While it is the beginning of a new year, my second in the role of TL, I am yet to really tackle the art of collection development. In 2023, most of the additions I have purchased for our school library have been driven by the curriculum reform taking place across English and Mathematics in the NSW curriculum. I have relished the opportunity to whip out the school credit card and purchase thousands of dollars worth of prescribed texts, ogling their stunning illustrations and enjoying the variety of authors, themes and perspectives. But as my current acquisition list nears completion, I am left wondering what next?
In my work I have already identified some gaps in our collection. We have plenty of books on Christianity, and almost none on other religions or belief systems and we lack books that introduce LGBTQIA+ diverse families. Last year we added an increasing number of picture books written by First nations authors and artists but are yet to extend into our Senior Fiction collection. Along with these thematic gaps, our library management system reports that 99% of our collection is physical, limiting access after school hours. The trends I have identified are probably reflective of our generally conservative rural community,and the way our library has been accessed by users in the past. However as a TL in training- aspiring to give our isolated students access to the wider world and its diversity- I am keen to broaden our collection. How do I do this, while also accounting for the needs, interests and values of our wider community and overcoming any resistance to change?
Oddone (2019) acknowledges that collection development is a massive responsibility that cyclically moves through the processes of assessing needs, selection according to criteria, acquisition, cataloguing, processing, stocktake /evaluation, and then deselection or weeding- each step a complex task in itself. Further, these processes must occur with the notion of building a ‘hybrid’ collection that caters to a broad range of users through both physical printed resources, digital resources and other types of resources.
When I reflect upon this cycle, in the context of my own library, I must step in to the cycle and assess the needs of our collection and whether they meet the core values of libraries as mentioned by Oddone (2019). Further, I need to proactively research NSW Department of Education policy around libraries, whether we have a collection development & challenged material policy in place to guide and protect me as I expand our collection.
While Odddone’s (2019) model is comprehensive, in a practical sense I also need to have a discussion with my Principal around transparent budgeting. Currently, each purchase is a request and approval process and while I have never been declined, I need to become familiar with how and what to budget in order to develop a longer term collection development plan.
ETL503 is sure to help equip me with the knowledge of how to best enagage with the collection development cycle in order to provide the best learning environment for all of our library users.
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/