Mission Statement

The mission of the Central Elementary Library Media Program is to provide a collection of
resources and information that will satisfy the educational needs and interests of students and staff in a
setting where students may develop the skills they need to analyze, evaluate, interpret, and
communicate information and ideas. These objectives will be reached using goals that incorporate
College and Career Readiness Standards.

Coosa County School Vision Statement

Dream it, Believe It, Achieve It!

We believe:

· The education of students is a responsibility shared by students, faculty and staff, parents, and the
community.

· All students must have opportunities to learn and to be successful.

· Maximum student learning takes place in a positive environment that includes consistency and
structure.

· When engaged in rigorous, authentic learning activities that target a variety of learning styles, all
students will gain the knowledge and skills necessary to attain personal and professional success.

Vision Statement for Central Elementary Library Media Program

In collaboration with the school’s learning community, Alabama’s 21st Century library media programs
will be the center of teaching and learning by providing access to quality collections and technologies
and by extending services beyond the library media center’s four walls and the school day.
Goals:

The major goals of the CES library media program include:

1) Selecting, acquiring, organizing, and making accessible instructional materials to support the
educational needs of the school

2) Promoting the use of the media center by students and staff for a variety of educational purposes

3) Providing assistance in instructing students in skills, which will enable them to retrieve information
and select appropriate resources

Philosophy and Belief

An effective school library, led by a credentialed school librarian who has a clearly defined role in
information-centered pedagogy, plays a critical role in facilitating student learning for building
knowledge.

Duties of the Library Media Specialist

The library media specialist (LMS) is responsible for managing the program, the collection, and
the library media center. The LMS secures, organizes, and provides access to resources; works with
classroom teachers to ensure students acquire the skills needed to access, evaluate, and communicate
information; an works to improve resources. Approximately 60 percent of the LMS’s time is spent
providing services for students and teachers and 40 percent for collection development and library
management (Enriching Education, AL St. Dept. of Ed., 16).
Library Media Center Schedule

The library media center (LMC) will open one full week after the beginning of school and will be
open all official school days. The LMC will close one full week before the end of school for inventory.

The LMC will provide flexible scheduling for the majority of the day. However, students in
kindergarten and first grade have a scheduled time each week (see schedule). Teachers may schedule
classes for library activities during the flexible blocks provided. These activities should be a part of the
classroom content. Activities must be scheduled with the LMS at least a week in advance (see attached
form). The classroom teacher must accompany each class visiting the LMC the entire time. If the teacher
leaves, so does the class. Substitute teachers may not bring students to the LMC unless the classroom
teacher has made prior arrangements.

Teachers may send up to three students at a time to the LMC to check in/out books or work on
specific projects. Students must have a signed library pass specifying what they are to do, what time
they left, and what time they are to return to class (see attached). If the LMC is in use or there is no
space available, the students will be asked to return to class. No student will be admitted without a pass
and students who misbehave will be returned to class.

Circulation and Overdues

Enrolled students may check out books for a period of one week. Books may be renewed once.
Reference books, periodicals, and non-book materials will not be checked out to students. Teachers may
check out materials for two weeks or longer if necessary. Materials may be reserved by teachers with a
written request.
 Students with overdue books will not be allowed to check out additional books until the overdue
book is either returned or brought into the LMC to be renewed. Overdue notices will be prepared and
placed in each homeroom teachers’ mailbox for distribution to students.

Lost books must be reported to the LMS immediately. If the book cannot be found, the student
must pay for the book before they will be allowed to use the LMC again. Students will also be
responsible for payment of damaged materials. The cost to replace all damaged items is $15.00.

Student Behavior

Misbehavior will not be tolerated and should be handled immediately by the classroom teacher.
Students will be required to follow all school and library rules. Any student who cannot follow these
rules will be denied access to the library as approved by the administration.

General Information

Resources will be chosen for the LMC in accordance with the “Policy for Selection of Library
Media Resources”. Suggestions for the selection of materials by staff or students are encouraged (forms
attached).

Accelerated Reader materials are arranged according to the AR level. Nonfiction materials are
arranged in numerical order by the Dewey Decimal System. Call numbers for nonfiction consist of the
Dewey number over the first three letters of the author’s last name or the first three letters of the first
word of the main title if there is not an individual author. Reference books have the letters “REF” above
the Dewey number. Picture books and fiction books with reading levels Pre-2 are classified as easy with
an “E” over the first three letters of the author’s last name.

Students may make written requests for copies of reference materials. Copies will be limited to
five pages or less per student at a charge of fifteen cents per page. Copies will be made by the LMS as
time permits.
Coosa County School District

Library Media Center Selection Policy

Philosophy and Objects of selection:

A book and non-book collection of instructional materials and related equipment shall be built and
maintained to support, enrich, and correspond with the goals, objectives and mission of the Coosa
County School System. Consideration should be given to the curriculum, as well as the needs, interests,
abilities, and maturity levels of the users.

Responsibility:

As governing body of the school district, the Coosa County Board of Education shall be legally
responsible for the supervision of selection of educational resources. Authority for selection shall be
delegated to the library media personnel with faculty participating in the collection development
process.

Statement of Policy:
The Coosa County School District recognizes the rights inherent in the First Amendment of the
Constitution of the United States and supports the principles of intellectual freedom expressed in the
Library Bill of Rights and the Freedom to Read Statement. Therefore, it is the policy of this district to
provide information and resources in classrooms and library media centers in accordance with
Constitutional protection.

Criteria for Selection of Resources:

Educational suitability is the major criterion for the selecting of resources. Professional staff must use
educational criteria and professional judgment rather than personal opinions, values, and beliefs in the
selection of resources.

Resources should:

1. Be selected according to the general educational goals of the district, the goals and objectives of
the individual schools and specific courses, and the interests of the students and staff.

2. Be appropriate for the age, interests, abilities, learning styles, social development, and maturity
levels of the students.
3. Provide information to motivate students and staff to examine their own attitudes and behavior to
comprehend their duties, responsibilities, rights, and privileges as participating citizens in our society,
and to make informed judgments in their daily lives.

4. Represent the diversity of religious ethnic, political, and cultural values held in a world.

5. Illustrate historical and contemporary forces in society to enable users to recognize and
understand social, economic, personal, and political problems.

6. Provide various points of view about issues, including those considered to be controversial,
represent various theories about the physical environment and the universe.

7. Encourage the enjoyment of reading and the quest for knowledge.

Library media personnel and teachers should consider:

1. Technical quality and physical condition appropriate to format and intended use.
2. Scope, arrangement and organization, relevance of information and special features, and overall
value to the collection.

3. Selection of resources for specific courses to be consistent with the educational goals of the district,
the objectives of the course, and the characteristics of the students.

Procedures for Selection of Resources:

School library media personnel and teachers shall evaluate available resources, assess curriculum needs,
consider networking arrangements, and consult reputable, professionally prepared aids for selection.
Whenever possible, the actual item shall be previewed or examined and judged as a whole. Resources
should be selected for their strengths rather than rejected for weakness.

Administrators, teachers, students, district personnel, and community persons may make
recommendations for purchase. Decisions to purchase shall be made by professional staff of the district.

Donated resources shall meet the criteria outlined in this policy.

Selection is an ongoing process that includes the removal of resources no longer appropriate, the
replacement of lost resources and the determination of the educational value of the resource.