Reader Responsibility
In a library that serves faculty and students ranging in ages from fourteen to adults, a wide variety of materials are needed. Obviously, what is interesting and appropriate for fourteen-year-olds may not be interesting and/or appropriate for eighteen-year-olds and visa versa. When students first visit the library each year, Mrs. Liddle and Ms. Haney issue their standard advice: “If you choose a book that makes you uncomfortable or that would make your parents uncomfortable, return it.”
The beauty of libraries is that they are all about choice.
Adapted with permission from Reader Responsibility Statement/East Rockingham High School Library
For the Library Media Center
The main objective of our selection procedure is to provide students with a wide range of educational materials on all levels of difficulty and in a variety of formats, with diversity of appeal, allowing for the presentation of many different points of view.
Current reviewing media
The following criteria will be used as they apply:
The following kinds of material should be selected for the media center:
Materials integral to the instructional program.
Selection Policy Adapted from the American Library Association Recommendations
In a library that serves faculty and students ranging in ages from fourteen to adults, a wide variety of materials are needed. Obviously, what is interesting and appropriate for fourteen-year-olds may not be interesting and/or appropriate for eighteen-year-olds and visa versa. When students first visit the library each year, Mrs. Liddle and Ms. Haney issue their standard advice: “If you choose a book that makes you uncomfortable or that would make your parents uncomfortable, return it.”
The beauty of libraries is that they are all about choice.
Adapted with permission from Reader Responsibility Statement/East Rockingham High School Library
For the Library Media Center
The main objective of our selection procedure is to provide students with a wide range of educational materials on all levels of difficulty and in a variety of formats, with diversity of appeal, allowing for the presentation of many different points of view.
Current reviewing media
- AASA Science Books and Films Online
- Booklist
- Book Links
- Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
- Horn Book
- Kirkus Reviews
- Library Journal
- School Library Journal
The following criteria will be used as they apply:
- Learning resources shall support and be consistent with the general educational goals of the state and district and the aims and objectives of individual schools and specific courses.
- Learning resources shall meet high standards of quality in factual content and presentation.
- Learning resources shall be appropriate for the subject area and for the age, emotional development, ability level, learning styles, and social development of the students for whom the materials are selected.
- Physical format and appearance of learning resources shall be suitable for their intended use.
- Learning resources shall be designed to help students gain an awareness of our pluralistic society.
- Learning resources shall be designed to motivate students and staff to examine their own duties, responsibilities, rights, and privileges as participating citizens in our society, and to make informed judgments in their daily lives.
- Learning resources shall be selected for their strengths rather than rejected for their weaknesses.
- The selection of learning resources on controversial issues will be directed toward maintaining a diverse collection representing various views.
- Learning resources shall clarify historical and contemporary forces by presenting and analyzing intergroup tension and conflict objectively, placing emphasis on recognizing and understanding social and economic problems.
The following kinds of material should be selected for the media center:
Materials integral to the instructional program.
- Materials appropriate for the reading level and understanding of students in the school.
- Materials reflecting the interests and needs of the students and faculty served by the media center.
- Materials warranting inclusion in the collection because of their literary and/or artistic value and merit.
- Materials presenting information with the greatest degree of accuracy and clarity possible.
- Materials representing a fair and unbiased presentation of information. In controversial areas, the media specialist, in cooperation with the faculty, should select materials representing as many shades of opinion as possible, in order that varying viewpoints are available to students.
Selection Policy Adapted from the American Library Association Recommendations