Sharp Middle School and Pendleton County High School

Manual

Library Policies and Procedures

Sharp Middle School and Pendleton County High School

Pendleton County, KY School District*

Mission Statement of Pendleton High School and Phillip Sharp Middle School Libraries

The mission of the PCHS and PSMS Media Centers is to teach 21st Century information literacy skills while being fully integrated into and supportive of the district curriculum and the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner in Action. This mission is accomplished by certified library media teachers who

• Provide a collection of resources in all formats, which supports the curriculum and the varied interests of students.
• Work collaboratively with other teachers to design and implement learning strategies and activities that enhance learning.
• Teach students and staff the skills and strategies necessary to access, evaluate, and effectively and ethically use information.
• Work collaboratively with community liaisons to ensure the best possible services are available to students.

Pendleton High School and Sharp Middle School Library Service Objectives

The PCHS and PSMS media centers strive to accomplish the following service objectives:

• Provide staff in the media centers to implement an effective library media program.
• Provide resources in a variety of formats: print, electronic, internet, database, video, audio, and any other formats deemed necessary by one or more patrons of the center, in keeping with the instructional goals of the school’s curriculum or the age-appropriate interests and needs of the patrons being served.
• Ensure unhampered and equal access to resources and services for all staff and students.
• Provide attractive library facilities to meet the needs of learners and teacher-learners
• Promote literacy and the enjoyment of reading, viewing, and listening.
• Provide leadership and expertise in information and instructional technologies.
• Participate in networks and consortia that enhance access to resources for students and staff.

Library Bill of Rights1

The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services.

I. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.

II. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

III. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.

IV. Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.

V. A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.

VI. Libraries that make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.

Adopted June 19, 1939, by the ALA Council; amended October 14, 1944; June 18, 1948; February 2, 1961; June 27, 1967; January 23, 1980; inclusion of “age” reaffirmed January 23, 1996.

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Access to Resources and Services in the School Library Media Program2

An Interpretation of the LIBRARY BILL OF RIGHTS

The school library media program plays a unique role in promoting intellectual freedom. It serves as a point of voluntary access to information and ideas and as a learning laboratory for students as they acquire critical thinking and problem-solving skills needed in a pluralistic society. Although the educational level and program of the school necessarily shape the resources and services of a school library media program, the principles of the Library Bill of Rights apply equally to all libraries, including school library media programs. Under these principles, all students have equitable access to library facilities, resources, and instructional programs.

School library media specialists assume a leadership role in promoting the principles of intellectual freedom within the school by providing resources and services that create and sustain an atmosphere of free inquiry. School library media specialists work closely with teachers to integrate instructional activities in classroom units designed to equip students to locate, evaluate, and use a broad range of ideas effectively. Intellectual freedom is fostered by educating students in the use of critical thinking skills to empower them to pursue free inquiry responsibly and independently. Through resources, programming, and educational processes, students and teachers experience the free and robust debate characteristic of a democratic society.

School library media specialists cooperate with other individuals in building collections of resources that meet the needs as well as the developmental and maturity levels of students. These collections provide resources that support the mission of the school district and are consistent with its philosophy, goals, and objectives. Resources in school library media collections are an integral component of the curriculum and represent diverse points of view on both current and historical issues. These resources include materials that support the intellectual growth, personal development, individual interests, and recreational needs of students.

While English is, by history and tradition, the customary language of the United States, the languages in use in any given community may vary. Schools serving communities in which other languages are used make efforts to accommodate the needs of students for whom English is a second language. To support these efforts, and to ensure equitable access to resources and services, the school library media program provides resources that reflect the linguistic pluralism of the community.

Members of the school community involved in the collection development process employ educational criteria to select resources unfettered by their personal, political, social, or religious views. Students and educators served by the school library media program have access to resources and services free of constraints resulting from personal, partisan, or doctrinal disapproval. School library media specialists resist efforts by individuals or groups to define what is appropriate for all students or teachers to read, view, hear, or access via electronic means.

Major barriers between students and resources include but are not limited to imposing age, grade-level, or reading-level restrictions on the use of resources; limiting the use of interlibrary loan and access to electronic information; charging fees for information in specific formats; requiring permission from parents or teachers; establishing restricted shelves or closed collections; and labeling. Policies, procedures, and rules related to the use of resources and services support free and open access to information.

