No.3 “Collection development in school libraries: Information for the ILCL's upcoming room for teens” (March 28, 2014)

Summary

This report reveals the findings of the“Preliminary Research Project of the Room for Teens”conducted by the International Library of Children’s Literature (ILCL) in FY2012 and FY2013.

In FY2015, a new building will be completed in the ILCL and the room for teens will newly open. The project aims to offer information for collection development of the Room by researching the current state and effective approaches of collection development in school libraries. The research was conducted by a research group consisting of Ms. Yuriko Nakamura (Associate Professor, College of Arts, Rikkyo University) as the supervisor, Ms. Hirono Aoyama (Librarian, Senri International School of Kwansei Gakuin), Mr. Teru Agata (Associate Professor, Faculty of International Relations, Department of International Relations, Asia University) and staff members of the Children’s Services Division, ILCL.

The project covers the following four studies: literature research on collection development, school library case studies (site visit / email questionnaire), school library collection data analysis and interview of teachers / teacher librarians / school librarians.

This report consists of the following six chapters:

  • Chapter 1 refers to the aim, significance and overview of the project, and the purpose and outline of this report.
  • Chapter 2, 3, 4 and 5 outlines four studies in the project and their findings.
  • Chapter 2 reviews school library collection development based on literature research in Japanese and English.
  • Chapter 3 shows the actual realities of school library collection development through the “school library case studies”which target ten school libraries providing progressive activities to support students’ learning. It also reports the results of the supplementary research of information sources for selecting library resources.
  • Chapter 4 describes the“school library collection data analysis.”It statistically analyzes the collection data of 13 school libraries to reveal their common resources and the characteristics of school library collections.
  • Chapter 5 summarizes the“interview of teachers / teacher librarians / school librarians” conducted in June 2013. It aims to analyze the preceding research findings more deeply and show the collection development technique which is usually acquired by teacher librarians / school librarians through experience.

In the final Chapter 6, the supervisor makes suggestions for the collection development of the upcoming room for teens, based on the research findings.

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