Sun West School Library/Learning Commons Handbook
The school library collection is a specialized collection that supports the learning program of the school. It is developed in accordance with the school division administrative procedures on the selection of learning resources.
A quality school library collection:
· Provides learning resources that support curricula.
· Offers learning resources that are current, relevant, credible, and representative of many viewpoints.
· Provides for the cultural backgrounds; the diverse learning styles; and the range of ages, ability levels, gender, and maturity levels of the users.
· Balances a variety of formats including print, non-print, electronic, and virtual resources.
· Provides access to resources beyond the school through computer networks and inter-library loans.
· Responds to students’ interests and supports independent reading and research.
· Responds to the professional needs of teachers.
· Fosters opportunities for personalized (student-directed) learning, inquiry learning, resource-based learning, project-based learning, and independent learning in many forms.
Connections: Policy and Guidelines for School Libraries in Saskatchewan
Sun West School Division authorizes the purchase of instructional resources to meet curricular learning outcomes, including personal program plans that satisfy the vision, mission, shared values and goals of the Division.
Materials selected for Sun West School Division libraries are to be consistent with the following guidelines:
· support educational goals as outlined by the Ministry of Education.
· appropriateness for the subject area, as well as age and ability of the students for whom they are intended.
· high standards of quality in factual content, accuracy, balance, integrity and presentation.
Sun West School Division Administrative Procedure 203 Instructional Resources provides information about the purchase of resources as well as procedures related to challenged resources. (Form 203-1 Reconsideration of Learning Resources Request).
Physical Collection Guidelines
Collections should provide a wide range of learning resources: various formats; varying levels of difficulty; diversity of appeal; presentation of different points of view. Collections should contain:
· minimum of 4,000 items or 20 items per student, whichever is greater.
· ratio of fiction to non-fiction, including reference: 15-30% fiction to 70-85% non-fiction.
· variety of multimedia resources.
· at least 70% of the resources with a copyright date within the last 10 years.
· general reference materials that are no older than 7 years.
Determining Selection Needs
Selection of materials for the library collection shall be a collaborative responsibility among the school community which may include administrators, teachers, support staff, students and community members. Use one or more of the following criteria to select appropriate materials:
1. Steps to Determine Selection Needs:
Canvass staff to assist you in identifying areas in the collection that do not have adequate resources:
ask staff to identify priorities and preferences.
curricular relevance.
educational significance.
degree of user appeal.
validity, currency and appropriateness of material.
freedom from bias and stereotypes (gender equity).
Canadian and Saskatchewan content.
favourable reviews.
2. Review the active consideration file to review requests and needs that have been identified.
See Appendix F: Consideration File.
3. Select the priority areas for resource purchase:
select only two or three for one year.
develop a five year purchase plan but remain flexible.
4. Develop a budget with your school-based administrator.
(See Appendix D: Library Budget Template.)
5. Use Ministry document Learning Resources Evaluation Guidelines May 2011
Weeding
An ongoing part of collection development is regular weeding. Weeding is an activity that is premised upon informed professional judgment and a carefully articulated plan. Weeding ensures that the school library collection contains only those resource materials which are accurate, current and relevant to the curricular and recreational programs of the school.
Weeding facilitates access to quality resources. It removes the outward illusion of a well-stocked resource collection. Weeding results in more effective utilization of available space and assures an aesthetically appealing collection of materials. By providing materials that are appropriate to the total school program, the library and the school librarian will be a more effective integral part of the educational process.
Please refer to the weeding guidelines outlined in Appendix E: Weeding Guidelines.
Public Performance
Sun West School Division purchases two public performance licenses that allow the showing of most feature length films. License providers are VEC/Criterion (Visual Education Centre) and ACF (Audio Cine Films, Inc.). Teachers are responsible for recording the date of the showing and the title of the video/DVD on the Usage Report Forms. It is the school’s responsibility to fax the forms to the companies.[KB1]
Additional information as well as forms can be accessed at:
VEC/Criterion www.criterionpic.com
ACF www.acf-film.com
When purchasing a video/DVD, it is important that public performance rights are purchased. Videos and DVDs without these rights may NOT be shown to groups of students and are limited to HOME USE only. Public performance rights may be limited to the purchasing school and as a result may not be available for inter-library loan.
Copyright
Copyright is the legal protection of literary, dramatic, artistic, and musical works, sound recordings, performances, and communication signals. It provides creators with the legal right to be paid for — and to control the use of — their creations. Copyright also provides exceptions to the rights of creators. Refer to Administrative Procedures 190 Copyright.
You MAY copy, for school purposes,
excerpts of up to 10% of books, journals, magazines & newspapers.
The 10% limit may be exceeded if required to copy:
an entire chapter that comprises 20% or less of a book.
an entire short story, play, essay, or poem from an anthology or book.
an entire newspaper, magazine or journal article or page.
an entry from a reference work.
an illustration or photograph from a publication containing other works.
large print material to accommodate the perceptually disabled, published in Canada.
in limited circumstances specified in the license, out-of-print books.
Important: The author and source must appear on at least one page of your copies.
Everyone MAY copy:
works whose author(s) died more than 50 years ago (but not recent translations of the work).
any work with the permission of the copyright owner.
insubstantial parts of any work unless the part is highly significant or valuable.
portions of works for private study, research, criticism, review, or news reporting.
For more information, check out: http://www.accesscopyright.ca
SOCAN - Performing Rights License
SOCAN is an organization that administers the communication and performing rights of virtually the world's entire repertoire of copyright-protected music, when it is used in Canada. They collect licence fees, then distribute the fees as royalties to their members and affiliated performing rights organizations (PROs) worldwide. SOCAN ensures that music creators and publishers get paid for the communication and public performance of their music in Canada. To do this, they collect fees from individuals, businesses and organizations that play music in public, broadcast it, or communicate it by telecommunication. For more information, check out: http://www.socan.ca/
Purpose of Inter-library Loans
The purpose of an inter-library loan is to provide access to resources not available in the user’s library or in the Sun West School Division Professional Library:
materials may be borrowed for student research, curriculum support, professional research, or as an aid in the selection of materials for member libraries
Inter-library loan is an adjunct to, not a substitute for, collection development in individual school libraries.
Materials, regardless of format, may be requested from another library. The decision to lend individual items is at the discretion of the library staff of the lending library. Requests, even if they conform to this application, may be refused if they are considered detrimental to the interests of the lending library’s patrons. However, school librarians should do their utmost to accommodate all requests.
The following types of materials will not be loaned, but could be made available providing prior arrangements have been made:
rare, unique or valuable materials that would be difficult or impossible to replace
bulky or fragile items which would create shipping problems
reference books and other resources that ordinarily do not circulate
periodicals and serials
guided reading resources
seasonal interest titles
multi-volume sets: books published in sets of more than three volumes may not be available through inter-library loan, or may be available only a few volumes at a time.
Duration of Loan
The length of loan will be at the discretion of the lending library.
Borrower Responsibilities
Responsibilities of the borrower include:
the safety of the borrowed materials from the time the material leaves the lending library until they are returned.
packaging the materials to ensure their return in good condition.
meeting all costs of replacement should loss or damage occur.
returning the materials by the due date.
requesting a renewal prior to the item being due.
Lending Library Responsibilities
Responsibilities of the lending library include:
responding to all requests in a timely manner.
notifying the borrowing library that the request has been accepted and processed.
notifying borrower when unable to fill a request and providing a reason why the request cannot be filled.
stating any conditions and/or restrictions concerning the use of the materials lent and special return packaging or shipping requirements.
indicating clearly the due date and duration of the loan.
packaging all resources to prevent damage in transport.