Resourcing+the+Curriculum

=Resourcing the Curriculum=

Many years of support teaching gave me an understanding of the need to match resources to student ability and, in hindsight, I realise I had informally developed my own criteria for selecting the resources I used. This criteria was very basic and specific to the learning needs of the groups I taught. Through ETL503 and ETL501, I was able to build upon that foundation to develop a comprehensive list of criteria for resource selection. While this is an important aspect of resourcing the curriculum, I was also introduced to many other significant considerations through these subjects.

A good summary of library resource requirements is provided by Hay and Foley (2009). They assert that resources should be
 * accessible to all, both physically and timely
 * appropriate with a mix of print, multimedia and online
 * supporting teachers professional needs
 * part of a dynamic collection with new resources being added throughout the year

Three required tasks proved significant in broadening my understanding of resourcing the curriculum: the development of a collection management policy enabled me to gain the bigger picture; selection of appropriate resources, print and electronic, gave very practical experience; and critiquing website criteria, then using these to evaluate websites, gave further insight and experience.

When developing a collection management policy it became obvious that there were a number of aspects to consider, including the need for:
 * Development of a collection management policy:**
 * a clear understanding of the goals of the collection, that it fits within the school's and library's mission (ACLIS 2004)
 * analysis of the students and staff requirements such as academic requirements, pedagogical practice, curriculum needs (Bishop 2007)
 * understanding of selection principles to ensure they are the school community needs not just the teacher librarian's views (Herring 2007)
 * understanding of the importance of a collection evaluation and weeding (Dillon 2001)

These aspects fit well with Debowski (2001) clear overview of the elements of a collection management policy:
 * the function, users and goals of the library
 * the selection principles, including the formats to be selected, the criteria and tools to be used,
 * the acquisition guidelines, including the use of suppliers, funding and ordering requirements
 * the collection evaluation guidelines, such as appraisal and weeding procedure and how to deal with challenged materials.

A greater understanding of selection criteria was gained through examination of a number of established resources. Particularly useful is the West Australian education department site **WA CMIS Evaluation which has the general principles and format specific criteria. When selecting websites there are also a number of tools.A collection of links to a number of these are found at **edselect including QUICK and the Good, the Bad and The Ugly.
 * Establishment of Selection Criteria:**