Mission Statement

It is the mission of the St. Mary-Basha Catholic School Long Library to provide its users with quality materials that are selected with the overall purpose of ensuring that its staff and students are effective users of ideas and information. 

We:

• believe that every student can learn.
• deliver effective information skills instruction through librarian/teacher collaboration.
• support the aims and objective of the curriculum.
• support reading and reading development.
• integrate technology into the curriculum.
• inform students, staff, parents, and the community of the library's programs.

Role of the Long Library Media Center Program

The library media program is a center of instruction and inter-disciplinary curriculum support for St. Mary-Basha Catholic School. The program will:

• ensure fair and equitable access. 
• promote flexible scheduling. 
• develop lessons and collections in cooperation with other faculty members. 
• meet a variety of learning needs. 
• present diverse points of view. 
• promote intellectual freedom. 
• demonstrate optimal professional standards. 
• participate in professional development and training. 

Library/Teacher Collaboration

In order to meet student and teacher needs, the library media program will collaborate regularly with all teachers on media center based lessons and activities. The media center will aim to collect materials and resources to support collaboration. The purpose is to:

• teach information literacy skills.
• integrate technology into lessons.
• promote thematic, real world and critical thinking activities.
• promote excellence in the use of the media center.

General Collection Development

• present different points of view to promote critical thinking.
• meet the needs of different learning styles.
• display quality in content and appearance.
• replace lost or missing items or add to an established series or favorite author.
• exhibit interesting, challenging, and current titles.

General Guidelines for Selection

Materials selected for inclusion into the library's collections reflect the goals of the mission statement, supports St. Mary-Basha Catholic School’s Student Learning Expectations, and:

• supports the curriculum.
• be accurate, current, and authoritative.
• be of authentic quality.
• be age appropriate and reading level appropriate.
• reflect a diverse culture free of stereotypes.
• provide different points of view.
• be of optimal educational value.
• be attractive and functional.
• meet the needs of different learning styles.
• be in alignment with curriculum needs and standards.
• encourage lifelong love of reading and learning.
• cover a range of formats with an emphasis on print.
• support school-wide reading programs and reading development.
• include high interest, low level reading material.
• provide resources to support instruction.
• further the professional development of the staff.

Ideas for Supporting the Curriculum

Here are a few suggestions for identifying curricular areas which might need additional support in the library collection:

• Find books for next year based on teacher requests for this year.
• Work with staff members that can provide information for collection development.
• Survey teachers about units they will be teaching next year.
• Collect lists of recommended books given to students for projects; ask teacher whether assignment will be repeated and warrants support.
• Create a file or notebook page for each teacher to collect recommended books lists and materials for topics studied; make it available to other teachers doing the same units.
• Check against curriculum guides and recommended lists of curriculum support materials in review sources.
• Create a chart of project-based research activities in the school. Study where improvements can be made.

Selection Guides in Individual Formats

All formats must conform to the aforementioned selection guidelines. In addition, the following attributes are desirable. The librarian should make full use of selection tools.

Books:

• reviews from selection materials.
• support reading programs and a range of reading levels.
• reflect recommended reading lists.
• be attractive, of lasting quality, and unabridged.
• illustrations should be clear and convey meaning.
• have concise, readable indexes.

Periodicals:

• magazines should encourage leisure reading.
• other periodicals should be available via an electronic database for research.
• should be age-appropriate and have a recommendation from an authoritative source.
• inter-disciplinary titles with widest appeal are most desirable.

Comic books and graphic novels:

• provide age-appropriate, palatable reading material.
• encourage reluctant readers.
• promote leisure reading.
• present excellence in illustration and story.
• refrain from gratuitous accounts of violence and appropriate behavior.

Videos and DVDs:

• should reflect non-stereotyped and multicultural points of view.
• should be in alignment with the curriculum.
• should have a teacher's guide and/or classroom activities.

Audio:

• works of classical, artistic, and historical music are desirable.
• audio books should be of sound literary value.
• audio books should conform to the standards of print books.

Online:

• the Internet is a source of information subject to the same general selection guidelines.
• filtering will be challenged when erroneously deselecting quality Web sites.
• sites of particular educational interest and of lasting appeal will be added to the collection.

Realia:

• should stand up to handling.
• be functional and durable and reflect an educational purpose.

Games:

• have high educational value.
• should be complete and durable.
• should instruct and encourage group work.

Software, databases, and electronic resources:

• should be utilitarian in nature.
• should support the curriculum.
• contain features like help files, indexing, and searching facilities.
• be interactive and functional.
• should conform to copyright or licensing requirements.
• have a teacher's or user's guide.
• have an 800 number technical support facility.

Responsibility for Collection Development

• The librarian and school principal have the ultimate say on what is appropriate for the library's collection.
• The school principal will carry out the guidelines for learning resources in the school.
• It is expected that the librarian will use professional judgment and expertise to select material appropriate in level and scope.
• A consideration file is available to take suggestions from students, parents, and staff.

Selection Tools

The following selection tools may be used to make informed judgments about collection development.

Reviews:  School Library Journal, Horn Book Guide, Booklist, NCTM, NCSS, NSTA, NCTE.

Guides:  Books in Print, Reading in Series, Guide to Multicultural Resources, Books by African-American Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults, Magazines for Kids & Teens!, Children's Literature Web Guide.

Reading Lists: Accelerated Reader.

Awards: Newbery, Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, ALA Best Books for Young Adults, Notable Children's Trade Books, Sasquatch, Washington Children's Choice,

Testimonials: recommendations from well-known authors, educators, professionals, staff, students, and parents.

Preservation of the Collection

Follow acceptable alternatives for dealing with lost and damaged materials.

• Collect replacement cost of item.
• Accept reasonable replacement copy.

Reasonable care should be taken to ensure optimal environmental conditions for materials. 

• Store away from direct heat and light. 
• Shelve comfortably in an upright position where possible. 
• Store in a climate-controlled environment when possible, routinely avoiding extremes.
• Handle with respect and care. 

  Acceptable Use of the Internet

The Internet is a wealthy source of reference information and is an acceptable method of electronic transfer of information as required by state educational guidelines. Students and staff must take care to use the Internet with the highest level of responsibility conforming to the Acceptable Use guidelines available in the student and staff handbooks and signed by all staff and students. 
       To view copies of policies, procedures and forms see your agenda.

Copyright

It is the intention of the library to adhere to the copyright laws. In order to prevent infractions of the US Code, the following guidelines have been developed: 

• School employees must conform to the Copyright Act of 1976, Title 17 of the US Code.
• School employees must also conform to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 1998. 
• Illegal copies may not be made or used on school equipment.