Educational Technology & Library Services - Denver Public Schools

REVIEW COMMITTEEPOLICIES AND PROCEDURES

  1. There will be no more than20 members of the Review Committee excluding two-three Educational Technology & Library Services (ETLS) staff members assigned to the committee.
  2. A chairperson will be designated annually from among the members of the committee.
  3. There shall be nine meetings per year (one per month). Monthly meetings will be hosted by a different school each month. The first meeting of the school year will always be at the ETLS offices.
  4. Each member of the committee will serve a minimum of 2 years. Terms can be renewed at the request of the committee member.
  5. Each member must complete the Review Committee Application and return to Collection Development Specialist at ETLS by no later than the 2nd Friday in September of any given school year. The number of appointments to the committee will be determined by the number of people who have terms expiring or being renewed. The application must have the principal’s signature to be valid.
  6. Each member of the Review Committee must receive a minimum of 4 hours ( ½ day), release time per month from their principal to fulfill their meeting duties. This amounts to 36 hours over the course of the year
  7. Each member of the Review Committee will receive up to 5 hours of in-service credit per month for their time outside of school to read materials and write reviews. This amounts to a total of 45 hours of contact time or 3 hours of credit.
  8. Committee members will review materials appropriate to elementary, middle school and high school. In addition, some committee members will review material in Spanish and other varied languages.
  9. Each member of the Review committee agrees to review a minimum of 15 books per month.
  10. Each member of the Review Committee agrees to adhere to the Guidelines for Writing Reviews: (all reviews must include these elements)
  11. Summary - "what is this book about", report on content.
  12. Flavor -capture the "feel" of the book using vivid detail and description.
  13. Opinion - why do you like/dislike the book? Explain giving concrete reasons.
  14. Critique - assess the strength/weaknesses of the book: evaluate writing style scope of coverage, accuracy of information, art/illustration.
  15. Support Critique - use concrete examples.
  16. Recommendation matches the review.
  17. Does the review flow? Capture interest from the beginning using vivid detail, exciting description, concise language and solid examples. Move through a logical sequence.
  1. All reviewers must follow the publishing guidelines addendum.
  2. To insure the high quality of the reviews, and to maintain a timely publishing of reviews, four to five reviews from members will be read and feedback will be shared with the reviewer at each meeting.
  3. If a reviewer has more than 30 outstanding titles, ETLS staff will contact them to discuss the situation. If the reviewer continues to fall behind in the number of reviews and the number increases above 30 titles, the ETLS staff will bring the situation to the attention of the Review Committee chairperson for discussion and resolution.
  4. ETLS staff and the Review Committee chairperson has the right to ask a member to resign if the member fails to meet their duties as defined in this document.
  5. Members may not miss more than three meetings during the year.
  6. Reviewers may make arrangements to review up to 2 different titles chosen by them each month. Bibliographic information on each title must be sent to the Collection Development Specialist at ETLS one week prior to the monthly meeting.
  7. Members of the committee will keep 2/3 of the books that they review and return the other 1/3 to ETLS.
  8. Bookplates will continue to be given to reviewers to be placed in all copies of books that are reviewed and placed in school collections by the reviewer.
  9. All reviewers will contribute mini-reviews of recommended titles to the ‘Review Crew Newsletter’ eachmonth. Mini-reviews are due one week prior to the monthly meeting.
  10. ETLS will maintain a searchable database of reviews that allow the reviewer to enter through a web interface. The database will be maintained internally at ETLS.
  11. Each review is linked to a bibliographic record in LION, the online catalog.

I have read and agree to the above policies, procedures, and guidelines of the Educational Technology & Library Services Review Committee.

Signature: / Date:
Print name:

Educational Technology & Library Services:

Dave Sanger, Director of Library Services

720.423.8101

Antonio Nicotera, Help Desk Specialist

720.423.8143

Karen Shannon, Collection Development Specialist

720.423.8108

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Updated: 120810