Considering the evidence suggesting that school libraries positively impact student achievement and a school’s overall effectiveness, the allocation of funds for the school libraries is directly linked to student success. Hence, the TL plays a significant role in deciding how these budgeted funds are utilised. While TLs typically oversee specific budget lines, they can often influence other budgets by collaborating with teachers and administrators.

Typical Areas:

Related Areas:
In many schools, the involvement of the TL extends to decision-making and expenditure of other designated resources. If the principal hasn’t included you in budget discussions, seek avenues to participate. For instance, consider collaborating with other members of the community on other initiatives as a starting point for budget conversations.

TLs possess a unique vantage point, enabling them to grasp the comprehensive information needs of the school. Occasionally, multiple budget sources can be utilised to support expansive projects. Moreover, resources can be shared among departments through the school libraries. For instance, if each department contributes funds, it may be feasible to acquire laptop computers that could be loaned out from the library.

How are collection development and curriculum development tied to budgeting?

TLs must consistently consider Collection Development, Curriculum Development, and Budgeting. Acquiring the necessary materials to support the curriculum requires funding, as student learning is interdisciplinary, involving multiple budgets for a single learning experience.

To create authentic information inquiry learning experiences for students, the TL must forge partnerships with classroom teachers and administrators.

Example 1: In a collaboration between a second-grade teacher and a TL, a unit on community workers is designed. The project entails a PTA-funded field trip, Title I-funded books, library budget-funded DVDs and books, and technology club-funded clip art.

Example 2: A high school teacher and TL collaborate on a news course. A mini-grant from the local Lion’s Club supports the purchase of required literature, while the library subscribes to online resources and acquires additional materials. The technology department facilitates online discussions.

In both scenarios, various funding sources contribute to significant curriculum-related activities.

What’s the basis of school library media budgets?

School library media budgets are usually based on one of the following wants/needs (Callison, 2003):

• format
• services
• circulation
• curriculum

School fund accounts are commonly classified according to information formats, such as books, periodicals, non-print materials, computer software, and computer equipment. Budgets structured around services are typically grouped under headings like curriculum resources, recreational reading, general reference, management costs, and special projects.

These budget divisions often create competition among different outcomes for available funds. Some teacher librarians and administrators argue that budgets for library media collections should be determined by “evidence of use.” Thus, circulation data would be collected to identify distribution patterns, and budget allocations would be adjusted accordingly. Areas demonstrating higher usage or demand would receive a larger portion of the budget.

My thinking around the role of the TL as collaborator, steward, or thinker.

Initial reflections on the article are that I have, as a collaborator, been involved with various discussions around budget with SLT. My budget is significantly higher than other departments (as it does cover the whole of Primary) but could be considered a challenge when comparing the cost of resources to the amount allocated. It’s important to understand and be mindful of the bigger picture – all departments could do with a larger budget, but also its about considering how best to prioritise resources based on the needs of the user, not just spending budget because it is there.

It’s also about being clever with what we have and looking at how other budgets could be used to support each other – are their books related to STEAM where budgets can be shared, for example.

Regarding budget, an annual report helps to highlight how money has mainly been spent, as well as where areas need to be considered next academic year – such as non-fiction collections.

General statistics regarding circulations are also useful, as they show how many books are being borrowed and if there are certain year groups where it would be worth focusing on more, as they perhaps are not borrowing as frequently.

I like the idea of acknowledging and highlighting the number of hours volunteers have put into the library, as well as how being pulled for cover also impacts this in terms of not having a teacher librarian available. It would be great to share how the management of the space works in terms of how many new books were catalogued, weeded, replaced, which I feel is often overlooked – particularly around the time taken to contact parents regarding replacement books and ensuring that their child was definitely the child that damaged or lost the book!

I also think it is important to recognise PL opportunities that the library team has had or participated in – as it is quite a different role from that of a teaching assistant, and this definitely is not recognised by other members of staff.

