Dear SLIA: On the Depth and Breadth of a School Library's Collection

A year ago, more or less, an interesting query started out on the Facebook Page of librarians from IB schools worldwide. The question grapples with the evaluation criteria for collection development in schools, especially the ones who are running the IB program. The question came from Ms. Mikee Chan and with her permission, I am putting out our extended conversation on chat regarding the matter.

Mikee Chan (MC): Hi Ms Zarah, I was the one who posted in IB Librarian group regarding the distribution of books in each area. If you can remember me, I was Raya School's Junior High School Librarian. I am using the DDC % rate attached in DepEd School Library Guidelines and from what I have understood, our collection should grow based on the recommended growth rate. For example if we have 500 books in the 100s for this school year we will need to add 5 book next school year since the recommended growth rate for 100s is 1%. And I am still actually confused on how am I going to deselect the books using the recommendation by DepEd though I have established basic standards/guidelines when it comes to weeding which are 1. Timeliness of the book -- I am following the 10 year rule for STEM 2. Physical look (if the book is already worn out, damaged, etc.)

ZarahG: Yes. And you can also use it (the DDC standards) as the baseline or mean for each division. that's the standard. A DDC division can go below or beyond the percentage. Also, a balanced collection is not the norm in the IB Library. IB authorization visitors would look for depth and breadth of a collection. This is what I am grappling with because, for a student population of 110 plus, we have a total book collection of 9000 titles. And in the last IB authorization visit, the authorization officers told me that we need to grow the collection further. And this makes sense because we run the MYP and the DP, programs that put great value on collaboration and inter disciplinary studies.

MC: So does that mean that we cannot say that "oh I have too much books in this certain area and I lack in this other area". I am new to my work and right now I am trying to figure out the gaps in our non fiction collection and I am thought looking at the distribution of non fiction across different areas is a good step.

ZG: Your collection analysis can always inform you of the numbers. And if you subscribe to a library management system, it will compute the numbers for you. This data can serve you in reporting and in meeting the quantitative standard. But where is the reader in all of in this? Start asking the questions how does my collection reflect the school curriculum? How does my collection support the learning needs of the community?

MC: I am trying to look if we need to add more books in certain subject area specifically in our 600s coz the number of books in the 600 is only half of the 700s.And if we also need to update the STEM books

ZG: What informs your decision to add titles other than statistics and standards? Of course you will have to update the sciences. Once you have met the standard % management of the collection should no longer be a numbers game but a knowledge management issue. Use the curriculum to analyze the content of the collection.

Any thought you wish to share on the discussion? It will add to the growing practice on collection development and programing. Type in the comment space or send me an email. This is how we learn online.

PASLI's Call for Papers: School Library Collection Development for Generation Z

Philippine Association of School Librarians, Inc. (PASLI)

Call for Papers 2020

42nd National Conference

Newtown Plaza Hotel, Baguio City

April 22-24, 2020

Theme:

“IntenZfied” School Libraries: Optimizing Diverse Collection Development Practices for the Generation Z

Topics of Interest

·         Collection Development

·         Collection Management

·         Selection issues and challenges

·         Collection analysis

·         Consortial collection development

·         Patron-driven acquisitions

·         Electronic resources

·         Outreach, Liaison activities, and Marketing

·         Policy, Planning, and Fiscal Management

·         Trends and future of collection development

·         The collection, collection development, and the community

·         Selection tools and selection criteria

·         Collection assessment

·         Preservation and conservation of library resources

·         Censorship

·         Legal Issues in collection development

·         Engaging students to read

Important dates:

December 18, 2019- Announcement of Call for Papers

January 31, 2020- Deadline of abstract submission

February 21, 2020- Acceptance notification

April 13, 2020- Submission of Full Paper and Presentation

April 22-24- PASLI Conference

 Instructions for submissions:

1.        Abstract for paper presentation should be submitted using this format:

a.        Title of Paper (in capital letters, Arial Narrow font size 14)

b.        Name of author/s (including official designation. Use * for the presenting author)

c.         Institution/Company Affiliation

d.        Contact details (email address and contact number)

e.         3-5 keywords

f.         Abstract (300 to 500 words only, Arial Narrow font size 12)

Abstract must include the following sections:

o   Research purpose

o   Research methods

o   Research findings

o   Research impact

g.        References (Please use APA format)

2.        Abstract must be attached (in pdf format) and submitted to kelvin.samson@gmail.com or salvecadenas@yahoo.com

3.        Use PASLI Call for Papers 2020 in the subject line.

4.        Deadline of submission of abstracts is on January 31, 2020.

5.        Notifications of accepted abstracts is on February 21, 2020. If you are not selected, you will also be notified as well.

6.        The authors of accepted abstracts will be asked to submit the full paper and presentation on or before April 13, 2020.

7.        The author/s of accepted papers will be asked to present it on PASLI’s 42nd National Conference at Newtown Plaza Hotel, Baguio City on April 22-24, 2020.

8.        Each presenter will be given 20 minutes to present their paper and 10 minutes for question and answer during the plenary session.

9.        Please note that accepted paper presenters still need to pre-register and pay the necessary registration fee. The association will only provide the food and corresponding CPD points for each paper presenter.

10.  If you have any questions, please contact kelvin.samson@gmail.com or salvecadenas@yahoo.com.

Curating SLIA Blog Posts: On Library Collection Development

What I have written so far about library collection development. Because, it's National Book Week and National Reading Month. Because, I get asked and consulted by peers and LIS students. Because, this part of what I do as a librarian.

Ins and Outs of Collection Development  (2010)

Ebook Collection Development 2012

Ebook Collection Development for School Libraries 2012

PPT on School Library Development 2012 - Throwback post for 2016

Developing Digital Collections 2011 - Insights on the topic as gleaned from a seminar I attended in Adamson Univeristy in 2011

Building a Picture Book Collection in a High School Library - Because Picture Books Are For Everyone!

