Developing and growing the library collection is a critical part of any successful school library program. Collection development activities that you likely perform each school year include acquiring materials that are vibrant, fresh, and relevant for your readers and researchers.Conversely, an ongoing practice involves removing or weeding out those library items which may contain content that is dated, biased, irrelevant, or whose physical condition has deteriorated and outlasted its usefulness for circulating.
Other methods to assist in collection development and assessment may include performing an inventory, reviewing circulation statistics, examining the physical quality and appeal of items, knowing and reviewing the curriculum along with state and national standards, collaborating with peers, talking with students, and keeping in tune with popular trends and styles.
Online collection assessment services offered by vendors can also provide a helpful insight and perspective on the state of your collection. By examining and reviewing MARC cataloging that has been exported from your library automation system, these assessments generate useful overviews and insights into your collection, plus the professional appearing lists, graphs, and other comparisons make these terrific tools to help with collection development.
To complement the collection development routines that you currently practice, Capstone offers CollectionWiz™, our free, simple, and fast online collection assessment service! Without requiring any setup work and within minutes of uploading your data, CollectionWiz quickly provides you with a great snapshot and offers many helpful lists and reports.
Upon entering a CollectionWiz assessment, you’ll immediately see the Dewey areas that need your professional review, plus you’ll see how your collection measures up and compares to other schools. CollectionWiz also offers customizable age settings to assist you with those age-sensitive Dewey areas.
The Collection Aging lists are helpful in identifying potential titles for weeding consideration, while the Suggested Items lists only feature trusted Capstone products – all of which are aligned to your state curriculum standards.
Another great feature is that after you run CollectionWiz and browse CapstonePub.com, you are informed of all of the Capstone titles that are already in your collection, helping you avoid purchasing unwanted duplicates. All reports can be saved as a PDF or in Excel, and are attractive and appropriately designed to be furnished to supervisors and potential funding sources.
Leverage the power of technology to assist with collection development - try CollectionWiz today! First-time CollectionWiz uploads receive a promotion code valued at $150 off your next order!
Valuable Resources:
- Baumbach, Donna J. and Linda L. Miller. Less is More: A Practical Guide to Weeding School Library Collections. Chicago: American Library Association, 2006.
- Franklin, Patricia and Claire Gatrell Stephens. Library 101: A Handbook for the School Library Media Specialist. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2007.
Randy Klinger
Marketing Operations Manager
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