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109.1. Selection of Library Materials and Maintenance Collection

The purposes of the libraries of the School District of Springfield Township are to promote the intellectual, cultural, social, and ethical development of students, to provide materials, information sources and technologies which extend and enhance the curriculum, and which encourage lifelong reading habits.

The school librarian is responsible for selecting a balanced and relevant collection of print and non print materials. In consultation with the faculty and administration, the librarian will first consider materials that support the curriculum and which meet the academic needs of the students. Selection decisions will also be guided by consulting professional review sources.

In selecting materials, the school librarian will also make provisions to include a wide range of materials on all levels of difficulty with a diversity of appeal, presentation of different points of view, and different forms of media. Consideration will be given
to the educational significance, program relevance, validity, accuracy, and quality of the materials under
consideration.

Maintenance of Collection

The library collection, both print and non-print materials, needs to be maintained through a systematic
annual review of all materials. The professional staff of the libraries will conduct a yearly inventory
and weeding process designed to retain materials that continue to be relevant and remove materials that no longer serve to support the school's goals.

Weeding

The annual weeding process is designed to enhance the collection's reliability and viability, provide a continuous check on the physical condition of the materials in the collection, and provide constant feedback on the collection's strengths and weaknesses. In The School District of Springfield Township weeding will be conducted following the CREW method as outlined in the American Library Association's publication titled Evaluating and Weeding Collections.

Those materials that have been determined no longer to be viable nor of relevance to the school's program of studies will first be offered to the faculty within that building to be used in support of their particular program. If any materials are found to be useful to any teacher for his/her program, that teacher may utilize the material at his/her discretion. Second, materials will be offered to students and parents. Third, remaining materials will be donated to charitable institutions. The selection of the charitable institution will be made throug11/08/2006ian, the building principal, and the assistant superintendent.

Challenged Materials

Reviews of challenged materials will be conducted
in accordance with administrative rule 109-AR-2 as outlined in the Policy Manual of The School District of Springfield Township.

Gifts, Donations

The School District of Springfield Township will accept gifts and donations to the library media center
with the decision to include or exclude to be based upon the selection standards stated above. All gifts and donations become the property of The School District of Springfield Township, which reserves the right to utilize such gifts in accordance with stated policy and to relocate the donated material when the Board of School Directors determines, in its sole judgment, that the original purpose may no longer be appropriate.