Prospect Ridge Academy’s libraries provide an organized collection of resources, as well as instruction in the use of these materials. In addition to fostering a habit of reading, the Library's instructional program enables students to begin developing the skills they will need in an information-rich world.

Mission & Vision

Table of Contents

Guiding Statements about PRA Library

1. Support for Intellectual Freedom

2. Public School Selection Policy Objectives

3. School Library Responsibility for Selection

4. School Library Selection Criteria

5. Acquisitions Procedures in PRA School Library

6. Selecting Materials on Controversial Topics in School Libraries

7. School Library Collection Maintenance and Weeding

   1. Procedure for parent/guardian right to book selection

8. School Library Reconsideration

   1. Procedure for request for resource reconsideration 

Guiding Statements About The Libraries at 

Prospect Ridge Academy 

The Prospect Ridge Academy libraries are a welcoming space for all staff, students, and parents. We offer a diverse array of genres to foster the love of reading. We offer a wide range of non-fiction resources that supplement voluntary inquiry as well as classroom learning. The library wishes to be of support in your child’s learning and reading journeys.

The key difference between the K-8 Library and the H.S. Library resides mostly in the reading levels of the materials purchased for each domain. At Prospect Ridge Academy, we are aware that children have a wide range of reading abilities and interests, but the goal is to provide works at each grade level that pique their interests as well as challenge students intellectually. 

Both the K-8 library and the H.S. library are places of free and voluntary inquiry. As leaders in education, we value and esteem the role that reading produces in intellectual growth. To that end, the libraries offer diverse and varied resources for students to enjoy.

We intentionally separate the two library spaces because we are aware that the collections in each may be appropriate for one level and not the other.  Access to the HS library collection is possible for our MS students, but does require parent permission.

• Support for Intellectual Freedom 

Prospect Ridge Academy utilizes the standards set for by the American Library Association (ALA). 

Intellectual freedom is the right of library users to read, seek information, and speak freely as guaranteed by the First Amendment. Intellectual freedom is one of the core values of the library profession; it promotes access to information and guides the defense against censorship.

The Freedom to Read Statement asserts, “The freedom to read is essential to our democracy.” In a democratic society, individuals must be sufficiently knowledgeable to make informed decisions. Libraries provide their users with necessary information through a wide selection of materials from varying points of view. It is essential that library resources remain free to use for all, regardless of age. The Library Bill of Rights and its interpretations lay out rationales for these principles of intellectual freedom.

School Library Support for Intellectual Freedom

The PRA K-8 Library is guided by the principles set forth in the Library Bill of Rights and its interpretative statements, including “Access to Resources and Services in the School Library Program” and The Students’ Right to Read statement of the National Council of Teachers of English.

• Public School Selection Policy Objectives

Objectives are, of necessity, broad and relate to the mission of the school and its instructional program. Library materials are selected by the librarian in conjunction with the school leadership, the respective grade level teams, students, and parent recommendations. The selection policy seeks to implement, enrich, and support the educational program and personal interests of each student.

School Library Selection Policy Objectives

Per the American Library Association (ALA), the primary objectives in developing a school library collection are:

• To provide faculty and students with materials that enrich and support the curriculum and meet the needs of the students and faculty served.

• To provide students with a wide range of educational materials on all levels of difficulty and in a variety of formats, with diversity of appeal, allowing for the presentation of many different points of view.

• To select materials that present various sides of controversial issues, giving students an opportunity to develop analytical skills resulting in informed decisions.

• To select materials in all formats, including up-to-date, high quality, varied literature to develop and strengthen a love of reading.
  
  

• School Library Responsibility for Selection

Although the Board of Directors or governing authority is legally responsible for the resources used in a school, it delegates the selection of the library’s resources to its professional school library personnel. Teachers, students, parents, and administrators participate by making recommendations. The final responsibility and authority for the selection of library materials rests with the school library professionals who report to the school administration. 

• School Library Selection Criteria

Per the American Library Association (ALA), the primary criteria for selecting materials are: 

General Criteria:

• Support and enrich the curriculum and/or students’ personal interests and learning.

• Meet high standards in literary, artistic, and aesthetic quality; technical aspects; and physical format.

• Be appropriate for the subject area and for the age, emotional development, ability level, learning styles, and social, emotional, and intellectual development of the students for whom the materials are selected.

• Incorporate accurate and authentic factual content from authoritative sources.

• Earn favorable reviews in standard reviewing sources and/or favorable recommendations based on preview and examination of materials by professional personnel.

• Incorporate award winning publications from such established awards as Newbery, Printz, Coretta Scott King, Stonewall, Caldecott, Alex, Pura Belpre, and more.

• Exhibit a high degree of potential user appeal and interest.

• Represent differing viewpoints on controversial issues.

• Provide a global perspective and promote diversity by including materials by authors and illustrators of all cultures.

• Include a variety of resources in physical and virtual formats including print and non-print such as electronic and multimedia (including subscription databases and other online products, e-books, educational games, and other forms of emerging technologies).

• Demonstrate physical format, appearance, and durability suitable to their intended use.

• Balance cost with need.

