Collection Development Policies in Public Libraries in Australia

Kelly, M. (2015) Collection Development Policies in Public Libraries in Australia: A Qualitative Content Analysis, Public Library Quarterly, 34:1, 44-62, DOI: 10.1080/01616846.2015.1000783

§  Analyzes how sections are made by looking at

o   Criteria in use

o   How selections are explained by the library

o   Why some libraries have seemingly better sections than others

§  Only 7 of 24 studied libraries had published collection policies

§  6 main findings

o   Selection Methodology

o   Planning a Budgeting

o   Collection Scope and Depth

o   Professional Judgement

o   Discerning Material Standards

o   Balancing Collection Priorities with popular demand

o   Equity and Inclusion

§  Article ultimately finds too much focus on professional judgement and argues more guiding principals need to be established to replace a portion of the Professional Judgement

Part of what I found interesting and worth sharing about this article was its assessment that too many of the libraries studied in this report rely on professional judgement as one of the primary means of acquisition. With my prior career as a graphic designer, and my training in design thinking, I have found that often a professional outlook on the community or organization they are working for is skewed and can miss some of the important needs of the patrons. Focusing on collaboration with the community as well as data driven decisions is the only way to ensure a collection, or any project for that matter, meets the needs and expectations on users. I think this article did an excellent job at making its points by analyzing the collection development policies of the libraries studied and each of their relative success based of their approaches.