Policies
Access & Expectations
Learning Center Hours:
All days when school is in session.
Student Expectations:
Use furniture and pillows in the Learning Center appropriately.
Use respectful and appropriate voice level and language.
Items in the Learning Center stay in the Learning Center unless checked out.
Keep hands, feet, and objects to yourself.
Use Makerspace materials responsibly and with purpose.
I. Philosophy
The mission of the Middlefork School Learning Center is to build on the strengths inherent in Middlefork’s students, teachers, and families by connecting them to relevant and motivating resources that help us question, discover, and create our world... one reader at a time.
For further information on the role of the school library media center, please see:
Access to Resources and Services in the School Library Media Center, a document prepared by the American Library Association (ALA)
II. Selection
Responsibility
The Middlefork School Learning Center Director (teacher/librarian) assumes final responsibility for the selection of materials. Materials shall be chosen by the librarian alone and in cooperation with faculty, staff, and students.
Criteria for Selection
Materials selected for inclusion in the collection of the Middlefork Learning Center Director shall satisfy the following:
Materials shall be chosen to enrich and support the curriculum and the educational, emotional, and recreational needs of the users.
Materials shall meet high standards of quality in:
physical or electronic format, as appropriate treatment of subject, accuracy, and currency of information arrangement and organization literary style.
Materials shall be appropriate for the subject area and for the age, emotional development, ability level, learning styles, and social development of Middlefork students.
Materials shall represent differing viewpoints of controversial issues so that users may be motivated to engage in critical analysis of such issues, to explore their own beliefs, attitudes, and behavior, and to make intelligent judgments in their everyday lives.
For further information on library selection policies in general, please see the following ALA documents:
Selection Tools
The following professional resources are available to assist the Middlefork Learning Center Director in the selection process; however, selection is not limited to the use of these tools.
Reviewing Media:
- Reviews in professional, reputable sources such as Booklist, School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Horn Book, Bulletin for the Center for Children’s Books, Voice of Youth Advocates, AASA Science Books and Films, and American Film & Video Association
- Recommendations by the Sunset Ridge School District librarians, ALA’s Young Adult Library Services Association, and children’s literature experts
- National and state awards such as Caldecott, Newbery, Coretta Scott King, Rebecca Caudill, Monarch and Bluestem
- Professional selection bibliographies such as The Best in Children’s Books and Elementary School Library Collection
- Online collection development tools such as Follett’s Titlewave
- Recommendations by faculty, administration, students or parents
Professional Collection
In order to serve the needs of Middlefork School faculty and staff and other members of the Middlefork community, the Middlefork Learning Center maintains a small professional collection of materials relating to the fields of education and library science.
The Middlefork LC Director selects titles appropriate for a core journal collection of interest and use to educators, administrators, and librarians, especially those at Middlefork.
Online Information Policy
In keeping with our role as a source of information, the library provides Internet access to information beyond the confines of our collection. The Internet affords us an exciting opportunity to have immediate access to timely and comprehensive information as well as a wide variety of primary sources. Providing connections to global information services and networks outside the library is different from selecting and purchasing materials for the library collection. The Internet changes rapidly, frequently, and unpredictably.
As the vast amount of information on the Internet is generated outside the library, the library cannot be responsible for accuracy, authenticity, currency, availability, or completeness of information. We cannot ensure that Internet communications are secure or private.
Because of the library's limitations, the user is responsible for using discretion when considering the quality of material, questioning the validity of information, and choosing what is individually appropriate.
For further information on Electronic Information Policy, please see the following ALA policy statements:
Access to Electronic Information, Services, and Networks
Questions and Answers: Access to Electronic Information
III. Gifts
The Middlefork LC welcomes gift materials. These materials shall be subject to the same criteria as those obtained through the regular selection process. Materials not chosen for inclusion in the Middlefork LC collection shall donated to local libraries and organizations in need.
IV. Deselection
Purpose
The Middlefork LC recognizes the importance of maintaining a collection of current, appropriate, and useful materials. Therefore, a periodic evaluation of the collection will be performed in order to remove or replace materials which are no longer useful. The following guidelines have been developed to aid in the deselection process; however, the final decision concerning the removal or replacement of material rests with the Middlefork LC Director.
Guidelines
Deselection by Appearance
Worn-out volumes: dirty, brittle, yellow pages; missing pages; tattered covers; etc.
