Burrillville School Libraries Procedure Manual

The objectives of the materials selection policy 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 and critical thinking 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

The Burrillville School Committee delegates to the superintendent of schools the authority and responsibility for selection of library materials in all formats. Responsibility for actual selection rests with professionally trained library personnel using the committee's adopted selection criteria and procedures.

Collection development is governed by the following criteria:

• philosophy and goals of the school
• intellectual content and level of the collection
• changes in curriculum
• ability levels, learning style, and social and emotional development of the students
• attrition rate by loss, weeding, and aging of the collection
• changes in technology

INVENTORY

The school librarians in Burrillville conduct an annual inventory of the collection.  The inventory compares the shelf list records against the items on the shelves.  In addition to noting missing items, the librarian will take notes on the condition and age of the items on the shelves.  Books in need of repair are set aside. Additionally, the school librarians developed a collection maintenance plan that includes systematically inspecting materials that need to be weeded from the collection due to age, relevance, or damage.

WEEDING

Weeding is an ongoing process, but many times it takes place during the annual inventory.  The librarian encourages teachers with subject expertise to help with the weeding. Materials are often offered to them for evaluation.

Criteria for weeding:

• Outdated information
• Incorrect or biased information
• Worn out or damaged beyond repair
• Rarely or never circulated
• Duplicate titles that do not circulate