Collection development for future development

Wade’s article from 2005 is, at times, surprisingly anachronistic.  Referring to Green and Bigum’s 1993 article wherein students are described as, ‘aliens in the classroom,’ and then assuming library professionals (including TLs) would view contemporary students as aliens was not overly helpful.  There are claims that students in the library would be more computer literate than many librarians (the old ‘digital native’ myth) which have proven to be erroneous. There are also hints of a literacy crisis and a call for librarians to purchase texts which will be ‘attractive to them.’  There is continued building of a dichotomy between libraries and the contemporary user/student which would seem to me quite dated for 2005.

Wade’s call for libraries to become a ‘hub of a Total Information Management System,’ is not so out of touch (p.13). He refers to the American Association of School Libraries’ definition of an information literacy which includes a version of information user which is critical and versatile in locating and evaluating information, and one who is participating in a reflective and iterative research cycle. With this in mind, the library would provide and manage ‘two distinct’ types of information databases: traditional (hard copy) resources and catalogued internet sites and scanned traditional media. Libraries would need to provide 24 hour access and be expected to manage curriculum content and student work.

While some of this has been incredibly accurate, this vision seems to neglect that other areas of education and library cataloguing would also continue to develop systems and skills in line with new technology. Learning management systems have become commonplace for managing course content and student work and library management systems can integrate lots of digital content (i.e. Clickview and ebooks) into the catalogue search systems. Oddly, the article fails to consider that magazines and other print media would give rise to their own digital offerings. Scanning print media for library access is, mercifully, not. required.

Wade is calling for librarians to be future focused.  I acknowledge that critiquing his predictions for the future are not overly helpful, but Wade’s message for librarians to be aware of the dynamic and rapidly changing information landscape is incredibly helpful.

Jumping ahead to 2019, Jenny Takeda shares her experiences in using collection data, school library program goals and national library standards to advocate for funding and support by relevant people and bodies. Time and time again we often hear about a lack of understanding for what libraries do, the effect they can have on students, and the skill set of teacher librarians or, in this case, a ‘library and instructional technology teachers’ (LITT).  Takeda makes links between collection data and various other standards to set goals which are aligned with best practice and contemporary student needs.

This article is part of a large body of librarian literature on being champions of the profession and the space. By sharing current data, and pointing out goals for the library which are aligned with educational goals at a local, state, or national level, not only is collection development better understood as focused and outcomes driven activity, but the library staff (and library) are understood as part of the teaching and learning dynamic!