Top Five Recommended School Library Reviewing Sources:

• Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Notable Children’s Books

• Booklist

• School Library Journal

• We Need Diverse Books website

• Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Best Books for Young Adults
  
  
  

• Acquisitions Procedures in PRA School Library

The librarian is responsible for creating a collection to support instruction, literacy, and students’ recreational reading. The library professional seeks input from teachers, other professional staff, students, and parents in developing the PRA collection. The school librarian is also responsible for weeding or de-selecting collection materials following policy guidelines as well as making a decision as to whether gift items will be accepted.

School Library Acquisitions Procedures

In selecting learning resources, professional personnel will evaluate available resources and curriculum needs and will consult reputable, professionally prepared aids to selection, and other appropriate sources. The actual resource will be examined whenever possible. The librarian will also consult reviewed materials to develop the collection.

*Recommendations for purchase involve administrators, teachers, students, district personnel, and community members, as appropriate.

• Gift materials shall be judged by the librarian and shall be accepted or rejected based on probability of student usage and circulation, on space availability within the library, on the condition, (like new? torn?), of the gift.  

• Selection is an ongoing process that should include removing materials that are no longer used or needed, adding materials, and replacing lost and worn materials that still have educational value.
  
  

• Selecting Materials on Controversial Topics in School Libraries

The majority of users served in school libraries are minors, and American society is often very protective of its youth. These two facts create challenges for school librarians selecting materials on a range of perspectives on topics which may be considered controversial by some in the school community. Hot button topics that may be deemed controversial and offensive to some range from LGBTQ-themed resources to politics, race relations, and sexually explicit language. Court decisions including Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District v. Pico (1982) established that minors do have First Amendment rights in schools including the right to receive information. Ethically, school librarians find guidance for selecting resources which may be considered controversial in the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, the American Library Association’s Code of Ethics, and the Freedom to Read Statement. Therefore, school librarians are ethically responsible to provide access to resources with varying perspectives for students’ curricular and personal information needs.

School Library Selection of Materials on Controversial Topics

The school board subscribes to the principles expressed in the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights. It is the responsibility of the school district to provide a wide range of materials on different levels of difficulty and representing different points of view. School library professional staff will provide materials on opposing viewpoints on controversial issues to enable students to develop necessary critical thinking skills to be discriminating users of information and productive members of society.

• School Library Collection Maintenance and Weeding

School librarians develop policies to guide collection maintenance and weeding to ensure that materials and resources are available to students and staff and also to more efficiently manage the collection. These policies include guidance on repair, replacement, and removal of materials. Weeding of the collection is also guided by clear policies to determine when items should be removed and if they should be replaced with newer, updated content. Conducting regular inventories of the collection is also an essential component of collection maintenance and weeding.

Collection maintenance and weeding policies also specify who repairs materials and is responsible for weeding and inventory. Policies provide guidance about disposal of weeded items.

School Library Collection Maintenance and Weeding

Annually, the school librarian will conduct an inventory of the school library collection and equipment. The inventory can be used to determine losses and remove damaged or worn materials which can then be considered for replacement. The inventory can also be used to deselect and remove materials that are no longer relevant to the curriculum or of interest to students. Additionally, school librarians should develop a collection maintenance plan that includes systematic inspection of materials that would result in culling outdated, damaged, or irrelevant materials from the collection.

• School Library Reconsideration

School libraries receive a large number of complaints about their library resources. It is important for school librarians to be prepared for both oral complaints and the possibility of informal concerns becoming requests for formal reconsideration. Part of being prepared is having a current board-approved selection policy with both informal and formal reconsideration procedures and having library staff, administrators, and school board members be familiar with the document. Additionally, having annual conversations with the principal about the selection policy, including reviewing the reconsideration process, ensures that administrators are familiar with and able to respond to library resource complaints. In determining who should have the right to bring forth an informal or formal request for reconsideration, districts should consider the ramifications of limiting or expanding who can request reconsideration. Too limiting may result in individuals seeking means to challenge materials outside of the formal procedures for reconsideration. Too broad may result in outside pressure groups utilizing the reconsideration procedures to bring multiple challenges to force their perspectives.

Whether during an informal complaint or a formal reconsideration of a library resource, library staff, administrators, and Reconsideration Team members complete their work using general agreed-upon principles such as:

• Libraries have diverse materials reflecting differing points of view, and a library’s mission is to provide access to information to all users.

• All library users have a First Amendment right to read, view, and listen to library resources.

• The Library Bill of Rights and the Freedom to Read Statement of the American Library Association can be used as guiding documents.

• Any person has the right to express concerns about library resources and expect to have the objection taken seriously.

• When library resources are reconsidered, the principles of the freedom to read, listen, and view are defended rather than specific materials.

• A questioned item will be considered in its entirety, not judged solely on portions taken out of context.

• Parents or guardians have the right to guide the reading, viewing, and listening of their children but must give the same right to other parents/guardians.

  • Parents can have child use the five finger rule to determine readability

  • Parents can scroll the text to determine reading level

• Questioned items will remain in circulation during the reconsideration process.

• The reconsideration process should be completed in its entirety and not subverted or ended prematurely, leaving the library open to legal challenge.

School Library Reconsideration Policy

Despite the careful selection of library resources and the qualification of those involved in the selection process, objections to library resources that are deemed offensive or inappropriate may occur. Any resident, employee, or student of the Prospect Ridge Academy community may express an informal concern or formal request for reconsideration of a library resource.

Resources used to create this document:

https://ncte.org/statement/righttoreadguideline/

https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill 

Contact Information

K8 Library - x1201

HS Library - x2201