Library

Library Procedures

The Mount Prospect library is open during school hours, and students may visit the library any time during the day. They may come as individuals, in small study groups, or as an entire class to work on a project, listen to a story or check out books. Kindergarten classes are scheduled on a regular weekly basis. Please refer to the section on Flexible Scheduling for more information about library use.

The school library is in many ways an extension of the classrooms and their reading activities. Students are introduced to different sections of the library when it is developmentally appropriate. A primary purpose of checking out books for recreational reading is to reinforce the reading skills being taught in class.

Number of books that can be checked out for recreational reading:

Kindergarten 1 book (one-week loan)

Grades 1 2 books (one-week loan)

Grades 2 3 books (two-week loan)

Grades 3 - 5 4 books (two-week loan)

Books needed for special projects such as book reports and research are over and above the basic limits. Although we are still a very young library, we have over 10,000 items in our collections, including books, magazines, videos, books on tape and read-along books with audiotapes.

Flexible Scheduling

Flexible scheduling for both the libraries and computer labs was new to all the elementary schools in our district in the fall of 2001, providing a means to more effectively integrate these resources into your child’s educational program. A flexible schedule does not mean “no” schedule, rather a schedule that changes from week to week based on student and teacher need. Students and teachers may very well use the facilities more often, and certainly more effectively, than in the past.

Classes, small groups and individual students utilize the school library and the lab much like the public library: on an as-needed basis. Computer and library instruction are more relevant than in the past, because the teaching of technical and research skills is infused into classroom projects. Instructional gains increase when learning is linked with immediate hands-on experience.

The library is in use all day by students involved in a variety of group and independent projects. it is very likely that classes will stick to a regular day of the week for book exchange, but students will also be able to come to the library to exchange books for recreational reading whenever necessary instead of waiting for the one-and-only library time of the week. Only kindergarten will has regularly scheduled, fixed library times.

Why this reworking of the schedule? Rapid changes in technology have changed the ways we all handle information. Navigating the Internet, using the automated library catalog, pursuing research with computerized resources, and creating a finished project on, say, PowerPoint, all require skills unknown in elementary schools just a few years ago. The new flexible schedule will help develop your child’s information literacy skills and prepare students for an information-rich future.

For more information about the importance of flexible scheduling, see the American Association of School Librarians Position Statement on Flexible Scheduling http://www.ala.org/aasl/positions/ps_flexible.html.

Library Curriculum

During the past decade the proliferation of information sources and the development of new technologies have broadened and redefined the mission of the school library program and the role of the school librarian.

In Bernards Township the school library program provides an organized collection of materials, instruction in the use of those materials, and cooperative planning as an integral part of the total educational program. It is the educational program—its philosophy, goals, and objectives—that gives purpose, direction and form to the library media program, making these two components into an inseparable, interdependent and cooperative venture in teaching and learning.

The school librarians are information specialists, teachers and instructional consultants. Through these separate, but overlapping roles, librarians provide: access to ideas and information by assisting students and staff in identifying information resources; formal and informal instruction in information skills; and the use of information and instructional technologies.

Librarians deliver numerous services designed to further the educational goals of the school:

Direct instruction of students includes the following tasks:

• Articulating and defining an information need.

• Identifying strategies for effective information retrieval.

• Locating, retrieving, managing and evaluating a variety of
  information.

• Using information and technology responsibly and ethically.

• Appreciating literature and developing a life-long reading habit.

• Using a variety of information to create quality products.

• Assessing personal strategies for information use.
  

Instructional support includes the following tasks:

• Evaluating and acquiring books and other resources.

• Participating in curriculum development, implementation and evaluation.

• Consulting and planning with building and district level staff as well as with other individuals and organizations.