Collection Assessment and Management for School Libraries

A leader in cooperative collection development for the school library presents a framework for developing school library collections in today’s era of access vs. ownership and cooperative resource sharing. This guide provides new tools and techniques for analyzing collections, including ready-to-use collection data-gathering forms and collection assessment and analysis worksheets. Also included are examples of a written collection development policy, a selection policy, a copyright policy and procedures, and an Internet use policy. It shows how to map the school curriculum, represent library collections using automated circulation data, and document priorities for the collection. The guide is based on the premise that school library media specialists must have a clear understanding of their collection strengths and needs before participating in cooperative collection development in order to think globally but act locally. The author provides more than 30 collection assessment tools, worksheets, and exemplary written sample collection policies that have proven effective in school library media centers and can be adapted for use in grades K through 12.

Kachel provides both qualitative and quantitative techniques to analyze existing collections based on the conspectus approach. Cooperative collection development activities are detailed, including the financial, technical, and human resources needed for success. Methodologies for providing a rich base of resources matching curricular and student needs in a cost-effective and user-relevant fashion enhance the managerial and leadership role of the school library media specialist. For all school library media specialists who plan to analyze and assess their collection and participate in cooperative collection development, this guide provides all the tools necessary to accurately and successfully manage this activity in a cost-effective manner.

Author Biography

DEBRA E. KACHEL is Department Chairperson of School Library Media Services at the Ephrata Area School District in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. She serves as a consortium director for the Lancaster-Lebanon ACCESS PENNSYLVANIA Resource Sharing Consortium, which consists of seventy school, public, and academic libraries. As chairperson of the Collection Management Committee of the Council of Pennsylvania Library Networks, she has assisted in planning and implementing two statewide conferences on collection development. She is the author of Look Inward Before Looking Outward: Preparing the School Library Media Center for Cooperative Collection Development, School Library Media Quarterly 23 (winter 1995) and Improving Access to Periodicals: A Cooperative Collection Management Project, School Library Media Quarterly 24 (winter 1996).