Collection Development

Selection of Media Center Materials

Responsibility for actual selection rests with professionally trained media specialists. They shall develop the collection within the guidelines of district policy and with collaboration from their school community. They are also guided by the principles set forth in the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights and its interpretative statements. Objectives in selecting materials include:

  • To provide faculty and students with materials that enrich and support the curriculum and meet the needs of the students and faculty served

  • To select materials in all formats, including up-to-date, high quality, varied literature that helps to develop and strengthen a love of reading

  • To provide students with a wide range of educational materials on all levels of difficulty and in a variety of formats, with age-appropriate diversity of appeal, allowing for the presentation of many different points of view

School Library Selection Criteria

  • Support and enrich the curriculum and/or students’ personal interests and learning

  • Meet high standards in literary, artistic, and aesthetic quality; technical aspects; and physical format

  • Be appropriate for the subject area and for the age, emotional development, ability level, learning styles, and intellectual development of the students for whom the materials are selected

  • Incorporate accurate and authentic factual content from authoritative sources

  • Earn favorable reviews in standard reviewing sources and/or favorable recommendations based on preview and examination of materials by professional personnel

  • Exhibit a high degree of potential user appeal and interest

  • Provide an age-appropriate global perspective and promote diversity by including materials by authors and illustrators of all cultures

  • Include a variety of resources in physical and virtual formats including print and non-print such as electronic and multimedia (including subscription databases and other online products, e-books, educational games, and other forms of emerging technologies)

  • Demonstrate physical format, appearance, and durability suitable to their intended use

  • Balance cost with need

For selection of materials, reviews from the following sources should be consulted to ensure a quality collection: