School Library Collection Development

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Requirement

Write an assignment on school library collection development.

Solution

1.Selection Criteria for School Libraries

Being a library technician working in the central library of school board who has to play the role in recommending books for purchase for all the school libraries in the school board, my primary duty now is to identify three recently-published books and to justify my selection. I have to select one chapter book that should be recommended for an elementary school library collection. I have also to select one fiction book that would be recommended for a senior public/intermediate school library collection. Then finally, I will have to select one non-fiction book that would be recommended for a secondary school library collection. 
For an elementary school library, I would like to recommend the book, “Beyond the Bright Sea,” by Lauren Wolk. Originally published in 2017, I must recommend this fiction for the selected level because it is infused with inquisition and an urge for knowing what is unknown. This element of curiosity is going to help the learners to enhance their level of inquisitiveness in a thorough manner. 

For a senior public school library collection I would like to recommend the fiction, “The Hate U Give,” by Angie Thomas. Published in the year 2017 this fiction would be ideal for the concerned students because they would be gradually exposed to social matters and movements and this would help the readers in understanding the socio-political condition of their country. Senior public school is a level where the learners must be gradually experiencing society in its real form. In this respect the harshness of the society has also to be felt by the 7th and 8th graders so that they can grow their own decision-making capability. And considering all these, the book has been recommended. 
Originally published in 2014, the nonfiction work “We Should All Be Feminists” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie should be recommended for a secondary school library. I would like to recommend the concerned book due to its social appeal and due to the philosophy of gender equality that the author has tried to infuse within the work. The concerned readers should learn about the seriousness of the problem of gender inequality and gender discrimination. The concerned readers should be exposed to such social issues because such exposure would help the readers in understanding the value of democracy. It is a book that would act as an eye-opener for all those young readers who still are not aware of the concept of social equality. 

2.Graphic Novels

Graphic novels should be introduced in libraries that are meant for enriching the knowledge base of Gr. 9-12 secondary school. As the secondary school library is widely used by teachers and students grades 9-12 for both curriculum and leisure purpose, I must recommend the introduction of graphic novels. I must recommend graphic novels as they have some specific potentials. The students must be introduced to graphic novels so that they may gain some benefits. But before getting into the issue of recommendation one must be aware of what graphic novel is. It would be a bit erroneous to consider graphic novel a genre. It is more a format than a genre. Graphic novels can be fiction and it can also be non-fiction, and can even be based on history, fantasy, etc. Though not similar to comic books in a thorough manner, just like comic books, graphic novels show some similarity to comic books in terms of using sequential art for telling a story. The primary advantage of reading graphic novels is that, they are ingrained with serious literary themes and sophisticated artwork that make them visually appealing for the young readers. In other words, graphic novel “is usually taken to mean a long comic narrative for a mature audience, published in hardback or paperback and sold in bookstores, with serious literary themes and sophisticated artwork” (Murray, 2018). The images in the graphic novels provide an overview of the story and this enhances the interest of readers to read the whole story. Moreover, as graphic novels are fast paced, they appeal to the readers more thoroughly. In libraries if there are graphic novels present then such readers can gain fast paced reading experience and often such helps the reader in developing their time management and organizational skills. It must be noted that in graphic novels the images are there not to replace but to reinforce the language (Playful Learning, 2018). A reader may begin by skimming, but he/she would soon be turning back to re-read for getting better understanding of what really is happening (Playful Learning, 2018). Moreover, as the language of graphic novels is often of high quality, it helps the readers to enhance their linguistic skills too. Hence, considering all such advantages of reading graphic novels, I must recommend graphic novels for the library’s collection for the current year. This process of introducing graphic novels would not only enrich the learning base of students but it would also enrich the library as a whole in terms of collection of books. 

References

• Murray, C. (2018). Graphic Novel. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved February 10, 2018, from https://www.britannica.com/art/graphic-novel

• Playful Learning (2018). 5 Great Reasons to Read Graphic Novels. Retrieved February 10, 2018, from https://www.playfullearning.net/resource/5-great-reasons-read-graphic-novels/