Ensure you have an up-to-date book collection

It’s the new financial year! So what better way to celebrate the £££ that are being showered on education (and absolutely not being used to offset Trumpflation) than to buy lots of lovely new books!

Sarcasm aside, the books that are in your library, play a vital role in how many children are reading. When books are outdated, worn or tatty books are often unappealing to children and will likely put them off reading. Thankfully, modern fiction features an array of exciting, diverse and relatable stories by authors of different, representative backgrounds. It’s really important that children see themselves and each other in the books they read. It is important that your school library has a diverse collection of books, to allow students that ability to make better reading choices. This often requires some money to be set aside by the school, to ensure that library’s offering is kept up-to-date

Important things to consider when developing your library’s collection

Understand the demographics in your school. No two schools are exactly the same. Students will have different backgrounds and reading preferences dependent on where you are. Make sure that you understand your students. One way to assist with this could be to do an audit of your current library and see what missing. Another important thing to do is to ask the students what they think is missing. This comes back to the student’s ability to choose books that they want to read.
Keep an eye on new titles that are being released. If you don’t have a librarian in your school, make sure teachers are aware of the new books that are being released. This could be researching what is winning awards, seeing what’s on display at your local book shop, checking out our recommended reads, or attending publisher roadshows. Sometimes by attending these events, you can also obtain free books and promotional materials to promote reading in the school.
Look out for any book initiatives. Buying books can be expensive. Especially when you have large gaps or haven’t refreshed your collection in a long time. Thankfully, there are charity organisations that can help with your collection. The National Literacy Trust, LoveReading4Kids and the Siobhan O’Dowd foundation, are just a few examples of organisations that offer schools free books and library furniture to develop a positive reading for pleasure culture in the school.
When buying books, a specialist library supplier like Peters or Heath Books will offer a big discount to schools. They can also add book jackets and other processing.
Take advantage of the whole-school ticket from the Schools Library Services! If you have a subscription to the Schools Library Service, it’s worth checking to see if you have a full school ticket. The purpose of this ticket is to provide you school with up to date reading for pleasure books that can fill gaps you may have in your collection. This allows you up to 500 items that can be either chosen by you or our librarians.