Writing a Collection Development Plan

Writing a

Collection Development Plan

A Guide for Media Specialists in Palm Beach County

Table of Contents

Quote

Collection Analyisis Infographic

Windows & Mirrors

Collection Analysis by Category

Why bother?

Gifts & Donations

Beginning your plan

Collection Maintenance

Mission Statements

Reconsideration of Materials

Library Program

Appendices

SMART Goals

What to update every year

Budget & Funding

Closing Thoughts

Scope of the Collection

Closing Quotes

Selection & Evaluation

Thank You

"To build up a library is to create a life. It's never just a random collection of books"

Carlos Maria Dominguez, The House of Paper

Importance of Representation in Your Collection

Think of one specific BIPOC you have worked with. How do you think this child or teen would react to seeing their life experiences authentically represented in the resources in the library?

Why Bother?

Sets your vision and a purpose for your program

Makes your decision-making process clear to all stakeholders

Shows the connection between the library program and the school community

Shows the deliberate process that leads to a high quality collection

Makes solving problems and answering difficult questions, fair and easy

Connects your school media center to School District Policy and state statute.

Beginning your Collection Development Plan

Purpose Statement

Background Statement and School Community

• This section clarifies that this plan guides the decisions you make in the library

• This section will talk about the purpose of the media center at your school.

• This should be done in a paragraph or two

• You will describe your community using the Gold Report

• In this section you will describe the community in terms of age, grade, race, languages spoken and the number of students

• Here you will discuss any special programs your school has - IB/ AICE/ AP/ AVID/ STEM, etc.

Purpose Statement example

Background Statement and School Community example.

Exemplar plans from last year

Mission Statements

School and Media Center

The next two sections will contain at minimum the school mission statement and the media mission statement. If you don't have a media center mission statement, you need to write one.

Library Program

Here you will describe your library program in general terms. Are you on the fine arts wheel or do you have a flexible schedule or perhaps you have a combination of fixed and flexible. Talk about any special initiatives through the library. Talk about the instruction that takes place in your library.

Example

Goals and Objectives

Write at least 3 SMART goals. For reference on an example of a SMART goal check out some of the collection development plans here.

How to write a SMART goal

SMART Goal Examples

Budget and Funding

Here you will put you FY23 Budget and your projected Budget for FY24. You will also describe your purchasing plan for FY24

example

Scope of the Collection

Here you will describe what your collection will and won't include. Here you would also mention an emphasis on areas of your collection you put special emphasis on due to special programs. You should also mention the district electronic resources and any additional ones you buy

Collection Development

This section explains to the reader what Collection Development is and what is the gold when we speak about collection development. It also describes the process you go through to develop your collection. The Collection Development plan is the building block upon which we build our library collections.

example

Selection and Evaluation Criteria

In this section you will write a paragraph on the selection criteria you personally use and the reviewing tools you plan to utilize. youwill tie it to School Board Policy

Example

example

Collection Analyisis Info Graphic

Here you will use Titlewave to fill in all the data on the infographic. To do this you submit your collection to Titlewave and make sure your current student population is updated. Once you've submitted your data you can access your Titlewise Analysis which contains the data for this section.

Collection Analysis by Category

You will use the Titlewise Analysis to help you fill out this section too. It is a breakdown of the books by Dewey category. This will tell you how many titles you have in the category and the average age of the category. This analysis will inform your weeding and purchasing priorities for the coming year.

example

How to create a Titlewise Analysis

Gifts and Donations

In this section you will describe to your stakeholders how you will handle gifts and donations to the library. You will speak to the fact that all gifts and donations must adhere to our board policy 8.12 and that you won't put out of date or age inappropriate books into your collection.

Example

Collection Maintenance and Strategic Focus

You will need to reference that inventory is completed on a three year rotation as per board policy 8.12. You will use the information you gained from your collection analysis to describe your weeding and acquisition priorities over a three year period. This section helps keep you focused on constantly improving your collection through weeding and acquisitions.

Example

Reconsideration of Materials

Here you will speak about the fact that we have a challenge policy and you will reference policy 8.1205 that is in the appendices

Appendices

All appendices have been pre-added to the FY24 Collection Development Plan Worksheet. If you use this worksheet, you don't have to do a thing!

Sections To Update Each Year

05

04

03

01

02

Inventory Cycles

Goals & Objectives

Weeding Cycle

Title & Signature

Budget

Each year you should look at your weeding priorities and evaluate based on need

Make sure you update the date and have your administration sign it each year

Make sure you adjust your budget numbers each year.

Each year you should set new goals and objectives for the followin year

You must inventory 1/3 of your library each year. Update this section yearly

Video - Closing Thougts

“Librarians are the coolest people out there doing the hardest job out there on the frontlines. And every time I get to encounter or work with librarians, I’m always impressed by their sheer awesomeness.”

Neil Gaiman

“A great library doesn’t have to be big or beautiful. It doesn’t have to have the best facilities or the most efficient staff or the most users. A great library provides. It is enmeshed in the life of a community in a way that makes it indispensable. A great library is one nobody notices because it is always there, and always has what people need.”

Vicki Myron, Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

Thanks!

Lisa Seymourlisa.seymour@palmbeachschools.org 561-684-5198

Stephanie Sunshine stephanie.sunshine@palmbeachschools.org 561-684-5227