If you are brand new to the library, start with Tips and Tricks for New Library Staff: Part One to get started. If you have worked in your library for a little while, it’s time to consider building and maintaining your collection to be up-to-date, accurate, and relevant for students and teachers. So where to start? Following Rudine Sims Bishop’s advice can guide your choices: “Books are mirrors when readers see their own lives reflected in the pages. Books are windows when they allow readers a view of lives and stories that are different from their own. Books become sliding glass doors when readers feel transported into the world of the story and when they feel empathy for the characters.” With that mindset, let’s explore a few practical steps to creating and managing your school’s library.

Collection Development Policy

Locate your school district's collection development policy. A collection development policy states why a school library is important, the guidelines used to purchase and weed items, and provides instructions for handling book challenges if they arise. If your school doesn’t have a collection development policy, be proactive and create one. There is help! INFOhio’s School Library Basics Learning Pathway, has a class on collection development that explains why having a policy is important and resources to help you create one. INFOhio also licenses the eBook Developing Collections to Empower Learners, which helps create a collection based on students’ needs. Additionally, the American Library Association has a toolkit for creating a collection development policy, and School Library Connection has a basic course on collection development.

Budget

Find out your budget. Your school secretary should be able to direct you to where you can find this information. If you don’t have a budget, start being the squeaky wheel. Your kids deserve a fantastic library as it is the ONLY place in their school where they have the right to read or reread anything that they choose and where they are not required to defend their reading choice. If you are having difficulty getting your principal to give you a budget, go to the superintendent, and if that doesn’t work, go to the school board. You can also enlist your students to help. Who can say “no” to a child who asks the principal for money to buy the newest Bad Guys, Dog Man, or Angie Thomas’ latest masterpiece? Before you ask, know the average book price. School Library Journal provides a graphic every year with this information; here is the most recent: 

If you don’t have a budget or need more money to update your collection, grants are a great way to locate additional funding. The State Library of Ohio has a few grants to choose from, and they will work with you as you prepare your grant before submission. Other grants include the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries and the Dollar General Literacy Grant. A great blog that keeps track of many library grants ishttps://librarygrants.blogspot.com. INFOhio has other grants to look at, as well as resources to assist you in writing grants. Finally, look to your local foundations to partner with you, allowing neighbors to help neighbors.

Weeding Your Collection

It’s a good idea to look at your collection to see what needs to be weeded to create more shelf space and to keep your library current. In addition to the collection development resources mentioned above, the Texas State Library has an excellent resource for weeding your collection called the CREW method. Furthermore, you may want to have your entire collection reviewed to see the age of your collection and the areas that your library lacks. Book vendors provide free collection analysis and the State Library of Ohio does too.

How do you choose which books to order because you can’t possibly read them all? There are so many resources out there. Go to your public library and review their “new book” section, talk to their youth librarians, and check out a few that they recommend. Collaborate with other librarians in your district or other districts near you. Subscriptions to School Library Journal and The Horn Book are invaluable. There are also industry “super-stars,” Betsy Bird, Shannon McClintock Miller, Donalyn Miller, and Colby Sharp, to name a few, who provide excellent reviews and other great ideas for your library. Book vendors offer a myriad of lists to help you with book selection. The American Library Association has the Youth Media Awards and gives out “best of” awards for a myriad of categories, including Caldecott (picture), Newbery (middle grade), and Printz (young adult) awards. If you use Goodreads, it has groups that discuss recently published books and whether they believe any books have award potential. It’s always fun to find your favorites and predict what will win!  

Purchasing Books

It’s finally time to order books; you want to order shelf-ready items, so all you have to do is take them out of the box, and they are ready to go. Books might be cheaper on Amazon, but you will spend considerable time cataloging those items by manually entering them into WorkFlows or BLUEcloud. The two largest suppliers of shelf-ready books for schools are Follett Titlewave and Mackin. Junior Library Guild, an Ohio company, will curate shelf-ready book boxes for those who purchase a membership. No matter which book vendor you choose, see if your Information Technology Center (ITC) provides any discounts.

If you host a book fair, you can often purchase books with your earnings. Scholastic is the largest book fair company. There is also Literati or you can partner with a local bookstore for your bookfair. If you purchase books from a book fair, please ask for the MARC records so books can be quickly loaded and labels provided to you. Exceptions to ordering shelf-ready books: if you are a Title 1 school, you can purchase books from First Book, where publishers donate newly published books, and you can purchase for far below retail price; have your purchase order ready because these books sell out incredibly quickly! There is also Book Outlet where you can purchase heavily discounted books, and they have a massive Black Friday sale!

Additional Resources

Complement your physical collection with eBooks. INFOhio provides thousands of free eBooks for your students; all you need to do is look at each grade button and look for these:

These eBooks are aligned to Ohio's Learning Standards and are unlimited, simultaneous multi-use. Titles support STEM, financial literacy, career exploration, and social-emotional learning as well as high-interest topics in science and social studies. Furthermore, some ITCs provide free eBook collections as well. Mackin, through MackinVia provides a Hoosier-Buckeye curated eBook collection for a reasonable cost. INFOhio also provides CultureGrams for both states and countries, so you no longer have to purchase print collections for these topics, thereby saving thousands of dollars. Take advantage of these resources to free up money from your budget to purchase other needed items. 

You’ll also need to learn to stretch your budget. Often, library supplies can be used to protect your books. These supplies, such as label protectors, book covers, book tape, etc., can be found here: The Library Store, Brodart, and Demco. Repairing damaged books is another way to make your items last longer. Demco has the Book Doctor, which provides videos showing how to repair your books. Another book repair tool is a bookbinding machine; be forewarned, these are pricey, but you can use Scholastic Dollars to pay for a CoverOne machine. Amazon also sells one by Thermobind. If all of your buildings go together, it won’t hurt the budget as much. Try asking your tech department or principal if they could purchase it. The worst they can say is “no.”     

With these tips and tricks, you're well-equipped to go forth with collection development. Building a strong library collection is an ongoing process that never stops. Focus on your students’ needs and develop your collection to create a library that inspires, informs, and empowers your students!