By Danny Neville
As school library professionals, we purposefully design our collections to support the communities we serve, providing resources targeted at our school populations and our students’ specific learning needs. Our shelves, both physical and virtual, are filled with resources for everyone to use, but our spaces are finite. We simply can’t keep everything. Just like our closets at home, when new things come in, other items must go. But how do we choose what to purchase in the first place? There are plenty of resources to choose from, and selecting the right materials for our unique communities can be a challenge. On the other side of that coin, once resources have been catalogued and placed on our shelves, how do we decide if or when to remove them? After all, someone must have purchased them for a reason, right?
This was part of the motivation behind creating the OSLA’s A Guide to the Selection and Deselection of School Library Resources. It was also designed to help schools and boards navigate the issues associated with concerns and challenges related to school library materials, including the rise of book bans across the continent.
The 22-page document is filled with information, guidelines and procedures designed to support school library professionals, schools, educators, staff, administrators, school boards, students and families in their understanding of how resources are curated for a School Library Learning Commons (p. 4). The Ontario School Library Association proudly released this document in 2023, based on countless hours of input from school library professionals from across the province. It provides us with a common language and foundation from which we can begin informed, sometimes challenging, conversations with our stakeholders.
The document is laid out into four main sections.
1. Set up
Here you’ll find the reason for creating this document, the scope of the project, and a few definitions that are helpful when dealing with collection development matters like purchasing books, weeding and addressing book challenges.
2. Collection development and maintenance
This section helps us understand and communicate the essence of a school library. How is it different from a public library? What is a library learning commons? What do school library professionals do? How do they manage the collection? What criteria can be used to select or deselect resources? What is the difference between a book challenge and a book ban? You’ll find the answers to these and many other questions in this section of the tool.
3. Creating policies and procedures for your school library
The tool provides a common definition and format for policies and procedures. What do I need to consider when creating school library policies? What do I need to know about library procedures? The document also provides a sample format for designing your own policies and procedures.
4. Appendices
This part is filled with examples of policies and procedures, sample forms, ministry guidelines, government legislation, and other helpful resources.
So, why does a library policy document matter? Policies and procedures guide everything we do in our school libraries. We need to choose resources based on established criteria and ensure that outdated, inappropriate, deteriorating materials are regularly removed from our shelves. Strong selection criteria ensure that school library collections include:
- A robust and representative range of materials;
- Resources that support curriculum and school culture;
- Inclusive materials representing various learning styles, needs and formats;
- A variety of perspectives, voices and issues;
- Engaging materials for all readers who access your library space.
Whether you’re new to your library role or a seasoned professional, the OSLA’s A Guide to the Selection and Deselection of School Library Resources is a foundational document for every school library across the province. Use the QR code to download your copy today.
Danny Neville is an elementary educator with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, a teacher-librarian additional qualifications instructor, and editor-in-chief of the Ontario School Library Association’s The Teaching Librarian magazine. You can find him on X, BlueSky, and Instagram @dnevillebooks.