There is a lot to consider before undertaking, what appears to be, a mammoth task of collection evaluation.  Having completed a massive stocktake in my library at the end of last year, which involved two full time staff and 3 part time staff, I can only imagine the effort required to evaluate the collections in my library.  

Despite feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of what I can include in my evaluation and how best to manage it to achieve the most comprehensive, I can see nothing but reaping great reward from the hard work.

Katie Hauser (2013) demonstrated a very comprehensive document for one History Assignment for an American HIgh School.  As I was jotting down my nots I could see great benefit for high school and was thinking how I could modify her example to suit a primary school context.  The depth in which she went to may not be possible in the time or staffing that I have in my library. However, I could certainly modify her example to suit the needs of my own evaluation.  As Hauser also recommended developing a collection development plan. This will also me to identify my priorities, allocate staff to different task and map out the methods to complete the evaluation, thus having a best estimate as to how long it will actually take to obtain and collate the data.

As Librarians we are constantly fighting for our role, promoting ourselves, the library and the benefits we bring to to teaching and learning.  Knowing myself and knowing that trying anything new mistakes will be made and easier practices will be found along the way, which will add to the time it takes to plan, execute and generate the data of and evaluation.  

It is the best interest of the promotion of, integration of and development of the library to execute a collection evaluation. The main reason for an evaluation is to gain knowledge about the collections, library and usage to build a better library for our community, now and in the future. School Library and Media Specialist, Lamb, A. & Johnson, L. (2014), supports this idea by reminding us that collection evaluation brings deeper awareness of the breadth, depth and understanding of our collection – highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the collections.  By highlighting the TL can ensure that there is something for everyone, has depth of topics to support teaching and learning and also have insight to what the users are engaging with and where development needs to continue.

For any collection evaluation to be effective results needs to be analysed.  This than can generate reports to foster accountability to executive and the school community.  Further benefit provides the TL with evidence to discuss potential budget growth to achieve the outcomes framed by the evaluation to secure success for future goals.  

Understanding your own strengths, and those of your staffing, is important to factor before embarking into the collection evaluation process.  Mini Mapping is a concept the Lamb & Johnson (2014) discussed as a practice after completing a whole collection, however, it would be beneficial to start small and achieve small goals before evaluating the whole collection.  It could be possible practice to incorporate stocktake practices into your evaluation. As a beginner in evaluation and data analysis, this practice is appealing to ensure success. Once the small evaluations are successful the TL can build upon this to a more comprehensive evaluation.

At the end of last year my goal was to establish a curriculum map from my classroom teachers.  There is a lot of work to do for them to see the benefit of their involvement. My survey at the end of last year proved to take a dive.  Communication with staff is key, but surveys can easily go by the wayside. So planning is vital to ensuring I can gather as much data as possible.  While surveys have their place and can provide excellent data, Grigg (2012) cautions they are often skewed as the avid users are likely to complete the survey and to use surveys in conjunction with other evaluative techniques. it should be noted that Grigg’s advice is in context of e-Resources, however, the logic can be applied to any collection evaluation process. Simplifying how I gain information from staff is important and Hauser (2013) gave some good examples to give staff at the beginning of the term/unit.  Establishing assessment early allows the TL to evaluate existing resources and identify the breadth and depth the collection holds.

#tllife #collectionevaluation #addittothelist

References

Hauser, K (2013). Collection Mapping in a High School Library . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lUECMzV3aI

Grigg, K. (2012). Assessment and evaluation of e-book collections. In R. Kaplan (Ed.), Building and managing e-book collections (pp. 127-137). Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/lib/csuau/detail.action?docID=1158439

Lamb, A. & Johnson, L. (2014). Library media program: collection mapping. The school library media specialist. Retrieved from http://eduscapes.com/sms/program/mapping.html