District librarian: circulation fell, nonfiction collections need updating

Dawn Moore, the librarian at Hawthorne and library coordinator, told the Northridge School District Board of Education on July 14 that districtwide physical circulation dropped to about 81,347 checkouts this year, down from a typical 100,000–110,000. Moore said she intentionally excluded digital circulation from this total and attributed part of the decline to scheduling changes such as PLC Mondays that limited some class visits. Moore said the district has seven certified librarians serving nearly 4,000 students and that fiction collections generally meet the state-recommended age standard (about 15 years), but nonfiction collections lag behind the state target (about 12 years). She said nonfiction is expensive and sometimes quickly becomes outdated, and noted that four district libraries have substantially refreshed their nonfiction sections this year. Moore described how schools prioritize nonfiction purchases: librarians run age-and-circulation reports, keep frequently used titles, and weed low-use items. She said Hawthorne received a Lair grant that allowed the school to buy about half of an identified nonfiction replacement list. The district also maintains databases (Pebble Go, Gale) to supplement nonfiction resources. On removed books, Moore said board policy allows withdrawn items to be offered free to students and staff and that principals determine final disposition; she added that some weeded books are donated to other schools or used for year-end giveaways. Moore closed by asking board members to review individual school end-of-year library reports and said improving circulation is a district goal for the coming year.