Appendix+G


 * ====I-5961.1 IJL-R====

**LIBRARY MATERIALS SELECTION AND ADOPTION**
====Students should have the opportunity to develop a wide variety of interests and to develop an understanding and appreciation of human achievement in the humanities, fine arts, and sciences. These are two of the educational goals adopted by the Governing Board. The library media center shall be instrumental in the achievement of these goals.====

**Objectives of Selection of Materials**
====The primary objective of the school's library media center is to implement, enrich, and support the educational program of the school. It is the duty of the center to provide a wide range of materials on all levels of difficulty, with diversity of appeal and the presentation of different points of view.==== ====To this end, the Governing Board endorses The Students' Right to Read, the Library Bill of Rights, and the School Library Bill of Rights for School Library Media Center Programs, approved by the board of directors of the American Association of School Librarians, Atlantic City, 1969, the last of which is a part of this regulation.==== ====The American Association of School Librarians reaffirms its belief in the Library Bill of Rights of the American Library Association. Media personnel are concerned with generating understanding of American freedoms through the development of informed and responsible citizens. To this end, the American Association of School Librarians asserts that the responsibility of the school library media center is:====

To provide a comprehensive collection of instructional materials selected in compliance with basic written selection principles and to provide maximum accessibility to these materials.
====To provide materials that will support the curriculum, taking into consideration the individual's needs, and the varied interests, abilities, socioeconomic backgrounds, and maturity levels of the students served.====

To provide materials for teachers and students that will encourage growth in knowledge, and that will develop literary, cultural and aesthetic appreciation, and ethical standards.
====To provide materials that reflect the ideas and beliefs of religious, social, political, historical, and ethnic groups and their contribution to the American and world heritage and culture, thereby enabling students to develop intellectual integrity in forming judgments.====

Responsibility for Selection of Materials
====Although the Governing Board is legally responsible for all matters relating to the operation of District schools, the responsibility for the selection of instructional materials is delegated to the professionally trained personnel employed by the school system.==== ====Selection of materials may involve any or all of the following individuals: principals, teachers, parents, supervisors, and media specialists. The responsibility for coordinating the selection of library and media center materials and making recommendations for purchase rests with the professionally trained media personnel.====

Materials for purchase are considered on the basis of:
====Overall purpose; timeliness or permanence; importance of the subject matter; quality of the writing/production; readability and popular appeal; authoritativeness; reputation and significance of the author/ artist/composer/producer, etc.; format and price.====

Out-of-date or no longer useful materials shall be withdrawn from the collection.
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 * **Challenged Materials and Committee**
 * **Challenged Materials and Committee**

Occasional objections to a selection will be made by the public, despite the care taken to select valuable materials for student and teacher use and the qualifications of persons who select the materials.

Committee selection. In light of this, a challenged materials committee shall be appointed by the Superintendent annually (within 10 days of the commencement of the school year) and shall consist of three professionally trained media specialists, two heads of high school departments (representing at least one English department), two teachers from different grade levels (primary, intermediate, or middle school), one lay person, and one administrative officer, for a total of nine committee members. If a complaint is made, the procedures outlined below shall be followed:

Be courteous, but make no commitments.

Invite the complainant to file the objection(s) in writing by filling out the prepared questionnaire. The complainant shall be advised to returnthe questionnaire to either the school librarian or department chairperson, who, in turn, will distribute copies to the building principal, Superintendent, and challenged materials committee chairperson for distribution to committee members within five days of receipt.

Materials are not to be removed from use until a decision approving such removal has been made by the governing board unless temporary removal has been recommended by the Superintendent or designee.

If consideration for temporary removal is recommended by the Superintendent or designee, the following procedures shall be followed:

The Superintendent or designee shall call a special meeting of the challenged materials committee.

The Superintendent may override the decision of the committee for or against temporary removal of the challenged item.

If the decision reached is for temporary removal of the item, the item shall be removed pending committee action.

If temporary removal is not considered, the item shall be retained subject to committee action.

The challenged materials committee shall:

Read and/or view and examine material referred to it.

Check general acceptance of the material by reading reviews and soliciting opinions from others competent in the field concerned.

Weigh values and faults against each other and form opinions based on the material as a whole and not on passages pulled out of context.

Meet within 60 workdays of receipt of the complaint to determine whether the material meets the objectives of selection.

A quorum of the Challenged Materials Committee shall consist of five members.

In the event of a decision by the committee to remove the material permanently from circulation, a two-thirds vote for removal by a quorum must be reached. The Superintendent may not override a two-thirds vote of a quorum.

A majority vote must be reached in deciding whether the material shall remain in unlimited circulation and/or be placed in restricted circulation.

Within 30 days of that meeting, the committee chairperson will forward copies of the report to the Superintendent, the principal, the media specialist or department chairperson who received the complaint, and the complainant.

The report will indicate the recommendation of the committee as to whether the material will remain in circulation, be placed on restricted circulation, or be withdrawn permanently from circulation and the reasons for its decision.

Upon review of the committee's report, and within 10 workdays of receipt, the Superintendent or designee shall either confirm the recommendation or refer the report back to the committee for further study and a subsequent report.

If the Superintendent confirms a recommendation to have the material permanently removed from the schools of the District, a recommendation for action will be made to the Governing Board.

The complainant, committee members, school principals, department chairpersons, and media specialists shall be advised of the action of the Governing Board.

Record of the disposition of the complaint will be retained by the District.

Appeal of Decision

The complainant shall be advised that an appeal may be made to the Governing Board in writing within 10 days of receipt of the decision. The Governing Board will review the materials and within 30 days render its final decision.

Adopted: date of manual adoption ||