Collection Development Plan: Mt. Zorro Elementary School
2014-2015
for LIS S502
Kristen S. Nicoson
Department of Library Science
School of Informatics and Computing
Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
Author Note
This plan is designed as a class exercise and Mt. Zorro
Elementary School is a fictitious location.
For more information about this mock plan, contact:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Table of Contents
The Mt. Zorro Elementary School Media Center................................................................. 3
Site Description................................................................................................................ 3
Demographics.................................................................................................................. 3
Funding............................................................................................................................ 4
Governance and Organization......................................................................................... 4
New Collection Subject Area:
Hispanic/Latino Studies.................................................. 5
Mission Statement.............................................................................................................. 6
Intellectual Freedom Policy............................................................................................... 7
Request for Reconsideration............................................................................................ 7
References........................................................................................................................... 9
Appendix A....................................................................................................................... 10
Appendix B........................................................................................................................ 11
Collection
Development Plan: Mt. Zorro Elementary School 2014-2015
The Mt. Zorro Elementary School Media Center
When
a media center needs a significant addition to the collection to better serve
the student and faculty, it is important to choose materials with care, purpose
and method. The following plan will
guide the selection of new materials for this school year. The selection will be done in accordance with
the ideals of good stewardship of public funds and providing for the education
and recreation of our students and staff.
Site Description
The Media Center at Mt. Zorro Elementary School is a school
library in the Metropolitan School District of Foxwoods Township, Indianapolis,
Indiana, U.S.A. Established in 1992, the
Mt. Zorro Media Center contains approximately 18,100 resources designed to help
students in grades K-5 with research, to promote curiosity and inquiry, and to encourage
within the students a desire to read for pleasure.
Demographics
The Media Center serves approximately 800
student patrons and 100 faculty, staff, and community patrons. Most of the student patrons use the school’s
media center as their sole outlet for borrowing reading and research materials because
they are not afforded regular opportunities to use the public libraries in the
community. Additionally, about 25
percent of the student patrons and their families speak Spanish as their first
language, hailing predominantly from Mexico, but
sometime from other countries like Honduras or El Salvador, for example. Therefore, the Media Center offers a wide
array of materials in physical and electronic form for research and pleasurable
reading pursuits in both English and Spanish.
Funding
The acquisition of new materials is funded with money
allocated by the school district from the district’s annual budget. There is also an additional small allotment
from the school’s Parent-Teacher Organization.
Some money is also received from patrons to pay for lost or damaged
books. Those funds are not used for new
items unless the damaged or lost item is out of print and a comparable title
must be acquired, instead. Records of
all purchases are kept in the office of the Media specialist.
Governance and Organization
The governance of the library is performed by the school’s media
specialist including programming and materials acquisition. The district’s
director of curriculum may intervene in the event of a challenged material,
which will be addressed in another section of this plan, however, the director
doesn’t oversee programming or collection development. The scheduling of the
classes in the special area subject rotation, of which the media center is a
part, is planned by the scheduling committee and approved by the principal. As with the other building staff, including
the media center assistant the media specialist reports to the building’s
principal. The media center assistant
also reports to and receives direction from the media specialist.
The ultimate aim of this plan is
to develop a collection of books to help our large and growing population of
Latino students explore their own heritage. However, the new materials will
serve the entire school population as well because it will also give
non-Latinos the opportunity to learn more about their classmates’ cultures and
make connections with Latino students in terms of common goals, experiences and
feelings. This collection will include resources in English and Spanish,
in book and electronic forms, and will cover Hispanic/ Latino history,
geography, and culture. Additionally, the new collection will include
some critical literacy fiction that will showcase realistic Latino children in
both English and Spanish.
According to the American Association of School Librarians (2013) ,
“The mission of the school library program is to ensure that students and staff
are effective users of ideas and information” (Chapter 1, Section 1, para.
6). Equally important, is the mission of
fostering a lifetime love of reading within each student. More than just a book depository, the media
center is a place where research, learning, and collaboration takes place with
the help of a qualified media specialist to guide the students and staff in
their quest to become educated, globally-minded citizens. Therefore, the mission of the Mt. Zorro
Elementary School media center program is two-fold: First, the media center, it’s staff and
resources will transform the students and faculty into teams of skilled,
enthusiastic, globally-minded, and technologically adept information
users. Second, the media center by
nature of its arrangement and offerings will inspire students to read and
consider themselves readers.
The media center at Mt. Zorro Elementary School is dedicated
to the free exchange of ideas and access to materials for all of its
patrons. While we maintain a collection
aimed at elementary school students and their teachers, we subscribe to the
intellectual freedom policies laid out by the American Library Association in
the Library Bill of Rights (see Appendix B).
