Collection development guidelines for GEMS Cambridge International Primary School Library

Abstract

A study was carried out on collection development guidelines for GEMS Cambridge International Primary School Library. The specific objectives of the study were; to establish the current status of collection development at GEMS Primary library; to find out how collection development at GEMS Primary library is managed; to identify the challenges of collection development at GEMS Primary library; and to propose the best guidelines for improving collection development at GEMS Primary library. The study adopted a case study design and purposively selected 2 library staff and randomly sampled 62 library users. Data was collected using questionnaire, interview and observation methods. The study indicated that the School Library collection consisted of different types of library materials namely; textbooks, picture books, early readers, chapter books, children’s fiction, children’s non-fiction, graphic novels, professional teaching resources, technologies and guided readers. 15% of the collection was found to be outdated while the majority 35% of the collection was found to be General Fiction. The Dewey Decimal Classification system was used as the shelving and classification method. The collection was stacked in three section namely; Fiction, Non-fiction and Reference. The findings show that policies and practices were put in place to maintain the collection, However, there seemed to be high rates of loss and vandalism of materials. Challenges faced in collection development included; vandalism of materials, limited number of technologies, ignorance about the available resources, limited furnishings for shelving, number of items to be loaned and outdated stock. Some of the guidelines for the School Library included; Penalty on lost and damaged material; purchase of technologies; orientation and user advisory service; purchase of newer editions; timely payments of softwares etcetera. The research was concluded by a summary of findings and recommended that GEMS Cambridge International Primary School library should be refurbished, training of library skills, purchase of more technologies, continuous professional development, regular de-accessioning and stocktaking and also to increase library funding.