The Library Resource Centre is an integral part of
school services and is staffed by a teacher-librarian and a
library aide. The library staff work closely with the school’s computer
technician and classroom teachers.
We are living in an
information age. A primary objective of education is to learn how to
identify, locate, organise, and present information in a clear, concise,
and persuasive manner. As technologies change, students need to develop
skills to manage complex information formats. Our Lady of the
Assumption Library Resource Centre strives to be the vehicle that
provides opportunities for students to achieve these skills and to
foster a lifelong interest in both reading and knowledge. O.L.A.
students have access to an effective school library that reflects the
curriculum and the needs of the school community and the world in
general.
Aims of the O.L.A. Library include:
Collection Development Policy
General Statement
This
collection development policy is in draft format. This policy intends to
address the issues pertinent to the ongoing development of a resource
collection appropriate to the education vision at Our Lady of the
Assumption, Enoggera.
Statement of Philosophy
The School Library Resource Centre Collection at Our Lady of the Assumption School exists to support:
The philosophy and vision of Catholic Education in the Brisbane Archdiocese;
the Mission of Our Lady of the Assumption;
the Aims of Our Lady of the Assumption Library Resource Centre
Vision Statement for Catholic Education
The
Vision of the Archdiocese of Brisbane is to build and sustain a
Catholic Christian community, Christian in its faith, its worship, its
way of life, its care and concern for all especially the needy, its
fidelity to its mission to preach the Good News, its attentiveness to
God´s continuing saving action for the purpose of promoting the Reign of
God in our world.
As a community of faith, the Archdiocese of
Brisbane is committed to an educational ministry that embraces and
promotes lifelong faith learning. Our Vision is to:
- ...live and spread the Gospel message
- ...promote faith learning that is lifelong and life-giving
- ...nourish and co-operatively support through education the faith life of families
- ...pastorally prepare and in-service all involved in the Church´s educational mission
- ...provide education that supports wholistic development ensuring a balance between individual and societal needs
- ...educate for Christian leadership that is participative and collaborative
Vision of Our Lady of the Assumption
As
the faith community of Our Lady of the Assumption School we commit
ourselves to developing an authentic Catholic School that is founded on
the person of Jesus Christ and enlivened by Gospel values promotes the
teachings of Jesus and lives out of the values handed down to us by
our Catholic faith provides each individual with an experience of
belonging to this community leading to the enhancement of self-esteem and the encouragement of generous service develops the full potential of
each person, and ensures a balance between individual and societal
needs provides a challenging curriculum which links faith, life and
culture promotes our school as a place of quality learning and
excellence promotes an active partnership between home, parish, school
and community.
Aims of Our Lady of the Assumption Library Resource Centre
We
are living in an information age. A primary objective of education is
to learn how to identify, locate, organise, and present needed
information in a clear, concise, and persuasive manner. As technologies
change, students need to develop skills to manage complex information
formats. Our Lady of the Assumption Library Resource Centre strives to
be the vehicle that provides opportunities for students to achieve these
skills and to foster a lifelong interest in both reading and knowledge.
Each student, therefore, should have access to an effective school
library that reflects the curriculum and the needs of the school
community and the world in general.
Aims:-
To foster in
the children an ongoing and ever-increasing love of literature, reading
and learning; thereby continuing their process of self-discovery.
To promote a variety of media as sources of entertainment, enjoyment,
relaxation and information. (Media = books, videos, DVDs, software, CDs, charts, stimulus pictures, big books, kits etc)
To encourage children towards the independent use of library facilities.
To foster in students a commitment to informed decision-making.
To assist in the development of skills and attitudes that will enable children to continue lifelong learning.
To encourage in the children a sense of respect, care and responsibility for resources in their possession.
To advocate and promote the practice of teachers working co-operatively
with the teacher-librarian as teaching partners to plan and implement
units of work.
To integrate into units of work the skills
needed to locate, evaluate, organise and present information from a
variety of sources.
To help facilitate the use of ICTs in our curriculum.
Statement on the selection of resources
Library materials will:
Support and be consistent with the general educational goals of the
school and Catholic Education Office and the aims and objectives of Key
Learning Areas.
Meet high standards of quality in factual content, artistic and literary value, and presentation.
Provide students with a wide range of educational materials on all
levels of difficulty and in a variety of formats, with a diversity of
appeal, allowing for the presentation of many different points of view.
Meet the individual needs, abilities, learning styles and interests of students and staff.
Have a high degree of potential user appeal.
Address student diversities in culture, gender, levels of maturity,
special learning needs and socio-economic background.
Be
selected to help students gain an awareness of our diverse society so
there should be materials representative of the many ethnic, and
cultural groups and their contribution to our Australian heritage
Be appropriate for the subject area and for the age, emotional
development, ability level, learning styles, and social development of
students for whom materials are selected.
Be in a physical format and appearance which is suitable for their intended use.
Value the reputation and significance of the author, producer, and publisher.
Be chosen with regard to the validity, currency, and appropriateness of the material.
Be selected for their strengths rather than rejected for their weaknesses.
Be compliant as much as possible with the Aboriginal And Torres Strait
Islander Protocols For Libraries, Archives And Information Services.
Library materials enable students to:
Develop their unique potential - physical, emotional, creative, aesthetic, spiritual, intellectual, moral and social.
Stimulate growth in factual knowledge, literary appreciation, aesthetic values, and ethical standards.
Develop a critical understanding of the diversity of beliefs and values found in society and in human experiences.
Deepen their understanding of the values of Christ including absolute
values such as the sacredness of human life and the dignity of the human
person.
Make intelligent judgments in their daily life.
