LCPA LLC Goals

• Develop new and strengthen existing relationships with staff and students to engage in collaborative opportunities and maximize academic, professional, and personal growth for all stakeholders.

  • Establish a welcoming and inclusive space for all staff and students by providing hands-on opportunities to learn and engage with resources individually and collaboratively to meet the needs of all. Success will be measured by teacher and student feedback.

  • Host a bi-monthly lunch and learn, inviting staff to learn about new programs, technology, and other resources they can integrate into their classroom and professional development experiences. Success will be measured through session attendance and a brief post-session survey of effectiveness and use of the program/resource from the lunch and learns.

• Evaluate the diversity of the library collection and resources to ensure it supports our present stakeholder needs and will effectively evolve for their future.

  • Conduct an annual inventory audit to deselect outdated and irrelevant physical resources in order to place orders for updated, high-interest and high-relevancy resources aligned to our student and staff's professional, personal, and curriculum-based needs. Success will be measured by teacher and student feedback as well as monthly circulation data collection and evaluation.

• Effectively use and make available the library learning commons to benefit all patrons of the library.

  • Maintain a flexible schedule that provides staff and students more access to and use of the library space and resources for personal, professional, and academic needs according to their schedule. Success will be measured by collecting data on types and volume of library usage such as whole class, small group, and individual student visits to the library.

Collection development occurs at the individual school library level and is based on a needs assessment initiated by the school librarian. The librarian evaluates the existing collection and assesses curricular and recreational/ interest needs of the school library patrons to ensure materials support the school’s educational goals and policies, prioritizing the advancement of culturally responsive education (Chicago Public Schools, 2006). Selection is an ongoing process. Titles of materials that are worn or lost and are still valuable to the collection will be replaced.

The KCPS district endorses the American Library Association Bill of Rights in selecting materials. No particular work will be rejected on the basis of the writer or producer’s point of view or the possible controversial nature of the material. Certified librarians are delegated the major responsibility for evaluation, selection, and purchasing of library materials. They will involve all other patrons in the selection process when appropriate (Kansas City Public Schools, 2015).

The school librarian will consult reputable, unbiased, professionally prepared selection aids such as library-oriented journals and relevant databases that cover a range of materials, formats, intended library the materials serve, frequency of publication, and authority of the publisher and contributors. The selection aids consulted will provide information about the quality of the item, value of information, and, where applicable, how the material aligns for classroom use (Chicago Public Schools, 2006). Selection aids include but are not limited to:

• Reviews from Booklist, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly(Chicago Public Schools, 2006).

• Recommendations from ALA’s Young Adult Library Services Association(Chicago Public Schools, 2006).

• National and state awards such as Gateway Awards and ALA Book and Media awards(Chicago Public Schools, 2006).

• Professional selection bibliographies from Project LIT Community selections(Chicago Public Schools, 2006).

• Recommendations from faculty, administration, students, and parents (Chicago Public Schools, 2006).

In implementing the aforementioned objectives, librarians will:

• Select materials/electronic resources that implement, support, and are compatible with educational goals of the school and the school district.

• Select materials/electronic resources in which the presentation and subject matter are suitable for the grades and interest levels served.

• Select materials/electronic resources created by competent and qualified authors or producers that realistically represent our pluralistic society.

• Maintain a balance in the selection of materials/electronic resources of a controversial nature so as to include varying points of view so students may develop the practice of critical reading and thinking skills to judge works as a whole, rather than focusing on words, phrases, pictures, or incidents taken out of context.

• Provide materials/electronic resources that have a format and appearance suitable for their intended use.

• Provide materials/electronic resources in a variety of formats.

• Select materials/electronic resources of acceptable technical quality.

• Select materials/electronic resources on controversial topics based on the merits of the materials and their value to the collection and not on the basis of approval or disapproval of any one patron.

• Select materials/electronic resources that reflect many viewpoints, regardless of the librarian’s personal views (Kansas City Public Schools, 2015).

• Select materials/electronic resources that are representative of the diverse demographics of the school and district, representing students’ multiple lived experiences and backgrounds, embracing student identities, and prioritizing representation of historically marginalized communities (Chicago Public Schools, 2006)

• Select materials/electronic resources whose value commensurate with cost and/or need of the school library collection (Blue Valley Schools, 2015).

In an effort to maintain a library collection that supports the educational and recreational interests/needs of the diverse and unique school library patrons, materials may be de-selected (removed from collection) if:

• Subject matter is of no value to curriculum or students

• Material is seldom circulated/ utilized

• Material is in poor physical condition

• Copyright date should be considered; however, do not make a decision to weed based solely on the copyright date of the material (some older material may be considered classic or of great historical value to the collection)

• Material is mediocre or poor in quality

• Material is biased or portrays stereotypes

• Material is inappropriate in reading level

• Duplicate information which is no longer in heavy demand

• Material is superseded by new or revised information

• Material is outdated, unattractive, and/or obsolete in content, accuracy, format, design, graphics, and illustrations

• Material contains information which is inaccessible because they lack a table of contents, adequate indexing, and/or searching capabilities

• Material was not selected in accordance with general selection criteria

After deselection, the materials will be withdrawn from the circulation system; materials will be considered valueless and removed from the library (Kansas City Public Schools, 2015).

The LCPA Library Learning Commons strives to develop and maintain a collection of resources and materials in both print and non-print formats that support the inclusive environment of the library space and is both accessible and representative of the diversity and range of abilities, languages, cultures, and perspectives within our local, national, and global communities. In an ongoing effort to accomplish this, the LCPA LLC evaluates, selects, and showcases collection materials created by competent and qualified authors/artists/publishers and feature characters representative of many different cultures, races, sexual identities, abilities, ages, perspectives, religions, and beliefs through the policies and procedures outlined in this document.

The LCPA Library Learning Commons aims to provide materials and resources in both print and non-print formats that support the educational needs and personal interests of all patrons. The LCPA LLC will provide students and staff instruction on how to access state and specialized databases available to KCPS/Kansas City Public Library card holders for free through the KC Library website as well as building subscription based databases accessible through the LCPA website that are appropriate for their age and purpose.

The LCPA LLC will also review and purchase high-interest fiction title licenses in both eBook and audiobook format to be made available to LCPA staff and students. Non-print materials will be selected through an ongoing process and with the same selection criteria and process as print materials for the library collection.

Instruction for access to non-print library collection materials and resources – books, magazines, journals, newspapers – available in the LCPA library collection and Kansas City Public Library collection will be provided through direct instruction during the school year and made available through the LCPA library website as both written instruction and audiovisual instruction for 24/7 availability.

The LCPA LLC library collection will be formally evaluated at the beginning of each school year in order to improve the collection and meet the needs of the school and district’s curriculum standards and personal interests (Kerby, 2019). A report will be run within Follett to evaluate several data points of the collection. This data will include: the average age of the collection, number of total items with a distinction between print and non-print materials, fiction and non-fiction materials, and number of materials in various genres represented within the collection to inform the selection and ordering of new collection materials. The librarian will also conduct a visual evaluation to identify materials that require mending, discarding, or acquiring in the case of book series during initial inventory. The librarian will run a report of the circulation data for both the LCPA library collection and the KC Public Library collection each month to inform the circulation of materials by month, format of materials selected, age of books selected, and popular genres selected. Collection evaluation findings are reported to the school administration team.