The bill states that, “Books and other library resources should be
provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the
community the library serves” (pp. Page 1, paragraph 2) . To that end the media specialist strives to
maintain an age appropriate, diverse, and balanced collection with a large
variety of resources that inform through different perspective.
Request for Reconsideration
The media specialist has carefully selected the resources
and materials for use by the students taking in to account the patrons’
demographics including, but not limited, to reading abilities and also with an
understanding of the various maturity levels of the students throughout the
school. However, sometimes the
parent/guardian of a minor patron believes that a particular resource may not
be appropriate for use by their in the classroom and/or at home. There is a process in which that
parent/guardian may participate to request that their student to be excused
from using such a resource. Understand that the first and best way for a parent
to ensure that a child is getting materials that they deem to be optimal for their
student is to visit the library and help them make their selections. It is a parent’s right to participate in
their child’s school library selection time. However, if they are not able to
participate in the student’s library time and would like to request that we
restrict the student’s access to a specific material, the media center has a
procedure, adopted in 1993 and approved each year since, by the superintendent of
the Metropolitan School District of Foxwoods Township Schools, to consider such
a request. To begin the process, the
parent/guardian must submit a “Request for Reconsideration” form (see Appendix
A). If the request is granted, this
material will be restricted from use by that student only (Martin, 2007) . All requests for reconsideration will be
taken seriously. After the form has been
submitted, the media specialist will have 5 school days to review the request
and make contact with the child’s guardian.
The media specialist will then consider the request and work to find a
solution that pleases all of the parties involved. If no solution can be agreed upon after 10
school days from the date the request was submitted, it will be forwarded to
the director of curriculum for the district for further consideration. The director of curriculum will then have 10
school days to complete and investigation and make a final decision on the
matter.
References
American Association of School Librarians. (2013). Empowering
learners : guidelines for school library programs (Kindle ed.). Chicago:
American Association of School Librarians.
American Library
Association. (1995, June 27). Sample Request for Reconsideration of
Library Resources. (I. F. Committee, Ed.) Retrieved 09 21, 2014, from
Missing: Find a Banned Book:
http://www.ala.org/bbooks/challengedmaterials/support/samplereconsideration
Library Bill of
Rights. (1996-2014). Retrieved from
American Library Association:
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill
Martin, A. (2007).
Preparing for a Challenge. Knowledge Quest, 36(2), 54-56. Retrieved
September 19, 2014, from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/194727681?accountid=7398
Request for Reconsideration of Library
Resources
The school board of Foxwoods Township, Indianapolis, Marion
County, Indiana, U.S.A. has delegated the responsibility for selection and
evaluation of the Mt. Zorro Elementary School media center resources to the
school library media specialist, and has established reconsideration procedures
to address concerns about those resources. Completion of this form is the first
step in those procedures. If you wish to request reconsideration of media
center resources, please return the completed form to the Library Media
specialist at Mt. Zorro Elementary School, 1 Zorro Way, Indianapolis, Indiana
46220.
Name ___________________________
Date ___________________________
Address ___________________________
City ___________________________
State ___________________________
Zip ___________________________
Phone ___________________________
Do you represent self? ____ Organization? _____________________________________
- Resource
on which you are commenting:
____ Book ____ Textbook ____ Video ____ Display ____ Magazine ____ Library Program
____ Audio Recording ____ Newspaper ____ Electronic information/network (please specify)
____ Other __________________________
Title ___________________________
Author/Producer ___________________________
- What
brought this resource to your attention?
- Have
you examined the entire resource?
- What
concerns you about the resource? (use the other side or attach additional
sheets)
- Are
there resource(s) you suggest to provide additional information and/or
other viewpoints on this topic? (use the other side or attach additional
sheets)
Mt. Zorro Elementary School Media Center 1 Zorro Way, Indianapolis,
Indiana 46220.
Template provided by the (American Library Association, 1995)
Library
Bill of Rights
The
American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for
information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their
services.
I.
Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest,
information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library
serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or
views of those contributing to their creation.
II.
Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of
view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or
removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.
III.
Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their
responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.
IV.
Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting
abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.
V.
A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of
origin, age, background, or views.
VI.
Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public
they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis,
regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting
their use.
Adopted
June 19, 1939, by the ALA Council; amended October 14, 1944; June 18, 1948;
February 2, 1961; June 27, 1967; January 23, 1980; inclusion of “age”
reaffirmed January 23, 1996.
