School libraries aspire to maintain up-to-date collections providing a variety of resources of various formats and contents. Being restricted by budget constraints, libraries have an ongoing dilemma of whether to focus on curriculum needs in the first place or provide more opportunities to read for pleasure. Thus, keeping the right balance when developing a school library collection is not an easy task (Stephens, 2014).

Technological progress brings a variety of formats available for libraries. School libraries started using digital databases that provide recent titles and publications. Besides, digital resources are easier to update for publishers, and for users, they are easy to access regardless of time and place. However, taking into account the amount of information available in digital databases, users should have certain searching skills to find titles that fit their needs. Ian McEwen argues that when students search for information online, they tend to get distracted by social media and apps, especially when they use their mobile phones for that (2018). 

Another question that collection developers keep in mind when thinking of a balanced collection is how to engage reluctant readers and increase literacy overall. Joel Crowley (2015) suggests that Graphic Novels attract struggling readers as they tell stories mostly by pictures and don’t contain that much text to read. Many Graphic Novels are based on stories that were made in movies, such as Marvel, so characters are appealing to kids and they easily follow the story. Graphic Novels can be a good start for those not fond of reading to get them interested so over time they could be guided to start reading chapter books. Some titles are available in the format of a Graphic Novel as well as a chapter book, so starting with a Graphic Novel, kids are more likely to switch to reading a chapter book with the same title they liked. 

Thinking of some other ways to engage reluctant readers, I would suggest having DIY books in the collection. There are a variety of books that teach how to draw or craft, so students who love drawing or crafting might get interested in following the instructions in the book to make something. The instructions are usually split into short steps so children read them in small chunks which makes reading not that overwhelming, and colourful illustrations or photos also help to keep children engaged. Building on the point of using children’s passions as a matter of engagement in reading, books about video games are top-rated among students. In our school library, you will probably not find any Minecraft books on the shelf as they are always in circulation and checked out by elementary students. 

Speaking about our school, there are a lot of ESL students, who need extra support with learning English. Apparently, we don’t have enough contemporary graded readers that would be of high intellectual content adapted for students with language needs. It usually happens that books which 5th graders are interested in are very complicated for them to read in English, while books that are appropriate in terms of language are not age-appropriate and seem too childish. 

All in all, to make sure that the collection is engaging, school libraries need to know the preferences of their students. It can be managed by conducting surveys among students asking about books they enjoy reading, or by running book clubs. In our school, we run the Scholastic book club every year, where Scholastic provides us with a discount and generates a link for our school community to buy their books. It is a good deal for families to purchase books through a book club, as the books are delivered to school and they don’t need to pay for shipment as opposed to buying books from overseas via other internet stores. When families make their orders we can see what they buy, which helps us understand what students are interested in. Another advantage is that our school gets some bonuses from each order parents make, and we can spend these bonuses on books for our own collection. 

There are many things to think about if we want to have a really balanced collection. It is very important that the school library collection reflects the diversity of the school community and the world beyond it. A diverse book collection will help children become aware of global issues and become more open-minded. 

As Joy Fleishhacker said, “When you enable a child to discover a book to love, you empower that person to become a self-motivated reader and lifelong learner” (2017, p. 31) and that is what we all want to achieve. 

References: 

Fleishhacker, J. (2017). Collection development. Knowledge Quest, 45(4), 24–31.https://web-p-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=9a278ca4-a436-4fd0-a92a-c5543b463797%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=121512458&db=lih

McEwen, I. (2018). Trending now. Teacher Librarian, 45(3), 50–52.https://web-p-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=62fd0cc7-947b-4b82-8d53-50bc55ffcf60%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=128027180&db=lih

Stephens, W. (2014). Checking out tomorrow’s school library collections. Young Adult Library Services, 12(3), 18–20. https://web-p-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=0de7a157-ec42-4890-a5a9-fe3d101475b6%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=95797289&db=lih