Tag Archives: collection development

Book Apps and Ebooks

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How much do these define the story? How does this impact on my practise?

Book apps are constantly changing, needing updating, require available technology to use them and are of mixed quality. But they are available 24/7, multiple copies can be sought relatively cheaply and they can be highly engaging for students. So, how much does the format dictate the story? I would say that it is very much dependent on the story and the app producers working together. There is no doubt that the potential exists for book apps to be very high quality and there are criteria available (eg. Yokota & William, 2014) that teacher librarians can use to ensure quality is maintained and the resource adds value to the collection. In order for these to be used regularly in classrooms in my school, they would have to offer something valuable that is not available from print books. The appeal I can see would be mainly in the younger years, a time at which actually accessing and logging into devices available is such a phaff that it would be a fairly painful exercise. As such, the pay-off would have to be LARGE. I can definitely see appeal in these apps for reading for pleasure and I would love to be able to offer them to families for use after school and at weekends, but I am fairly confident that this is not possible as far as apps go, and sharing of the individually purchased copies of books within those apps. In fact, thinking about how that would logistically work given the constraints of the ET4L environment, using Windows only (not iOS or Android) one would have to be very careful about what one signed up for.

Ebooks, on the other hand, hold much more realistic value. For students to be able to download these in a browser based way to be read on a tablet/desktop/ereader depending on what they have access to, is a much more do-able proposition. One would have to be very careful about whether the ebooks available were worth the cost, and added something to the text that traditional print does not. Access to books, be they fiction or non-fiction, 24 hours/day and from any device would certain be an advantage. I can’t see it ever overtaking the print collection, but it could certainly augment it. This is something I would really like to look into further for my library.

 

Yokota, J. & William, H. T. (2014). Picture books in the digital world. The Reading Teacher, 67(8), 577-585. http://www.readingteacher.com/

Censorship in School Libraries

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How have your various roles based on your age, family background, societal position, religious beliefs and profession influenced your stance on censorship of children’s literature collections?

As teacher librarians, we often feel very strongly that we should not be participating in censorship, be it self-censorship or censorship that comes from above. We also know that it is our job to provide resources appropriate to the community in which we work. The fact that we need to select books based on their appropriateness indicates that it is also our job to not select books that are inappropriate. But where is the line? Who decides what is “selection” and what is “censorship”? Who decides what is appropriate and what is not? In some communities it is not acceptable to include books about certain religions, or books that celebrate cultural features that others may find offensive. I believe there is a line where some subjects become inappropriate for children, but there are many resources out there that skate very close to that line and may, under some circumstances, actually be appropriate for particular purposes, used under teacher guidance. I believe that having a robust challenge policy and a strong selection policy to go along with it is important. If community members can show that something is inappropriate, then we have an obligation to listen. However, I think it should be stressed that it should not be made easy to show that something is inappropriate. Some principals will require any challenged item to be removed simply in order to avoid arguments. I do not think this is a helpful attitude to take. The assumption should be that the material stays in the collection unless and until it is shown to be inappropriate. This should not be because it agrees or disagrees with a particular religion or political belief, or because it contains or does not contain certain language. It should not be because it perpetuates stereotypes (this should be countered by the addition of a collection of texts that balance the stereotype: some authors use stereotypes for particular effect and to make a point.

Books pertaining to controversial topics should be included in school library collections. For example, age appropriate books about periods, evolution, gender fluidity should all be included, offering a balanced collection. I strongly believe that parents have a right to control (up to a point) what is available to their child, but they do not have the right to control what is available to other children.

Multicultural literature

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The module reading, Cai (2002), presents three views on what constitutes multicultural literature. The first is that in order to be considered multicultural, a text must include and represent as many cultures as possible, encompassing all cultures of the world equally. That is, a traditional tale from the UK is just as multicultural as one from Africa. In this view, the power relationships, the oppressed and the oppressor, the marginalised and the mainstream, are not taken into account. A literature set could not be thought complete unless both dominant and minority cultures were represented. Another view is that multicultural literature should focus on racial differences. This does not acknowledge that gender, sexual orientation, age or any other element of a person or community might influence the culture. I do not believe that this is the case, however, I can see that decisions as to what constitutes “culture” and what does not is up for debate. The third view is that all books, collectively, represent multicultural literature. This is the view with which I most agree. While there may be some texts that do explore in depth many different cultures, or perhaps the intercession of at least two, it is the collection as a whole that must be “multicultural”. Texts which explore, describe and celebrate all cultures and walks of life should be represented with in a collection. This should incorporate texts that explore the clashing, melding, crossing, dividing and accepting of people from different cultures when they come together. I believe that it is not just ethnic, religious or national difference that contributes to culture, but that age, sexual orientation, gender, privilege (or lack thereof) etc combine to influence and create sub-cultures and all should be represented in the collection. Where the terms “multicultural” and “diverse” meet and crossover, I am not sure. And I am not sure it really matters.

