(Reflection of ETL503 Module 2.1)
In my previous blog post for this module, I pointed out the importance of a clear philosophy (or philosophies) and clear outline of the school’s context or Situational Analysis (Arthur, et. al, 2015) as they relate to the acquisition of resources.
In this blog post, I will discuss the concept of ‘Demand Driven Acquisition’ (England & Anderson, 2019).
First, what is demand or as it is often referred: supply and demand? This is a key factor in economic theory and is defined by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Brittanica (2018) as:
“Supply and demand, in economics, (it is the) relationship between the quantity of a commodity that producers wish to sell at various prices and the quantity that consumers wish to buy. It is the main model of price determination used in economic theory. The price of a commodity is determined by the interaction of supply and demand in a market. The resulting price is referred to as the equilibrium price and represents an agreement between producers and consumers of the good. In equilibrium the quantity of a good supplied by producers equals the quantity demanded by consumers.” (“Supply and Demand,” 2018, para. 1).
As pointed out in ETL401 module 2.1, information is slightly different to consumables, having properties which distinguish it from other traded goods. [Information, unlike traded goods, is not consumable, not transferable, nor indivisible]. Our goal however, as teacher librarians with information resources, is similar to the market goal which is: 
equilibrium between the supply of resources and the quantity (or one might argue, quality or even type) needed or demanded by the school community.
So how do we as teacher librarians reach a supply and demand market equilibrium in terms of school library collections?
As exists in economics, we must collect data to determine if there is an over/under supply or an over/under demand.
One way to collect data is to run diagnostic reports of the collection – including such things as regularity of use by patrons, age of resources, duplication of resources, quantities of types of resources, etc.
Another way to collect data is to start asking questions of ourselves and the school community regarding our ‘needs’ for resources or types of resources and our individual goals or desires and collating the responses.
Now I need to find the time to research how to ask the school community the right questions and look into a variety of survey methods for obtaining the most authentic responses and how to analyse the data to make informed decisions about resource acquisition!
References:
Arthur, L, Beecher, B, Death, E., Dockett, S, & Farmer, S. (2015) Programming and Planning in Early Childhood Settings 6th Edition. Cengage Learning Australia Pty Ltd. South Melbourne, VIC.
Supply and Demand. (2018). In Encyclopaedia Britannica online. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/supply-and-demand
England, M. M., & Anderson, R. (2019). Demand-driven acquisition of print books: Applying 21st-century procurement strategies to a 5th-century format. Collection Management, 1-10. doi: 10.1080/01462679.2018.1564715