Come into contact with learning experiences that access a wide, range of knowledge, understandings and skills.
Requests,
suggestions, and reactions for the purchase shall be gathered from
staff and students. These suggestions will be given the highest
priority.
When selecting learning resources, professional personnel
will evaluate available resources and curriculum needs, and will then
consult reputable booksellers. The actual resource will be examined
whenever possible.
Reviews of proposed acquisitions will be sought in
the literature of reputable professional organisations and other
reviewing sources recognised for their objectivity and wide experience.
Library
materials that allow students to with assistance, challenge dominant
societal ideas, particularly stereotypes and undesirable models of human
behaviour, should be considered.
Library materials dealing with
controversial topics or challenging situations need to be selected with
sensitivity to community expectations and will be directed towards
maintaining a diverse collection representing various views and helping students develop critical analytical skills.
Library materials containing gratuitous or extreme violence have no place in a Catholic school.
Gift materials shall be judged by the selection criteria and shall be accepted or rejected by those criteria.
Library
staff will place principle above personal opinion and reason above
prejudice in the selection of materials of the highest quality in order to
ensure a comprehensive collection
Statement on culling or withdrawal of resources
Every
title requires individual judgment. Each book is considered from the
standpoint of its value to the community as well as in relation to other
books on the shelf. All areas of the library resource centre collection
should be subject to frequent review and assessment. Each title needs
to be considered individually and consideration should be given to the
teaching and learning programs operating in the school before removing
resources. Culling is an ongoing process and is the responsibility of
the teacher-librarian after discussion with the Principal and if
necessary other staff members.
Materials may be culled if they are:
Factually inaccurate,
Worn or damaged and beyond mending or rebinding,
Superseded by a truly new edition or a much better book on the subject,
Of no discernible literary or scientific merit,
Unused,
Irrelevant to the needs or interests of our school community,
Duplicate titles that are no longer in demand,
Soiled or badly worn, particularly those with missing or torn pages,
Worn and tatty due to their short life expectancy, or overuse
Damaged to the point of not being usable eg. Kits with missing parts.
Consideration for removal will also be given to resources which:
Are more than 10 years old
Are out of date either in their information or their pictorial format;
Present theories or concepts that have been disproved or altered significantly;
Present stereotypes of race, culture or sex roles, or
No longer meet curriculum needs and teaching methods.
Guidelines for culling specific areas of the collection:
Non-Fiction
000 Resources in the computing area will date quickly. Examine closely anything over five years old.
100 Consider culling outdated descriptions of psychological problems.
200 Remove old information about sects and religions.
300 Discard outdated laws and government resources. Discard information
on outdated social issues. Be especially careful to remove outdated and
inappropriate Aboriginal resources. Consult the Aboriginal Education
Worker for advice. Be compliant, as much as possible, with Aboriginal
And Torres Strait Islander Protocols For Libraries, Archives And
Information Services
400 Consider the removal of old dictionaries and language texts with old-fashioned methodology.
500 Examine closely resources over five years old. Discard those with
obsolete information and outdated pictorial formats.
600 Resources over five years old, particularly those on technology and medicine need to be examined closely.
700 Consider the removal of dated works on photography, music, art and
sport. New editions and works with superior illustrations need to be
considered.
800 Examine closely older literary works that have lost their appeal.
900 Cull outdated geography and history resources, particularly where
the title dates materials and where names of countries have changed. Be
especially careful to remove outdated and inappropriate Aboriginal
resources. Consult the Aboriginal Education Worker for advice. Retain
resources that pertain to the history of the school and community.
Reference
Fiction
Stereotyped fiction,
poorly written fiction
unused old fiction, popular many years ago, should be seriously considered for culling.
Classics and award winners should not be discarded but should be
replaced if a newer more attractive edition is published.
Other
Audiovisual resources, especially where equipment no longer supports usage,
charts, maps, periodicals, study prints and vertical files need to be regularly assessed.
a particular resource or subject was popular and interest has waned;
materials were acquired to meet the needs of a specific group of
students and these needs no longer exist, e.g. materials in another
language that is no longer studied in the school,
items have had no recent use, despite promotion.
Statement on Challenged Materials
It
is not the policy of Our Lady of the Assumption School to abridge a
text and no text will be censored by the removal of pages or editing of
footage because this contravenes the Copyright Act.
If a parent or
guardian makes a complaint about the relevance or suitability of any
library material, the following procedures should apply:
Ascertain the nature of the complaint by receiving the complaint in writing.
Refer the matter to a member of the Leadership Team.
The teacher-librarian and a member of the Leadership Team will examine
the resource including reading relevant critical reviews.
The
teacher-librarian and/or member of the Leadership Team shall meet the
parent or guardian to discuss the complaint and every attempt will be
made to address their concerns.
Our Lady of the Assumption will remove a resource from its collection if there are sufficient grounds for its removal.
If appropriate, the relevant authorities at the Catholic Education
Office (CEO) and the Curriculum Council will be consulted, after the
complaints have been examined.
The Principal will have the final say on the removal of a text.
In the case of a text having a number of different complaints brought against it, each complaint will be examined independently.
If a member of the general community makes a complaint, the nature of the complaint should be ascertained.
The matter should be reported to the Principal.
Our
Lady of the Assumption has Internet safeguards to prevent students from accessing materials that are of a dubious nature, inappropriate,
offensive or irrelevant.
Challenged Materials Review Sheet for O.L.A. Library
Name of person initiating request ___________________________________
Date ________________________
Address ____________________________________________________
Phone ________________________
Please
read the entire book and cite the page numbers which contain the
challenged material. Please make notes below and return them to the
Principal.
Parent’s Signature __________________________ Date ________________