Currently there are no policies or procedures in place in my school library as there has been no qualified librarian for years, only temp teachers ‘seat warming’ (their words- not mine). The school has relied heavily on community donations, fund raisers, standing orders, and the librarian buying resources as needed and claiming costs back. I was fortunate in my first term to have the P&C donate funds for me to do a bulk purchase to enable me to weed some existing resources and purchase some new ones. The students were the priority for this injection of books to spark enthusiasm for reading and a wish list from students was created and debated. I was given the responsibility of final decisions and purchases.
The next phase will be a teacher’s wish list and a thorough examination, especially our current non-fiction collection to identify gaps in curriculum supporting material. Collaboration with the teaching staff will be essential in appropriately growing our collection.
Moving forward I would most definitely want to tighten up the procedures around acquisition and develop a collection management policy that reflects the schools needs.