 

 

 

Chapter 1: Defining multicultural literature (pp 3-18) in
Cai, M. (2002). Multicultural literature for children and young adults: Reflections on critical issues. ABC-CLIO, LLC.

Lived experiences in Indigenous literature

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My primary school library has, I believe, most of the texts listed in threads about this topic: Baby Business, Young Dark Emu, Jandamarra, Sorry Day, Wilam etc. But what we lack, and what I am finding quite hard to find, is literature exploring the everyday lived experiences of students like mine. We have only one Aboriginal student in our school at the moment and her experience is very different to what we see reflected in a lot of the indigenous literature available. It was very interesting to hear Anita Heiss talking about this in the modules this week.

I think our collection offers a good range for supporting the cross-curricular priority and for including Aboriginal perspectives in the curriculum more broadly, but I notice they tend only to come out during NAIDOC week and that’s about all. This week, as I was sharing Jandamarra with year 5, an very valuable discussion occured because many of the students could not connect “warrior” with the Aboriginal people. They asked, “What were they fighting for?” It was not meant in a derogatory way, many of these students are recent immigrants and have no real concept of Aboriginal history or culture, but it pointed out to all of us in the room that we need to do much better in terms of helping the students to really understand the issues at play.

In my role as TL, I need to promote more of these resources around planning time and help our teachers to include Aboriginal perspectives more effectively. I don’t think it is too much to do with not having the resources available, more that they don’t know what to do with them.

ETL503 Assessment 2 Part B – Reflection

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One of the exciting yet challenging features of the school library is change. The speed of change. The pervasiveness of change. The digital revolution (O’Connell, Bales and Mitchell (2015) that has swept the world has transformed the information landscape and the people who inhabit it. Bringing new formats, digital content, changing publishing models, shrinking print collections, increasing digital collections. But it is still all for the same purpose. The school library still exists to help students find, create and explore ideas (Lamb 2015), to assist students to learn to navigate the information landscape confidently, critically and efficiently. Central to that purpose is the development of a comprehensive, balanced and accessible collection. And central to that is the collection development policy.

 

We all share the ultimate destination: we want students to be life-long learners. Capable, confident, efficient, ethical and flexible thinkers. While the end destination is the same for all schools, the scenery, route and landmarks are all different. Our approach to collection development and management must be reflective of the community in which we work and the goals and aspirations of that community. It is the responsibility of the teacher librarian to ensure that the library’s policies and procedures support and implement the mission of the school (ALIA and ASLA 2005).

 

The elements of a collection development policy allow teacher librarians to assess the state of the collection presently, posit the ideal state of the collection and formulate a plan to move towards that goal. I discussed collection evaluation strategies in my blog post, Collection Evaluation. One of the challenges faced by teacher librarians is developing a strong collection that supports the needs, wants, expectations and interests of the school community now and is also flexible enough to be useful as technology and pedagogy continue to develop. Loh and Sun (2019) argue that it is the preferences and interests of the readers themselves that determine whether print or digital resources are more effective. Print is heavy, not updated and takes up valuable shelf real estate, yet students prefer it in some circumstances (Copyright Agency, 2017; Johnston& Salaz, 2019). But what about picture books? Richter and Courage (2017) found that younger readers were more engaged in e-books than in print. It is therefore important for the school library to offer a variety of formats and delivery methods so that readers of all persuasions might access information in their preferred format. This should be reflected in the goals and selection criteria of the collection development policy.

 

Along with a diversity of formats, the collection development policy should reflect the desire to create a collection that represents a diversity of viewpoints (Disher, 2014). All students have the right to see themselves reflected in the characters, stories and problems they read about (Braxton, 2018). Recognising themselves in characters that face hardship and overcome challenges encourages them to do the same when they are experiencing difficulty. Seeing the world through many different lenses allows students to develop empathy and intercultural understanding (Brown, 2016; Veltze, 2004).

