Collection Development Basics
Course
What Do I Have & What Do I Need? [6:43]
To begin thinking about developing a collection, the first thing we have to know is what we already have.
The quickest way to get data on your collection is to do a collection analysis. This is easily done through your circulation software or through one of your vendors. The reason vendors provide this service is so that you will consider their suggestions to purchase more resources in the areas that they deem are under-represented in your library. Whether you take them up on their suggestions or not, this service serves many purposes for us. If you normally create an online order from this vendor, their analysis will allow you to be notified as you order if you already have this resource in your library. It's also a way for us to get lots of data.
First look at your circulation software though. There are lots of reports you can get from that. You can find out how many items you have in each content area. You can find out how many of those items have been checked out or looked at. Now looked at, I am talking about e-books and online databases. Or you can even just find out how many have been used in your library. Circulation figures are important when you are reading or considering purchasing new materials. We use them in our library to give a prize to each student who has checked out the most books in each grade level. I am getting ready to do that next week.
How old one particular content area is, is also important. If all your materials in one area are like 20 years old, things have changed. Kids will look at those covers of those books or insides and just glance at the pictures. They might not even open them up and look inside. You need some updates. Sometimes vendors can provide a more in-depth look than your software using the vendor's website and you can find step by step instructions on how to upload your data so that your software can perform an analysis. It's unclear to you sometimes on what exactly to do, so you just call the vendor. Their customer service department will walk you through it. I have done that many times. There is always one little step that I seem to forget and they are more than happy to help me walk through it.
Anyway, it doesn't take that long to complete an analysis. After you export your files and upload them to the vendor's site, they will begin the analysis right then. And really soon you will end up with a multi-page document and it will show you all kinds of lists and graphs that detail every part of your collection. You can find out the ages of each part of your collection. You can find out which books have not been checked out ever, recently - you decide those limits. You can find out lots about what you already have. And you might want to look at those suggested lists just to see what a vendor thinks you are missing and you are under no obligation to get any books from them but you can sure get a lot of ideas.
Your yearly inventory will also provide you with lots of information. If you notice that books in a particular section are shabby or stolen all the time, you need to get more. Obviously those are the books that the students want. If you physically touch every item, you might find that those worn out or old fashioned books, students will never check them out or use them. You might find you have multiple copies of books that were big sellers of one time but now aren't even circulated. Consider books that were movies like Twilight or Hunger Games. We had tons of those books and now not so much circulation. Right now we are buying a bunch of Fifth Blade books. Whatever movies are the most current you going to buy, but eventually you will need to weed them. It's time to get rid of those books and make space for stuff that patrons really want. It's also important to know those patrons, to know your stakeholders. A vendor or a periodical or a website can recommend materials. Like, I know that I go to websites and they said the top ten books but they might not be right for your community. Some demographics are easy, like if you are in an urban or a rural school, if you live in a city you know you need urban fiction. If you live in a rural area you most likely need information on hunting, fishing, maybe even farming. But look at career books. They might be different depending on your population.
Now, on the other hand you don't want to limit what you buy just because of your population. You want your students to know they have opportunities in every field. So you have to consider that. It really is important to get to know your students and their parents. Join the parent organizations like PTA, hold reading night—with food. Parents always show up for food. That's the way how you can know families in your community. Is you are free or reduced lunch population high? That might mean that you have unemployed parents. Your collection needs to show students of those parents all the opportunities that they can have and all the other ways that people live. Your collection might be the only one that they can access if their parents don't have the means or maybe the inclination to take them to a public library. And then, how do you provide academic opportunities for students who don't have financial means to go on an educational field trip or spend days at museums. You know that's important. On the other hand, maybe your parents have high incomes. This could mean that those students have access to more educational opportunities than some other students and how are you going to supplement what some of those students already have knowledge of. You need to have a collection that meets the needs of all your students.
A formal collection analysis conducted with library cataloging software and/or with the help of a library vendor provides a range of information that supports and informs collection development. Data in such an analysis may include the following:
- number of items in each content area;
- Dewey area or decade;
- usage (meaning circulation for print materials and online use for eBooks or databases);
- age of collection and content areas (both acquisition date and publication date);
- formats of materials; and
- customizable queries, such as whether books have been checked out within a specified time period.
After collecting data, the librarian's task is to interpret and analyze the collection to assess strengths and weaknesses within the context of school and student needs.
1. Perform a collection analysis of your school library collection. Use your library catalog program to generate a report. As Franklin suggests, contact the vendor's customer service department for answers to your questions about the process.
2. Read and analyze the report, which will likely include a set of graphs and tables. See the example of a Nonfiction Collection Age Report in the Resources below. Some questions to consider are the following (note that we will examine curricular alignment in Lesson 3):
- How would you describe the overall findings of this report?
- What are strengths of the library collection? What are weaknesses or needs?
- Is there balance across subject areas in the collection?
- With your school and student needs in mind (building from demographics and school information in the collection development plan), does the collection meet identified needs? In what ways does it meet needs? What are areas for improvement? (An extension step is to identify alternative source for materials you lack, e.g., streaming services, interlibrary loan, etc.)
- What are possible areas for updating or changing?
- Are materials available to address a range of individual reading, language, and learning needs, e.g., ELL students, reading levels, formats, etc.?
- Using a standard library bibliography, such as Wilson Core Collection (available for different grade ranges), how do content areas or other sections (such as easy readers) align with established guidelines for collections?
Nonfiction Collection Age Report
MLA Citation
Morris, Rebecca J. "Collection Development Basics: Conduct a Collection Analysis." School Library Connection, September 2017, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2081078?learningModuleId=2081075&topicCenterId=2247902.
Entry ID: 2128224
Additional Resources
MLA Citation
Franklin, Patricia. "Collection Development Basics. What Do I Have & What Do I Need? [6:43]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, August 2017, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2081078?learningModuleId=2081075&topicCenterId=2247902.
https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2081078?learningModuleId=2081075&topicCenterId=2247902
Entry ID: 2081078