Reflection Lesson 2, balanced collections

My description of a balanced collection is one that meets the needs of the students, staff, and members of the SLRC. The collection needs to represent many different points of view, and cover a broad range of ideas and information, along with details and specifics in certain subject areas as determined by the curriculum. Mainly, and most difficulty, information needs to be presented and available in a variety of formats, and reading levels to address the learning needs of all members of the SLRC community. As others have stated the school library collection needs to address bias, scope, and learning along with materials for independent reading.

James asked students to consider ignoring balance as a concern in building collections. The argument is that: If we spend our collection resources trying to get a diverse approach to a broad range of subjects, we just might be missing the critical point of need. That is, those teachers who are truly committed to exploiting the various resources (including the TL) to support information literacy development. How can we justify spending equally for all colleagues, even those who are not collaborating with the teacher librarian to advance information literacy and learning with a focus on inquiry?

This is a tough consideration. I think all students deserve to have materials available to them that are part of their curriculum needs. Any student, whether their teacher collaborates or not, should be able to find resources to expand upon subject matter taught in the curriculum, and materials to engage their interests in personal reading. However, extra monies, or a portion of the budget, should be spent on materials for collaborative units to encourage colleagues to develop the information literacy model and inquiry learning through the sharing of knowledge and information. Teachers who are not collaborating are using the library as an extension of their own personal classroom where learning and experiences are isolated- the students are simply coming down to grab some resources.