 

Are school libraries and teacher librarians to disappear as teachers and students access resources directly online? Finding reliable, accessible and authoritative information online can mean sifting through a lot of unreliable and irrelevant resources in order to find what is needed. I wrote about this in my discussion post in Forum 2.4b and in my comments in Forum 2.4a on the work of Michelle Wheeler. Strong selection criteria combined with reliable selection aids ensure that resources included in the collection are reliable, authoritative and relevant to the school community. Yet, to make sure resources selected meet the needs and interests as closely as possible, it is desirable to include the school community in decision making processes (Viner, 2016). I discussed some strategies for this in my blog post, With Whom the Buck Stops. Regular review of the collection development policy and the selection criteria is desirable in order to ensure the collection continues to meet the needs, wants, interests and expectations of the school community. I discussed this in my blog post, Selection and Deselection. Part of the review cycle should include an evaluation of the collection. Doing this regularly is especially important in a time of rapid change to curriculum such as has been seen since the introduction of the Australian Curriculum and the related state syllabus documents. Keeping abreast of changes in syllabus documents and pedagogical developments allows teacher librarians to ensure resources and services provided remain up-to-date.

 

Changes in technology available in schools has and will continue to be rapid (Domeny, 2017). This has implications for the teacher librarian in determining how the development of digital collections will proceed. Changing software and hardware can mean that resources quickly become unusable, for example, many devices can no longer access CD and DVD resources as they do not have the necessary drives. Software that is developed for older operating systems may not be compatible with newer versions. Resources that can be accessed by iPads may be inaccessible to Android devices and so on. This should be kept in mind when selecting resources and access patterns: what is cutting edge now will likely be obsolete in five years time. The changing technology space brings some exciting new tools and pedagogies but it also brings new safety concerns. Gillies (2017) argues that digital security is a major concern in schools that requires more the virus protection, firewalls and content filtering. She advocates placing greater attention on digital citizenship and cyber security. These are, arguably, part of learning to navigate the digital information environment safely and effectively. The challenge is to keep students safe from inappropriate content without straying into censorship (Rumberger, 2019). Here, too, we must be ever mindful of the context. What is appropriate in one school may be positioned just over the line in another. I considered this in my discussion post in forum 6.2.

 

Part B References

 

ALIA & ASLA. (2005). ALIA-ASLA policy on school library resource provision. Retrieved from https://www.alia.org.au/about-alia/policies-standards-and-guidelines/alia-asla-policy-school-library-resource-provision

Brown, D. (2016). School libraries as power-houses of empathy: People for loan in the human library. International Association of School Librarianship.Selected Papers from the …Annual Conference, , 1-10. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/1928619177?accountid=10344

Copyright Agency. (2017, February 28). Most teens prefer print books [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.copyright.com.au/2017/02/teens-prefer-print-books/

Domeny, J. V. (2017). The relationship between digital leadership and digital implementation in elementary schools (Order No. 10271817). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1896954900). Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/1896954900?accountid=10344

Disher, W. (2014). Crash course in collection development. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Gillies, A. (2017). Creating a healthy digital environment for 21st century learners. Independence, 42(2), 60-61.

Johnston, N., & Salaz, A. M. (2019). Exploring the reasons why university students prefer print over digital texts: An Australian perspective. Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association, 68(2), 126-145.

Lamb, A. (2015). Makerspaces and the school library part 1: Where creativity blooms.

Loh, C. E., & Sun, B. (2019). “I’d still prefer to read the hard copy”: Adolescents’ print and digital reading habits. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 62(6), 663-672.

Oberg, D., & Schultz-Jones, B. (eds.). (2015). IFLA school library guidelines, 2nd revised edition. Den Haag, Netherlands: International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. Retrieved from https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/school-libraries-resource-centers/publications/ifla-school-library-guidelines.pdf

O’Connell, J., Bales, J., & Mitchell, P. (2015). [R]Evolution in reading cultures: 2020 vision for school libraries. The Australian Library Journal, 64(3), 194-208. doi:10.1080/00049670.2015.1048043

Richter, A. & Courage, M. L. (2017). Comparing electronic and paper storybooks for preschoolers: Attention, engagement, and recall. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 48, 92-102.

Rumberger, A. (2019). The elementary school library: Tensions between access and censorship. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 20(4), 409-421.

Veltze, L. (2004). Multicultural reading. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 20(9), 24-26,41. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/237132103?accountid=10344

Viner, J. (2016). Collaboration : school libraries. Synergy, 14(2).

