Collection Development

• Objectives
• Responsibility for selection
• Methods for selection
• Criteria for selection
• Collection evaluation and assessment

• Withdrawal

Centenary Library Collection  

 New Library Collection

Our library still doesn't have a formal collection development policy. However, teacher reference material and curriculum related resources are paid for from curriculum funds and the library budget is mainly used to maintain the non-fiction and Accelerated Reader sections of the library. The collection development priorities generally respond to changes in the student population and to student interests.

The implementation of the national curriculum will provide an excellent opportunity to collaborate with the HOC to select resources to support the C2C units of work provided by Education Queensland. The first step in this process was successfully negotiating permission for both TLs to attend the "Creating Library Futures" conference in October 2011 to learn about Queensland initiatives related to implementing the national curriculum.

The second step will be organising a review of the existing curriculum resource boxes at the end of this year to determine which units match aspects of the national curriculum and which resources will be appropriate. This process will also help me become familiar with the national curriculum.

An indepth knowledge of the C2C units of work will be a good starting point for working more closely with teachers next year.

Plans for 2012 include developing library policies and procedures that reflect the contemporary school library practice and school's current and projected priorities.

The main objective of collection development processes
in recent years has been to maintain and expand the Accelerated Reader collection. While quizzes are
available for both fiction and non-fiction books, demand
from students is higher for fiction. The school collection reflects this demand. (2.2.2)

The TL sources or orders books for the library collection. The following selection criteria for selection.

• Is there an AR Quiz for the book?
• Is there demand for the AR reading range of the book?
• Is the author and/or title popular?

Books are also purchased to replace missing or damaged books that are in high demand. The TL often purchases multiple copies of popular titles. This has impacted on the nature of the library collection. The fiction section is now disproportionately larger than the non-fiction section.

However, the TL is more concerned about currency of the
non-fiction collection, than the size. He explained that,
‘some very good quality non-fiction resources have gone
out of date without ever being borrowed’. He believes that
the Internet provides a viable cost-effective alternative to maintaining a large non-fiction section.

Prior to 2009, to compensate for a dwindling non-fiction collection, staff encouraged students to access non-fiction books from Council libraries.

The library budget is mainly used to maintain the non-fiction and Accelerated Reader sections of the library. The collection development priorities generally respond to changes in the student population and to student interests.

In 2011, our collection development priorities have been:

• expand the picture book section to cater for a growing number of preparatory year classes
• expand the non-fiction sections of the Accelerated Reader collection to provide more opportunities for students to do non-fiction quizzes
• replace the Robert Muchamore Cherub series (which were challenged) with other similar age-appropriate series

Next year's priorities will be developing a collection development policy in consultation with the literacy committee and the bookclub ladies and resourcing the national curriculum. 

We also intend to focus on building up the audio-visual section as most of the videos and audio cassettes have not been replace.

The TL sometimes collaborates with the Head of Curriculum to select and purchase resources to support the curriculum. Resources purchased from curriculum funds were meant to be managed through the library - catalogued and stored in unit-specific curriculum boxes. However, most of the time the HOC purchased resources in response to the immediate needs of teachers. As a result, these resources were often given to teachers without being accessioned. (1.3.1)

Teacher reference material and curriculum resources are paid for from curriculum funds. The implementation of the national curriculum will provide an excellent opportunity to collaborate with the HOC to select resources to support the C2C units of work provided by Education Queensland. The first step in this process was negotiating permission for both TLs to attend the "Creating Library Futures" conference in October 2011 to learn about Queensland initiatives related to implementing the national curriculum. 

The collection contains series, such as Animorphs,
Aussie Bites, Aussie Nibbles, Aussie Chomps, Bright Sparks, Hot Shots, Saddle Club and Goosebumps are popular.

Authors like Paul Jennings, Roald Dahl, Judy Blume,
Emily Rodda, Tamora Pierce, Gary Crew, Andy Griffiths,
JK Rowling and Morris Gleitzman are among the most frequently borrowed authors.

Strategies used to expand the library collection in 2011 included:

• Holding a book fair in Education Week that focussed on increasing the picture book collection
• placing a notice in the school newsletter each month requesting donations of books by particular authors to help replace popular titles
• working with the book club ladies to use the book club vouchers to get free books for the library.

In response to student and teacher requests and reading trends, I have added the following series to the collection. 

• Our Australian Girl
• Horrible Histories
• Disgusting Science
• 365 Days
• 39 Clues
• My Story
• Star Wars
• Zac Power
• Charlie and Lola

Strategies for raising funds to expand the library collection
that could be further explored include:

• Holding additional book fairs or increasing the promotion of the Education Week book fair
• Soliciting corporate or individual donations
• Applying for grants
• Investigating the economy of 'standing orders'.

Lamont Standing Orders collections come with teachers
notes. A range of services are also offered by Scholastic.

In addition, the picture book section needs expanding to
cater for the introduction of additional Prep classes at the school. (2.2.2)

Purchasing an IWB for the library this year limited the funds available for purchasing books. Once again the school ran a book fair in Education Week. This year it focussed on building up the picture book collection to provide for the increase in lower school enrolments. We purchased second-hand BCC library books. I put monthly requests for book donations in the school newsletter. And I collaborated with the book club ladies to use vouchers to purchase series that were offered on special.