Apponequet Regional High School Library

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Collection Development and Mission Statements

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It is the process of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of a library's materials collection in terms of patron needs and community resources and attempting to correct existing weaknesses, if any. Collection development is the process of making certain the information needs of the people using the collection are met in a timely and economical manner, using information resources produced both inside and outside of the organization.

Collection development on the whole is an art, not a science. It is subjected to value judgments and is, at times, a highly personal process. The librarian must constantly keep in mind the purposes of the library in which he/she works, and the reason that the library exists: to serve the patrons of the library's community.

The librarian's value judgments must be kept secondary to what the community of patrons wants and demands. It is the community's values which are primary.

It may be stated then, that the framework of collection development is a framework of values. These values are the values of the community which the library/media center serves.

Collection development should be geared primarily to identified needs rather than to abstract standards of quality. In order to be effective, it must be responsive to the total community's needs, not just those of active users. Careful thought must be given to selection of materials which might attract non-users. Collection development, therefore, must be carried out with a very active knowledge of the community; be that community one of a school, a district, a university, or a city or town.

Collection development should be carried out with knowledge of and participation in cooperative programs at the local, regional, national and international levels. It should consider all information formats for inclusion in the collection.

It should be further stated that collection development is not something that one learns entirely in the classroom or from reading. As noted earlier, it is a process -- a dynamic process in which those who are active in collection development bring into play their experience and their knowledge -- knowledge both of subject and of community.

Collection development is a process which is constantly fine-tuned and altered to keep in step with the community and its needs: it ". . . is an exciting challenge which requires lifelong learning." In order to approach collection development in a systematic way, there is a need to minimize the variables in the collection development process. To this end policies and statements of intent, policies of selection, selection criteria, and evaluation procedure must be narrowed and committed to the written form. Just as there is a need for law to be codified and committed to writing in order for it to be a valid and common reference point, so too must collection policies of libraries be written. And, like "living law", collection development policies should breathe life: ever capable of change and growth.

The gathered collation of all the policies and statements of community, community needs, selection, acquisition, use, de-selection and evaluation becomes the library's Collection Development Policy.

It is this policy which guides future collection, selection, de-selection, and evaluation. The following is the Collection Development Policy Statement of the Apponequet Regional High School Library, Freetown-Lakeville Regional School District, Lakeville, Massachusetts.

Being a "living document," one which is capable of change and one which is flexible enough to meet the changing needs of the community of patrons, this document is open to comment and suggestion for change. Such comments and suggestions are welcomed by the library staff and should be directed to the School Library Media Specialist.

MISSION

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All students, grades nine through twelve, are serviced. The library exists to implement, enrich and support the educational program of the school.

It is the intent of the library to serve as the hub of intellectual activity at the school.

It is therefore the library's mission ". . .to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information."

GOALS

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• 1. The library will serve the intellectual and educational needs of the school in varied ways: "by providing intellectual and physical access to materials in all formats;" "by providing instruction to foster competence and stimulate interest in reading, viewing, and using information and ideas;" through acquisition of and assistance with new technologies of service and instruction; and through provision of materials to incite and excite recreational reading.
  

  
  
  

• 2. The library will provide a facility to serve the intellectual and educational needs of the school through the provision and coordination of meeting areas, viewing areas, classroom and production areas.
  
  

• 3. It is a goal of the Apponequet Regional High School Library staff to provide an atmosphere conducive to learning, yet one which is comfortable, pleasing and relaxing.
  

• 4. It is a goal of the library to open its collection and facilities to the communities of Freetown and Lakeville as a whole, and to the staffs and students of the Freetown-Lakeville Middle School, the George R. Austin Intermediate School, the Freetown Elementary School and Lakeville's Assawompset Elementary School.
  

• 5. It is a goal of the library to work "with other educators to design learning strategies to meet the needs of individual students."
  

OBJECTIVES

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• 1. The library will provide materials which will support the individual curricula of the school through a comprehensive selection process which involves library staff, students and teachers.
  

• 2. The library will provide materials which will support the educational enrichment needs of students: materials which will amplify and expand upon the curriculum which is offered and materials which go beyond the scope of the present educational curriculum.
  

• 3. The library will provide for materials which offer remedial assistance to students. It will provide for low-reading level, high interest level materials which will spark interest amongst users of such materials.
  

• 4. The library will provide for career-oriented materials which will assist students in making career choices.
  

• 5. The library will provide for materials for students seeking information on institutions of higher learning; it will provide material assistance for those seeking information on college applications, college essays, finances and scholarship availability.
  

• 6. The library will provide for recreational reading interests of students through the provision of materials in fiction and non-fiction -- for all students at all levels of reading development and shall include works which fall into many genres: classics as well a popular fiction.
  

• 8. The library will provide auxiliary materials which will assist teachers in the implementation of their curriculum, in conformity with objectives enumerated in Information Power: Guidelines for school library media programs.
  

• 9. The library will provide intellectual access to information through systematic learning activities which develop cognitive strategies for selecting, retrieving, analyzing, evaluating, synthesizing, and creating information at all age levels and in all curriculum content areas.
  

• 10. The library will provide physical access to information through (a) a carefully selected and systematically organized collection of diverse learning resources, representing a wide range of subjects, levels of difficulty, communication formats, and technological delivery systems; (b) access to information and materials outside the library media center and the school building through such mechanisms as interlibrary loan, networking and other cooperative agreements, and online searching of databases; and (c) providing instruction in the operation of equipment necessary to use the information in any format.
  

• 11. The library will provide learning experiences that encourage users to become discriminating consumers and skilled creators of information through introduction to the full range of communications media and the use of new and emerging information technologies such as distance learning and the Internet.
  

• 12. The library will provide leadership, instruction and consulting assistance in the use of instructional and information technology and the use of sound instructional design principles.
  

• 13. The library will provide resources and activities that contribute to lifelong learning, while accommodating a wide range of differences in teaching and learning styles and in instructional methods, interests, and capacities.
  

• 14. The library will provide a facility that functions as the information center of the school, as a locus for integrated, interdisciplinary, intergrade, and school-wide learning activities.
  

• 15. The library will provide resources and learning activities that represent a diversity of experiences, opinions, social and cultural perspectives, supporting the concept that intellectual freedom and access to information are prerequisite to effective and responsible citizenship in a democracy.
  

However, achievement of this mission at the school level also requires:

• full integration of the library media program into the curriculum,
  

• a partnership among the school library media specialist, district-level personnel, administrators, teachers and parents;
  

• the serious commitment of each of those partners to the value of universal and unrestricted access to information and ideas.
  

POLICIES ADOPTED

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These policies and documents constitute the foundations of this Library's philosophy and should be read in that context.

The following policies and statements of the American Library Association are hereby adopted:

• Library Bill of Rights
  

• Free Access to Libraries for Minors
  

• Regulations, Policies, and Procedures Affecting Access to Library Resources and Services
  

• Statement on Labeling
  

• Library Access for Children and Young People to Videotapes and Other Non Print Services
  

• Expurgation of Library Materials
  

• Diversity in Collection Development
  

• Evaluating Library Collections
  

  
  

• Challenged Materials
  

• Restricted Access to Library Materials
  

  
  

• Library-Initiated Programs as a Resource
  

• Access to Resources and Services in the School Library Media Program
  

• The Universal Right to Free Expression
  

• Dealing with Concerns About Library Resources
  

• Freedom to Read
  

  
  

• Policy Concerning Confidentiality of Personally Identifiable Information about Library Users