Policies
Grading Policies
Library aides will be graded on their efforts in helping the library run smoothly. Their duties included: operating the circulation desk, shelving books, and helping patrons. It is important that library aides help the patrons feel welcome and valued!
Policies and Regulations
In order for our library to operate efficiently for the benefit of the greatest number of students, the following rules and regulations are necessary:
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- The library will be open from 7:45 am until 4:05 pm each day.
- Students will be admitted only with a pass during school hours.
- The library must be reasonably quiet at all times.
- Food and/or drink is not allowed in the library.
- Use of earphones is allowed in the library with iPads only, not with phones.
- According to school policy, cell phone use will not be allowed in the library.
- Lost books must be paid in cash/check.
- Students will be issued lunch detention for overdue books and lost books.
Use of Materials | Fines
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- Please take note of the due date (stamped when your book is checked out). Please return on time.
- Checkout period is 2 weeks. At or before the end of the checkout period, books should be returned or rechecked. If a book is overdue by 2 weeks, we will declare the book lost, and a charge slip will be issued.
- The total fine never exceeds the price of the material overdue.
- If a book is paid for and then found, please return the book to the library for a refund.
- Reference books are to be used within the library. At the end of the school day, reference books can be checked out for overnight use. These reference books are due the next morning before classes begin.
- A fine of one dollar (1.00) per day will be charged for overdue reference books.
- The total fine never exceeds the price of the material overdue.
- Lost or damaged books may result in the student purchasing a replacement.
Selection and Accessibility
The Seminole Junior High School Library staff selects, acquires and provides free access to appropriate materials in multiple formats to all its community members. As technology increases and as the SJHS community changes and develops, the SJHS Library will remain a resource for physical materials and virtual use and storage.
The library staff strives to meet the current requirements and to anticipate future needs both in its collection services and in its inclusion for all students, faculty, staff and community.
Responsibility for Selection
While suggestions for materials are certainly welcome from faculty, staff, students, parents, community members, the ultimate selection decisions will come from the librarian who will employ the selection strategies and criteria outlined in this policy.
Objectives of the Seminole Junior High School Library Collections:
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- To promote literacy and to offer support for lifelong learning
- To develop a love of reading both for educational and recreational purposes
- To provide access to a variety of opinions on matters of current interest and to encourage constitutional freedom of expression
- To support educational, civic, and cultural activities within the school community
- To encourage continuous learning and to supplement formal study; to provide support as students encounter new information and new ways in which to acquire or present that information
- To maintain a physical collection of resources that is available during operating hours.
- To maintain a virtual collection of resources that is accessible twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and throughout the summer months or vacation days when students are not in school
- To provide materials which entertain the individual and enhance the individual’s enjoyment and understanding of life experiences
- To incorporate skills from the classroom making them applicable in many forms
Current Collections:
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- Main Collection
- Nonfiction - Arranged by Dewey Decimal System
- Fiction - Arranged by genres and author's last name
- Reference Collection-- Arranged by Dewey Decimal System
- Main Collection
Methods and Criteria for Selection:
Libraries have the responsibility to be inclusive in selection rather than exclusive. In the selection process, every effort is made to represent the diversity of our community with a wide variety of views. Each type of material will be considered for its own terms of excellence along with the audience for which it is intended. No single standard can be applied in all cases. Some materials may be judged primarily in terms of artistic merit, scholarship, or their value as human documents; others are selected to satisfy the recreational and entertainment needs of our school community.
Methods:
The library staff uses the criteria below in selecting materials. Materials are judged as entire works, not on isolated passages, topics, or sections.
Gifts/donations offered to the library are evaluated using the same criteria. Members of the library community may suggest books or other materials to be added to the library’s collection.
Criteria:
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- Attention of critics, reviewers, media and public
- Availability of tests and grade level suggested by Accelerated Reader
- Suitability of format for library use
- Suitability of subject and style for the intended audience
- Importance as a document of the times
- Relation to the library’s existing collection
- Authority, reputation, or qualifications of the author, artist, publisher, or producer
- Organization and/or ease of use; clarity, accuracy, and logic of presentation
- Cost and availability
- Currency of information
- Inclusion in standard bibliographies or indexes
- Representation of an important movement genre, trend, or national culture
- Artistic presentation and experimentation
- Contemporary materials representing various points of view which are of current interest and/or possible future significance
- Contemporary materials reflecting current conditions, trends, and controversies
Collection Maintenance and Evaluation
Library materials are continuously assessed for their condition, accuracy, currency, performance, and relevancy to library users within the context of the total library collection. The withdrawal/discarding of materials is a formal process conducted by knowledgeable staff as a necessary method to maintain collection viability, size and scope. Many of these discarded materials will be available for the school community to take at no charge; many will also be donated to the county library for its fall library sale; recycled when the option is available; only a few actually go into the trash.
Reconsideration of Materials
If the individual is not satisfied with the review, the individual may then elect to submit a “Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials” form to the principal or vice principal of Seminole Junior High School. He or she will apply due scrutiny to the material in question and will be the final arbitrator.
Universal Design