ETL503: Module 5.1 Collection Evaluation

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Module 5 introduces a comprehensive chapter (Johnson, 2014) that deals with the many and various techniques teacher librarians could choose to employ in order to evaluate their collections. Johnson includes all types of libraries in her work, and this provides interesting comparisons with my (admittedly somewhat limited) experience with school libraries. Johnson identifies 11 possible strategies, to which I have added my thoughts on their usefulness in my context:

Evaluation Strategy Description Advantages Disadvantages Usefulness in context
collection profiling A statistical description of the collection at a point in time. It may list information such as a count of titles in a particular section of the collection, a count of titles by imprint year etc Provides baseline data for future collection development activities. Provides quantifiable data for presentation to stakeholders. Can identify areas that need improvement and support budget requests. Does not consider the breadth, condition or quality of the titles counted or how well those titles meet the identified needs of the school community. Collection of this data may be useful as a jumping off point, however, for meaningful evaluation to take place, complementary strategies would need to be employed.
list checking Librarians check items held against a trusted list of quality resources. Simple to apply. Lists are available that are relevant to many contexts. Credible and reliable lists are assured by the reputation of those compiling them. Lists used must be relevant to the specific context. Lists must be regularly updated. If a suitable list could be obtained that matched the specific context, this is a useful technique. This strategy could be combined with circulation analysis and curriculum/collection mapping
direct collection analysis A person who is familiar with what a quality collection includes in a particular field physically inspects the resources provided to meet those needs. Useful when the collection or scope is small. The physical state of the collection can be ascertained and plans for repair, replacement or augmentation framed. Useful for evaluating several aspects of the collection at once Only considers the condition of the resources actually on the shelf at the time. Best suited to small, narrow collections. Librarians might not be objective. To some extent, this is done in primary school libraries each year during stocktake.
comparative statistics Comparison of various vital statistics with those of a trusted, aspirational model. May include collection size, materials expenditure, staffing levels, etc Can assist in identifying the relative strengths and weaknesses of the collection. Data is readily available and quantitative comparisons simple to draw. Numerical counts can not measure quality or the extent to which the resources counted meet the identified needs of users. This sort of evaluation provides limited useful information in a primary school setting.
application of standards Collection and resource standards are compared with the current collection to determine the extent to which the collection meets the relevant standard. Clear areas of strength, weakness and non-strength can be identified and strategies extrapolated to move forward. Standards are the result of opinion. Different circumstances and contexts might require different standards (meaning they are no longer exactly “standard”). If a suitable set of standards could be sourced, this would be an interesting activity to undertake. I would assess one element or section at a time in order to improve the overall library experience over time.
citation studies Similar to list checking, librarians look for commonly cited texts in a particular field and then determine whether those titles are available in the collection. Identifies items for selection consideration. Data is readily available. Lists of commonly cited texts can be difficult to attain in the primary setting. Teacher librarians could study student bibliographies, however, this will be heavily weighted in favour of items that are present in the collection. In the primary school setting, citation of fiction texts is much less common than citation of non-fiction. Students may struggle to identify quality sources, so citations may be weighted in favour of what is already available. It may be difficult to seek citation aggregates from the wider community in this age group. List checking might be a more valuable tool in this area.
circulation studies Provides data about how frequently resources are circulated by interrogating LMS. Indicates that particular titles are being heavily used and may need additional copies purchased, or that resources are not being circulated. Can be used to compare patterns of usage and possible changing community needs. A negative circulation record does not indicate why the resource is not being borrowed. A positive circulation record only shows the resource is being borrowed, not how it is being used. Does not consider items that are not present in the collection, but desired by users. This data forms a valuable starting point and points to areas for further investigation, but is not conclusive in and of itself.
in-house studies Gathers data about resources that are used on site but not borrowed. Captures information missing from circulation studies. May interfere with user privacy perceptions. Only captures data about resources located, does not include unsuccessful searches. Requires all resources used onsite to be retrieved or reshelved by staff, which, given the available staffing levels, is not realistic in the primary school setting.
user surveys and focus groups Users are asked for feedback on target areas. Responses are analysed and aggregated. Can help to identify areas in which needs are not met. Data collected can be both quantitative and qualitative. Does not capture the feedback of non-users. Users might not have a sophisticated understanding of what a quality collection should be like. Users may be unaware that their intended uses and actual behaviours may vary. Structuring effective survey questions can be difficult. This could be an effective strategy for a primary school setting if care is taken to include a cross-section of the school community in the survey/focus groups.
interlibrary requests A user who checks the catalogue for a particular item, finds it absent and decides they still need it, might request the item from a partner library. Statistics can be obtained allowing librarians to study patterns in the requests. Could help identify resources for selection consideration. Gathering of statistics is simple. Any changes in this area could indicate a shift in user community needs. Does not capture users who go elsewhere to find required resources. Relies on inter-library loans being available. As primary school libraries are usually stand-alone entities, interlibrary loans are not common.
document delivery test Library staff simulate users. First, determine whether the library holds a particular item on a citation list, then go get it. See how long it takes to supply the target item. Provides an objective measure of the libraries ability to meet the needs of users. May identify issues relating to cataloguing or collection management. Library staff are more familiar with the collection than most users, so this test may not show up some issues. Compiling a list of representative titles can be challenging. This could be an interesting strategy for evaluating the fiction and junior fiction collections as students are often looking for particular titles or authors. In the primary school setting, users tend to seek non-fiction resources on specific topics rather than individual titles, so it might be more beneficial to take a collection mapping approach in this area.

