Dear Future Me,

There are some thing you need to know.  Your collection is not what you think it is.  At this point in time your collection is in transition… transition from a safe and traditional collection to a “Collaborative Access Environment” (Hughes-Hassell & Mancall 2005).  This is a letter of recommendation is to ensure your success in catering for all the needs of your school community.  Take my advice and your school’s library will provide an diverse, multifaceted and learner-centered collection.  This advice stems from that of Hughes-Hassell & Mancall, and to be fair, there is a sprinkling of Past Me in here too.

While diverse as your current collection is there is more you can do to support your school community’s inquiry approach to learning.  There are considerations that you need to take on board in which to succeed in providing an constructivist environment within your library walls. At the present, you do not have a curriculum map, or scope and sequence, of the units of inquiry wof each grade.  This is vital for you to provide necessary resources for teaching and learning.  What can you do to improve this? I hear you asking… Gather data!

Imagine this… you are an integral member of the curriculum team, on board with the ICT/DigiTech team and a presence in the classroom.  By taking on a presence in these forums you are on the assisting teaching and learning.  You are able to collaborate with staff, implement change and uncover what is happening in the classroom.  This deepens your understanding of the learning that is happening in your school. Once you have that deep understanding you can begin to explore ways to meet the needs for teaching and learning.  This point is vital as your role is to develop and encourage lifelong learning.  With the ‘most appropriate’ resources you can meet those needs.  This comes with a warning – do not get distracted by flashy and trendy resources – stay focused on the end goal.

Collaboration is a key component to building your collection.  Do not think it is the ‘be all and end all’, it is a piece of the pie that will give you your just desserts.  Teachers and students hold the largest percentage of your users, they should be key collaborators with you.  Building a collection is an ongoing process, let the process be shared.  Get to know your cohorts, staff and students, listen to them, watch their processes in the classroom and behind the scenes.  Then be the leader of the collaborative practices and shared development – use your expertise to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Be a detective and delve into what your users are calling for.  To truly understand their needs you need to ask! Ask them what works and doesn’t work.  Ask them what they enjoy and connect with, observe student Book Club purchases for trends.  Survey your community on what you have now, what they yearn for, what has/hasn’t meet their needs and what they enjoy – there is no one who can be excluded from your investigation.  Hughes-Hassall & Mnacall call for you to analyse standards, use NAPLAN for something good, check in with academic standards and become intimate with the Australian Curriculum.  Remember, do what you do best, think outside the box and explore the TL network – what works for other communities such as yours?

There is so much you can do to create your “Collaborative Access Environment”, but, again focus is your friend.  Use your information, of your community, to build a Curriculum Map to guide you through teaching and learning.  Always choose the path that leads you to each grade’s destination/end products and enjoyment of teaching and learning.  This is about the encouraging lifelong learning, provide resources that meet the signposts of all readers, take them on a learning journey of success and builds resilience along the way.

Hughes-Hassell and Mancall give great insight into what can work to building a diverse collection that meets the needs to your community.  They remind us that students are learners, be one with them, understand who they are by observing them in their natural habitat, the classroom.  Guide their strengths to develop their knowledge, build your collection with the Multiple Intelligences in mind to diversify the collection.  This will maximise their engagement with the Library and their learning.

Once you understand the needs of your community look to the process in which you acquire resources for them.

Wishing you all the best,

Present Me.

#selectioninschoolcontext #resourcingisfun

 

References

Hughes-Hassell, S. & Mancall, J. (2005). Collection management for youth: responding to the needs of learners [ALA Editions version]. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/lib/csuau/detail.action?docID=289075