The School Library Collection

1.3 Pedagogical Initiatives:

To suitably equip students in the 21st century, the educational setting in which they attend needs to cater for all students and suitably allow students and teachers to access information from their school library.  Today, libraries in schools are viewed by some as learning hubs where physical and digital learning resources are in a welcoming common space for students and teachers to share. Users are encouraged to create, collaborate, interact and explore. With that being said the challenge is: how does the Teacher Librarian adequately make decisions on what to stock in the library? Is it a decision solely made by them or do they have a process in process where they consult teaching staff, students and the wider community?

• What type of resources would I provide? Although the library I work in is brand new, a large task lies ahead of how can the collection be further developed and in line with what is right for the particular patrons (all 815 k-6 students) that I have come through the doors each week. At the moment popular titles across a range of Picture Books, Fast Fiction, Senior Fiction, Graphic Novels, Junior Fiction and Fiction sections, along with an expanding Teacher Resource collection have been purchased. Building physical resources in a foundation library is highly important. Digital collections and inquiry stations through the library are still to be established. A balanced collection of both physical and digital resource will appease all learners and cater for their emerging needs.
• How/where would I find them? So far with the experience I have had as TL, I have had the privilege to build up professional partnerships with suppliers, publishers, universities and other information specialists to sought effective resources. I have successfully ran the NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge in my library for 5 years now and the literature on the list are all of high quality- I often use the list when selecting resources to buy. I also go on reviews from suppliers such as QBD, Dymocks and Booktopia but keep in mind the readers in my library and analyse if they age appropriate. The SCIS platform is a useful tool for me when about to purchase items.  So far in this subject it has opened up my eyes to other avenues of which I haven’t used in the past, namely, Zinio magazines, Kobo or Wordery.