Module 6 – What should a collection policy contain?
Investigate – locate a school library collection and consider its purpose, users and usefulness.
The St. Andrew’s Cathedral School Collection Management Policy is a simple policy. Compared with the example written by Barara Braxton (2014), some sections are briefly written and a lot of important sections are not included in the policy. The following sections can be added to the policy in order to make it more comprehensive:
- Rationale
- Mission statement
- The nature of the users
- The purpose and role of the collection
- Priorities and goals
- Development of the digital collection
- Funding
- Acquisition
- Promotion
- Collection evaluation
- Policy review
St. Andrew’s Cathedral School is a K-12 school catering for students of all years. In my opinion, it needs a more extensive policy. On the other hand, collection management policy works as a foundation for developing the library collection procedure. The policy provides the goals and principles which the procedure should comply with. While the policy states the outcomes, the procedures describes how to achieve the outcomes. A comprehensive policy provides an important reference for library staff, administrators and teachers. It can be referred to as a defence when library decisions are challenged by the stakeholders including the students, parents and teachers.
References:
Braxton, B (2014). Sample ollection policy. http://500hats.edublogs.org/policies/sample-collection-policy
St. Andrew’s Cathedral School collection management policy. https://library.sacs.nsw.edu.au/files/The_Collection_Management_Policy_2016.pdf