At first glance, it can appear as if the terms ‘collection development’ and ‘collection management’ are interchangeable. Once I was able to tease out the differences between the two, I was able to see that both processes, while intertwined, have the teacher librarian using their knowledge and expertise in different ways. In this blog post, I explore my current understanding of collection development through the creation of my own process diagram and reflect upon what I believe are the differences between collection development and collection management.

 

Collection Development

To commence my understanding of collection development, I examined Kay Oddone’s Collection Development: Process diagram (Oddone, 2019). I used this as a basis to create my own version, as seen below. As I am not currently working in a library setting, it will be interesting to revisit this post in the future to see how I may change or adapt this version of the collection development process.

Identify: Identify the needs of the school community in which your library serves.

Locate: Locate potential resources that could meet the needs of library stakeholders. This could be through purchasing new resources, using local library networks or inter-library loans.

Select: Select the resources accordingly. If purchasing new resources, the budget may need to be referred to. Otherwise, inter-library loans could be organised at this stage.

Catalogue: Once the resources have been received by the library, they will need to be catalogued in a way that makes them accessible to library users.

Promote: Teacher Librarians will need to actively promote the resources in their library. This is especially important for “invisible” resources, such as the digital collection.

Evaluate: Stocktake resources and evaluate if the resources are still of value to the library community.

Weed: Weed out those resources that are no longer of value to the library community.

 

Where to start?

I believe it is crucial to begin with ‘identify’ when developing the library collection. The needs of students, teachers and the wider school community should underpin all decisions made when it comes to the development of the collection. The school library serves the community in which it is located, and its collection needs to be reflective of this.

 

One step that I felt was missing…

One step that I felt was missing from Oddone’s diagram was ‘promote’. Resources that are not actively promoted within the school community could be deemed irrelevant and subsequently weeded from the collection, when the main issue is it was not easily accessible or obscured from students and teachers. This is especially important for the digital collection, as digital resources don’t take up space like a physical book, therefore they can be easily overlooked and underutilised by the library users. Finding creative ways, such as using QR codes and thematic displays, to promote these resources is an essential task for the Teacher Librarian to mitigate any unnecessary weeding or double-up in resourcing.

 

Collection Development vs. Collection Management

From my understanding, collection development is a collaborative process between all members within the learning community. The Teacher Librarian takes on the role of leader in the collection development process, but the process involves the input of teachers, students, executive staff, families, and any other stakeholders in the learning community. On the other hand, collection management is at the core of the Teacher Librarian’s role. It involves them using their skill and expert knowledge to make nuanced decisions around what is included in the collection, ensuring that the collection as a whole is unbiased, reflects the school community and is accessible to all. Collection management also involves understanding the school’s mission and vision and aligning the library’s collection development policy with these priorities.

 

References:

Oddone, K. (2019). School library collection development: It’s not as simple as you might think. Linking Learning. https://www.linkinglearning.com.au/school-library-collection-development-its-not-as-simple-as-you-might-think/