Moving forward, having a similar template each year would be a fantastic comparison, looking at areas for development and future-proofing budgets.

I also have loved discovering Future Ready Librarians and the frameworks and blogs here.

TLs need to listen to their community and their needs before starting the selection process. They must use their selection process and criteria to ensure the most appropriate resources are selected.

In the context of libraries, acquisition pertains to the selection, procurement, and accessioning of books, journals, digital resources, multimedia materials, and other items to enhance the library’s collection and meet the information needs of its users.

Perhaps the most significant professional responsibility of the Teacher Librarian (TL) in the acquisition process is identifying appropriate suppliers for selected resources. This entails using professional knowledge and judgment, considering key factors such as whether to support local businesses, use established suppliers, or explore the growing range of online sources before making orders. Additionally, ensuring that resource acquisitions are fair within the allocated budgets is typically a significant concern for the TL. Selecting the ‘right’ suppliers can streamline the school’s acquisition process.

We have previously used Follett as an agency to order books. The benefits are that the books are covered and come with MARC Records. However, we have found the negatives to outweigh the positives – orders take a significant time to arrive, and not all books are available, which has resulted in parts of the series being missing. The MARC records also do not match how we choose to catalogue and are, therefore, redundant. Again, as shipping is from the US or UK, costs are higher than local or other online suppliers.

Ordering Policy has the following features:

Ordering procedures are as follows:

• Request lists are gathered and documented in a spreadsheet. We use one supplier, and the document needs to contain the book ISBN, quantity of each resource and the cost.
• List is then sent to relevant member of SLT for approval, as well as our procurement team to process the order.
• Procurement that liaise with the supplier, with the library team included in communication. Invoices are forwarded the the finance team.
• The expectation is for Library Lead to update their own budget spreadsheet for reference and track order details.

• Are there changes that you would like to see implemented in the existing process?

Having ‘middle-men’ slows down the process and really prevents library staff from being able to make orders as and when they are required. I would prefer for a budget to be allocated each year, with this budget then being approved through a department credit card. The Library team should be given ownership over orders but also ensure that SLT and relevant departments are kept updated. For example, sending across lists before purchasing, but then having the ability to purchase themselves, without needing to go through procurement etc.

• How well do acquisition principles relate to the ‘real life’ situation in the school?

Our in-school process is the same for all departments – it’s time-consuming and not the most effective way of working. We have one team member in the procurement department, who is responsible for the whole of Primary (1400 students). She therefore is managing and overseeing orders from various departments, which can sometimes lead to an error in orders or follow-up on cancellations. This year, because of a lack of effective communication between my department, finance and procurement, the library department is somehow $5000 out on the budget spreadsheet, which is incorrect but has had to be written off. This means that our annual budget has been halved.

Katie Hauser delivers a presentation on collection mapping in secondary school libraries aimed at school library media specialists keen on assessing their collections.

Collection mapping involves creating visual representations of the collection to convey its strengths and weaknesses following an inventory analysis. David Loertscher highlights three primary collections:

• comprising the core collection,
• general emphasis collection,
• specific emphasis collections, each serving diverse needs within the school community.

The core collection encompasses materials meeting general requirements, encompassing fiction, high-interest non-fiction, and audiobooks. General emphasis collections address particular community needs such as class projects, while specific emphasis collections are tailored to individual assignment requirements. Accompanying the collection maps are curriculum maps, aiding procurement decisions based on teacher and student needs, thereby ensuring alignment with the curriculum.

School librarians should collaborate with teachers and administration to follow the seven-step collection development process outlined by Loertscher in his publication. These steps include:

1. Create a collection development plan
2. Analyse the current collection
3. Create a current collection map
4. Create a proposed collection map to meet curriculum needs
5. Implement the plan, including ordering, receiving, processing materials
6. Make the collection work for the school community
7. Continue evaluating the collection

Step 2: Read the following readings

I thought creating the Google site for the available materials and what could be ordered was really helpful. However, this is not realistic in terms of the allocated time needed to complete this with my current set-up (only qualifying TL for EYFS-Year 6). I wasn’t aware of David V. Loertscher and will explore his publications further.

