Developing your school library collection is a cyclical process. This involves reflecting on, and investigating in some depth, your own library collection and the broader educational and information landscape in which it sits.

To help you, we have developed a series of guides and tools on each step of the collection development process.

Successful collection development requires having an overview of factors that influence and affect your collection such as:

• your school community
• your library management statement
• the New Zealand Curriculum
• your school’s curriculum
• trends and issues in collection management such as the move from ownership towards access, from print towards digital resources, and from just-in-case buying to just-in-time buying

It also requires thorough knowledge of your collection and your users through:

• weeding and assessing your collection
• knowing your students’ interests
• curating content for specific purposes

The use of this robust evidence and current data, together with actual needs of your students and teachers (learning, reading and curriculum needs) equips you with the information required to meet these needs across all levels of your school.

• Collection development cycle diagram

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