Policy – Persuasion on paper

Policy – Persuasion on Paper

Using policies for persuastion. https://www.pxfuel.com/en/desktop-wallpaper-ammar/download

A policy is a plan of action (Oxford Learners Dictionary). It’s a wonderful definition. A plan. For Action. It means that a policy is a plan for something good, or even better, to happen. And that means, once a policy is written and approved, it must be supported and, obviously, actioned. Thus a policy is not meant to be a ‘dry and dusty’ document to be shelved and forgotten. A policy is a key piece of ‘persuasion’ for the library and the ogoing development of the library.

A library policy needs to be current, reflect best-practice, contextual and be proactive for the future needs of the library. According to the American Library Association (2017) it needs to include ‘objectives, responsibility, criteria, procedures for selection, reconsideration of materials, and policies on controversial materials’. The policy should begin with an overarching statement in the objective and then build to more specific information to inform the library staff, executive and the wider school community including parents. Examples of specific material could be a drafted letter for collection complaints and criteria for selection of material.

The library policy needs to share the vision of how the library needs to develop into the future to keep preparing students to be 21st Century learners. The Collection Development Policy (CDP) is the most important part of a librarian’s job according to Newsum (2016), and thus requires a policy for the digital and traditional aspect of this role. While a librarian cannot know how the publishing industry will develop, it can future proof by a vision statement that  ‘links the collection development policy to the values of the school’ while giving ‘equitable access to resources’ to create ‘lifelong, independent learners and responsible citizens’ (Australian Library and Information Services, 2007). The broad statement creates a cohesive progression of a comprehensive policy no matter what changes in functionality and technology. Some of the categories that need to be developed including relevance, currency,  accuracy, authority, presentation, user-friendly, respectful, appropriate and contextual. It is important that the policy covers the digital collection to focus on the accuracy and currency of the collection (Newsum, 2016). While the policy should be future proofed, TLs need to routinely return to the policy to assess, position, implement and review the collecion in order to make sure the best collection delivery for the students, teachers and the wider values of the community (Mitchell, 2018).

Policies need also to include the material that will not be included in the library in order to provide current, best-practice and proactive practice. On the flip side, this may also include material that will not be included in the library. A policy that aims to develop a collection that is current, educational, age-appropriate, contextual and respectful will ultimately mean that material that comes outside of the parameters  will not be included in the collection. Sometimes that may mean that material is rejected because knowledge has been superceded, material is explicit or is disrespectful; alternatively, it may mean that material is included because it shows a wide variety of voices or points of view (Hoffman & Wood, 2007). Once the collection profile has been developed in the policy it is much easier for the librarian to select or deselect material according to the parameters and not under the emotionally-charged label of censorship. Mitchell (2016) also includes that the material is legal, is value for money and also has metadata as part of a wider policy on ecollection.

When the policy is complete and approved, the librarian can use this document as part of the tool kit to have broader discussions with the wider school community. The librarian can use this to develop funding models, resource access, KLA collaboration and technology decisions. Most importantly it will be used as a persuasion tool that the librarian can use to  validate requests in negotiations and difficult conversations.

Resources:

American Library Association. (2017). Workbook for selection policy writing.  http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=dealing&Template-/ContenManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11173

Australian Library and Information Association School, & Victorian Catholic Teacher Librarians. (2007). A manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resource centres. https://asla.org.au/policy-development-manual

Hoffman, F. W., & Wood, R. J. (2007). Intellectual freedom. In Library collection development policies : school libraries and learning resource centers, (pp. 63-80). Lanham, Maryland : Scarecrow Press. (Leganto Reading List).

Mitchell, P. (2016). Digital collections. [slideshare]. https://www.slideshare.net/pru_mitchell/digital-collections

Mitchell, P. (2018). How does your collection measure up?: Using the school collection rubric. Journal for the School Information Professional, Autumn 2018, Vol.22(2), pp.18-19,2.

Newsum, J. M. (2016). School collection development and resource management in digitally rich environments: An Initial Literature Review. School Libraries Worldwide, 22(1), 97–109.

Oxford Learners Dictionary. (n.d.). Policy. In oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com. Retrieved May 3, 2025 from https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/policy