DurdenPolicyAssignment

8/9/2019 DurdenPolicyAssignment

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Administrative Policy Handbook/ Policy Issues PaperITEC 7132

Christie Edwards Durden

When Ebenezer Middle School first opened, many of the classrooms and offices were empty. The media center shelves looked bare. The school had

very few resources like computers or science equipment. At lunch the cafeteria was only half full. As the school has grown, there have been manychanges. There has been an addition of 6 new classrooms to one of the wings to accommodate the swelling student population. The school has acquired

a mobile computer lab, a classroom computer lab, and ten new computers in the media center. The shelves in the media center are well stocked. In spiteof these changes, there has been little revision of the schools media center administrative policies even though it is the current county policy to review

that handbook on an annual basis. In fact, the last county wide revisions were made in July of 2002.

After reviewing the media center policies, my main concerns with the current media center policies are that they neglect information literacy andintellectual freedom. Also many of the policies as they are written are vague and need further explanation to be truly effective. The table below is a

review and discussion of the current media center policies as well as a discussion of needed additions. It is important to note that Ebenezer MiddlesSchool operates under the school level policies as well as county level policies. County level policies are discussed here.

Evaluation of Ebenezer Middle Schools Administrative Policy HandbookCurrent County Level Policies (last revision July 2002)

Policy Evaluation/Discussion of CurrentPolicy

Suggestions

Goals of theSchoolLibraryMediaPrograms

This policy lists the goals ofEffingham County's school mediaprogram. It simply states that theselection of media resources bebased on curriculum requirementsand the interests and needs ofstudents and teachers.

My suggestion for this policy is to add the following statement:The school media program also seeks to uphold the protections ofstudents rights to access information to read, listen to, view, andevaluate as defined by the First Amendment of the United StatesConstitution (Bishop, 2007). This statement reflects best practiceas it pertains to the protection of students rights. This particularstatement is also important in the reconsideration of materialsprocess. The Kankakee high school media center effectively

addresses intellectual freedom in the statement of their goals. Anexample of what they have written in their goals can be found atthe website below.http://www.kv.k12.in.us/kvhs/goals.htm

I would also add the instruction of Information Literacy skills tothe list of goals for the county as this should be the main focus inthe library media program in this technological age. The followingwebsites address information literacy in the media program. Bothwebsites are an example of how information literacy can be

addressed in the statement of goals.

http://www.apscms.net/west/media-center/
http://www.kv.k12.in.us/kvhs/goals.htmhttp://www.apscms.net/west/media-center/http://www.kv.k12.in.us/kvhs/goals.htmhttp://www.apscms.net/west/media-center/


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http://chesterfield.k12.va.us/Instruction/Library_Media/Library_Media_Handbook.html

Roles &Responsibilities

This policy designates The EffinghamCounty Board of Education as thelegal body ultimately responsible forthe selection of materials for schoolmedia centers. It gives the mediaspecialist along with the mediacommittee the ultimate responsibilityfor selecting resources and fordetermining short term and longterm goals. It also gives authority to

the media committee in terms ofchallenged materials. I think that it isan excellent policy to have acommittee to make importantdecisions such as these.

Because the media committee is involved with the considerationof challenged materials, the first suggestion that I would make forthis policy is to broaden the media committee to include membersof the community as well as additional members with expertise inthe area of the challenge. I would suggest looking at theSavannah School Systems policies as an example.https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/ePolicy/policy.aspx?PC=IFBD-R&Sch=4140&S=4140&RevNo=2.37&C=I&Z=R

I would also provide a better understanding of the day to day

roles and responsibilities of the media specialist and mediaassistant. The following links provide a comprehensive list ofduties and responsibilities for the media specialist and mediaassistant. I think that this is important to add to the handbook asit will facilitate a better working relationship between the mediaspecialist and the media assistant.

Media Specialist:http://www.georgetownisd.org/programs/support/libmanual/manual2.htm#Librarian/%20Library%20Media%20Specialist%20Job%20Description

Media Assistant:http://www.georgetownisd.org/programs/support/libmanual/manual2.htm#Library%20Assistant/Aide/Clerk

MediaSelectionGuidelines

This policy outlines the criteria thatshould be used to select materials. Itis a very comprehensive list thatincludes criteria like enriching thecurriculum, maturity level of user,providing different points of view. Italso discusses selecting materialbased upon principle and reason asopposed to personal opinion orprejudice.

