Sample Policies provided in ETL503: Resourcing the Curriculum and my thoughts on each policy – noted in bold
Chapel Hill State School Library – QLD public primary school (Bailey, 2023)
- Called ‘Policy and Procedures’
- Has badging to the school
- Visually appealing – has a theme
- Lists the author and mentions her title as a teacher librarian.
- Contains a table of contents – divided into sections incl.
- Philosophy,
- collection development,
- challenged materials,
- access and circulation,
- appendices including the Statement on Freedom to Read, ASLA Bill of Rights, Library Wish form, request for reconsideration form
- list of references and further reading (not mentioned in the contents)
- The collection development section includes subsections: the purpose and nature of the collection, selection principles, selection tools, donations, deselection principles, replacement/renewals, stocktaking
- The access and circulation section includes subsections: rationale, borrowing rules, returns and renewals, reservations, overdue policies, replacing lost or damaged resources.
- It is interesting that the access and circulation section has a rationale and that borrowing times are the opening hours of the library – the title could be changed for ease of understanding for the readers. I like that there is a section on access and circulation as this is not included in much of the academic literature on library collection development policies but I think it is an important inclusion considering that the audience for this document will be the library users and community.
- The document is 18 pages and quite wordy though, I wonder if it could be more succinct to aid readability.
- The order of the sections is interesting – I wonder if it could be reorganised. Also, there is no clear section on the nature of the users – it’s not until page 10 that I found out it is a primary school library – I think this would be good to mention earlier as it would more closely link the CDP purpose and goals to the school context and the QLD state goals which would strengthen the CDP as a strategic document.
Windsor High School Library – NSW public high school (Tait, 2016).
- Called the ‘Library collection Management Policy’
- Also has badging to the school
- Black and white – really plain looking – not that enticing to read – limits its visibility and use as a strategic document
- Author and title listed
- Date of publication listed
- 45 pages – no contents page – lots of pages have just one or two lines of text – formatting needs work
- Mission statement – links to the IFLA UNESCO Manifesto and the ASLA Bill of Rights, links to the school’s strategic directions – doesn’t have any specific school info to link to e.g. kinds of learners. Should this be included?
- The nature of the users
- Purpose and role of the collection
- Nature of the collection
- Collection outcomes – including priority areas
- Selection – contains very broad criteria and aids/tools
- General Selection Criteria
- Specific Selection Criteria for Nonfiction Print – this is an interesting addition/distinction
- Specific Selection Criteria for Fiction Books
- Specific Selection Criteria for Computer Software – outdated terminology? Unclear what is/isn’t included in this
- Alternative Formats – includes a list of the formats the library uses and the selection criteria for each
- Internet Sites – selection criteria for these – title is unclear
- Funding
- Acquisition – general principles on who/what/why
- Promotion of resources
- Collection Evaluation
- Deselection of Resources – interesting inclusion of timeframes for each dewey classification and each type of resource
- Challenged Materials
- Appendix 1 – IFLA UNESCO School Library Manifesto – copyright considerations is this copied and pasted directly from them? Why not just have a link?
- Appendix 2 – ASLA Policy Statement – Bill of Rights – copyright considerations is this copied and pasted directly from them? Why not just have a link?
- Appendix 3 – Disputed Materials Proforma – the title on the previous school is better ‘reconsideration’ sounds less formal/harsh than ‘disputed’ which may help ease the challenge process
- Appendix 4 – NSW DoE Library Policy – Schools – again copied and pasted, a link could be better?.
- Appendix 5 – has no title but is a letter to parent/guardians about student requesting access to restricted materials – interesting inclusion
- Reference list
Our Lady of the Assumption – Enoggera – Catholic primary school in QLD (n.d.).
- Title – Library Policies
- No date or authorship listed
- Webpage on their website – this is great for visibility, advocacy and strategic uses. – listed under the other Policies and Procedures for the school – I wonder if it could be under the Library info instead – so it doesn’t just get ‘lost’ under policies and not considered an actually dynamic and usable document? – their ‘Library Snapshot’ page is just a list of pictures of the library in use. There is also a link to the ‘Defence Services Transition Aide’ under the library tab and another link to the Learning Support tab – unclear at the moment how these two things tie into the library.
- Opening statement on staffing and integral nature of library- this is good – ties into CDP as strategic doc
- Statement on information age/landscape and it seems to be the mission/vision statement/rationale of the library?
