.  A list of my goals for the year with progress statements

5. Here are the categories that I report on: Content Knowledge; Instruction; Curriculum; Learning Theory; Learning Environment; Student Assessment; Technology;  Leadership/ Instructional Collaboration, Consultation & Support; Collection Development & Management; Library Management (the first 6 categories are required of all teachers.  I have added the last three to report on the areas that are unique to our job)

6.  A copy of the BEDS report

NOTE: I have never reported on circulation.  I’ve always been concerned about the accuracy of such reports.  Yes – it will show what has been signed out, but it does not show what is used in-house.  There ARE ways of assessing in-house use.  It is a matter of getting kids to leave all the books they use on the tables for you to count at the end of the period.  You do this for a span of time to determine the average in-house weekly use.  I have never had the intestinal fortitude to do that.  So, I followed the Scarlett O’Hara School of Library Science method instead.  You know what I am talking about … “I won’t think about that today.  Tomorrow is another day.”

I will send you a copy of one of my summative reports to see what it looks like.  It really is more of a narrative than anything else.

Collecting data on class and student useage:

I have developed a format that works well for me.  I have spaces at the bottom of our daily schedule to count up the number of classes.  I multiply that by 25 to get an approximate attendance via classes.  I also use it to keep track of the number of kids who come in from advisement.  I do this by counting the number of names on the library sign-out sheets that our advisement teachers use as library passes to send the crew with.  Other than that, we keep hatch marks of those who come in with individual passes…drop in for lunch etc.  We have a sign-in list for everyone that attends after school.  Once a week, Kathy puts the raw data into an excel file and runs it at year’s end.

So … here is a link to one of our blank schedules so you can see the data collection section at the bottom.

Blank Schedule Template with Easy Attendance Stat Collection

Also, here is a link to the excel file Kathy uses to accumulate the stats.  It doesn’t really do exactly what we would like it to do – but neither Kathy nor I really know how to work with excel.  It is too “mathy” for me.  But it works moderately well, and I am sure you can fix it.  If you do – please share it with us.  Thanks!

Library spreadsheet07

The Holy Grail of Annual Library Reports

Joyce Valenza publishes her annual report on her website and/or her wiki.  The most current one is blocked by our lovely filter.

Annual Report 2010

Here is one from 2008 that you should be able to open at school.

Annual Report 2008