Prior to my study in ETL503: Resourcing the Curriculum, I had quite a basic idea regarding the role and development of information resources in a school library. One of my initial observations was that much of the professional literature reflects the basic principle that the primary goal of a school library is to provide resources that support the curriculum and meet the teaching and learning needs of its users (New South Wales Department of Education, 2019; Australian Library and Information Association and Australian School Library Association, 2016). In my blog post Collection Development & Collection Management (Prosser, 2022, April 23) I talk about a library collection never being static, changing as new resources are introduced or removed for various reasons. Making sure that the user’s needs are forefront when selecting resources will ensure that despite going through a constant evolutionary process, the collection will always remain current and relevant, now and into the future.

Continue reading

I’ve been reading about censorship recently, and the impact that censorship can have when developing a school library collection. In doing so, I’ve found it useful to keep in mind a definition of what censorship is, and I quite like this one: “Censorship encompasses those actions which significantly restrict free access to information.” (Moody, 2005, p. 139). When considering free access to information, it’s clear that professional standards indicate that censorship in libraries should be opposed. The International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) guidelines state:

“Access to services and collections should be based on the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Freedoms, and should not be subject to any form of ideological, political, or religious censorship, or to commercial pressures.” (IFLA, 2015, p. 60).

Similarly, the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) state:

“Freedom can be protected in a democratic society only if individuals have unrestricted access to information and ideas” (ALIA, 2015, para. 3).

Continue reading

So, one of the potential reflection questions that I came across in ETL503 regarding responsibility for resource selection was Who should have the final say on what is included [in a collection]? Why? In my experience in school libraries, the Teacher-Librarian (TL) selects resources for the library. I had never questioned it or considered that there would be an argument for anyone else to be involved. After some further reading it becomes clear that selecting resources can involve many people – school administrators, teachers, students, parents and other community members, to name a few (Jenkinson, 2002). In fact, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) states that not only is collection building a collaborative endeavour, but that such collaboration should be made clear in a school library’s policy (2015, p. 34). This is supported by a joint statement between the Australian Library and Information Association and the Australian School Library Association that states a collection policy should contain an element that includes responsibilities for collaborative decision making when selecting resources (Australian Library and Information Association, 2016 para. 6).

Continue reading

A library collection is never static. It grows, it changes, it evolves. A library collection should reflect the needs of its users (Evans & Saponaro, 2012), and support the teaching and learning of the curriculum (New South Wales Department of Education, 2019; Australian Library and Information Association & Australian School Library Association). In a school library setting, where there is a constant incoming and outgoing of new and graduating students as well as different teaching and learning styles this is particularly pertinent. The users’ needs are likely to be ever-so different from one cohort to the next. Add to this, issues around potential national and state educational policy changes as well as curriculum and syllabus updates, not to mention specific course and subject revisions, introductions of new and different texts for study etc. and it becomes quite clear that a library collection is in a constant state of flux. New resources are added, old resources are discarded all the time. However, there is a little more to it than that. Maintaining a library collection involves careful consideration not only about what goes into the collection (collection development), but also the ongoing decisions associated with what to do with it once it is added (collection management).

Continue reading