Availability and Use of Collection Development Policies in Colleges of Education Libraries, Botswana

Abstract

Collection development policies are necessary working tools in the development of library collections as they help in the development of a balanced stock. This paper examines the availability and use of such policies in the Colleges of Education Libraries in Botswana. With the senior librarians in the six colleges forming the target group, nine major questions were posed to them on collection development policies. It was noted that not all the libraries had policies. Also, a majority of those who had did not involve their users in the formulation of the policies, and the policies did not incorporate some of the essentials of a collection development policy. It was revealed that those who had policies did not use them in their collection development practices. The study concludes that college librarians need to equip themselves in the area of collection development. They also need to be made aware of the importance of the use of policies to develop college collections. Library schools also have a major role to play in equipping librarians with, skills in formulating collection development policies.

African Journal of Library Archives and Information Science Vol. 17 (1) 2007: pp. 45-52