Posts Tagged ‘Lexile’
LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library System
Type of Library: Public
LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library
Project Coordinators:
Cay Hohmeister, Library Director
Christopher Gorsuch, Library Services Manager for Collection Management
Paul Clark, Application Systems Analyst II
Address: LeRoy Collins Leon County Public Library, 200 W. Park Avenue, Tallahassee, FL 32301-7716
Telephone Number: 850-606-2665
E-Mail: [email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Problems To Be Solved:
- Make the Enterprise SirsiDynix Symphony catalog more unified and easier for patrons to search
- Provide an easy way for parents to find suitable materials for reading incentive programs
- Implement RDA conversion
MARCIVE Solutions:
- Authorities processing with RDA Conversion
- Reading Notes Enhancement with Lexile, and Accelerated Reader data
The Story
In 2013 the coming of RDA (Resource Description and Access) to the general library community forced our library to address how we were dealing with name and subject authorities, as well as how we would render a display of our bibliographic records. There was little incentive to deal with a long, labor-intensive project involving the conversion of AACR2 to RDA standards, especially since some of our records represented missing or withdrawn materials.
Needs identified, and MARCIVE selected
In the time leading up to our conversion, we conducted a selection of a vendor to perform the conversion of name and subject headings, as well as the conversion of bibliographic records to RDA standards. MARCIVE was eventually selected through the usual competitive bid process for outside contractual services for Leon County, Florida. As a result, MARCIVE was awarded the contract for the following reasons:
- MARCIVE could do what we needed them to do, according to the RFP (Request for Proposal)
- MARCIVE was the most cost-effective
- MARCIVE had many years of experience performing similar projects with similar-sized systems
- MARCIVE could also provide additional AR/Lexile rankings in our bibliographic records
The last point regarding reading rankings was not originally part of the charge. However, when it was realized that such a long-desired enhancement could be effected without major alteration to the original mission (and without any additional cost), it became one more reason to select MARCIVE.
Funding obtained
The funds for this project were acquired through our county Management of Information Services process for FY 14/15. The funds were included in the capital projects for FY 14/15.In March 2014, a detailed request for $17,500 was submitted to update the catalog database, establish authority control, adopt RDA cataloging standards and provide AR/Lexile rankings. The initial run was estimated to be 350,000 bibliographic records. The funds were included in the capital projects.
Funding was approved by the Leon County Board of County Commissioners for FY 14/15. Capital funds may be carried forward in case the project extended into the following fiscal year.
The Process
All of this required some planning for our downtime, both internally and externally. This meant dealing with the bibliographic records for which items had been missing an extraordinary amount of time or items which had been lost, and otherwise paid for or reconciled. Throughout this process, MARCIVE was available to help walk us through the process and were able to schedule the actual freezing of the catalog and the ultimate flip to adding the new bibliographic and authority records at a time convenient to the library and our patrons.
Leading up to the project itself was the preparation work necessary for both our catalog and our staff. This meant implementation of the latter:
- Establish realistic missing and searching protocols for library materials. In some cases, items had been “missing” or “lost-assumed” for ten or more years. The time now is 18 months, and then it is deleted from the system.
- A one-time deletion of titles and items which had been in such status for over 18 months (this was after circulation information had been transferred to a separate file). This resulted in the elimination of almost 60,000 titles and almost 150,000 items.
- This resulted in not only a more accurate catalog with which we provided MARCIVE but a reduced, per bibliographic charge for the whole initial project.
- From the initial deletion onward, the staff has been diligent in searching for and/or resolving items in the various lost categories. The lists from which they operate are now of realistic size, and they can be processed in the time allowed.
Feedback from reference desk, Technical Services staff, and Patrons
After the actual changeover to our new records on 27 August 2015, we were anxious to hear any feedback on how the searching and retrieval of the records from the staff and the public users. In our case, “No news is good news.” After about two weeks, after hearing nothing one way or the other, I asked managers and branch heads if they had any feedback at all after the first day of usage. The unanimous response was that no one had said anything, including the staff, which had made the transition from display of GMDs to display of 33X tags without any anticipated problems.
To a great extent, MARCIVE provided the support that resulted in a seamless, virtually invisible transition. Also, the addition of AR and Lexile scores and points has become relied on heavily by parents and schoolchildren in Leon County, thus creating a bonus win for our system. A special page was created for this purpose.
One of the factors in the success of this project was keeping the staff apprised of the progress of the project, and getting their buy-in for its success. There was some concern over losing the display of the GMDs from the index screens, but because we were offering equivalent displays using 33x tags, this concern was met. A day or so before we went live with the new bibliographic and authority records, the Director and the Head of Collection Management met with every branch manager and the department head in the main library, as well as with staff members, to show exactly what the new records would like, where their information had (or had not) moved, and to answer any questions regarding this. This proved to be effective, especially having it so shortly before going live.
