An integral role of a Teacher-Librarian is to resource the curriculum, and thus a school library collection must support teaching and learning needs. Indeed, the NSW Department of Education’s Library Policy mandates that a Teacher-Librarian assists to provide “information-related resources integral to the planning, implementation and evaluation of the curriculum of the school” (2020, p.1).
It is important that library collections remain balanced, relevant and evolving, with the goal of meeting the ongoing teaching and learning needs of the school community. Teacher-Librarians need to have extensive knowledge of the needs of students, teachers and faculties within the school, as well as key priority areas, when developing and maintaining a collection. These priority areas include broad cross-curricular priorities set out in the Australian Curriculum, as well as school priority areas that have been identified within the current School Improvement Plan, as resources should align with these priorities.
One of the key issues to consider when selecting learning resources is the needs of the school context, including both the diverse needs of students and the changing needs of classroom teachers and faculties. An insightful understanding of the long-term goals, priorities and educational philosophy of the school should also be examined, and these will naturally influence the selection of resources (Johnson, 2009). Once these needs have been identified, appropriate resources should be selected through the use of a wide variety of selection aids, combining these recommendations with the professional judgement of the Teacher-Librarian. The most useful resources may be recommended across multiple selection aids (Saponaro & Evans, 2019). Resources should ideally encompass a wide variety of formats and modes of delivery to create a diverse collection that has broad appeal.
In recent years, there has been an increasing push to include and adopt digital resources into Library collections as these are likely to be engaging and relevant for students who privilege digital information over print-based (Stephens, 2014). However, expanding a collection to include digital resources without considering the technology that is available for student and classroom use is highly problematic, and thus carefully analysing the school context is essential. Technology needs to be available to support online and e-resources, and teachers need to be equipped with the skills to implement, integrate and maintain it. Copyright issues and digital content displaying and curation also need to be taken into consideration.
The process of collection development is ongoing, in order to ensure it continues to maintain relevance and meet the needs of the school, and the age of existing resources is something that needs to be examined. As both curriculum and information needs change, ALIA suggests that resources older than five years will need to be closely examined to ensure they continue to be relevant and up to date, and weeded accordingly (ALIA, 2012).
A school Collection Development Policy is important and should be regularly updated to ensure it remains relevant and continually supports the ongoing collection of resources that support the school context.
References
Australian Library and Information Association. (2012). Beyond a Quality Service: Strengthening the Social Fabric – Standards and Guidelines for Australian Public Libraries. ALIA Public Libraries Advisory Committee. http://www.alia.org.au/sites/default/files/documents/Publishing/Archivedreports/PLSG_ALIA_2012.pdf
Johnson, P. (2009). Fundamentals of Collection Development and Management: Vol. 2nd ed. ALA Editions. http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzI2Nzc1Nl9fQU41?sid=9f649cb5-575e-444c-9977-6755464a2d91@sdc-v-sessmgr02&vid=0&format=EB&rid=1
NSW Department of Education. (2020). Library Policy – Schools. https://policies.education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/library-policy-schools
Saponaro, M. Z., & Evans, G. E. (2019). Collection management basics, 7th edition. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
Stephens, W. (2014). Checking Out Tomorrow’s School Library Collections. Young Adult Library Services, 12(3), 18–20.