STATEMENT of PHILOSOPHY
The Library Media Center Program promotes and encourages independent reading, develops critical thinking skills, teaches the effective and ethical use of information sources, and provides equitable access to all forms of information.
INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM
The school district’s media centers shall support the principles of intellectual freedom inherent in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as expressed in official statements of professional associations. In maintenance of this foundational principle, our libraries are committed to facilitating teaching and learning by providing:
- library media center collections that meet both the curricular and personal needs of students.
- resources in various formats and varying levels of difficulty.
- materials that provide a global perspective and promote diversity.
- resources that reflect the basic humanity of all people and are free of stereotypes.
- library materials that present different points of view in an objective manner.
- materials that will help students develop critical thinking skills and aesthetic appreciation.
LIBRARY BILL OF RIGHTS
The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services.
I. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.
II. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.
III. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.
IV. Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.
V. A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.
VI. Libraries that make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.
Adopted June 19, 1939, by the ALA Council; amended October 14, 1944; June 18, 1948; February 2, 1961; June 27, 1967; January 23, 1980; inclusion of “age” reaffirmed January 23, 1996.