Library Policies

Greetings!
If you have thought about making a change in your library procedures, this is the perfect time to do something about it. You can decide what you want done differently next year and write up the procedures you want to change or include so you are ready for a new year next August.

This last year I tried something new at my library. In the past I have limited students to three books each check out period. Special circumstances would allow four books. This year I threw caution to the wine and decided to let students in third grade and above check out as many books as they wanted. During their first library class I asked them how many books they had been able to check out last year, then I said that this year we were going to try something different. They could check out as many books as they could be responsible for. I gave several scenarios to help explain what I meant about being responsible for books. The students were thrilled and have done very well with this new plan. Here I am at the end of the school year and I have about the same number of books that are lost or damaged as I had previously. I count our experiment this year as a success. This did not apply to the lower grade students. Students in first and second grade still were limited to two books and Kindergarteners to one book. I have talked before about policies and encouraged you to have some of these in place. If you don’t have these in place, I strongly encourage you to do so.

This is also a good time to plan for next year so you are ready to put policies in place. You should have a policy for selection of library materials. Who chooses books for the library? What criteria do you use for selection? What do you do if a parent challenges material in the library? Do you have community patrons? Do you let the church members check out from your library? I can hear some of you saying to yourself, “We’re a very small school. We don’t need those policies at our school.” It is my belief that ALL schools need these policies. I believe it is better to have a plan or policy in place BEFORE we need it rather than afterwards. Having policies ahead of time also keeps us from appearing to target a particular individual. No one can point to any individual and claim that it is a specific individual’s fault. No, it is just our policy. If you are a very small school and you feel you need support, consider having the Board help establish these or vote them in. What policies do you need? You need a selection policy (a statement of how materials are chosen to be placed in your library and how they will be removed), and a reconsideration policy (a statement of what the procedure will be in the event someone challenges some material in your library.) You might want a policy for community patrons, homeschoolers, or church members that might choose to use your library. I tell the community patrons that they are welcome to check out books, but if a teacher or students needs the particular item they have, I will ask them to return it right away. I have only had to do this one time, but my policy was in place and the patron was very cooperative. You can look up sample policies on the internet or contact me and I will send you our policies to help you draft your own. I hope this has been helpful to you. This is not something that is fun to do, but one of those necessary items. Once it is done, then just check it every few years and update it as needed. Have a great week! Audrey