Page 43 - DLIS104_MANAGEMENT OF LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION CENTRES

Management of Libraries and Information Centres

Notes you can make more consistent and informed decisions about the collection and provide continuity
during times of staff turnover or funding changes. In addition, your policy serves as a source of
reinforcement when an item is challenged by a patron.

Five Major Types of Elements in a Collection Development Policy
A collection development policy is comprised of several elements, although the specific arrangement
of these elements may vary somewhat from library to library. This section discusses the basic policy
components and provides excerpts from actual collection development policies of public libraries to
demonstrate how each section might be worded. We have quoted some policies when appropriate
but have not included many links to the Web versions of public library collection development
policies because libraries revise, reorganize and rewrite both their websites and their policies often
enough that the links are unstable for any appreciable length of time. With a few exceptions we have
left it to your judgment and initiative to find policies of interest to you.
With the ability of libraries to post important policies and other documents on their websites, it is
now possible to streamline a collection development policy if a library has already engaged in
strategic planning and creating a vision for the library for approximately the next five years. Such
planning documents will have lengthy pieces that address many of the issues formerly reported
only within a collection policy.

Notes By merely cross referencing the documents one can eliminate the need to put such
elements as a description of the community and its information needs as well as a
description of the library, its services, facilities, and other resources.
The five main components of a collection development or information resources policy are:
1. description of the community and the library
2. practical elements of collection development
3. description of format and special collections
4. description and goals for nonfiction classified collections
5. official adoption and revision information
The details for the contents of components I and II will be included in the next training section with
the remaining components addressed in the final policy training section.

6.2 Preparing a Collection Development Policy
Preparing a collection development policy is a major project. As such, one needs to recognize that it
will be time-consuming and require a lot of consultation and referrals with Board members, staff
and perhaps other librarians and citizens. There are many resources that you can draw upon to
assist you with the process. These include librarians and staff members in other libraries both those
libraries that are similar and those very much unlike your library policy examples posted on the
Web by other libraries, and a wealth of professional writing and materials on the Web and in
traditional print. Here are some guidelines found useful to help you get started writing a policy for
your library if your library does not already have one or to revise a policy that has become outdated
or inadequate.
1. Establish the procedure: Before you begin to revise or initially prepare a policy, your gov-
erning board or other entity should be informed. A discussion with them should help
determine what the process will be, who will be involved initially, what is to be included, and
what the timeline for the project is to be. Collection development policies may be written by
a committee that includes perhaps the library director, an informed staff member, and a
38 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY