1.5 School Library Guidelines

In order to define the visions, goals, priorities and role of the school library, a set of guidelines should be written. It is important that planning for the school is site specific and based on the unique conditions of each school site.

In this publication a number of guidelines for school libraries are suggested and are sometimes referred to as policies in accordance with the literature. However, the Tasmanian Department of Education formulates policies, whereas school libraries have guidelines. When a policy is suggested in this handbook, it should be remembered that it is a guideline only - not ratified by the Department.

The guidelines should relate to local and national educational initiatives; the policies and aims of the school; local support services, such as the public library service; and the social and cultural development of the school and local community.

The purpose of the guidelines is to make clear, to the whole school community, the role, aims and objectives of the library. The guidelines should emphasise the library's status as a key learning environment in the school, the relationship it has with other areas, such as the curriculum and classroom collections, and the relationship with the school's overall aims.

The guidelines should be prepared with input from members of the school community. The Principal should sign off the documents once the drafts has been shared with and agreed to by teaching staff.

Upon completion, the guidelines documents should be filed as part of the school's policies. Specific examples of guidelines will be discussed in the appropriate section. For example, collection development guidelines will be discussed under collection development.

The guidelines should include:

1. School and library mission statement, perhaps including Library goals

• Aims of the library
• Goals of the library
• Vision statement

2. All aspects of library provision, including:

• Environment and atmosphere
• Staffing
• Collection management
• Challenged materials
• Selection of materials
• Weeding
• Funding
• Organisation
• Learning resources
• Information and communications technology (ICT)
• Support for teaching and learning

3. Use and access, including:

• Borrowing or loans policy, including overdues procedures
• Patterns of class and individual use
• Supervision arrangement
• Opening times
• Library's role in information literacy
• Plagiarism
• Literacy and book promotion
• Use of ICT, including an Acceptable use policy
• Copyright

4. Monitoring and evaluation, including:

• Statistics
• Needs analyses
• Surveys
• Evaluating outcomes
• Reports

5. Planning and future development, including:

• Budgets
• ICT hardware and software

The school library guidelines should be revised regularly alongside other school plans and policies and form part of the school cycle of reviews. The following questions may be helpful as a starting point for putting together a guidelines document:

• What is the purpose of the school?
• What is the purpose of the library resource centre?
• Who are the patrons of the library resource centre?
• What are the roles and responsibilities of the library staff?
• What are the desired outcomes of the library resource centre
• What will indicate the library resource centre is achieving its purpose?
• How will performance be monitored?
• What are the priorities for this year?
• How will resources be allocated?

Resources that may assist in developing school library guidelines:

ASLA (NSW): School mission statements

Brisbane Boys College Resource Centre: Philosophy and objectives

Guide to the Melbourne High School Library

Scotch College Library & Information Centre policies

St Michael's Collegiate School Library: Mission statement

Australian School Library Association Policy (ASLA) Statements

The Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the 21st Century

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