Collection development and patron requests

As a paralibrarian working in a K-8 school library, I have been confronted from time to time with requests: that the library purchase “mentor texts” for a writing program. Does the library carry a particular book? A teacher’s students need biographies of people who exhibit a “growth mindset.”

I believe that public and school libraries will both support “free-choice” reading, and that “patron-driven” or just-in-time library purchasing (Rubins, 2020, p. 234) can be a viable strategy in both school and public libraries.

One difference between the two is that the school library will carry materials that specifically support that school’s curriculum. Kerby (2019, p. 14) emphasizes the importance of a school library collection meeting the “curricular” as well as personal needs of its “learning community.”

A public library may carry resources more broadly and less specifically as it serves a wider area and not just a single school.

In either case, as an aspiring librarian who believes in the viability of patron-driven acquisition, I would do my best to accommodate requests from members of my library community.

(In some cases, a library already carries books that are used in the classroom. The 658-field in Machine-Readable Cataloging, MARC, is a great way to identify a book’s direct tie to local curriculum.)

In the course of our studies for LIS 5250 this week, our professor posed three scenarios. My responses to them are as follows.

If a teacher asked me to purchase a book that was a textbook for a class she was taking, I’d want to know more about the book. Was it produced for an academic readership or is it a trade publication? Might it have a place on a shelf of professional resources that other teachers (not just this one) might want to browse through and read? Or is its usage limited to this teacher and the class she wants to take? Is this her way of avoiding her own out-of-pocket costs?

I think it might be risky to purchase a self-published book, but I might consider such a purchase if it was a local author. Even then, I should hope the book was put together with quality. Some questions I might ask include:

• Does the book have a professional appearance and, to my best determination, would it appeal to my readers? Are there any reviews, if not professional, then on Goodreads or on Amazon? What do those readers say about this book?
• If the book is non-fiction, is the author a credible expert on the subject? Did an independent editing team review the book for mistakes? Or did the author serve as their own editor as well as their own publisher?
•  If the book is fiction, does this book contribute to a more diverse collection, and is the author a member of the community they write about? If not, did members of that community have input toward shaping the book?

Finally, I don’t see a point to purchasing a video that is freely streamable on YouTube. To me, it seems unnecessary, unless the person requesting it can make a case that the video might be taken down, and this person wants to lock-in access to a resource they expect the library community will use — not just leave to gather dust on a library shelf.

References:
Kerby, M. (2019). An introduction to collection development for school librarians (2nd ed.) American Association of School Librarians.

Rubin, R.E. & Rubin, R.G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.). ALA Neal-Schuman.