 

Reference

Johnson, P. (2014). Fundamentals of collection development and management [American Library Association version]. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/lib/csuau/reader.action?docID=1711419&ppg=312

Selection and deselection – ETL503 Module 2

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Probably the most well known and yet misunderstood aspect of the role of the teacher librarian is deselection. We’ve all been asked, “You’re throwing out books?” in a horrified tone by well meaning teachers and parents. My favourite response at the moment is, “Yes. Do you want it?” Invariably the answer is in the negative. I work in a school library, not a museum or archive. Shelf space is at a premium and it is the job of the teacher librarian to ensure that only quality, relevant material is taking up the valuable shelf real estate. Resources that are covered in 3 feet of dust but otherwise pristine are not being used. This prompts an investigation: why are they not being used? Are they poor quality? Irrelevant? Difficult to find? Unattractive? Teacher librarians are then faced with three choices: promote it, weed it or change the location (move, clean/tidy around it, decorate it to draw attention). A stocktake is a good opportunity to discover resources in this position. When looking at, scanning and cleaning every book, teacher librarians can take the opportunity to remove any resources that no longer meet the teaching and learning needs of the school community. It takes a certain amount of bravery to weed a large collection especially if it has not been done for a long time. My library has designated a “shelf of shame” in the library office to help deal with this situation with humour and provide a little education for teachers and parents who ask the questions I mentioned at the beginning of this post. It is stocked with recently weeded gems that demonstrate clearly why this is needed. One look through and people have a good laugh and understand.

In module 2 we learn that collection development involves:

  • an assessment of community needs
  • an assessment of how well the current collection meets those needs
  • development or revision of selection criteria
  • identification of resources that will improve the way community needs are met
  • selection of the best and most relevant of those resources for purchase
  • acquisition of selected resources
  • processing of resources to make them shelf ready
  • circulation
  • deselection of resources that no longer meet the needs of the school community.

We are pointed to the work of Hughes-Hassell and Mancall (2005), Johnson (2009) and Kimmel (2014).

We learn that teacher librarians use selection aids to assist in identifying resources to meet needs. Many are listed in section 2.4 of the module. Care must be taken to ensure reviews relied upon are objective, accurate and contain information about the resource such as the intended audience, reading level required, themes and potentially controversial elements (eg language, complex themes). The section of the module that deals with censorship encourages trainee teacher librarians not to self-censor controversial materials, but, in the interests of developing a balanced and diverse collection, be aware of themes or elements of resources that may be potentially offensive and make the deliberate choice of whether or not to include them. Not all selection aids will include this information.

The specific selection criteria used will be determined in response to the individual needs of the school community it serves (Keeling, 2019). Module 2.5 provides a sample selection criteria from Hughes-Hassell and Mancall (2005). These general criteria must be revised and customised for the individual circumstances. Once written into the Collection Development Policy for the school library, selection criteria must be regularly reviewed to ensure they remain relevant to ever-changing educational contexts.

References

Hughes-Hassell, S. & Mancall, J. (2005). Collection management for youth: responding to the needs of learners. Chicago: ALA Editions.

Johnson, P. (2009). Fundamentals of collection development and management [American Library Association version].

Keeling, M. (2019). What’s new in collection development? Knowledge Quest, 48(2), 4-5. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/2311879567?accountid=10344

Kimmel, S.C. (2014). Developing collections to empower learners. [American Library Association version].

