The selection of books and materials shall be guided by the principles expressed in the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights.
The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services.
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.
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.
Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.
Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.
A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.
Libraries which 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.
All people, regardless of origin, age, background, or views, possess a right to privacy and confidentiality in their library use. Libraries should advocate for, educate about, and protect people’s privacy, safeguarding all library use data, including personally identifiable information.
Adopted June 19, 1939, by the ALA Council; amended October 14, 1944; June 18, 1948; February 2, 1961; June 27, 1967; January 23, 1980; January 29, 2019.
Library media personnel are concerned with generating understanding citizens. To this end, the responsibility of the school library media center is:
To provide a comprehensive collection of instructional materials selected in compliance with basic written selection principles and to provide maximum accessibility to these materials.
To provide materials that will support the curriculum, taking into consideration the individual’s needs, the varied interests, abilities, socioeconomic backgrounds, and maturity levels of the students served.
To provide materials for teachers and students that will encourage growth in knowledge and that will develop literacy, cultural and aesthetic appreciation and ethical standards.
To provide materials, which reflect the ideas and beliefs of religious, social, political, historical, and ethnic groups and their contribution to the American and world heritage and culture, thereby enabling students to develop intellectual integrity in forming judgments.
To provide a written statement, approved by the local board of education of the procedure for meeting the challenge of censorship of materials in the school library media centers. (LINK to Board Policies page 395)
To provide qualified professional personnel to serve teachers and students.
The legal responsibility for all instructional materials rests with the school district’s governing board of education. A selection committee composed of administrators, library media professionals, teachers, students, and parents are involved in the selection process. The responsibility for the final selection shall be delegated to the professionally trained library media personnel who know the curriculum, the students, and the philosophy of the school system.
The ultimate authority for the selection and retention of materials for the school's media centers rests with the Board of Education, which shall serve as a final arbiter in resolving a challenge to any media center materials.
The responsibility for the library selection shall be delegated to the professionally trained, licensed media center personnel who know the curriculum, the students, and the philosophy of the school system. Materials selected shall be in accordance with the guidelines of this policy. The purpose of the schools' libraries/media centers is to supplement and enrich the curriculum and instruction offered by the District. Promoting the dialogue characteristic of a healthy democracy necessitates the maintenance of a broad range of materials and information representing varied points of view on current and historical issues. In the selection of the materials and resources to be available in each library/media center consideration will be given to their age appropriateness. Materials should be available to challenge the different interests, learning styles, and reading levels of the school's students and that will help them attain the District's educational goals.
Criteria for the selection of materials are determined by the needs of the individual school based on knowledge of the curriculum and the individual needs of the students. In addition, the criteria used in the selection of media center materials shall be that the materials:
Support and enhance the curricular and educational goals of the district;
Are appropriate for the ages, learning styles, interests, and maturity of the schools' students, or parents in the case of parenting literature;
Contribute to the examination of issues from varying points of view and help to broaden students understanding of their rights and responsibilities in our society;
Help develop critical thinking skills;
Provide inspirational value, serve reluctant readers, serve mature readers, provide for recreational reading, develop aesthetic taste;
Are factually and/or historically accurate, in the case of non-fiction works and/or serve a pedagogical purpose;
Have literary merit as perceived by the educational community; and
Are technically well produced, physically sound (to the extent appropriate), and represent a reasonably sound economic value.
Weeding is as important as book selection in providing accuracy of information. Continuous and systematic weeding and discarding of obsolete or worn-out materials is encouraged. The criteria for weeding and discarding materials are the same as selecting and evaluating new materials.
Other considerations for weeding are:
Poor content.
Outdated information.
Non-circulation materials.
Inappropriate reading levels.
There will be duplicate copies of materials if there is a definite need for them. It is usually more important to provide a variety of materials rather than several copies of one item. When there are several sections of a grade, multiple copies of standard titles may be essential. These titles are usually those that do not date rapidly. Examples: books on birds, insects, trees and games.
The Selection and Challenge Policies will be reviewed annually.
Most difficulties can and should be resolved at the building level. Issues can usually be resolved through informal inquiry and discussion with principals, teachers, and library media specialists.
The parent, legal guardian, person having lawful control of a student, or person acting in loco parentis of a student affected by a media selection, or a district employee may formally challenge the appropriateness of a media center selection by following the procedure outlined in this policy.
I. Only one challenge at a time will be allowed. Each challenge must be finalized before another challenge will be considered.
II. Challenges will only be accepted while school is in session
III. The challenged material shall remain available throughout the challenge process.
IV. The complainant must read the work in its entirety.
V. The complainant may not challenge a book for simply having gay characters (Act 372).
VI. Most difficulties can and should be resolved at the building level. Issues can usually be resolved through informal inquiry and discussion with principals, teachers, and library media specialists.
VII. The complainant may schedule a meeting with the building principal and/or the media 16 specialist by email. Before this meeting, the complainant will be provided with the school district’s challenge policy and Request for Reconsideration Form, also by email. The complainant has 10 days to submit the form from receipt by email. This meeting will take place at the earliest convenience but no later than five working days from the date of the request unless it is by the choice of the complainant.
VIII. When a Request for Reconsideration Form is received, the building principal will form a committee of five to seven licensed personnel to re-evaluate the material being challenged. At least one of the members of the committee will be a media specialist. The principal or his or her designee shall be a member of the committee and may serve as the chair of the committee. The committee members who are not the principal or the media specialist shall be licensed personnel with curriculum knowledge appropriate for the material being challenged. The committee members will be representative of diverse viewpoints.
IX. The complainant shall provide each committee member a copy of the material being challenged.
X. The complainant can submit to the committee their objection to the material being challenged in writing or in person.
XI. The committee shall determine if the material being challenged meets the criteria of selection.
The committee will
Read and examine the material.
Check general acceptance of the materials by reading American Association of School Librarian recommended reviews such as Booklist, The Horn Book Guide to Children’s’ and Young Adult Books, The Horn Book Magazine, Kirkus Reviews, New York Times Book Review, Publishers Weekly.
Weigh values and faults against each other, but the opinions shall be based on the material as a whole. Passages or parts should not be
pulled out of context.
Be reminded that material being challenged shall not be withdrawn solely for the viewpoints expressed within the material.
Be reminded that consultant(s) may be used to review materials in particular subject areas if needed.
The committee shall make its decision, during the initial meeting or subsequent meetings, to be determined by the simple majority
ballot vote to retain or remove the resource. Decision options are to remove the book, promote the book to a media center for older students, or to keep the book in place.
A member of the committee shall write a summary of the reasons for the majority’s decision.
Notice of the committee’s decision shall be given by hand or by certified mail to the person who submitted the request.
The procedure for an appeal to the Board of Education will be as follows:
The complainant may ask for an appeal of the decision made by the Reconsideration Committee. The appeal must be made in writing to the
superintendent within five working days of the committee's decision or complainant’s receipt of the committee’s decision.
The complaint will then be shared with the school board within 15 days of the committee’s decision.
The board reserves the right to use outside expertise if necessary to help in its decision making.
The chairperson for the District-Level Reconsideration Committee will present the committee’s decision to the board.
The Superintendent may also share his or her recommendations to the school board.
From receipt of the appeal, the school board will make a decision within 30 days. The meeting will be public and subject to the Freedom of
Information Act of 1967.
The board decision will be final, and the superintendent will implement the decision.
Decisions on reconsidered materials will stand for five years before new requests for reconsideration of those items will be entertained.
Date Adopted: 05-20-2023 Last Revised: 07-27-2023