A Collection Development Policy for Annie's Library
One of the most satisfying experiences I had was taking what I had learned from one of my courses, Collection Development, and applying it to the real world. During my DFW at Annie Wright School I noticed that their cumbersome and dated collection was, in part, caused by an unwritten policy to accept virtually any and all donations. This traditional practice ate shelf space, lowered the overall value of the collection and cost the library faculty and staff time they simply did not have. I talked it over with my supervisor, Elizabeth Borgen, MLIS, who was frustrated by the practice, and I suggested that a collection development policy might be in order, starting with "Gifts and Donations" and "Weeding". With Elizabeth's input I quickly wrote the two components and then continued to explore and ended up writing the first draft of the very first Annie Wright School Library's collection development policy, and here it is.
Upon enrolling for this DFW, I imagined that I would be strictly in the role of a learner. I never imagined that I would actually contribute to the health of a library, especially through an instance of my leadership. While this collection development policy is bound for numerous updates and changes in the immediate future as this library transitions from bulky to streamline excellence, I am enormously proud of my leadership, the quality of my work and my ability to apply academic learning to the real world.
Feedback from Annie Wright School Librarian
From: Elizabeth_Borgen@aw.org
Subject: RE: cdp
Date: March 10, 2008 1:20:26 PM PDT
To: mkt5@u.washington.edu
Hi Melissa--
I just did a first read-through, and the CDP looks great. I'm so pleased
you were able to work on this--one of my professional goals for the year
is to rough out a procedures manual, complete with a CDP, and what you
sent me is probably what will end up in our manual (minus a few tweaks).
I think both the analysis and breadth of topics covered are really
thorough, and I doubt I'll have to add much (if anything) to it. I feel
relieved to have this document so much closer to being in place! After I
go through it a second time, I'll send it on to our division heads for
approval and make it official soon.