I found the general overview from the National Library of New Zealand Services to schools on assessing the collection useful in terms of ease of use and a quick snapshot guide that could be shared with SLT, for example.

• ILLs across Primary, as well as in-house statistics for year group borrowing.
• Circulation statistics to show most popular titles, those that have been weeded and new books added. Where possible, adding in statistics from eBook platforms.
• Cost per student over cost per use, as often we have to justify ‘large costs’, when broken down work out at less than $5 a child.

• Collection size and growth, especially after weeding.
• Materials budget vs. costs
• Comparisions to other libraries

• User surveys

• List checking
• Collection mapping

It is important to gather data and evidence to show achievements and areas of development, through effective data analysis and reporting.

• Grigg, K. (2012). ‘Assessment and evaluation of e-book collections’ in R. Kaplan (Ed.), Building and Managing E-Book Collections, [available from CSU library]

The rising costs of serials is impacting the purchasing of monograph units and, although assessment is developing, many librarians struggle with the evaluation of eBooks.

Usage Data

eBooks can be evaluated in the same way as printed books, with librarians leaning on the COUNTER method to obtain internationally recognised data (Counting Online Usage of NeTworked Electronic Resources), with there being six ways in which to calculate:

1. Number of successful title requests by month and title.
2. Number of successful selection requests by month and title.
3. Turnaways by month and title.
4. Turnaways by month and service.
5. Total searches and sessions by month and title.
6. Total searches and sessions by month and service.

It is important to consider that this data can be skewed by restricting factors, such as the number of licences per eBook or licenced readers.

Overlap Analysis

The TL can look at the resources available through the eBook platform and cross-reference to those available in the library itself. This way, budget can be saved and allocated elsewhere if there is no need to replicate copies both physically and electronically.

Survey Instruments

User surveys are completed by those who access resources. However, it is important to note that the results can be skewed, as those who are motivated and already using the platforms will naturally be the ones most likely to complete the surveys.

Benchmarking

Consider comparing data with another library of a similar size, but do also take into account the budget. It would be difficult at this moment in time to compare to other international schools that we view as comparitable elsewhere due to their libraries being significantly larger and more established than ours.

Focus Groups

Asking users to share thoughts and ideas that are difficult to gather from a survey. Be mindful that those participating may not wish to criticise aspects of the library and that, with a smaller group, it may not provide the bigger picture of data.

Other challenges

• Lack of impact factors
• Issues with eBook readers
• Availability from vendors

The decrease in library collection budgets highlights the increasing importance of evaluating and assessing purchasing decisions. Librarians need to adapt evaluation techniques used for print monographs or electronic journals to gather relevant data for e-book purchasing assessments. Employing a range of methods, including analysing usage statistics, conducting overlap analyses, using survey instruments and focus groups, and drawing from business literature such as the balanced scorecard, librarians can address the challenges of relying solely on one data source. This data, combined with insights into e-book information such as licensing terms, business models, costs, and subject and format analysis, can inform better purchasing decisions to enrich collections and meet patrons’ needs effectively. The primary objectives of evaluating e-book purchases should be acquiring more pertinent titles and increasing usage of the added titles. Promoting existing e-book collections is essential to raise awareness and enthusiasm, ultimately boosting usage. Patrons should be able to access desired e-book content directly from the library catalogue without additional searches or navigating through lengthy tables of contents. Librarians must ensure consistent and reliable access to e-book titles on mobile devices like smartphones. Promotional efforts, including newsletters, blog entries, and prime website placement, should highlight e-book collections. Enhancements like book cover displays, table of contents previews, and electronic bookshelves can facilitate serendipitous discovery, addressing the challenge with electronic resources. Additionally, librarians should be familiar with the breadth and depth of the library’s e-book collections and actively promote them to patrons whenever possible.

