This is a guest post from Lauren Kunde, Instructional Tech/Media Specialist & District Assessment Coordinator at Albany Area Secondary School.

As we made our way through the first few months of the school year, I started finding ways we could bring our Media Center back to life. While our fiction section is well loved and frequented by many, our non-fiction was seriously outdated and overwhelming.

Near the end of the weeding process, there was a moment of panic. Approximately 40% of our collection had been taken out of circulation for a myriad of valid reasons. However, this made the process of updating feel daunting. We could spend our budget about 14 different ways each year.

I didn’t know how to justify spending the bulk of it on non-fiction when our students are so hungry for fiction. And I also didn’t know how to justify not updating our non-fiction section. It could breathe life into our collection and encourage students to use it for their courses. 

The mini-grant from CMLE made this task far less daunting. We were suddenly able to purchase books that would reflect current and historical events from diverse perspectives, fill in many of the holes we had noted during the weeding process, and get non-fiction that was fun to read.

In total, we were able to purchase 82 books, which has truthfully changed our collection. They are geared towards students of varied reading levels and interest levels. No longer are the days of a non-fiction section with dusty books stuffed haphazardly onto the shelves in the corner of the library.

A huge thank you to CMLE for the opportunity to do this for our students!