When I embarked on ETL 503, I never realised the complexities of CDP and management. I have never seen any before as a teacher or student, and the study gave me a deep knowledge of its significance and the role of TL in creating a collection development policy based on the school context.
Learning resources are essential to teaching and learning in a nurturing school setting; hence, all schools must create an inclusive resource selection process. A well-developed school library collection can be attained if the TL, important staff members, students, and parents collaborate in the selection process (Queensland Department of Education and Training, 2012).
Over the course of the topic, the modules gave me deeper knowledge of Collection Development Policy (Siju, 2024), it’s purpose, inclusion and how it supports TL to deal with contentious issues. I now realise that a library’s collection has to be diversified and well balanced in order to meet the needs and expectations of students in the 21st century; the significance of digital collections (Siju, 2024), the role of TL in expanding the development of transliteracies (Newsum, 2016) and the role of TL in collection development and management (Siju, 2023).
Every school library has a mission to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information. In the media-rich information world of today, effective users create their own knowledge in addition to consuming ideas and information. In addition to providing material and tools, today’s collections must also facilitate a variety of creative endeavours by giving students the means to effectively share their work with the school and community at large (Kimmel, 2014).
To support a 21st-century learning environment, I would highly prioritise adding diversity to the library materials at my school. I would consult with school leaders about the issues and the need to create a CDP and provide future actions for the library to promote its significance and get sufficient funding. My library will provide a variety of digital materials, audio devices, special services for the disabled, networked resources that provide quick access to online encyclopaedias, a school library cataloguing system, and other print resources for fiction and nonfiction. I will ensure that the collection is balanced, relevant, and made available to users of all ages, skill levels, learning preferences and backgrounds (Oberg & Schultz-Jones, 2015). I’ll also promote online resources to the school community through library web pages, research learning units, and library orientation (Newsum, 2016). I’ll collaborate with teachers in selecting and purchasing relevant digital and print resources to enhance curricular objectives and subject matter. Beyond maker spaces, I will provide doing spaces (Loh, 2018) for students to engage in learning. That activity place should be used for guest speeches, story telling, collaborative group work (Kimmel, 2014), movie screenings, and book clubs. There will be some supplementary activities for students with English as a second language. Additionally, I will make sure digital resources are easily accessible by linking them to the school technology systems.
Libraries might become obsolete if they do not adapt to the needs of the evolving digital landscape. They can be a rising phoenix or a slow, outdated dodo (Wade, 2005), and TL should aim to make the library a phoenix, so CDP is a pivotal strategic document that provides a framework for the future (State Library of Queensland, 2018).
References
Department of Education and Training. (2012). Collection development and management. Queensland Government https://web.archive.org/web/20190326043500/http:/education.qld.gov.au/library/support/collection-dev.html
Kimmel, S.C. (2014). Developing collections to empower learners. American Association of School Librarians.
Loh, C. E. (2018). Envisioning the school library of the future: A 21st century framework. Singapore, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.32524.36489
Newsum, J. M. (2016). School collection development and resource management in digitally rich environments: An initial literature review. School Libraries
Oberg, D., & Schultz-Jones, B. (Eds.). (2015). IFLA School Library Guidelines (2nd ed.). Den Haag, Netherlands: IFLA.
The State of Queensland (State Library of Queensland). (2020). Strategic Planning. Public Libraries Connect. https://plconnect.slq.qld.gov.au/managing-my-library/operating-library/strategic-planning
Wade, C. (2005). The school library: phoenix or dodo bird? Educational Horizons, 8(5), 12-