collection development – A Hundred Ways to Learn

More is not better

Laura Beaumont Uncategorized December 17, 2025January 7, 2026collection development, collection management, leadership, weeding 0 Comment

When I first walked into our library this year, I felt proud of its size; over 20,000 items sounded impressive. But as I dug deeper, I realised something: a big collection isn’t always a good collection. I had inherited a HUGE collection (over 28k books) in 2023 and it had taken me a year and a half of painstakingly slow weeding to reduce it by 5000, just so it would fit on the shelves. These decisions took forever as I did not yet have the confidence and knowledge to know which books were worthy of being on the shelves. Many shelves were crowded with books that hadn’t been touched in years, and worse, some were over 20 years old with outdated facts. That’s not what our students deserve.

This year, I rolled up my sleeves (even further) and started weeding. Another 2,550 books gone. 1,200 new ones purchased. It wasn’t easy as there’s an emotional pull to keeping “just in case” books and I was so worried that a teacher would walk in and request a favourite resource that I had just weeded! It took me a couple of years, but so far, the results have been transformative.

Why Weeding Matters

The space feels brighter and more inviting. Students notice it.
Shelves are easier to navigate. No more hunting through clutter.
Stocktake will be a breeze. And yes, that makes me very happy!
Most importantly, our collection is healthier and more relevant.
Students are now independent in their book selections and information seeking.

What Do the Guidelines Say?

Australian standards back this up. ALIA (2017) recommends a foundation collection of 8,000–11,000 items for a school our size (550 students). We were sitting at nearly double that. Bigger isn’t better—better is better.

Weeding guidelines from Libraries Tasmania suggest:

Remove books that are outdated, misleading, damaged, or irrelevant.
Use age-based checks:
- Computers, Technology, Medicine: review after 5 years.
- Science & Social Sciences: review after 5–10 years.
- Geography & History: review after 10 years, especially if maps or data are wrong.
- General Non-fiction: consider removal after 10–15 years if unused or inaccurate.

These principles guided my decisions this term. It wasn’t random—it was professional practice.

Linking Learning to Action

As part of my Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship), I’ve studied collection management theory. This year, I put that theory into practice. Weeding isn’t just about making space, it’s about making the library a living, breathing resource that supports learning today, not yesterday.

What’s Next?

In 2026, my goal is to continue to make our collection as relevant, appealing and fresh as possible, and that will mean strategic weeding and purchasing. I plan to map our collection to the Australian Curriculum and fill gaps with contemporary, diverse resources. I want every book on our shelves to earn its place by helping students learn, wonder, and grow.

Because in a school library, quality always wins over quantity.

References

Australian Library and Information Association. (2017). Manual for Developing Policies and Procedures in Australian School Library Resource Centres. Australian Library and Information Association. https://read.alia.org.au/manual-developing-policies-and-procedures-australian-school-library-resource-centres-2nd-edition
Libraries Tasmania. (n.d.). Lending collection development guidelines. Libraries Tasmania. https://libraries.tas.gov.au/about-us/policies-and-governance/policies/lending-collection-development-guideline/purpose/#articleBody

Selecting Resources through a Reggio Lens

Laura Beaumont ETL503 March 12, 2023March 12, 2023coconstruction, collection development, demand driven acquisition, Just in Time, purchase by request, Reggio Principles 0 Comment

“To make a lovable school, industrious, inventive, liveable, documentable and communicable, a place of research, learning, re-cognition and reflection, where children, teachers and families feel well – is our point of arrival.”
Loris Malaguzzi

In reflecting on the Reggio Children (2022) twelve principles of the Reggio Emilia Educational Project:

Children are active protagonists
Progettazione
The hundred languages
Organisation
Environment and spaces
Participation
Environment and spaces
Co-construction
Professional growth
Educational Research
Documentation
Evaluation

You can see that resource collection must be a collaboration between the Teacher Librarian, Classroom Teachers, learners and the wider community.

As a Teacher Librarian (TL), guided by the principles above, the relationship that exists between TL and teacher, TL and learner, learner and teacher and each with the wider school community must be reciprocal and collaborative. Observing children in their learning and play, being an active part of teacher research and planning and being the conduit between the school and greater community will ensure that resource selections are relevant and authentic to the learning that is taking place.

It is also important for the TL to know what is available in order to introduce teachers and learners to new provocations and ideas.

Child agency is extremely important. Children must be consulted as to the types of resources that would best support their learning and interests. They may even use this provocation as a basis for a project inquiry surrounding how resources are selected.

Just in time purchasing is a considerable proportion of the development of the collection with the TL making contributions based on the values and direction of the curriculum for the learners.

So how would this look in my setting:

Conversing with borrowers about their interests, inquiries and preferences.
Working with teaching teams to create bibliographical resources to support their student/class inquiry projects.
Planning collaboratively with all teaching teams.
Promoting the purchase by request service to teachers and students.
Including a ‘Suggest a book’ service in our space.
Ensuring that my knowledge is up to date, regarding new publications in order to suggest these to the community.
Observing the learners engaging with texts and researching how we can optimise their learning experience.
Constantly observing, questioning, reflecting and collaborating.
Ensuring the environment is organised in a way that the teachers and learners can easily see what resources we have, in order to uncover the possibilities of what we can acquire.

Reference:

Reggio Children. (2022) Values: Principles of the educational project. Reggio Emilia Approach. https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/reggio-emilia-approach/valori-en/