• Hart, A. (2003). Collection analysis: powerful ways to collect, analyze, and present your data. In C. Andronik (Ed.), School Library Management (5th ed.) (pp. 88-91) Worthington, Ohio: Linworth (on e-reserve)

As librarians, we regularly conduct assessments of our collections, evaluating them against the daily information needs of our students and faculty. This informal aspect of collection development, though essential, often goes undocumented. However, it can be beneficial to quantify the strengths and weaknesses of a collection through a more formal analysis. Besides finding the time, the primary challenge lies in gathering the necessary data for analysis.

You may be able to utilise existing reports if your library’s automation system includes a report module. Lexington Public Schools sent their bibliographic data to Follett Library Resources, which generated a collection analysis report. Upon receiving their report, they realised they could extend the analysis using the provided data.

Step One: Define Your Questions and Collect the Data

• A fundamental question in collection analysis is determining the strengths and weaknesses of the collection. One approach is to examine the number of titles owned in each major classification of the collection, using information on an item’s Dewey class.
• Another measure of collection strength is the average date of publication for titles in each Dewey class. The MARC bibliographic format contains publication date data.
• In Lexington, data on the percentage and number of titles held in each Dewey class, as well as the average date of publication, were analysed by Follett Library Resources.

Step Two: Analyse Your Data and Present Your Message

• Consider how the data answers your original questions and decide which results to include in your analysis. Select appropriate chart types to effectively communicate your findings.
• In Lexington, they used Follett’s collection analysis report as a starting point and expanded upon it. Additional charts were created to further illustrate the data.

Step Three: Add Circulation Statistics to the Mix

• Circulation statistics can provide valuable insights into collection usage. By comparing circulation counts to the composition of the collection, librarians can identify areas where supply meets demand and areas that require attention.
• Charts were created to compare school circulation data and analyse the relationship between collection age and circulation.

Conclusion

A formal collection analysis can offer valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of a library’s collection. Whether utilising existing reports from your LMS or creating custom reports, assembling and analysing the data can provide valuable insights. Chart-making tools can be used to visually present the analysis to various stakeholders, effectively conveying key messages derived from the data.

• The School Library Media Specialist: Collection mapping  http://eduscapes.com/sms/program/mapping.html

What is collection mapping?

Collection mapping involves assessing your collection’s quantity and quality to identify its strengths and weaknesses. Several authors have discussed this process, which can guide collection development efforts. A collection map is a visual representation, typically displayed alongside the automated catalogue system, that illustrates the breadth and depth of the collection. Essentially, it offers a snapshot of the collection.

There are three fundamental assumptions about collections relevant to collection mapping:

1. The collection should be broad, catering to diverse interests.
2. It should possess depth according to the needs of students and teachers.
3. Understanding the collection is crucial for effective development and use.

Collection maps serve various purposes, including:

• Identifying strengths and weaknesses in the collection.
• Evaluating whether the collection aligns with the curriculum focus.
• Guiding purchasing decisions.
• Planning for future directions.
• Recommending areas for weeding.
• Highlighting areas of need and excellence.
• Establishing short and long-term goals.
• Creating budget plans aligned with curriculum goals.
• Developing selection procedures to meet collection goals.

What is a base collection and core collection?

Collection mapping involves comparing your collection to established standards, such as those for a base collection in a school library. A base collection represents the minimal level of recommended works for a collection, often referred to as the “must-have” items. Sometimes, the term core collection is used interchangeably. A core collection typically includes specific titles associated with certain subjects. For instance, a core collection of reference books might be deemed essential for schools. However, local needs may necessitate deviations from the base collection. Base collections are commonly used to initiate new collections or replenish materials after events like fires or floods. Building a base collection involves considering the unique needs and interests of the school community. For example, a rural school may require agricultural resources not relevant to urban schools. Similarly, a private Catholic school might prioritise religious materials more than a public school. The collection’s orientation may differ for a vocational school compared to a college preparatory institution. There are concerns regarding the selection of base and core collections. Are these lists compiled by distant experts or do school library media specialists play a role? Are new technologies considered? This varies depending on the person developing the base collection.

