Competency F

Competency F

Use the basic concepts and principles related to the selection, evaluation, organization, and preservation of physical and digital items.

According to Saponaro and Evans (2019) the goal when selecting materials is to create a collection that is cost-effective, sustainable, and meets the needs of the population being served. The evaluation and selection of materials often happen simultaneously. Part of the evaluation process is determining if the material is an appropriate selection given the population the library serves.

Some of the criteria to determine if material should be included in the collection are asking whether it meets the needs and interests of the patrons, in my case high school students. Is the material creating “mirrors and windows?” In other words, are there opportunities for students to see themselves as well as opportunities to experience other points of view? Does the material support the curriculum? Is the material of high quality? This can be determined via critiques and reviews and/or standards and core lists. Quality can also refer to how well the resource is made, for example, items for a makerspace. Is it likely to last? Does the material address a gap in the collection? Does it fit into the budget? These questions can also be applied to digital resources. Databases, open-educational resources, and other digital materials should meet the same standards of quality and relevancy as physical materials. Digital items may be a better purchase for a school library with a limited budget when the online material can be updated automatically vs. a physical book whose information will become irrelevant or out-of-date quickly. However, most digital services are rented instead of purchased outright. This can lead to issues if the vendor changes its selection. (Saponaro & Evans, 2019).

Organizing materials once they have been purchased is another important role of the librarian. The goal of the library should be to organize the collection in a way that facilitates finding. In the library where I work the fiction sections have been genrefied. This has lead to students finding their selections much faster and easier. Destiny Discover and Collections have made the organization of our collection even more straightforward for students. Collections allows us to make books such as those with LGBTQ themes easily searchable by students while maintaining their privacy.

Materials preservation seems to be an overlooked area in many schools. While public and academic libraries have published disaster/preservation policies, many school libraries don’t have any published policies at all. Preservation of physical materials should start with a written plan. The plan should address the everyday maintenance of materials such as how to properly shelve items and how to make minor repairs to loose pages and bindings. The policy should also address disaster protocols. The plan should be shared with administrators, the custodial team, and school security officers. The librarian’s role in evaluating which items can be salvaged and which are destroyed should be clear in the policy as well. The preservation of digital items should include cloud storage with periodic, automatic back-ups (Saponaro & Evans, 2019).

Conclusion

One of my goals for my first year as librarian, is to work with the other district librarians and administrators to publish a handbook of policies and procedures for collection selection, evaluation and management. This can help schools protect their investment and may be necessary depending on district insurance policies.

Evidence 1: Resources for a high school teacher librarian

This assignment was for INFO 266 Collection Management. This artifact connects to the competency because we were asked to find sources for selecting materials for our chosen library (high school) and then evaluate the pros and cons of the source. In addition, we used the sources we curated to select $750 worth of materials appropriate for our library. The link to the budget sheet is included in the assignment.

Evidence 2: OER Selection assignment

I completed this assignment as part of INFO 237 School Library Materials. This assignment connects to the competency because I evaluated several digital open educational resources and then described how I would use those sources in a lesson.

References

Evans, G. E., & Saponaro, M.Z. (2019). Collection management basics (7th ed.) Libraries Unlimited.