I think the first step is define what we are creating. The Montana website gives a great description, and also explains what our central goal should focus on, and our intended audience...

We need to create "a collection development policy, not a selection policy. A selection policy describes the procedures and policies for adding material to the collection. A collection development policy includes the elements of a selection policy, but it also describes how the library`s collection serves its users, where the strengths and weaknesses are, how the collection relates to those in other local libraries, and what the goals are for the development of the collection.

The policy should be written for the library staff, the library board, the governing organization, and the patrons of the library. It should both guide the collection development activities and explain those activities and their results to others."

This helped me understand better what exactly we need to do.
Check out the site for more info. http://msl.state.mt.us/slr/cmpolsch.html
Amanda

I was shocked when I asked my librarian and she said neither the high school library nor the district has a policy.

After reading the chapter three on the collection policies, I was anxious to compare our district's policy with the text book's version of a learner centered policy. However, when I went to our librarian, she did not know what I was talking about and doesn't think we have one...Then, I noticed Amy's comment. Yikes! I too am shocked. We don't seem to have one.

When I asked our school librarian about our collection policy and he laughed. He thought it would be a wonderful idea if we wrote one. As Amy and Pam have explained
East Valley School District does not have a collection policy at this time.

Wow! After reading Amy's and Pam's comments about their school's lack of collection policies, I will be checking at my school tomorrow. After reading the chapter 3, I searched online and found three sample collection policies. It was interesting comparing their elements to Table 3.2, Basic Elements of Learner-Centered Collection Policy. All of the three were very different form each other. None were as detailed as the guidelines in our textbook. They only discussed part of the elements.