What should be in the collection?

Creating balanced collections presents challenges. Should formats be balanced, such as purchasing one book for each audiobook or eBook? How do you maintain equilibrium between differing viewpoints? While popular materials like sports magazines and romance novels are needed, classics and award-winning books also have their place. Increasingly, teachers must contribute to collection development to align with the curriculum. Selection bias is also a concern; personal preferences may influence purchases. Collections are shifting from offering a little of everything to focusing on depth to meet rigorous standards.

Understanding your weaknesses is key to improvement. Examine your biases and areas of oversight to maintain balance.

What’s the procedure for collection mapping?

Various procedures for collection mapping exist, and there is no single correct approach. Each school’s unique characteristics and curriculum priorities should inform the process.

How are the results analysed?

Once the collection map is created, analysing the results is crucial. Suggestions for analysis include:

• Examining strong areas to ensure even distribution.
• Limiting selection in already strong areas.
• Exploring retrospective selection bibliographies for weak areas.
• Developing promotional strategies for strong areas.
• Comparing results with circulation statistics.

What’s a mini-map or emphasis map?

After creating the large collection map, delve deeper into quality aspects. Identify strengths and weaknesses and examine if they hold true regarding quality. A mini-map, or emphasis map, provides an in-depth analysis of specific areas within the collection. This may involve counting items in subcategories and assessing their quality. For instance, while the overall 500s section may be strong, a mini-map may reveal weaknesses in specific subjects like astronomy or geology. The collection mapping process is just one approach; schools may tailor it to their specific needs, focusing on media materials in certain subjects or creating custom mapping systems.

I do find the general overview of collection evaluation from Grigg useful, but I also feel that it is potentially unrealistic in terms of expectations for completing such evaluations. I am viewing this as a new TL in a newly established library, so it may be that this does work in a more well-established library with resources that don’t need replenishing or building up quite so significantly!

Collaborating with teachers and subject experts from your school during the weeding process offers several benefits:

• They can offer valuable insights and feedback on which materials should be removed from the collection.
• It allows them to identify any areas where the collection may lack resources relevant to their teaching subjects, which is particularly crucial in intermediate and secondary school settings.
• Their involvement enhances their comprehension of the weeding procedures.
• This collaborative effort fosters stronger relationships between you and the educators in your school.

Weeding is a regular part of your collection management cycle. Like assessing your collection, it happens continually throughout the year. Set aside time for weeding — add it to your monthly or quarterly schedule and find a method that works for you, such as:

• weeding particular sections in rotation
• focusing on physical collections, like reference and magazines
• focusing on digital collections, including:
  • eBooks
  • recommended websites and any websites that are linked to them
  • library content on the school intranet and website.

Carrying out regular but manageable weeding keeps the task from being overwhelming.

The video “Weeding Your School Library” stresses the importance of maintaining a relevant, dynamic, and accessible library collection through the process of weeding resources. It emphasises that library resources, like any other items, have a shelf life due to evolving discoveries, changing facts and attitudes, and shifting trends. Outdated and misleading resources can have a detrimental impact on students’ research and understanding. The aim is to provide the highest quality information resources to nurture a love of reading and support research efforts.

Weeding Process and Strategy

• Weeding is a necessary part of collection management to assist the school community in acquiring knowledge and enjoyable reading materials.
• Plan the extent of weeding, whether gradually or section by section over time.
• Document procedures in the school library handbook and utilise the library system to identify unused items for potential removal.

Involving Stakeholders

• Involve teaching staff and subject specialists in the weeding process for transparency and understanding.
• Encourage staff participation to identify gaps in the collection and ensure alignment with educational goals.

Resource Management

• Consider different resource categories such as promotion, replacement, repair, transfer, reclassification, or removal.
• Assess visual appeal, physical condition, suitability for students’ level and interests, and currency and relevance of information.

