Building the Collection

Course

Community Analysis and Needs Assessment [6:28]

Learn the value of networking with your school principal to gather different types of data.
Learn how to use external resources to gauge societal and communal trends that influence collection development.
Learn to gather data from co-educators, students, and families to inform collection development.

One of the greatest privileges of the school librarian role is building the school's library collection. A collection that serves the community well, meets each of its stakeholders needs: administrators, co-educators, students, and their families. In this lesson, we will focus on ways to network with your school principal to gather data and connect with colleagues to determine areas requiring support, we will look at ways to gather data from students regarding their needs, and learn to use external resources to gauge trends that influence collection development.

First, let's focus on colleagues. There are many ways to connect your collection with the needs of your colleagues. In order to meet these needs, you must connect with them. It may help to create a formalized plan that allows your colleagues the opportunity to choose how they wish to engage with you about your school library's collection development. Offer the time and space for live conversations, both formal and informal. Offer both print and online questionnaires. Send an email with the option to sign up for a prescheduled meeting in person via video conference or by phone. Share the questions you will ask beforehand and the amount of time to allocate for the discussion. Alternatively offer an online survey to complete and specify upfront the survey's estimated time commitment. Google Forms or SurveyMonkey.com are free tools that allow you to create simple surveys for digital distribution. Choice in the engagement method will help you gather responses from a larger representation of your intended audience.

Before meeting with school leaders, do your homework. Be prepared with the questions that will help you support the school's mission through collection development. Ask questions to gain insight about assessment scores to support academic strengths and areas for improvement. Ask about the school's demographics to uncover any language barriers. Inquire about economic disadvantages, accessibility needs, targeted professional development, and strategic planning goals.

Before meeting with teachers, review grade level curriculum maps in order to have a clear understanding of skill requirements. During the meeting, ask questions and demonstrate active listening to gather curricular support needs, professional development needs, social and emotional needs. and any other characteristics that require support within their student population, such as teaching neurodiverse learners. Specify that you would like to have ongoing conversations so that the library can continue to evolve to offer tools to support their unique circumstances.

All school libraries serve a mobile population. Students visit the library's resources physically and digitally at all hours. As our learning communities become increasingly dependent upon technology and learning spaces become more fluid, create a formal opportunity for students to provide their input virtually while preserving the chance to share input through face-to-face interviews or on paper, with an option to use an audio device to listen and respond to collection development questions. Allow students to respond anonymously so that they can feel comfortable in offering honest input about the resources they wish to see in their school library. Use open-ended questioning to learn about their language requirements, their access to print and digital resources at home, technology needs, academic support at home, social and emotional development, and personal interests. These options support inclusivity to capture the viewpoints of the larger student body.

Finally, gather additional data on the societal tendencies that may influence collection development. Review professional journals such as School Library Connection, School Library Journal, and KnowledgeQuest to understand the emerging trends in the publishing industry. Use social media to gain insights from other school librarians about resources that resonate within their communities. Gather opinions on best practices for organizing collections such as the pros and cons of genrefying. Explore a variety of news sources to discover societal trends. Use professional listservs, library and educational technology conferences, and other professional networks to learn about teaching strategies such as inquiry-based learning, project-based learning and personalized learning, and the ways in which these trends may need to influence your collection development.

Each of the above strategies will help you curate resources with your stakeholders' needs in mind. Make social and cultural connections at every opportunity. Take a leadership role in your learning community and demonstrate your investment in the library collections ability to influence personal, professional, academic and social emotional success.

Conducting Informational Interviews

Building a collection requires understanding the needs and wants of the library community. Performing informational interviews with your principal, colleagues, students, and parents allows you to gather the information you need to build a culturally and academically relevant library collection. Read Sue Kowalski's article, "Are Good Intentions Enough?: Taking a Critical Look at Collection Development" and Cristy James' article, "Laying the Foundation for Inclusive Collections," and complete the Reflect & Practice activity below.

RESOURCES:

Course Packet

Laying the Foundation for Inclusive Collections

Article

Are Good Intentions Enough?: Taking a Critical Look at Collection Development

Article

REFLECT & PRACTICE:

In this activity, you will conduct informational interviews with your administration, colleagues, students, and families to gather qualitative data. Use the charts on pages 6–11 of the Course Packet (found in the Resources above) to record this data. Consider how this data can support building a library collection in which patrons can see themselves in the resources while accessing materials that offer unfamiliar viewpoints representative of an ever-changing society.

MLA Citation

Brown, Stacy. "Building the Collection: Conducting Informational Interviews." School Library Connection, February 2023, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2295728?learningModuleId=2293930&topicCenterId=2293930.

Entry ID: 2295735

Additional Resources

Bibliography.

About the Author

Stacy Brown, MLIS, is the 21st-century learning coordinator at the Davis Academy, Atlanta, GA. Stacy earned a bachelor's in English and a minor in French from the University of Texas at Austin, and a master's in library and information sciences from Florida State University. She is the author of The School Librarian's Technology Playbook: Innovative Strategies to Inspire Teachers and Learners and chairs AASL's Collaborative School Library Award Committee. Stacy served as a visiting professor at the University of Washington's iSchool teaching about marketing for libraries and information organizations. Stacy shares technology integration strategies and innovative library programming on Twitter @21stStacy. She can be reached via email at stacybrownreads@gmail.com.

MLA Citation

Brown, Stacy. "Building the Collection. Community Analysis and Needs Assessment [6:28]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, February 2023, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2295728?learningModuleId=2293930&topicCenterId=2293930.

View all citation styles

https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2295728?learningModuleId=2293930&topicCenterId=2293930

Entry ID: 2295728