With whom the buck stops

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The NSW Department of Education in its Library Policy tells us that it is the teacher librarian, on behalf of the Principal, who is responsible for selection and acquisition of resources. Yet, should it be solely the teacher librarian who is making selection (and deselection) decisions? Of course not. Teacher librarians have a unique skill set in that they have the capacity to source, evaluate and make available resources their colleagues may not otherwise have found. Teacher librarians strive to stay abreast of developments in curriculum and the publishing industry as well as common digital resource providers so that they might identify and make available the most up to date resources available. But they are not usually subject specialists in all subjects. Class teachers and leaders have an intimate knowledge of their curriculum, their students and how the two might most beneficially be brought together. Teachers and leaders have insight into how resources might best be used with their students. It is sensible, therefore to include class teachers and leaders in decisions regarding selection and, particularly, deselection, of resources. At the end of the day, though, teacher librarians are intimately acquainted with the school library collection and are in the best position to know how a new or existing resource will fit within the context of the current collection and within the vision for the future collection. Teacher librarians are responsible for the budget of the library and, should therefore, in my opinion, have the final say as to which resources are purchased. The teacher librarian must be prepared to be influenced by the arguments and suggestions of other members of staff and of the wider school community but must approach those suggestions, requests and arguments with a critical eye, evaluating their merit within the context of the existing collection. It is this contextual evaluation that gives me pause when considering the possibility of patron-driven acquisition models that allow patrons (in this case students and staff) to trigger purchases on behalf of the library without regard to the context of the existing collection and without consideration being given to other budgetary considerations the teacher librarian might be grappling with.

How then might teacher librarians encourage community involvement in selection and deselection decision making? Students can be given the opportunity to suggest or request specific resources by completing a suggestion box slip or similar or by sending an email request to the teacher librarian directly. Teacher librarians on a fixed schedule can use a lesson here or there to ask students to produce a book talk about a book they have experienced outside of school and that they would recommend to others. Students could use their book club or book fair literature to ask the library to purchase particular books. Teacher librarians might consider asking student leaders (in my school we call the library monitors Reader Leaders) to provide suggestions and hold focus groups at particular times of year (eg in book week) to seek student input.

Some schools hold planning sessions for grade or stage teams to prepare teaching programs for the following term. This occasion could be used to seek teacher feedback on potential new resources identified and considered for purchase. It could also be an opportunity for teachers to request specific resources that they want to use. A suggestion form similar to that offered to students could be offered to staff and parents also. An online slip, such as a Google Form could be available to the entire school community via Orbit or the school website or app if in use.

ETL503: Module 1 Collection Development and Management

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Module 1 provides some useful comments regarding the nature of collection development and highlights that there is some debate as to whether collection development and collection management are the same, different processes or two parts of a larger whole. My view at this very early stage of the subject is that collection development describes the future of the collection and how the teacher librarian intends to work towards that vision. Collection management, I see more as the day to day managing, organizing, processing etc of the collection as it currently stands. Of course these are two parts of a larger whole: resource provision. There are other parts of this whole as well – making the resources accessible and discoverable to those who need them, sharing ideas about how a resource could be used, guiding users to other resources that might confirm or challenge the ideas presented in a chosen resource, teaching students (and sometimes staff) how to locate, analyse and use resources, and more and more and more. I hope that these parts of the whole will be addressed throughout the course, however, I expect this subject will focus mostly on collection development and collection management.

So far, collection development has been defined by authors such as Corrall (2018), Van Zijl (2005), Queensland Department of Education and Training (2012), ALA (1998) and Kimmell (2014) who broadly agree that it is an assessment of needs, selection of materials to meet those needs, budgeting and acquisition of identified resources, evaluation of existing resources and deselection, where appropriate, of resources that are no longer meeting the learning and teaching needs of students, teachers and the school community. I am aware that there are several tools and models for criteria a teacher librarian might use in the selection and deselection processes, though I am yet to learn the specifics of them and which is most appropriate for my school library context. I look forward to learning more about them through this subject.

References

Corrall, S. (2018).  The concept of collection development in the digital world. In M. Fieldhouse & A. Marshall (Eds.),  Collection development in the digital Age (1st ed., pp. 3–24). https://doi.org/10.290/9781856048972.003
Kimmel, S.C. (2014)  Developing collections to empower learners , American Library Association, 2014. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/detail.action?docID=1687658.
Van Zijl, C.W. (2005). Developing and managing information collections for academics and researchers at a university of technology : a case study. Pretoria: University of South Africa. Retrieved from http://uir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/1363