This unit has been a challenge and a learning curve for me. Having never worked in a school library and not having current access to a school library, has meant that I have had little opportunity for professional dialogue with teacher librarians currently in the position, nor am I able to look at what is in place in my school, as I currently don't have one.
One of the things that concerns me, is that all of this very practical knowledge that I am gathering will have lain dormant for at least another 12-18 months, and will be hard to remember after I have completed another 3- 5 units. I want it to be readily available to use when I do start work as a teacher librarian, sometime in the not too distant future.
So, in order to be prepared, I have been creating a powerpoint document throughout the unit for my personal reference. I am finding this a very valuable resource, that should hold me in good stead with I start working in this role.
This post focuses on my learnings regarding Module 2 - building a balanced collection. I have not had any experience with bundled sets, or a standing orders service. These were new concepts for me. I benefited a lot from reading the comments of other students regarding their experience, or their school context. From the responses other students gave, I compiled a list of pros and cons for bundled sets and standing orders, which I hope should assist me when I am faced with making decisions around this area.
One of the things that concerns me, is that all of this very practical knowledge that I am gathering will have lain dormant for at least another 12-18 months, and will be hard to remember after I have completed another 3- 5 units. I want it to be readily available to use when I do start work as a teacher librarian, sometime in the not too distant future.
So, in order to be prepared, I have been creating a powerpoint document throughout the unit for my personal reference. I am finding this a very valuable resource, that should hold me in good stead with I start working in this role.
This post focuses on my learnings regarding Module 2 - building a balanced collection. I have not had any experience with bundled sets, or a standing orders service. These were new concepts for me. I benefited a lot from reading the comments of other students regarding their experience, or their school context. From the responses other students gave, I compiled a list of pros and cons for bundled sets and standing orders, which I hope should assist me when I am faced with making decisions around this area.
Pros
–Cost
effective – can be cheaper than buying separate titles
–clear
budgetary spending and forecasting of expenditure over the long term
–Time
effective
–No
selection involved – anyone can do it
–Exposure
to unfamiliar titles
–Variety
of titles
–Easy
to build library collection
–Convenient
–Materials
can be purchased according to specific content and age range
–Continual
supply of up-to-date material
–Useful
for new TL’s
–Regular
delivery of new resources
–Only
one license agreement required for multiple resources
–E-resources
can be removed from collection by publisher with little notice
–Worthwhile
if all staff on board with resource eg clickview
–Takes
pressure of the TL being abreast of new /latest available resources
–Bulk
nature makes them value for money
–A
good starting point for embarking into e-books
–Can
cater for a broad range of students / topic / interests
–
Cons
–Loss
of control / lack of freedom of choice / loss of ability to select or deselect
resources
–Inclusion
of unsuitable / un-needed titles for clientele
–Titles
included that may not be used by clientele: unsuitable, underutilised,
under borrowed.
–Inclusion
of lower quality titles
–Publisher
/ distributor driven
–Unrelated
to curriculum content and therefore curriculum needs
–Relying
on supplier to address curriculum needs
–Not
driven by the needs of the teachers/students/community, the culture or values
of the school, individual needs of students etc
–Duplication
of resources already in the collection – not easy to return duplicate resources
–Does
not take into account storage / access issues
–Narrow
/ pre-determined selection
–Can
be costly
–Resource
selection phase overlooked
–Looked
in contract period eg 12
months often inflexible and expensive
–Limited
titles and publishers
–Titles
may be written for the purpose of publisher bundles and therefore may be of
lower quality
–Locked
into one supplier if budget is limited
–Can
use up the majority of a small libraries budget
–Expertise
of TL is not facilitated
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