Collection Assessment and Management for School Libraries - (Libraries Unlimited Professional Guides in School Librarians) by Debra Kachel

About the Book

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.

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"[Kachel has] done a great job of bringing together the theory and the practical application of collection management for school librarians.... This book is a major contribution to the collection management literature. Reading this book will move many school districts from the planning stages to the achievement stages of collection assessment. It will serve as a handbook to facilitate district-wide as well as regional cooperative collection projects. It should be required reading for all district-level library coordinators."-Dr. Mary C. Bushing Assistant Professor & Collection Development Librarian Montana State University-Bozeman Libraries

"Kachel's discussion of collection assessment and management is a welcome addition to the literature on the subject for school library media specialists. The author applied many of the newer concepts about collection management to the school arena in a manner suitable for application at the local level. Her practical adaptations and examples of the conspectus model are a major contribution."-Jacqueline C. Mancall, Ph.D. Professor of Information Science and Technology Drexel University

.,."makes a significant and unique contribution to the literature of collection development....A balanced blending of theory and application makes this book particularly useful to both library practitioners and library science educators."-Collection Management

?...makes a significant and unique contribution to the literature of collection development....A balanced blending of theory and application makes this book particularly useful to both library practitioners and library science educators.?-Collection Management

?Kachel puts in a school context information which other collection management texts focus on post-secondary and public library collections. Kachel explains clearly how to formulate collection development policies and procedures with charts, timetables and sample policies. These tools will help teacher-librarians to acquire a clearer understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their collections and to prepare a place of action for selection priorities--excellent preparation for promoting the library's role in the educational process and the reasons for enhanced funding. Of particular strength is the book's section of how a 'smart' circulation system can provide detailed and frequent collection usage reports which assist collection assessment. Kachel gives excellent advice on what features to request when acquiring or updating a system.?-Emergency Librarian

..."makes a significant and unique contribution to the literature of collection development....A balanced blending of theory and application makes this book particularly useful to both library practitioners and library science educators."-Collection Management

"Kachel puts in a school context information which other collection management texts focus on post-secondary and public library collections. Kachel explains clearly how to formulate collection development policies and procedures with charts, timetables and sample policies. These tools will help teacher-librarians to acquire a clearer understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their collections and to prepare a place of action for selection priorities--excellent preparation for promoting the library's role in the educational process and the reasons for enhanced funding. Of particular strength is the book's section of how a 'smart' circulation system can provide detailed and frequent collection usage reports which assist collection assessment. Kachel gives excellent advice on what features to request when acquiring or updating a system."-Emergency Librarian

About the Author

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).