Diversifying our Poetry Collection
With April quickly approaching I began to think about our poetry collection which currently does a lot of sitting on the shelves. Appalling circ stats (see below) proved to me that even during a month when poetry is highlighted, these books still sit on the shelves. It is time to do something about this situation.
Why aren't students picking up poetry books? Every year poetry can be found in every nook and cranny of the library. Some years I hang poetry all over the school. We read and write our own poetry during library class. Clearly, these efforts aren't doing the job. The moral of the story - my students aren't connecting with the material. Could this be the very root of the problem?
My school has a very diverse population. Diverse characters are represented in .07% of our poetry books. Could this be the missing piece to the puzzle? I decided it was time to find out.
By sharing diverse poetry books in class and making more diverse poetry books accessible to our students, I believe that poetry circulation will increase as students connect with the poetry they read and experience in and out of class.
My goal
My goal was to purchase poetry books to diversify our existing collection, to make it more representative of the student population we serve. I budgeted for purchasing 20 new poetry titles which would bring our diverse poetry representations to 18% of our entire poetry collection (still low, but significantly higher than the existing .07% now).By sharing diverse poetry books in class and making more diverse poetry books accessible to our students, I believe that poetry circulation will increase as students connect with the poetry they read and experience in and out of class.
The books
I started with the Diverse Book Finder to identify poetry titles.
Next, I scoured the Internet and Twitter for additional titles and requested these from my public library.
Next, I scoured the Internet and Twitter for additional titles and requested these from my public library.
I created a spreadsheet of titles I thought would be appropriate for my school. While the goal was to purchase poetry books of own voices, I did stray when I felt that the titles were strong enough even though the authors were not of color. (The list also includes a biography about an African American poet and a story about poetry as told through the actions of a young boy of color). I placed the order and now I wait.
When these arrive we will have a gigantic celebration of poetry, unlike any we have had before. For the first time, it will be a colorful celebration of the world around us.
- Will this influence students' book choices?
- Will students connect with these books better than the ones that currently sit on the shelves?
- Will these books circulate?
Time will tell. To be continued...
Existing poetry collection
April circulations (assuming these would be higher than the rest of the year because of Poetry Month).
The stats (a very sad story indeed)
- 153 books
- 11 reflect diverse characters (.07% of the total poetry collection)
April circulations (assuming these would be higher than the rest of the year because of Poetry Month).
Ouch. I then ran total poetry circulations to see what the school year looked like. Not much better.
I called Destiny technical support when I ran the numbers because I figured I must be doing something wrong. Nope. What I am doing wrong is not updating this collection to reflect who we are and what we want to read.
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