1. Reference Collection Evaluation
Description of Site
Whitlow Elementary School is located in Cumming, Georgia. Whitlow was opened in August of
2009 with 1,000 students as a relief school for the then over populated Cumming, Shiloh Point
and Vickery Creek elementary schools. Now Whitlow is facing its own population issues as it
nears 100% capacity after only two and half years of operation. For the 2011-2012 school year,
Whitlow is just six students shy of being at capacity. The staff population is made up 64 staff
members and 25 support staff and three administrators.
The Forsyth County School System is extremely invested in using technology in the classrooms
to engage students and facilitate an environment that promotes real world problem solving
skills. (Mitchell, 2006) Whitlow being the newest school in the system it was built with
technology in mind. The media center houses 28 computers that have Internet access and each
class room has five internet connected computers. All classroom teachers are provided with a
Promethean board and a laptop for daily classroom instruction. There isn't a computer lab at
Whitlow, but there are 9 computer carts, with 10 laptops in each cart.
The media center is at the hub of the main building. Two hallways branch off from the media
center. One leads to all the classrooms, the other leads to the cafeteria, and the administrative
offices are right outside the front door of the media center. The media center is home to 13,
094 titles. There are also 202 audio visual titles and an audio visual system that can be accessed
by all the rooms in the whole of Whitlow.
The Reference Collection in the Whitlow Media Center includes 353 items and makes up 3% of
the overall collection. Items included in the reference collection includes three sets of
encyclopedias, a set of 2011 almanacs, four sets of dictionaries that are each geared for
different grade levels, a set of Scholastic Children's Thesaurus's, several set of atlases including
a mobile atlas cart with globes, and multiple individual informational books and individual
encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesaurus's, atlases, and almanacs.
Whitlow's media specialist has also created an online Resource Folder that contains links to
information resources that students can access at home via the media center webpage, and
many of the teachers also have the Resource Folder linked on their web pages. Below is a list of
the links in the Resource Folder:
Brain Pop
Brain Pop Junior
Forsyth County Public Library
Galileo
Google Earth
Safari Video Resources

2. New Georgia Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia.com
Maps, Global Map, and World Atlas - National Geographic
AJC.com
Forsythnews.com
CIA World Factbook
Fact Monster
Atlapedia Online
Merriam Webster's Open Dictionary
OpenC Elementary: How to Cite Resources
World Book Kids
Since Whitlow is so new, the reference collection is mostly comprised of items that have been
obtained via book fair purchases (dictionary sets and encyclopedia sets), or donated items. At
face value the collection looks substantial for such a young school, however, upon closer
examination, the print collection could use some assistance. There are out-of-date pieces,
pieces in disrepair, and some sets are missing pieces. The average print date of the reference
collection is 2003; this could easily be raised with a few new additions and a bit of weeding.
This year the media specialist has used the reference collection for various reference skills
activities. The results of last year's CRCTs indicated that the reference skills section (particularly
the use of guide words) was a weak area for the students in all grade levels. This could possibly
be a result of students and teachers almost exclusively using the online resources as a way to
find information rather than using print resources that require the user to use guide words to
locate information.
Budget Information
Last year, the media center's budget was cut in half due to the sluggish economy. This year will
probably not see any increase, and if they are lucky there will be no further budget cuts. With
only $4,000 to work with to improve the collection as whole, only $200 of the school budget
could be allotted towards improving the reference collection. It would even be less than that or
none at all, if the CRCT results for the reference skills section had not been so weak. Thankfully,
the fall Scholastic Book Fair was very successful, and $400 (Scholastic dollars) of the funds
generated from that will go to purchase new items for the reference collection.
In addition to purchasing new print resources, a wiki has been set up to provide students and
teachers with additional online reference resources as well.
http://additionalreferenceresources.pbworks.com/w/page/47640697/FrontPage

3. Reference Collection Order
Vendors: Follett and Scholastic
Title Author Reviews Publisher Year Qty Binding Price
Follett- National Booklist National 2011 2 Pub. 16.16
National Geographic 11/1/11 Geographic Hardcover (32.32)
Geographic
Kid's
Beginner's
World Atlas
National National School National 2010 1 Pub. 18.71
Geographic Geographic Library Geographic Hardcover
Kid's Journal
Almanac 10/1/11
2012
National National N/A National 2010 2 Pub. 23.70
Geographic Geographic Geographic Hardcover (47.40)
Kid's
Ultimate
U.S. Road
Trip Atlas
New Views Encyclopedia N/A Encyclopedia 2011 1 Pub. 30.01
of the Solar Britannica Britannica Hardcover
System
Follet
Total =
128.44
Scholastic
Dollars
Scholastic Rubel, David N/A Scholastic 2010 1 Pub. 17.59
Encyclopedia Hardcover
of the
Presidents
and Their
Times
Look It Up! Scholastic N/A Scholastic 2005 2 Paperback 8.99
Great (17.98)
Activities for
Learning
How to Use
Reference
Books
Scholastic Scholastic School Scholastic 2007 5 Pub. 11.89

4. Student Library Hardcover (59.45)
Thesaurus Journal
2007
Scholastic Scholastic N/A Scholastic 2007 10 Pub. 13.29
Children's Hardcover (130.29)
Dictionary
Scholastic Scholastic Booklist Scholastic 2004 5 Pub. 15.96
Children's 2004 Hardcover (79.80)
Encyclopedia
Scholastic Scholastic Booklist Scholastic 2010 5 Pub. 13.99
Dictionary 2010, Hardcover (69.95)
School
Library
Journal
2010
The Usborne Usborne N/A Usborne 2010 2 Pub. 10.47
Internet- Hardcover (20.94)
Linked Book
of
Knowledge
Scholastic
Total =
396.00
Grand
Total =
$534.44
Materials Weeded from the Reference Collection
Child Craft Encyclopedia Set (1985)
Usborne's Book of Knowledge: How Bird' Live (1979)
American Heritage History of the United States Volumes 1-14 (1971)
Encyclopedia of the Presidents by David Rubel (1994)
Bibliography
Mitchell, B. (2006, June 06).Technology and information services. Retrieved from
http://www.forsyth.k12.ga.us/page/818