Building a Graphic Novel Collection in the School Library - Because Graphic Novels Is Literature.

Striking the Balance on Collection Development - An AVR I produced for the PNULISSAA Annual Conference last May 2016.

Striking the Balance: The Changing Landscape of Collection Development

Throwback: 21st Century Collection Development for School Libraries

In 2012, I gave a talk on school library development. It was a joint session on reading campaigns and promotional activity by Candy Gourlay. The seminar-workshop was sponsored by Scholastic. Here is the presentation I made.

21st century collection development from Zarah Gagatiga

21st Century School Library Collection Development

For a better view of the PowerPoint presentation, click Full View.

Collection Development for School Libraries in the 21st Century

Developing Digital Collections

I was fortunate to be at the Adamson University library last week for their seminar on Library Services via International Collaboration. I wondered what the seminar was all about when I got a call from the Library Director herself inviting me to sit in the seminar. The topic suggested many areas of interest for the practicing librarian. The phrase, international collaboration, would mean globalization among other things "international".

Upon getting the program, I learned that the seminar was simply about collection development but, with a focus on the application of IT especially web technologies and platforms for a digital collection.

With James Galbraith, M Ryann Hess and
Madame Dhel Calimag, Director of Adamson Univeristy
Library (Manila)

It was a full house! What with two scholars from DePaul Univeristy, Chicago as resource speakers, Pinoy librarians were all eager to listen and see models of practice and application of digital collection building from the presentations of James Galbraith, Associate Director for Collections and Scholarly Resources of DePaul University and M Ryan Hess, Web Services Coordinator of the same university.

The library staff at Adamson University did not expect that they will get a very good attendance. Besides, the event was simply a venue for professional sharing and networking. It was not a money-making activity. The librarians at Adamson University are bent at collaborating and sharing resources with DePaul University being

Needless to say, the seminar was a timely one. Everyone is up and about on e-books and e-reading. Setting up a digital collection is not an option but a choice that has to be made. I sensed an unspoken anxiety and wariness among the participants though and suffice it to say that this unease comes from the bigger task of actually going digital. It sets off a host of implications which, for the local librarian, these would mean a lot of work!

One implication is the upgrade of a librarian's competency and training. Second, going digital would also mean tougher library management skills for the library manager who is in the middle: on top is his/her responsibility towards the administration and below is his/her authority and capability to lead the library staff. Developing digital collection would also entail a robust IT manpower and support systems, sustainable budget for its growth and development, on-going training of library staff, users of the library and continued networking skills for collaborative projects.

The long and short of it, developing digital collections require the accommodation of changing paradigms and the assimilation of new business models to run and operate modern library systems.

Collection Development: What's In? What's Out?

I am always pleased to hear news of donors giving books to libraries; of NGO's who support library development; of projects and initiatives by private and government agencies that develop libraries, its collection and its physical space. Once my pleasure simmered down, I think of continuity and sustainability for the new or renovated library. Setting up a room full of books is one thing. Building a learning center is another.

Ordinary folks are so eager to advocate reading. Build a library. Create space for reading. Acquire books. And then, what? One reading campaign I know donated books to a public school in the rural area. Less than a year after, the books were nowhere to be found. The library looked like a bodega! There is nothing wrong with donating books and advocating books and libraries to establish a reading culture. The lack of a trained professional librarian aggravates the situation.

If you build it they will come, so they say. But the library is not your local mall.

There are aspects of library services and operations that, like plants, need pruning and tending. From collection development to readers services; information management to creating and communicating new knowledge a trained professional librarian is necessary for the library to grow.

As much as being a cultural heritage, a library is both a system and a science. Let's take one core program of the library: collection development.

There is a science to library collection development. Since the blog is a school library blog, the focus of collection development is geared to school libraries.

Big school. Small school. Traditional school. Progressive school. Public school. Private school. There exist in every school a library. Whatever the size of the collection is, it is essential to begin with an assessment and an evaluation of the existing collection. To do this, it would require the following: 1) a set of school library standards that identifies the requirements of a robust collection; 2) the school's vision, mission and goals; 3)records pertinent to collection development and; 4) a knowledge of the demographics. It would help if there exist, on record, a set policy and procedures for collection development. If there is none, a written document, in black and white, as they say, must be made.

For school library standards, the DepEd Standards for School Libraries c. 1998 is still a good document to use. The Board for Librarians' standard for school library operations, upgraded from the DepEd Order, is another. And then there's the American Library Association standards and the IFLA-UNESCO School Library Guidelines. I am partial to the later because it was contextualize for school libraries in developing countries. The librarian working on collection development may use any of these instruments.

As for the rest, the school and the library must have these documents ready and on hand. In my next post, I'll be writing procedures to assessing and evaluating a school library's collection.

A Christmas Tree Grows In The Library

It's Christmas season and the GS LRC rides with the atmosphere and the mood it brings. One of our GS Librarians, Jane Diaz, whipped up a project that inspires the spirit of Christmas among library users and gauges the boys' reading interests and as well.

Dubbed as "Wish Upon A Tree", students write on paper tree cut-outs their wish list of books for Christmas. I am surprised because many of them wanted the Twilight books. Media indeed has a strong influence on their reading choices. There are other popular titles of books they hope to have that are spawned by TV and the Internet. The Pokemon books are in demand. Anime, manga and graphic novels are some of the kinds and type of books they ask for.

But of course, we're a school library and not a commercial bookstore. It is good to know the "pulse" of the students' reading interest not to give in to what they want but to channel and shape them in making better reading choices. The next time we visit our collection development program, we know what to include for in the acquisition of Fiction and Non-Fiction collection.