- Aims statements as dot points
- Collection Development Policy – general statement, philosophy statement, vision statement for Catholic Education, Vision of the school, aims of the school library – called ‘Library Resource Centre’ – I like the ‘branding’, statement on selection of resources, culling/withdrawal – statements, guidelines, challenged materials statement – review sheet here but included in the text body with the rest although it is clearly meant as a form to be printed – formatting needs work
- I like that it is on their website but it is so short – a longer document would be better and could be done as a pdf – or even just have the review form available as a download.
Our Lady of the Way School Petrie – Primary School – QLD (2007).
- Formatting of title page is weird – title is ‘library collection policy’
- Title page has massive school logo – vsion, strategic goal, goal, school motto, four pillars
- Introduction, rationale, development and maintenance of the resource collection
- Collection Development Objectives
- Criteria for Resource Selection
- The materials in the collection
- Donations
- Participating in Resource Sharing Networks – good addition but the formatting is across a page
- Challenged materials
- Request for formal consideration – forms will be ‘kept in hand’ and made available as needed – meaning?
- Acquisition policy
- Title page- why here? Draft of ‘development and maintenance of the resource collection for the school – april 07 – old edition or does it not get updated much?
- Contents page – why here?
- Appendix 1 – challenged materials consultative committee, committee guidelines – interesting that they have a committee for this
- Appendix 2 – materials review sheet
- Appendix 3 – checklist for reconsideration of non-fiction materials – deselection/weeding criteria?
- Appendix 4- checklist for reconsideration of fiction materials – deselection/weeding criteria?
Excelsia College Sydney – private college (2021)
- Title page – badging to school – objects – objects? Objectives?, document number – very fancy, title – ‘library collection development policy’ and document status – very fancy – I like it – strategic use – gives it authority and weight
- Policy statement
- Scope
- Responsibility
- Definitions
- Principles
- Related documents and references – external documents – only the copyright act 1968, internal documents – library acquisitions policy and procedure, library information literacy policy – interesting that these are all separate
- Mapped to HESF – ? what is this? The school’s strategic plan? – who is the audience of this and would they know what this means?
- Other – clientele served, facilities, resources – this section is messy, selection criteria, nature of the resources, services, library staff, budget, limitations – this is interesting about what is not included and why, collection evaluation, preservation activity, deselection, review – annually → the organisation and order of this whole section is odd
- Document history
My School Library (internal policy documents – not available online)
Lots of staff turnover – this policy was created by the last librarian – if there was an older policy/documents created by librarians before that I don’t know or they are hidden away somewhere – there have also been gaps without librarians/without trained librarians
- Documents were given to me when I first started (January this year)
- Title – collection development and management policy 1st edition december 2021 date for review december 2025, badging back to school and library, school colours theme
- Contents page –
- Introduction,
- mission statement,
- vision statement, – what is the difference between mission and vision statement?
- policy statement,
- selection principles – also includes statement on responsibility for selection and in particular patron driven acquisition which I like
- acquisition policy,
- collection evaluation policy,
- weeding or deselection of resources,
- challenged materials policy,
- copyright policy – this is a good inclusion
- Bibliography
- Appendix 1 – challenged materials form
- Appendix 2 – selection procedures
Then there is a separate Library Procedures Guide – 1st edition september 2022 update regularly (not available online)
- Title page with badging and school theme colours
- Purpose
- Genrefication
- Current genres
- Processing new resources
- SCIS account and metadata request
- Overdue procedures
- Lending rules
- School textbook management procedures
References:
Bailey, K. (2023). Chapel Hill state school library policy and procedures. Chapel Hill State School. https://chapelhillss.eq.edu.au/SupportAndResources/FormsAndDocuments/Documents/Library/2023-chss-library-policy.pdf
Excelsia College Sydney Library. (2021). Library collection development policy. Excelsia College Sydney. https://excelsia.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/library-collection-development-policy.pdf
Our Lady of the Assumption. (n.d.). Library policies. Our Lady of the Assumption Enoggera. https://www.olaenoggera.qld.edu.au/about-us/policies-and-procedures/Pages/Library-Policies.aspx
Our Lady of the Way School. (2007). Library collection policy. Our Lady of the Way School Petrie. https://www.ourladyoftheway.qld.edu.au/About/Documents/library%20collection%20policy.pdf
Tait, C. (2016). Library collection management policy. Windsor High School. https://windsor-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/doe/sws/schools/w/windsor-h/localcontent/whs_library_collectionmanagementpolicy.pdf