Additional orientations were provided the Library Management team, as well as the Library Advisory board. The process and results of this project became the basis for a presentation “RDA Bibliographic and Authority Records: Preparing the Way!” given at the May 2016 COSUGI (Customers Of SirsiDynix Users Group, Inc.) by Chris Gorsuch and Paul Clark.
Continuity—Keeping the catalog up to date
Since the establishment of RDA bibliographic and authority records, the work continues. Routines have been refined around the new cataloging records sent for processing through Overnight Authorities Service and the monthly Notification Service files. If authorities have not been resolved during the cataloging process, they are caught each month and forwarded to the head of Collection Management for disposition or resolution. This results in fewer conflicts being noted because the authority records are already established in our local system. Also, blind references are removed when the last item is discarded/withdrawn from the catalog. This results in less patron frustration, and a more accurate picture of what is available through our system. We are very pleased to offer an up-to-date, accurate and attractive online catalog for library users.
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New! Lexile® format now more granular for early grades
August 1, 2017
New! Lexile® format now more granular for early grades
MARCIVE offers Reading Notes Enrichment, either as a standalone service, or as a part of Overnight Authorities and Ongoing MARC Record Services, as well as with other one-time services such as Retrospective Conversion, Brief Record Upgrade, and backfile authorities processing. This includes Accelerated Reader and Lexile® data. Reading Counts data is also available through the year 2014.
MetaMetrics is the source of the Lexile® data. The company has completed in-depth studies to try to provide more guidance and resources for educators, publishers, and policymakers. They have researched and re-measured the grades K-2 titles, assigning more granular values. Before, all books measuring below 0L were given a “BR” (Beginning Reader) code. However, not all K-2 books are created equally, and there was a need for more specificity in measuring the reading levels. For more in-depth background on this research, go to http://www.lexiletoolkit.com/.
The new format has additional information not previously included in the past. It contains reading difficulty indicators in four areas:
- Decoding demand. The decoding indicator looks at parts of the words like vowel and consonant patterns, and sounds by evaluating the patterns of letters in a word.
- Semantic demand. Looks at what is going on with the words by evaluating the challenge of word meanings in a text.
- Syntactic demand. Looks at what is going on at the sentence level by evaluating the complexity within sentences and across sentences.
- Structure demand. Looks at what is going on with text as a whole by evaluating the degree of repetition and patterning (such as repeated phrases) in the text. Repeated phrases lower the Structure Indicator.
For more information, see our FAQ or contact us at 1-800-531-7678 or at [email protected].
Written by Joan Chapa, MLS
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Blue Valley U.S.D.
Type of Organization: School District
Project Coordinator: Linda Corey, Library Media Services
Address: Blue Valley Schools, 15020 Metcalf, Overland Park KS 66283
Telephone: 913-239-4234
Email: [email protected]
Problems To Be Solved:
- Update authorities
- Clean up coding of genre in bibliographic records
- Add Lexile Measures® to records
MARCIVE Solutions:
- Authorities processing including correction of genre coding
- Ongoing authorities maintenance
- Reading notes enrichment
The Story:
The Blue Valley School District encompasses 91 square miles in southeastern Johnson County, Kansas. More than 20,000 students attend Blue Valley’s 34 schools. The library media collections are developed for inquiry, research, project-based learning and also with an emphasis on free reading and literary enrichment. Resources are shared among the libraries; thus, requiring our combined catalog to accurately reflect content. We currently use SirsiDynix Unicorn.
Our first experience with MARCIVE was during the migration of our Integrated Library system (ILS) from DRA to SIRSI in 2004. We looked for companies who had performed previous DRA—SIRSI conversions. We put out an RFP and chose MARCIVE.
At that time we performed our initial authority clean-up with MARCIVE. Though we had authorities in our catalog, they had only sporadically been maintained. We then contracted for continuing authority updates. Recently, we perceived a need to apply Lexile numbers and update genre headings in our bibliographic records. Again we contracted with MARCIVE for full authority work performed retrospectively on our collection and the addition of Lexiles and update of genre heading coding. Our various projects involved approximately 190,000 bibliographic records.
The reports provided by MARCIVE were excellent and allowed us to make corrections prior to our final loads. MARCIVE was very helpful throughout the process, in tech support, project planning, and handholding. It was painless.
The Blue Valley School District’s mission is unprecedented academic success and unparalleled personal growth for every student. Products that enhance a student’s learning process, encourage their personal growth, and at the same time allow us to assess their progress toward their personal and academic goals are an excellent fit to our mission. Genres engage and aid students in browsing for independent reading choices. Offering students a wide selection of titles in their Lexile range is a key component to reading instruction in the classroom. Lexile Bands are used as a quantitative measure of text complexity as presented in the Common Core State Standards.
MARCIVE was able to provide the data and services we required to upgrade and enhance our combined catalog.
The MARCIVE staff understands the school library environment and was responsive to our needs. They were willing to take the time necessary to explain a somewhat complex process. The scheduling fit our school calendar and the turnaround time was excellent. Their pricing is competitive and their product and services of good quality.
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