Collection Development Policy

Mission

S. C. Gaw Library promotes literacy and research, supports the curriculum, and encourages collaboration with teachers to ensure that all students and staff are effective users of ideas and information; students are empowered to be critical thinkers, enthusiastic readers, skillful researchers, and ethical users of information.

Objective

Materials are selected from all forms of media available for interest, vocabulary, maturity, and ability levels of all students within the school, and it supports all departments of the school curriculum . The school library provides additional materials to attract students to reading, viewing, and listening as sources of pleasure and recreation over and above needed subject content. It attempts to foster reading as a lifelong activity through pleasurable exposure to print and non-print material.

Responsibility for Selection

Selection is a cooperative, continuing process. Principal, Library Committee, Teacher-Librarian, panel heads and teachers are responsible to select appropriate materials for the school. 

Criteria for Selection 

Educational goals, curriculum needs, faculty needs, students’ reading level, maturity level, background, needs and interests, and existing materials will be taken into consideration in developing the library collection.

Recommendations by the administrators, faculty members, students, parents, and other community members will be considered. Material selected should be favorably reviewed in one or more current or retrospective professional reviewing tools. All items should be followed the EDB instructions and the laws.

The following procedures will be followed when someone challenges the appropriateness of an item in the library collection

The following criteria are used as a guide in selection

• Literary and artistic merit 

       Lasting importance or significance to a field of knowledge 

• Contribution to the curriculum and the educational goals of the school 

• Favorable reviews found in standard selection sources 

• Favorable recommendations based on preview and examination of materials by professional personnel, adults with special expertise, or students 

• Reputation and significance of the author, producer and publisher 

• Currency or timeliness of material

• Contribution to the breadth and diversity of representative viewpoints on controversial issues

• Contribution to multicultural and pluralistic awareness 

• High degree of potential user appeal and quality, durability, and variety of format 

• Suitability of format and appearance for intended use 

• Value commensurate with cost and/or need 

• Variability of print and non-print formats to support student learning

Weeding and Discarded Materials 

The removal of materials no longer appropriate and the replacement of lost and worn materials still of educational value are part of the selection process. The library staff shall continually evaluate materials in the collection according to the selection criteria listed above, and shall discard materials that are outdated, worn, or otherwise no longer appropriate to the library collection. Duplicates of books and other materials shall be weeded when demand for them decreases sufficiently that multiple copies are no longer required. 

The following criteria are considered in weeding the collection

• Circulation: If the material has not been used in 15 years, it is weeded. 

• Physical Condition: If an item is in poor condition, it is weeded, and a decision must be made on whether to replace it. 

• Timeliness: Materials are weeded if they are 

(a) obsolete, particularly in the sciences and technology; 

(b) no longer in demand or not in support of the curriculum; 

(c) superceded editions. 

• Reliability: If materials are inaccurate, incomplete or otherwise unreliable, they are weeded. 

• Duplicates: Duplicates that are not circulating are discarded.

Gifts and Donations 

S C Gaw Library welcomes gifts and donations, which are considered for the collection if they: are in excellent condition, are not currently represented in the library collection, and fit into the selection criteria mentioned above.

Requests for Reconsideration

All materials selected will have been judged on the basis of relevance or permanent value, accuracy, authoritativeness, clear presentation and/or readability, and format. Insofar as it is practical, materials will be provided which present all points of view. Materials will not be excluded because of race, nationality, religion, or political views of the writer. When doubt arises about one of the possible selections whether print or non-print, approval copies will be examined by the librarian and at least two other members of Library Committee. 

The following procedures will be followed when a citizen challenges the appropriateness of an item in the library collection

1. When a complaint is received which specifically relates to any materials in the library, an informal discussion will be held to determine the nature of the complaint. 

2. When necessary, a Request for Reconsideration of Library Resources form will be provided to the complainant to fill out and return to the building principal. 

3. The Request for Reconsideration will be forwarded to an ad-hoc library review committee, appointed by the superintendent, which will consist of the librarian, a reading specialist and/or teacher from the school, the building principal, the director of library media services (if applicable), and a parent member of the school management team. 

4. A meeting of this library review committee will be scheduled within two weeks of the receipt of the Request for Reconsideration. 

5. Material will be judged by the committee as to its conformance with the criteria for selection listed. 

6. The written decision of the committee will be forwarded to the superintendent, who will inform the Board of Trustees and the complainant of the committee’s decision. 

7. If the complainant is dissatisfied with the decision, a request may be submitted to the Incorporated Management Committee to review all of the proceedings. The IMC will then render a final decision as to the appropriateness of the materials in question. 

8. Challenged materials may remain in circulation until the process is completed