Overcoming challenges: Acquiring resources
When determining the desirable qualities for a preferred school library supplier, the Teacher Librarian would consider:
Local (Canberra or Australian) supplier
Offers diverse range of quality resources
Fiction and nonfiction resources available
Electronic resources available
Teacher resources
Competitive pricing
Knowledgeable staff and/or excellent customer service
Links to Australian Curriculum and/or IB PYP framework content
Prompt delivery
Variety of payment methods
How can schools with particular needs such as curriculum, language, remote area overcome challenges when acquiring resources for the library collection?
As an International Baccalaureate PYP school, we are required to include resources that meet the language needs of students, both in the additional language of instruction (French) and a range of mother tongue languages. To address this challenge we:
Make connections with the local French bilingual school for recommendations or surplus resources
Seek and accept donations from Embassies, High Commissions and community families for diverse language books
Use ACT PYP Cluster networks for resource recommendations/sharing
Seek out specialist suppliers for books in other languages
Schools in remote areas or with limited budgets cannot always take advantage of author visits due to distance or cost. To overcome this, libraries could:
Subscribe to services such as Story Box Library which has a range of read aloud videos, author profiles and appropriate teacher notes
Use online tools such as Skype or email to communicate with authors or other schools
Use Teacher Librarian or school networks to share costs