From looking at the American Library Association’s, workbook for selection policy writing, it became evident very quickly how important a selection policy is not only for just now but also for the future. If there is not a policy in place, “haphazard patterns of acquisition will result in waste because some—perhaps many—materials will overlap in content, or will be unrelated to changing patterns of instruction,” (workbook for selection policy writing, 2017, para. 1) can occur.

According to the American Library Association, the main components which should be covered include: Objectives, responsibility for selection, criteria, procedures, policies on controversial materials and a range of procedures considered necessary for the reconsideration of resources (American Library Association, 2017). However, this is only one of many different ideas as to what should go into a collection development policy.

It is clear from this document that policy writing is not only important for a library’s current collection but it is also important for the future proofing a collection to ensure that the best possible resources can be found in this collection.  This can be particularly evident with digital pieces as Shankar states, “digital curation should involve both current and future use of digital data.  It’s not enough to take care of research data for today’s use and users; the future users of the data (which may be those who created it, but maybe not) are an essential part of the digital curation value proposition (2016, p.55).”  Shankar goes on further to say that as a result of effective digital curation, people all over the world now have the opportunity to access this (2016, p. 55).

American Library Association. (2017). Workbook for selection policy writing. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=dealing&Template-/ContenManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11173

Shankar, K. (2016). Future proofing the digital society: An introduction to digital curation and data practices. ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, 46 (1). Retrieved from https://dl-acm-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au

From looking at Barbara Braxton’s sample collection policy (May, 2016), she clearly outlines the reasons for needing a clear purpose, audience and usefulness.

Purpose- It is clear that the purpose of the collection is what underpins the entire document and is the reason behind decisions being made (Braxton, B., May 2016,) which is why this needs to be clearly stated and quite thorough.

Audience- It is vital that that there is a clear understanding of who the users of this document are so that their needs can be addressed. In the case of Barbara Braxton’s policy the users are teachers and the public in a primary school aged setting where English is the second language for many students who have internet access at home which also enables them to access online resources as well as texts (Braxton, B, May, 2016).

Usefulness- This document is extremely thorough as it covers such a wide range of areas which immediately displays the usefulness of this document, particularly for teacher librarians who are coming into the school at a later date so that they immediately understand the direction of the collection policy and where they need to be focusing.

Braxton, B. (May, 2016). Sample collection policy, collection development [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://500hats.edublogs.org/policies/sample-collection-policy/