Collection Development
Collection development includes selecting books for the media center as well as deselecting or weeding books from a collection. Weeding books stirs up negative feelings for most people, but weeding books as shown below is much like weeding a garden. A well kept library collection allows for ample shelf space, easier for patrons to browse, allows the library personnel to have a grasp of what areas need to be improved with adding to the collection, and removing or replacing old and damaged books. Once deep weeding is done, it is just as important to continuously weed the collection as it is to purchase new books for the collection. A few projects this year at the elementary schools in SDSM will include collection development and some rearranging the fiction part of the collection. Rearranging the fiction part of the collection is in the best interest of students where first fiction or beginning chapter books will be in a separate section from other fiction books. This will be one way to make it easier for students ready to select and read beginning chapter books at their "just right" level. Another fiction section will be the HiLo section. HiLo stands for high interest and low readability for students in grades 4 and 5 reading below grade level still find books that interest them, but provide readability closer to their "just right" level.
