ETL503 2.2 – Are bundled sets worth considering?
This is definitely something that has plagued me for the last 2 years as I have taken on the role of the Teacher-Librarian (TL). I have had some experience dealing with prepackaged bundled sets. This was an initiative to support Lexile levels and the new online ebooks program with 3-6 students in our school. Its conception was from school leadership, and as TL I was to accession each of the 50 books per term (this included a Lexile sticker for each too). The idea being that students could borrow books at their level. It did create books for students to read in class at specific levels for a purpose, however, some class teachers expected I select books for their entire class with specific Lexile levels, an onerous task for a class of 30 students with varied reading interests in a 40-minute time slot for their library lesson. The way forward was for students to come into the library with a preselected list of books at their level, using the program in class to select books first.
From my perspective, although I promoted the new titles, it did not necessarily change the borrowing habits of students, nor did the Lexile level sway their choice of text. I was also asked to buy new titles that were not part of this particular publisher’s selection.
I have considered below some pros and cons of bundled sets. This was part of a task in ETL503 Module 2.2 and I drew from these experiences. I added to the list below several times over the course of the week.
I had requested last year that these sets ceased, however, the deadline had been missed and I had been signed up for an additional year.
When I completed this task it again prompted me to address leadership staff and request the bundled sets stop in 2022 so that we could assess the current collection, have time to weed, and only purchase books that are needed for our collection.
Pros and cons of bundled sets
| Pros | Cons |
| latest publications | books may not suit or target the student needs/wants of topics or genres |
| keeps collection current | expensive |
| already analysed for classroom use (eg appropriate language, topic, theme) | many resources may not be borrowed |
| pre-levelled (eg Lexile) | time-consuming to accession each term |
| appropriate for primary aged children (ages 8-12) | takes up a lot of shelf space and weeding becomes necessary more frequently |
| new books motivate many students | yearly commitment |
| many popular series are provided | does not target whole school use |
| many popular authors represented | not selected by teacher-librarian |
| range of fiction and non-fiction | books need to be promoted each term to ensure they are circulated |
| range of genres | leveled books may not appeal to students or be a factor in borrowing choice |
| variety of levels | class teachers may not access these books as they are no part of a set for their group reading in class |
