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ETL503 Resourcing the Curriculum has been the most useful subject in the Master of Education (Librarianship) degree that I’ve completed so far. Whilst I have been in libraries for more than thirty years, completing this subject has made me acutely aware how much I had forgotten or missed regarding the theory relating to Collection Development Policy and the practice of creating, maintaining, evaluating and reviewing a living, breathing document. None of the three school libraries I have worked in have had a policy document, and we fumbled along okay for the most part, which took an enormous amount of work on my part to keep all previously agreed policies in my head and be able to refer to them at will and with accuracy. My current position is the first in which I’ve had an opportunity to develop a Collection Development Policy, albeit from absolute scratch, which is a BIG JOB but a necessary one if the library wishes to continue to provide relevant materials to the school community.
A good Collection Development Policy is a strategic document which positions the library as an essential and valued part of the school structure. It links the teaching and learning policies of the school to the selection and management of resources in support of the curriculum (Victoria University, 2023). However, it is vital that the process addresses the rapidly changing nature of information collection, curation, and management, and adopts a ‘nimble’ approach to writing and reviewing a policy “to have the greatest positive impact for each … library” (Levenson, 2019).
As noted above, creating a Collection Development Policy from scratch is a daunting prospect but a necessary one. Having inherited an historically two-campus, no-policy library service which became a three-campus, no-policy service just prior to my tenure, the need for a unified approach to developing and managing the collections is now an urgent one. Un-ethical, perhaps illegal, decisions have been and are being made on a regular basis, including copyright breaches, and age-inappropriate materials have been selected and are available for general use in the junior and senior library and school collections.
Ranganathan’s second and third laws: “every reader [their] book” and “every book it’s reader”, can be applied to policy in the case of age-appropriate materials (Ranganathan, 1931, cited in Rimland, 2007). Books that are marketed by publishers for specific age groups, for example ‘middle grade’ or ‘young adult’, provide a guide for inclusion in the library collections and can inform library procedures whereby parents and carers can give explicit permission for their child to read books marketed to an age-range above that of their child. In addition, many titles have an age advisory range included on the ISBN panel as a guide for adults purchasing and sharing material with students (Young readers, n.d.).
Without a policy for the selection and management of material, school libraries leave themselves open to difficult conversations with parents and carers and then removal and/or censorship of legitimate materials without due consideration, a situation summed up very succinctly in my 2023 blog post as “What a minefield” (Farquharson, 2023a).
Any enterprise, be it a school, business, or organisation, needs rules, that is, policy, to function. However, a successful, long-lived enterprise will include mechanisms for reviewing the ‘rules’ and adjusting them as circumstances change. Understanding the frameworks under which a library operates is a crucial first step in creating a ‘nimble’ policy document. As an International Baccalaureate [candidate] school within the state of Victoria, Australia, we must adhere to numerous departmental, government, internal and external policies. The IB’s Ideal libraries: a guide for schools has a statement about ‘collections’ and ‘services’, but these are “more like guidelines. The IBO document that sets standards for libraries is fairly non-committal about collecting materials and managing the library”. Whilst the IBO statements are quite vague, they are “…marginally better than the Victorian Education Department, which has absolutely nothing about library services” (Farquharson, 2023b). This lack of guidance in turn creates a situation where libraries are not valued by the department and, quite understandably, by schools. Having a Collection Development Policy, ratified by the school administration, adds legitimacy to the library collections and services.
Future proofing the Collection Development Policy includes evaluating and reviewing the policy on a regular basis. IFLA’s Guidelines for a collection development policy using the conspectus model (2001) includes a very short section on the mechanisms for the control and revision of a Collection Development Policy (Section I, p. 11). Helen N. Leverson’s article, Nimble collection development policies (2019), advocates for a bare-bones CDP that can be quickly and efficiently reviewed on a regular basis. The Australian Library and Information Association manual (2019, p. 6) suggests that a yearly review is required. Regardless of the timeline, it is essential that policy recognises that budgets, formats, content, curriculum and school policies fluctuate and change regularly, and the Collection Development Policy should reflect this.
Acquisition and Collection Development Section, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). (2001). Guidelines for a collection development policy using the conspectus model. Repository.ifla.org. https://repository.ifla.org/handle/123456789/52
Australian Library and Information Association. (2019, April 16). A manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resource centres, 2nd edition. ALIA Library. https://read.alia.org.au/manual-developing-policies-and-procedures-australian-school-library-resource-centres-2nd-edition
Farquharson, M. (2023a). ETL503 Collection Ethics – Libraries for Life. Thinkspace.csu.edu.au. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/miffyf/2023/04/16/etl503-collection-ethics/
Farquharson, M. (2023b, March 1). Collections and Services: IBO, in Forum: 1.2 Definitions of collection management and collection development. Interact2.Csu.edu.au. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_66272_1&conf_id=_136246_1&forum_id=_307589_1&message_id=_4396241_1&nav=discussion_board_entry
International Baccalaureate Organisation. (2018). Ideal libraries: a guide for schools.
Levenson, H. N. (2019). Nimble Collection Development Policies: An Achievable Goal. Library Resources & Technical Services, 63(4), 206. EBSCOHost. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.5860/lrts.63n4.206
Rimland, E. (2007). Ranganathan’s Relevant Rules. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 46(4), 24–26. https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lih&AN=25646511&site=ehost-live
Victoria University. (2023). Collection Development Policy / Document / Victoria University Policy Library. Policy.vu.edu.au. https://policy.vu.edu.au/document/view.php?id=125
Young readers. (n.d.). Penguin Books Australia. https://www.penguin.com.au/ages