Badly bound volumes: soft, pulpy paper and/or shoddy binding
Badly printed works
Books of antiquated appearance which might discourage use
Audio-visual materials with missing or broken pieces
Deselection of Superfluous or Duplicate Volumes
Unneeded duplicate titles
Older editions
Highly specialized books (when library holds more general or up-to-date volumes on the same subject)
Books on subjects of little interest to the local community
Books which no longer relate to the curriculum (if specialized)
Deselection Based on Poor Content
Information is dated
Information is inaccurate
Stereotypes are present
Book is poorly written
Deselection According to Use
Nonfiction: Book has not been checked out within last 10 years
Fiction: Book has not been checked out within last 5 years (classics excluded)
Categories of Books which may be quickly outdated:
000s: computer
100s: psychology (especially popular literature)
300s: college & career materials
400s: grammars with dated examples and/or illustrations
500s: astronomy, chemistry, physics, biology
600s: electronics, engineering, health, technology
900s: popular biographies
Mistakes in selection/acquisition
Categories of Books which are not quickly outdated:
dictionaries
biographical sources
literary criticism
classics of literature
foreign language literature
art books
local history/geography
books providing general principles of a subject or discipline
V. Reconsideration of Materials
Statement of Policy
The Middlefork LC subscribes in principle to the philosophy expressed in the American Library Association Library Bill of Rights and its supporting documents, and the American Association of School Librarians' School Library Bill of Rights for School Library Media Programs. Copies of these documents are appended to and made a part of this policy.
The Middlefork LC also recognizes that occasionally materials selected may be challenged or questioned, despite the care taken in selecting them. A procedure for processing and responding to criticism of approved material has been established and shall be followed. This procedure shall include a formal signed complaint of standard format and an appointed committee to reevaluate the material in question.
Procedure for handling Challenged or Questioned Books and Materials
Upon receiving a complaint, the Middlefork LC Director shall hold a conference with the patron making the complaint.
If the problem cannot be resolved in the conference, the patron will be given a "Citizen's Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials" form.
The patron will return the completed form to the Middlefork LC Director.
The Middlefork LC Director and the Principal of Middlefork will appoint a committee to review the complaint. This committee shall be composed of the Middlefork LC Director, the Principal of Middlefork, two teachers at Middlefork(one from the discipline and/or grade representing the subject matter of the material and one from a different discipline and/or grade), and one other member of the Middlefork community (this person could be a member of the Parent-Faculty Organization or another parent interest group).
The committee will review the complaint and make a written report and recommendation to the Principal/Director and the Middlefork Director.
Final disposition authority to keep or remove a book or other material rests with the Middlefork LC Director.
A letter explaining the decision shall be sent to the complainant.
Disposal of Deselected Materials
Damaged deselected materials may be recycled.
Deselected materials in good condition will be donated to local organizations in need.
For further information on the American Library Association's policy on challenged materials, please see:
Challenged Materials
District Policies
Instructional Materials
All District classrooms and learning/technology centers shall be equipped with a wide variety of teaching tools, textbooks, workbooks, and technological tools selected to meet curriculum goals and individual needs of students.
Since the purpose of all instructional materials is to support quality learning experiences for students, all District instructional materials shall:
Enrich and support the curriculum, taking into consideration the varied interests, abilities, and maturity levels of the students.
Stimulate growth in knowledge, literary appreciation, aesthetic values, and ethical standards.
Provide background information that will enable students to make intelligent judgments in their daily lives.
Develop the practice of critical analysis in the study of controversial issues.
Recognize the many religious, ethnic, and cultural groups and their contributions to our American heritage.
Ensure a comprehensive collection of appropriate text and supplementary materials for the students.
Depict in an accurate and unbiased way the cultural diversity and pluralistic nature of American society.
D29 Policy 686 Library Media Program
The Superintendent or designee shall manage the District’s library media program to comply with (1) State law
and Ill. State Board of Education (ISBE) rule and (2) the following standards:
1. The program includes an organized collection of resources available to students and staff to supplement
classroom instruction, foster reading for pleasure, enhance information literacy, and support research, as
appropriate to students of all abilities in the grade levels served.
2. Financial resources for the program’s resources and supplies are allocated to meet students’ needs.
3. Students in all grades served have equitable access to library media resources.
4. The advice of an individual who is qualified according to ISBE rule is sought regarding the overall
direction of the program, including the selection and organization of materials, provision of instruction
in information and technology literacy, and structuring the work of library paraprofessionals.
5. Staff members are invited to recommend additions to the collection.
6. Students may freely select resource center materials as well as receive guided selection of materials
appropriate to specific, planned learning experiences.
Supporting Documents
Partial list of sources consulted in preparing this policy:
Adams, Helen R. Ensuring Intellectual Freedom and Access to Information in the School Library Media Program. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2008.
Arnold, DoMonique. Collection Development. University of Illinois Lab School, 25 April 2013, http://www.library.illinois.edu/uni/policies/collectiondevelopment.html#reconsider. Accessed 20 July 2017.
Barber, Raymond W. & Bartell, Partice. Senior High Core Collection. Ipswich, MA: H.W. Wilson, 2011.
Gillespie, John T., and Barr, Catherine. Best Books for High School Readers. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2004.
For further information:
American Library Association's (ALA) Library Bill of Rights