It is the responsibility of the governing board to adopt policies that guarantee students access to a broad range of ideas. These include policies on collection development and procedures for the review of resources about which concerns have been raised. Such policies, developed by persons in the school community, provide for a timely and fair hearing and assure that procedures are applied equitably to all expressions of concern. It is the responsibility of school library media specialists to implement district policies and procedures in the school to ensure equitable access to resources and services for all students.

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Adopted July 2, 1986, by the ALA Council; amended January 10, 1990; July 12, 2000; January 19, 2005; July 2, 2008.

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Objectives

For the School Library Media Center3

Instructional materials are selected by the school district to implement, enrich, and support the educational program. Materials must serve both the breadth of the curriculum and the needs and interests of individual students. The library strives to provide for a wide range of abilities and many points of view on issues. To this end, principles are valued above personal opinion, reason is preferred to prejudice, and breadth of opinion is prized above emotion in materials selection. It is library policy to select appropriate, high quality resources.

For the Library Media Center

• The Library's objective for the selection procedure is to provide students with a wide range of educational materials on all levels of difficulty and in a variety of formats. We select for diversity, appeal and differing points of view.

• The Library’s goal is to provide faculty and students with a collection of materials that enrich and support the curriculum and meet the educational and recreational needs of the scholastic community.

Responsibility For Selection

Under supervision of the Superintendent or his designee, the District Librarian is responsible to oversee selection of Library resources. Selection may involve:

• professional staff and others qualified by curriculum familiarity and training in the following criteria of Library resource selection.
• educational significance
• contribution the subject matter makes to the curriculum and to the interests of the students
• favorable reviews found in standard selection sources
• favorable recommendations based on preview and examination of materials by professional personnel.
• reputation and significance of the author, producer, and publisher
• validity, currency, and appropriateness of material
• contribution the material makes to breadth of representative viewpoints on controversial issues
• user appeal
• artistic and/or literary quality
• quality and variety of format
• value commensurate with cost and/or need
• timeliness or permanence

Review Sources:

•Booklist

•Senior High School Library Catalog

•Horn Book Guide Online

•Publisher’s Weekly

•Reference Books for School Libraries

•School Library Journal

•VOYA Voice of Youth Advocates

•Bibliographies, professional journals, award lists, student and teacher recommendations, as appropriate

These criteria govern Library Resource selection:

Library resources consistent with the general educational goals of the state, the District and the aims and objectives of individual schools and specific courses

Library resources shall meet high quality standards for factual content and presentation.

• Library resources shall be appropriate for the subject area and for the age, emotional development, ability level, learning styles, and social development of students.

• Physical format and appearance of Library resources shall be suitable for their intended use.

• Library resources shall be designed to encourage informed judgment and to motivate students and staff to examine the duties, responsibilities, rights, and privileges of citizenship.

• Library resources shall be selected for strengths, not rejected for weaknesses.

• The selection of Library resources on controversial issues will be directed toward maintaining a collection representing diverse points of view.

• Library resources shall clarify historical and contemporary issues by presenting and analyzing conflict objectively, and emphasizing recognition and understanding.

Kinds of Material Selected:

• Materials relevant to the curriculum of the school
• Materials of appropriate Lexiles and literacy levels of the students’ varying literacy skills and abilities
• Materials reflecting the interests and needs of the school community
• Materials warranting inclusion based upon literary and artistic merit
• Materials presenting accurate, relevant, and up-to-date information that displays depth and breadth appropriate to the age level being served
• Materials presenting fair and unbiased information
• Controversial materials as deemed necessary by the librarian and the staff supporting the curriculum; criteria for these materials shall include the above standards, and shall not discount any point-of-view in order that understanding may be attained in a fair, intelligent, and educated manner
• Materials that serve the recreational and personal information needs of the students and staff

Selection Procedures

1. Reputable, professionally prepared selection aids and other appropriate evaluation tools will guide selection. We prefer to examine the item under consideration, when possible.

2. Recommendations from administrators, teachers, students, district personnel, and community members are welcomed.

3. We select gift materials by the same criteria that guide selection of new media.

4. Selection is an ongoing process that includes the removal of materials no longer appropriate (called weeding) and the replacement of lost and worn materials still of educational value.

5. Efforts shall be made to solicit requests, suggestions and reactions to library materials under consideration.

6. Professionally recognized, objective review periodicals, standard catalogs, awards, lists, and other selection aids guide selection.

