Choosing which resources to add to a collection can at times feel like a weighty task. This has been exacerbated by the huge range of resources available in the variety of formats. This can only add to decision fatigue as teacher librarians are not only considering the content of a source, but what format would best service its users. While there may not always be an easy solution, applying selection criteria can narrow down this task to a more manageable job.
Hughes-Hassell and Mancall (2005, p. 43) state that, on top of selection criteria recommended by school library guidance, the most important consideration is whether the resources not only address the teaching and learning context, but also the characteristics of the learners using that library.
This shifts the focus from choosing the best available resource on the topic, sometimes sacrificing literary authority or physical quality, to concentrate on the most appropriate. This guidance makes a lot of sense when we are aiming for engagement and meeting student needs. For example, the content of a novel for an English classroom in outback Australia might be vastly different to a choice made on appropriateness for a school with a large amount of international students. This would fall under the category of treatment – does it appeal to the learners who will use it? I agree with this statement mostly – engaged students do learn.
However, I also think we need to expose students to work that falls under literary merit, for example – even if the content doesn’t seem like it will be appealing to our students. At times, students can surprise us – we need to provide space for students to wrestle with tricky texts and potentially not enjoy and connect with something they are studying. While I realise that Hughes-Hassell & Mancall (2005) are not saying we never consider literary merit, I think at times this consideration can move from secondary to the main group of areas we are evaluating texts with.
Another way of looking at selection criteria comes from The Australian Association for the Teaching of English (n.d.) . They state that texts should be selected for their strengths. This can also help us to narrow down what the text should be primarily used for. Perhaps a graphic novel does not have the best example of dialogue or plot, but it does have beautiful illustrations and would be a great example to use when teaching visual literacy.
More than ever, this module has demonstrated how nuanced collection development can be and why it needs to be undertaken by a professional teacher librarian, who can wrestle with these decisions, in partnership with teaching staff.
Hughes-Hassell, Sandra, and Jaqueline C. Mancall. Collection Management for Youth : Responding to the Needs of Learners, ALA Editions, 2005. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/detail.action?docID=289075.
The Australian Assocation for the Teaching of English (n.d.) Censorship and Text Selection. https://www.aate.org.au/documents/item/645