When I moved away from a mesmerizing first workshop session that connected myself as well as my school to so many current event actions, I ventured into the AASL Welcoming session. (12:30- 1:30). I was intrigued that two rooms were used for this – and time was split between various rooms and we did indeed have a bingo card. While I am not a stranger to AASL, I was to an AASL Conference and was grateful for this amazing amassing of librarianship under one roof. In addition, you get to see the faces and personalities behind AASL.

Some awesome discoveries were revealed- an evening where classic movies were being shown in the city, amazing restaurants like Carmines and Colombia, author visits in the evening

and more- all became shared property helping us find the back alleys and main streets of attractions that glued us together as librarians and information curators. It was worthwhile just to meet a few people and learn some new names tied to the states we often see them attached to in AASL. In my case, believe it or not, I bumped into a colleague from my own state and talking about topics we never had, and we were in the same state!

The first AASL author session I went to, which was one of the first of a series of step in talks with AASL authors, was with Mona Kerby, drawing me to the topic of Collection Development as we were covering that area as part of my Florida State University graduate course.

Some GREAT tips were revealed from this session- three important companies to help you review selections you are thinking about for your collection and adding those at defaults in Follet to help you see selections from these companies was recommended. The big three were Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Booklist – I agreed. While Kirkus at times can seem harsh, they are straight to the heart. I have found also using SLJ, I use a portion of them for graphic novels, but forcing myself to dive in and explore on my own new authors, new releases, etc. I love how Booklist highlights many new authors and releases that I have carved time to discover. If you can find three positive referrals for a selection you are considering, you are in – that is a winner.

The Mustie formula was referred to in using weeding- and goes hand in hand in managing your collection, as well as your collection development policy.

Some key steps in making a collection development plan and policy working for you, you need to do the following:

Define learner characteristics to see the audience you are serving from your collection.

Create a curriculum chart – which Ms.Kerby’s text help guide you through.

Use key selection services (Kirkus, Booklist, SLG).

Evaluate your collection by the school curriculum, the age, the quantity, the quality, and the diversity your collection represents. The report that Follett is able to generate also helps do this in a comprehensive manner for your collection.

Using the CREW guidelines, is yet another process of guiding your weeding.

In Delaware, we have an extensive guide to weeding and collection management as well:

The inner workings of Ms. Kerby’s book is just that, charts, specific tools that guide yout rhrough the process being listed of a comprehensive Collection Development Policy. But more than that, it allows the librarian to do more than talk about a Collection Development Policy, but to actually put together a real policy in the works for your library? – Priceless. This was a good start to discovering what the AASL Author talks were all about.