I would suggest adding the following statement to this policy:Providing media that is relevant to todays world (Bishop, 2007). Itis important to keep the collection up to date. I might alsoreference the goals of the media center in this section as thegoals of the media center should also play a role in selection ofmaterials. As an additional note, referencing the goals in thissection would also incorporate intellectual freedom into theselection policy.
http://chesterfield.k12.va.us/Instruction/Library_Media/Library_Media_Handbook.htmlhttp://chesterfield.k12.va.us/Instruction/Library_Media/Library_Media_Handbook.htmlhttps://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/ePolicy/policy.aspx?PC=IFBD-R&Sch=4140&S=4140&RevNo=2.37&C=I&Z=Rhttps://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/ePolicy/policy.aspx?PC=IFBD-R&Sch=4140&S=4140&RevNo=2.37&C=I&Z=Rhttp://www.georgetownisd.org/programs/support/libmanual/manual2.htm#Librarian/%20Library%20Media%20Specialist%20Job%20Descriptionhttp://www.georgetownisd.org/programs/support/libmanual/manual2.htm#Librarian/%20Library%20Media%20Specialist%20Job%20Descriptionhttp://www.georgetownisd.org/programs/support/libmanual/manual2.htm#Librarian/%20Library%20Media%20Specialist%20Job%20Descriptionhttp://www.georgetownisd.org/programs/support/libmanual/manual2.htm#Library%20Assistant/Aide/Clerkhttp://www.georgetownisd.org/programs/support/libmanual/manual2.htm#Library%20Assistant/Aide/Clerkhttp://chesterfield.k12.va.us/Instruction/Library_Media/Library_Media_Handbook.htmlhttp://chesterfield.k12.va.us/Instruction/Library_Media/Library_Media_Handbook.htmlhttps://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/ePolicy/policy.aspx?PC=IFBD-R&Sch=4140&S=4140&RevNo=2.37&C=I&Z=Rhttps://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/ePolicy/policy.aspx?PC=IFBD-R&Sch=4140&S=4140&RevNo=2.37&C=I&Z=Rhttp://www.georgetownisd.org/programs/support/libmanual/manual2.htm#Librarian/%20Library%20Media%20Specialist%20Job%20Descriptionhttp://www.georgetownisd.org/programs/support/libmanual/manual2.htm#Librarian/%20Library%20Media%20Specialist%20Job%20Descriptionhttp://www.georgetownisd.org/programs/support/libmanual/manual2.htm#Librarian/%20Library%20Media%20Specialist%20Job%20Descriptionhttp://www.georgetownisd.org/programs/support/libmanual/manual2.htm#Library%20Assistant/Aide/Clerkhttp://www.georgetownisd.org/programs/support/libmanual/manual2.htm#Library%20Assistant/Aide/Clerk


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Criteria forMediaSelection

This policy is somewhatdifferent from the MediaSelection Guidelines discussedabove. It is more of a checklistthat should be used forselecting quality materials. Itincludes criteria like selecting

books and other materials thathave been critically reviewedby reputable, professionalorganizations, material that isdurable and well bound,material that has undergonepersonal examination byteachers, the media committeeor the media specialist, andmaterial that accommodatesvarious learning styles.

Although this policy has some different guidelines for selectingmaterial, it is a bit redundant. It goes back over the many of thesame criteria listed in the Media Selection Guidelines policy. Itrestates that material should be selected to support and enhancethe curriculum. It also restates that material should be selectedbased upon student maturity level and allow for different points ofview. So, I would suggest combining these two sections into a

more concise policy. I would also add the statement that selectionof material not be limited to just one criteria or standard (Bishop,2007). I would add this statement because there seems to be a lotof emphasis in this section about selecting materials and booksbased upon written reviews. It is good practice to considerreviews when selecting material, but decisions should not bebased upon reviews alone. I would suggest using the following linkas a guideline for developing a better selection policy. It also is agood example of how to incorporate intellectual freedom into theselection process.

http://www.d91.net/LRC/LRCPDF/LRC%20Selection%20Policy.pdf

Special SelectionConsiderations

This section of the policy deals withmaterials that are not necessarilypurchased by the media center. Theselection policies here refer tomaterial that is brought to school byteachers and students, gifts andloans, and sponsored material. Theselection policies here are the samefor purchased material.

Books and other media provided byprivate, commercial, or non-profitdonors will meet the same criteriaestablished for purchased materials.

The main thing that I would add to this policy is the followingstatement: Gifts should be free of advertisements. In addition allgifts become the property of the school district and when declaredsurplus can be dispensed as deemed appropriate by the mediaspecialist. The media center does not accept gifts with restrictionsor conditions relating to their final use (Bishop, 2007). Thefollowing website provides an example of a policy on gifts anddonations that could be modified for our use. I like the fact that itgives a list of what is acceptable and not acceptable for donation.

http://www.stafford.ctschool.net/Shs/LIBRARY/PdfsDocs/giftpolicy.pdf
http://www.d91.net/LRC/LRCPDF/LRC%20Selection%20Policy.pdfhttp://www.stafford.ctschool.net/Shs/LIBRARY/PdfsDocs/giftpolicy.pdfhttp://www.stafford.ctschool.net/Shs/LIBRARY/PdfsDocs/giftpolicy.pdfhttp://www.d91.net/LRC/LRCPDF/LRC%20Selection%20Policy.pdfhttp://www.stafford.ctschool.net/Shs/LIBRARY/PdfsDocs/giftpolicy.pdfhttp://www.stafford.ctschool.net/Shs/LIBRARY/PdfsDocs/giftpolicy.pdf


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Reconsiderationof ChallengedMaterials

This section of the policy describesthe procedures that are to befollowed when material ischallenged. I think that it is a fair

policy and it is a very well written.

