Professional development collection

The professional development library for school staff has been in the library office, but I decided yesterday that it is much better suited to be in with other parts of the library.  There are several reasons behind this move.  I think some staff would naturally feel intimidated to enter someone else’s office to look for books (on the phone, in a meeting...).  In addition, the professional magazines we subscribe to are in the main part of the library, so it makes most sense to have everything together.  Furthermore, if parents or other adults are interested in looking at curriculum resources or are working on their own teaching degrees, I do not want to deny them access to the collection simply because they are in my office.  Such a move also allows patrons to peruse the professional development resources anytime the library is open, even when librarians are busy helping other patrons or in case the office is locked. 

In addition to giving people more direct access to our staff development books, it gives me more room in the office for placing new acquisitions until they are catalogued.  On the same note, it also means less people coming in and out of the office during the times I do need to do extra cataloguing or concentrate on budgets and ordering.  It is a win-win move for everybody.

The big plus is I have already noticed more staff using the professional collection!  This is great news.  Having books out in the open and visible has enticed staff to come on over and “check them out.”

We have a very decent professional collection, and there are other books in the library office that I want to add to its shelves.  However, some books seem somewhat out of place based on their call number and need to be re-catalogued so they can be better grouped in terms of subject matter, institutes, and so on.  Therefore, I plan to come up with new call numbers for this section, so books of similar content are easier to find on the shelves.

I also want to go through these shelves as soon as possible to look at what we have already and to see what important professional books should be added to the collection.  With this objective in mind, I am seeking the input of our curriculum coordinator and classroom teachers on what resources they would like to see on these shelves in the future.