The title implies that this would be a manual for reflecting on and creating or updating policy and procedure documents. It turns out that it is a reflection document. It is less about policy and procedures and is more a book aimed at refocussing the school librarian who has taken on a new library or collection that requires a makeover.
The book is an update to a previous edition taking on board that collections now include eBooks and databases as well as hard copy collections. Kerby’s approach is no nonsense, even humorous. It includes summary activities at the end of each chapter called ‘Your turn’, which are also available as printable documents on the http://www.alaeditions.org website. The book starts with 12 tasks for the first weeks of school which aim to focus a school librarian’s priorities in terms of making the collection relevant, accessible and attractive to potential users.
Rather than providing formulas for collection content, she has practical examples of how you need to know the curriculum in your own school and apply that to your collection purchasing and weeding policies. She talks about identifying your own selection criteria and acknowledges that schools are different financially and culturally. All examples are for both Primary and Secondary schools and there are lots of breakout examples and quotes from current practitioners.
The chapter on weeding is practical and ruthless. She uses the simple formulas CREW and MUSTIE which she explains. There is a two-page table that walks you though the library by section: 000–999, eBooks, Multimedia, YA fiction, picture books and graphic novels. For each section, she has a paragraph recommending how to apply the CREW and MUSTIE formulas to each section.
Her collection building section takes note of digital formats but also looks at where a school can harvest information on appropriate content. It talks about cost, reviews and places to source resources for diverse readers. In the section titled ‘How to turn a complaint into a positive’ she looks at issues of intellectual freedom. There are examples of librarian exemplars which are local manifestos to individual school library populations which interpret the Library Bill of Rights. We don’t have one, but the idea could easily be adapted.
Kerby says in the introduction that there is no point to build a collection which is not known or used. She recognises the role of the school librarian in teaching information skills and has a whole chapter on how to showcase the collection so that what you have appeal to the user and lets them know what is available for them.
This book is not about creating policy. The national standards book produced in 2018 by AASL does this and Kerby refers to this book in her bibliography. It is instead a book for new graduates or school librarians who have taken on an out of date, neglected collection which needs to be reinvented. With such a task ahead, this book would assist in making the job much more manageable.