The only thing that I would change about this particular policy isto add the following statement: The material being challengedshall remain on the media center shelf until the finaldetermination is made. It is essential to intellectual freedom to

have this in a challenged materials policy. The website below forWamego High School has a very comprehensive challengedmaterials policy. It too states that challenged material shallremain in circulation.

http://www.usd320.k12.ks.us/whs/lmc/challenged.html

Collectionmaintenance

This section of the policydescribes the procedures forthe disposal of mediaequipment/hardware. It gives

the media committee theauthority to dispose of materialthat is damaged.

I would change this policy in several ways. First I would add aweeding policy to this section. This policy only describesprocedures for disposal of equipment and hardware. It does notmention books and other materials. To remedy that I would add

the following: Materials in the media center will bereevaluated/removed using the MUSTY criteria as developed byJoseph Segal and taken from the Harmony High website below.Materials would be removed at the discretion of the mediaspecialist, principal, or media committee.M - misleading (obsolete), including out-of-date materials in bothfiction and nonfiction areasU - ugly, referring to the book's physical conditionS - superseded, meaning that there are newer copies availableT - trivial, whether or not it is appropriate. Factors consideredinclude writing quality, accuracy, interest and reading level the

book.Y - your collection has no use or room for the book. Factorsconsidered include usage and quality of format.
http://www.usd320.k12.ks.us/whs/lmc/challenged.htmlhttp://www.usd320.k12.ks.us/whs/lmc/challenged.html


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Christie Edwards Durdenhttp://www.hhs.osceola.k12.fl.us/mcpolicies.asp

The following website also has some criteria that I wouldincorporate into the collection maintenance policy. It provides a

comprehensive list of criteria that should be used when weedingitems from the collection. It also provides a list of reasons why itis necessary to weed a collection. I think that this is importantbecause many people do not understand why it is essential to thequality of a collection to do periodic weeding.

http://www.libraries.phila.k12.pa.us/handbook/handbook-weeding.html

CirculationProcedures

This part of the policy discussesthe types of things thatteachers and students canborrow from the media center.It also discusses the length oftime that patrons may keepitems. For students, it is veryspecific. They have two weeksto return borrowed items. Forteachers, it is very vague withregard to how long teachers

are allowed to keep material.The current policy states thatmaterial should be returned ina timely manner. It also statesthat items like LCD projectorsand VCRs are for short termloan.

The University Laboratory High School Library has developed aclear timetable for the return of materials for students and staff. Iliked the fact that they give students a longer length of time toreturn certain types of books. I also like the fact that it is veryspecific in terms of how long certain items can be checked out. Ithink it is a good model, and can be used to develop our ownpolicies.

http://www.uni.uiuc.edu/library/policies/index.php

Needed PoliciesPolicy

Discussion and Suggestions

ControversialMaterials I think that this is a much needed section in any media program. I like the following ControversialMaterials policy statement taken from the Atlanta Public Schools website below. It does an excellent jobof readdressing students rights. I think I would put it before the reconsideration of challenged materialssection. This also reflects best practice as a section on controversial issues should be included in aselection policy (Bishop, 2007).
http://www.hhs.osceola.k12.fl.us/mcpolicies.asphttp://www.libraries.phila.k12.pa.us/handbook/handbook-weeding.htmlhttp://www.libraries.phila.k12.pa.us/handbook/handbook-weeding.htmlhttp://www.uni.uiuc.edu/library/policies/index.phphttp://www.hhs.osceola.k12.fl.us/mcpolicies.asphttp://www.libraries.phila.k12.pa.us/handbook/handbook-weeding.htmlhttp://www.libraries.phila.k12.pa.us/handbook/handbook-weeding.htmlhttp://www.uni.uiuc.edu/library/policies/index.php


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Controversial MaterialsTraining for effective citizenship is accepted as one of the major purposes of the Atlanta Public Schools. The instructional program developed to achieve this purpose properly places great emphasis upon

teaching about our American heritage, the rights and privileges we enjoy as citizens, and the citizenshipresponsibilities that must be assumed in maintaining our American way of life. In training for effectivecitizenship, it is frequently necessary for students to study issues that are controversial. Whenconsidering such issues, students will have the following rights:

1. To study any controversial issue that has political, economic or social significance and concerningwhich, at the appropriate level, the student should begin to have an opinion.

2. To have free access to all relevant information, including the materials that circulate freely in thecommunity.

3. To study under competent instruction in an atmosphere of freedom from bias and prejudice.4. To form and express opinions on controversial issues without thereby jeopardizing relationships

with teachers and/or the school.

https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/ePolicy/listing.aspx?S=4004&Sch=4004&C=I&F=

References

Bishop, Kay (2007). The Collection Program in Schools: Concepts, Practices, and

Information Resources. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited.
https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/ePolicy/listing.aspx?S=4004&Sch=4004&C=I&Fhttps://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/ePolicy/listing.aspx?S=4004&Sch=4004&C=I&F

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