How the subject has extended my knowledge and understanding of the role and nature of school library collections

The role and nature of the school library collection is ever evolving. Libraries are changing from print to digital, from local to network (Dempsey, 2017). The role and nature of the library collection is impacted by the changing educational needs of the students. The students’ needs evolve due to changes in society and the digital world we live in. With all these influencing factors then we need to consider how do we develop a library collection that best support the needs of our students. We need to find the balance between school community needs, budgets, physical resources and digital resources. How do we create this balance? Through collection development.

Collection development as described by Kimmel (2014) is a cyclical process including-

• Identifying needs
• Selecting
• Managing
• Evaluating

Kimmel (2014) also explains that the needs of the learners and goals of the school are driving each stage. For this process to occur you need to plan. The tool for this plan is the library collection development policy and procedures. The policy allows for consistency in procedures and assists in creating a balanced collection (Gregory, 2019).

The importance of a collection development policy as a strategic document

The library collection development policy plays an important role as a strategic document. A study by Loh et al., (2021) evaluated the quality of library collections and the impact it had on drawing students into the library. A low-quality collection only attracted half of the students surveyed in accessing the library collection. This suggested that the teacher librarians may need support in improving their library collection development policy to attract more students and meet their needs. I wonder what the outcome would have been if the schools had a quality policy in place including goals, strategies and guidelines?

For the collection development policy to be a strategic document, goals and missions that meet the needs of the learner and school community, need to be set. Following this, what is needed in terms of collection development is planned to include physical and digital resources and how they will be managed. For the collection development policy to be considered a strategic document it needs to follow a cyclical process. Ongoing evaluation is a crucial aspect of this process as it helps to align a library’s programs and services with the goals of the school (IFLA School Libraries Section Standing Committee, 2015). As stated by Johnson (2018), if evaluation is meaningful, it can inform collection development and management decisions and document accountability and value.

How a collection development policy assists in future proofing the collection

By using a collection development policy as a strategic document this can also assist in future proofing the collection. Future libraries, not just surviving, but thriving, are ones that have found new ways of meeting the needs of its users (Anderson, 2008). As we have discussed already, the library development policy is an invaluable cyclical tool. This tool specifically allows us to identify the strengths and weakness in our collection. It allows us to identify specific collections that may need altering or updating, for example, the nonfiction collection may be out of date but instead of spending money purchasing physical resource the following may be considered-

• Subscribing to online encyclopaedias where information is regularly updated unlike many nonfiction books.
• Developing and managing a central site with access to relevant curriculum website links, for example, curriculum link sections on Oliver.
• Subscribing to eBooks where you can end the subscription or change it if it is no longer viable, you do not have the added task of weeding physical books.

If we can use evidence from the collection development policy to demonstrate the negative, then it is important to use it to demonstrate the positive. The policy should be used to future proof the collection via library advocacy. But how do you achieve this? The positive information can be used to promote the value of the library in the school community, demonstrate the impact on student learning to executive staff and teachers, influence decision makers and impact library funding (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions School Libraries Section Standing Committee, 2015).

Consider priorities for your own practice and how you could promote awareness of collection development issues with school leadership.

Reflecting on collection development issues within my own school, I would list the following as priority-

• Out of date nonfiction collection
• Collection ability to meet the learners needs
• Greater collaboration with teachers regarding the learning program
• Budget
• Censorship

How do we promote awareness of these issues with school leadership? Our collection development policy is a great start. Using tools listed in our collection development policy, such as evidence mapping and others, allows us to evaluate, assess and identify issues in the collection (including the issues listed above) (Lamb & Johnson, 2014). Using findings to generate regular reports and share these with not only principals but other decision makers and stakeholders within the school will promote the collection issues. Library advocacy needs to be a priority, this includes building relationships (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions School Libraries Section Standing Committee, 2015). After reading Karchel (2017) I feel I could implement the following into my own practises, to promote awareness of the collection development issue of budgeting with school leadership by:

• Preparing hard data on the physical collection.
• Preparing qualitative data in the form of student and teacher surveys.
• Having face to face conversations keeping the principal informed about the process so there are no surprises.
• Demonstrate how the library collection includes not only physical resources but less expensive global resources via the internet. This can show we are thinking about the budget as a whole school initiative.
• Advocate the collection development policy goals to teachers and students’ policy goals.
• Create and present budget proposal that is short and to the point, prioritising needs.

No matter what the issue, Teacher Librarians are the driving force in promoting awareness of collection development issues with school leadership.

References

Anderson, R. (2008). Future-Proofing the Library: Strategies for Acquisitions, Cataloging, and Collection Development. The Serials Librarian, 55(4), 560–567. https://doi.org/10.1080/03615260802399908

Dempsey, L. (2016). Library collections in the life of the user: two directions. LIBER Quarterly: The Journal of the Association of European Research Libraries, 26(4), 338–359. https://doi.org/10.18352/lq.10170

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions School Libraries Section Standing Committee. (2015).  IFLA school library guidelines.  https://www.ifla.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/assets/school-libraries-resource-centers/publications/ifla-school-library-guidelines.pdf

Johnson, P. (2018). Fundamentals of collection development and management. American Library Association.  https://web-s-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzE4NTY5ODNfX0FO0?sid=bf8420ca-dcd2-4775-abe8-56b1e45dce97@redis&vid=0&format=EB&lpid=lp_v&rid=0 com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=7ea1060e-2229-4dab-9556-357bacc038e5%40redis&ppid=Page-__-240&vid=0&format=EK

Kachel, D. (2017, 12). Advocating for the School Library Budget. Teacher Librarian, 45(63), 48-50. https://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/magazines/advocating-school-library-budget/docview/1979764962/se-2?accountid=10344

Kimmel, S. C. (2014). Developing Collections to Empower Learners, American Library Association. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/detail.action?docID=1687658.

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

Loh, C. E., Sundaray, S., Merga, M., & Gao, J. (2021). Principals and Teachers’ Perspectives of Their School Libraries and Implications for School Library Policy. Journal of Library Administration, 61(5), 550–571. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2021.1924532