A manual for developing policies and procedures
in Australian School Library Resource Centres

In a spirit of collegiality, the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Schools and the Victorian Catholic Teacher Librarians (VCTL) make available to school communities A Manual for Developing Policies and Procedures in Australian School Library Resource Centres. It is the result of a joint working party and has been published to support the professional practice of staff in school library resource centres.

The collaborative nature of this document and the spirit of cooperation in which the work was performed has enabled this document to not only be completed but also to be made available to all school library resource centres in Australia at no cost. The document is only available electronically.
[PDF 169Kb document].

The aim of A Manual for Developing Policies and Procedures in Australian School Library Resource Centres sets out how to develop the policies and document the procedures that are essential for exemplary management practices. The implementation of these policies and procedures will ensure that there is equitable access to resources for all users. A school library resource centre that is well managed is in the best possible position to offer the range of library programmes and services that are essential to the endeavours of the school community.

There are nine sections to A Manual for Developing Policies and Procedures in Australian School Library Resource Centres with a glossary and reference list. Each section has two parts. The first part is the policy section and the second part is the procedures section. The nine sections are:

  • Staffing
  • Collection development
  • Budgeting
  • Ordering
  • Cataloguing
  • Processing
  • Circulation
  • Stocktaking
  • Copyright

A Manual for Developing Policies and Procedures in Australian School Library Resource Centres has an accompanying template that may also be used. [Template also available as a PDF file].

The Manual is to be launched on Saturday 4 August 2007 at the ALIA Schools seminar. Judy Maddigan, Member of Parliament for Essendon, will officially launch the document.

The members of the Working Party were:

Anne Chowne (VCTL)
Anne Girolami (ALIA) Convenor
Sue Maher (VCTL)
Jan McCormack (VCTL)
Sandra Ryan (ALIA)
Tilly Stoove (VCTL)

Last updated 4 August 2007