A review of the literature revealed common themes in priorities in the selection process of teachers. These themes were evident across grade levels, content areas, school type such as private or public, and found to be universal across nations. Additionally, findings suggested that years of experience and education level create differences in prioritization, as well as perceived influence of stakeholders such as parents and administrators. Finally, social-cultural factors of the school or community, or across the material, impacted the selection process. The literature presented also includes findings on how teachers select classroom material for student consumption in general, not specific to book title selection for a classroom library. This choice was made to account for the limited research available around book title selection for a classroom library and assumes that priorities in selecting classroom material would transfer to book title selection for a classroom library.
Available research demonstrates that interest in reading predicts reading comprehension ability, and that students who enjoy reading perform significantly better than their peers who do not enjoy reading (Cheema, 2018; Gambrell, 2011; Heron-Hruby, Trent, and Stiles, 2016). As such, educators appear to be motivated to select titles of interest to students; books that they perceive students will want to read. However, bias of the teacher in book title selection is evident throughout the literature.
Social-cultural context and dynamics, within the school community and student population, as well as within the titles may influence the selection process according to the literature. This includes the social-cultural demographics of the students and community, and diversity evident (or not evident) in titles and classroom libraries.
Across the literature, there is evidence of educators striking a tenuous balance between student interest, ensuring variety and diversity, and meeting the demands of educational reform or mandated standards