As I have been working my way through ETL503 I am constantly faced with the terms ‘collection development’ and ‘collection management’. These two terms seem to be used interchangeably, but if they mean the same thing, then why the different terms, which seem to imply different meanings? What’s the difference between a collection development policy and a collection management policy?

According to Johnson (2018), the terms collection development and collection management have different nuances. Collection development involves the library taking into account the priorities, needs and interests of the community and developing or building a collection in response to those. The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) supports Johnson’s definition of collection development by stating that it “is essential to a school library as it explains why the collection exists” (2017, p. 8). Without the community to use the library, the library is of no use. Gregory (2019) also contributes to this definition of collection development stating that collection development is essentially the thinking that contributes to resource acquisition. The thinking around acquisition must stem from the needs of the library community and building the collection to meet those particular needs.

So, how does this all fit in with collection management, and is it different?

Gregory (2019) states that collection development is a subset of collection management and “is included within a broader picture of collection management or maintenance” (p. xiii). Collection management is the process of what to do after the collection is in place (Johnson, 2018). Gregory defines collection management as

“the process of information-gathering, communication, coordination, policy formulation, evaluation, and planning that results in decisions about the acquisition, retention, and provision of access to information sources in support of the intellectual needs of a given library community” (2019, p. xiii).

So, what is required? A collection development policy or a collection management policy?

Libraries Tasmania (2021) states that “a collection development policy covers the acquisition and deselection of resources” (para. 5) and as a starting point must include sections about budget, selection/deselection criteria, challenged resources, collection evaluation, donations and stocktake. The collection development policy appears to be quite detailed, and everything must be linked to the context of the school. In contrast to this, IFLA’s (2015) definition of a collection management policy which defines the ‘purpose, scope, and content of the collection as well as access to external resources and helps to ensure a wide range of high-quality resources (p. 33). This does not appear to be as detailed with what is required within the policy.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) Library page has a collection development policy which includes a section about collection management. The collection development shows its purpose to be about the processes of selection, retention and deselection of resources in order to keep the collection relevant to its users (2021). The section on library management only makes reference to the removal of materials. In this case, it sounds like the collection management is a subsection of collection development, not the other way around and proposed by Gregory (2019) and Johnson (2018).

My thinking around all of this is that libraries are tending towards having a collection development policy because of the ongoing nature of collection development. This continual evaluation ensures that library patrons have access the relevant and current resources (IFLA, 2015).

References

Australian Library and Information Association. (2017). A manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resource centres. (2nd ed.). https://read.alia.org.au/manual-developing-policies-and-procedures-australian-school-library-resource-centres-2nd-edition

Charles Sturt University Library. (2021). Collection development. https://library.csu.edu.au/our-libraries/contact-library-team/library-management/collection-development

Gregory, V.L. (2019). Collection development and management for 21st century library collections: an introduction (2nd ed.). American Library Association.

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.

Libraries Tasmania, (2021). Procedures and guidelines. https://libraries.tas.gov.au/school-library/Pages/managing-procedures.aspx