Criteria for Weeding Non-Fiction Titles

• Important to remove outdated or inaccurate information and offensive content.
• Adjust weeding practices based on publication date relevance to specific knowledge areas.
• Check for supporting features like contents pages, indexes, glossaries, and references in non-fiction books.

Final Steps in Resource Weeding

• Consider if a weeded item can still be useful elsewhere or if it should be permanently removed from circulation.
• Don’t assume that weeded items can be reused elsewhere.
• Collection management should be of a continuous nature, to ensure a fresh and relevant library for easy access to high-quality information and enjoyable reads.

I appreciate that all of these aspects are currently being considered in our school libraries. Upon reflection, I would say that perhaps we weeded too ‘hard’ last year and were left with a bare collection. However, the argument would be that the books were not being read, they were outdated and therefore not useful or relevant to our users.

Having looked at the different resources regarding weeding, the approaches are similar but more personalised towards the individual’s views and methods. The FRESH method vs the MUSTIE or MUSTY method links to the same outcomes but are phrased slightly differently. Personally, acronyms are useful to use as guidance, but I also prefer the suggestions from McKenzie (2013), which don’t try to fit wording into acronyms!

• Purpose
  • • What value does the app bring to a learning experience and how does it enrich it.
    • Is it a substitution or an additional informative and transformative tool.
• Design and content
  • • How is student data stored?
    • Does it have flexibility to adapt to students’ learning experiences?
• Process
• Use a checklist or evaluation for to consider how effective the app is.

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Unsure

Yes

Yes

Only from an administrative perspective – the students do not need to enter any of their own personal data.

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Kind of – there are options to change how you view the tasks, which is more for neurodivergent learners and those who have dyslexia.

Yes

There are free sites that promote ebooks:

• all participants were enthusiastic about accessing ebooks
• access to, and reading of, ebooks was most prolific where there were planned, explicit learning activities
• reading and writing enjoyment and skills development was evidenced by quality student work samples and feedback resulting from these planned learning activities
• the opportunity to access a range of ebooks enriched the collection of resources available to students and teachers
• further exploration of specific needs and support for vision impaired students is required

Project survey responses:

• 41% of students indicated they were reading more than usual
• 47% of teachers indicated students were enjoying reading more, with 21% believing reading skills were improved
• 100% of parents/carers expressed desire for ongoing access to ebooks
• students believed using ebooks improved their writing and creativity, and reading independently
• teachers and teacher librarians saw the greatest benefit was in reading comprehension.

Choice and access means that the variety of titles available would be in addition to what was available in physical form in school. In this project, students had access to an additional 5000 titles, that were filtered for the students based on age-appropriateness.

The main findings was also that staff and students appreciated having access to a 24/7 library, which isn’t the case if simply relying on the school library. The general conclusion was that:

The overall success of this test project contributes to improving education and learning outcomes for students in terms of:

• engaging students’ interest in reading and learning
• increasing the number of titles students read
• providing new platforms for teachers and teacher librarians to deliver world class programs
• enhancing student literacy skills such as writing, creativity, comprehension
• use of ebooks at school and at home

Again, another slightly older article, which still holds relevance and important research findings. Platforms that support the users in a student friendly way, such as overdrive with the option to filter which users view what, plays an important part in the management, setup and continuation of an eBook experience. At school, there is a huge focus on physical books, with resistance against the continuation of a high-quality eBook platform. Staff are on time constraints and often don’t promote themselves as readers, such as during library sessions, they work on laptops rather than reading. This is a bigger issue within the school community and reflects attitude towards reading for pleasure and additional resources that support this.

Without an eBook option, with students only able to read school library books, this means that students will not have access to change books throughout the year.

They are in school for 36 weeks, with 16 weeks of holiday. This means that 30% of a child’s year is spent out of school, and 30% of time not able to access books on a daily basis. For me, this really is not acceptable and suggests we are failing our students and not providing them additional reading opportunities.