7. To the extent possible, practicable, and necessary, professional staff will examine preview copies of selected library materials in order to ensure application of the selection criteria. The public may examine selected materials on-site upon written request to the principal or assistant principal of the respective school.

8. Site library resources selection is coordinated as a responsibility of the school librarian.

9. Although suggestions from faculty, parents, and students are considered, the Librarian approves final selection.

Gifts, Replacement of Lost Materials, and Special Materials

Gifts, sponsored materials, expensive materials, ephemera, and special requests must meet the same criteria for selection, cataloging, classification, and inclusion in the library collection that govern purchased materials.

Lost materials will be replaced by the librarian. Patrons who have lost books should bring in the quoted price of the book and not a new copy of the book itself. Library purchases are governed by specific criteria that all booksellers do not adhere to.

Controversial Materials Policy

From the “Bill of Rights,” the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America, Amendment I:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of

the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Pendleton County Schools subscribes in principle to the statements of policy on library philosophy as expressed in the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights quoted in its entirety on page two of the present Library Policy manual.

Policy for Library Challenge and Reconsideration

Occasional objections will arise concerning library resources. It is the Library’s purpose to defend the principles of intellectual freedom embodied in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and expressed in the Library Bill of Rights, rather than specific materials being challenged.

Procedure for Challenging Library or Classroom Material

1. Library staff or classroom teacher will report all complaints to the building principal, whether received by telephone, letter, or personal conversation.

2. The principal will contact the complainant to discuss the complaint and attempt to resolve it informally by explaining the philosophy and goals of the Library program.

3. If informal resolution is not reached, the complainant will receive a packet of materials consisting of the instructional goals, objectives, and educational mission, the Library materials selection policy statements, and the procedure and materials for formally registering and handling complaints. The form must be completed and turned in before consideration will be given to the complaint.

4. If the formal request for reconsideration is not received within two weeks, the case is closed. If the request is returned, appropriate Library staff will reestablish the reasons for selection of the specific work.

5. In accordance with the statement of philosophy, no protested materials will be removed from the school pending a final decision. Pending the outcome, however, access to the protested material may be denied to the child of the parent(s) making the complaint at their request.

6. On receipt of the completed objection form, the principal will convene a committee of five to deliberate. The committee shall be made up of the Curriculum Director, the Principal, the Librarian, a teacher and a community member.

7. The committee will meet to discuss the materials, following the guidelines set forth in Instructions to the Reconsideration Committee, and shall prepare a report on the material containing its recommendations for resolution.

8. The principal will notify the complainant of the decision and send a formal report and recommendation to the Superintendent. In answering theguidelines used for selection, and cite authorities used in reaching decisions. If the committee decides to keep the resource that caused the complaint, the complainant will be given an explanation. If the complaint is valid, the principal will acknowledge this and make the committee’s recommended changes.

9. If the complainant remains unsatisfied, s/he may request permission from the Superintendent to address the Board, which has final authority to decide the issue. The Board may seek assistance from outside organizations such as the American Library Association, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the National Council of Teachers of English, etc. in making a determination.

Procedure for Alternate Assignment Selection (in the case of parental complaint concerning classroom assigned reading)

At times, parents choose to ask for alternate assignments for their students because beliefs or life experiences dictate the necessity. While the school system respects these wishes and does its best to cooperate with the parents, guidelines have been set to accommodate these requests so that classroom instruction for all students remains efficient and productive. In accordance with this goal, the following procedures have been established by a committee consisting of the curriculum coordinator, two high school principals, the middle and high school librarian, the English department chair, and a parent.

1. The parent will contact the teacher for an alternate assignment.
2. The teacher will notify the principal of the request, and will offer an alternate assignment (at least one).
3. If the alternate is refused, a committee will be formed that will include the librarian, the department head, an administrator, and the classroom teacher. At that time, more alternates will be offered, and those will be based upon information gleaned from “read-alike” databases and other knowledgeable sources. Alternate selections will be offered based upon comparable themes, comparable settings, and/or comparable characters, depending upon availability of materials and the scope of the lessons to be taught. The length of the work will be a secondary factor in the consideration process.
4. The parent will be offered one to three more choices (as available). The teacher will guide the parent toward the choice that is preferred for the lessons that are planned.
5. If the parent refuses the choices offered, the student and the parent will be informed of the repercussions. These could include temporary placement in a program that offers various educational opportunities.

Sample Letter to Complainant