8200 - Library Materials - First Reading

1. PURPOSE AND PHILOSOPHY
   Weber School District believes that “[T]he right to receive ideas is a necessary predicate to [a student’s] meaningful exercise of his own rights of speech, press, and political freedom[,]” and is committed to providing a wide array of instructional materials to students through its library and media center collections.  (See Pico Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26, 457 U.S. 853 (1982)).  The District also believes parents are primarily responsible for the education of their students, and encourages parents to be involved in their students’ selection of library/media center materials.  The District seeks, through this policy, to provide processes and procedures for selecting instructional materials that provide students access to a wide variety of ideas and viewpoints, that are educationally suitable for school-aged children, and that comply with state and federal law.
   
   
2. POLICY
   It is the policy of Weber School District to provide a wide range of library/media materials in a variety of formats, with diversity of appeal, and the presentation of different points of view.  It is also the policy of the District to allow a fair review of allegedly inappropriate library/media materials through established procedures. The District will also accommodate a parent/legal guardian’s request to not allow the parent/legal guardian’s child access to certain instructional materials.
   
   
3. DEFINITIONS
   1. “Sensitive Materials” means material that constitutes objective sensitive material or subjective sensitive material.
      1. “Objective sensitive material” means any learning material that constitutes pornographic or indecent material, as the term defined in Utah Code Section 76-10-1235, under the non-discretionary standards described in Utah Code Subsection 76-10-1227(1)(a)(i), (ii), or (iii).
      2. “Subjective sensitive material” means learning material that constitutes pornographic or indecent material, as the term defined in UCA 76-10-1235, under the following factor-balancing standards:
         1. material that is harmful to minors under UCA 76-10-1201;
         2. material that is pornographic under UCA 76-10-1203; or 
         3. material that includes certain fondling or other erotic touching under subsection 76-10-1227(1)(a)(iv).
   2. “Educational Suitability” means, based on a wide array of diverse and objective criteria, the material is suitable for students.  Some material may be educationally suitable for high school students, but not for elementary students.
   3. “Classroom Libraries” means teacher-built libraries containing instructional material in a classroom that students may, but are not required to, check out. 
   4. “Library/media center collections” means the totality of all library/media center materials located in a library/media center.
   5. “Library/media center materials” are learning materials located in a school’s library/media center.
   6. “Library media/center specialists” means District employees overseeing the development and maintenance of a school library/media center.
   7. “Self-selection” means that libraries are intended for voluntary selection of materials and while a library/media center specialist may offer suggestions and guidance, students and parents are ultimately responsible for what a student selects from a library/media center.
   8. “Age Appropriate” means generally suitable for students of the same age or level of social, emotional, and cognitive development when taking into consideration the ages of all minors who could be exposed to the material. In determining whether instructional material is age-appropriate, the material must be reviewed as a whole to determine whether it has serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for a student of that age.
      
      
4. SELECTION OF LIBRARY/MEDIA CENTER COLLECTION
   1. General Provisions
      1. Library/media center collections (“Collections”) shall be developed to serve the needs of the students and faculty who use it in accordance with the curriculum goals of the District.
      2. Collections shall comply with state and federal law, and will not contain sensitive materials.
      3. Library/media materials shall be selected based on a review of the materials as a whole and not in part. 
      4. Library/Media Center Specialists, subject to the oversight of the principal and input from school staff and parents, are responsible for developing the Collection at their respective schools, including:
         1. selecting new library/media center materials to add to the Collection, 
         2. replacing lost or worn library/media center materials still of educational suitability, 
         3. periodically reviewing the Collection to ensure educational suitability of the library/media center materials, and 
         4. removing library/media center materials from the Collection that are no longer of educational suitability.
   2. Selection and De-selection Criteria and Procedures
      1. The following criteria shall be used to determine whether a library/media center material is educationally suitable when selecting materials for a Collection: 
         1. Accuracy, timeliness, validity, and currency of information 
         2. Educational significance and relevance to core standards and educational goals          
         3. Teacher, parent, or student request
         4. Favorable reviews, recommendations, and/or award nominees found in standard selection sources or from professional personnel
         5. Contributes to a balanced perspective
         6. Adequate scope and depth of coverage
         7. Appeal and interest to users
         8. Recreational reading needs of students
         9. Age appropriateness including maturity of themes, vulgarity, profanity, and violence
         10. Uniqueness, diversity, and/or heritage of a state, region, or group
         11. Artistic and literary quality 
         12. Reputation, authority, and significance of the author, producer, or publisher
         13. Physical characteristics, including special features (e.g., appendices, bibliographies)
         14. Cost relative to the value of the material
      2. In addition to any of the criteria related to initial section above, the Library/Media Specialists may remove or replace (deselect) library/media center materials based on the following considerations:
         1. Poor physical condition
         2. Superseded by more current information or contains subject matter no longer needed to support the core standards
         3. Encourages stereotypes or biases
         4. Receives little use
         5. Provides wrong, inaccurate, or outdated information
         6. Contains objectively sensitive material
      3. Library/Media Center Specialists will review three to five reliable, authoritative selection aids, recommended bibliographies, or reviews in professional journals and publications when selecting library/media center material for the school’s Collection.  At least one of these sources must be a parent-centered review source, when available.
      4. When a review of a library/media center material denotes content that is sexual in nature, the Library/Media Center Specialist will obtain a copy of the library/media center material and will determine if:
         1. the material contains objectively sensitive material. 
         2. if the material does NOT contain objectively sensitive material, the Library/Media Center Specialist will review the material in its entirety and apply the analysis described in Policy 8250 to determine if the material constitutes subjective sensitive material prior to ordering and placing the material in the Collection.  
         3. If the material in question does constitute sensitive material (either objective or subjective sensitive material) l, it will not be ordered or shelved with the Collection.
      5. The Library/Media Center Specialist will send written notice to the principal of each work or title that the Specialist added to the Collection.
      6. Donations shall be accepted or rejected based on the same criteria identified above.
         
         
5. ACCESS TO LIBRARY/MEDIA CENTER MATERIALS
   1. Students’ access to library/media center materials is based primarily on self-selection. Library/media center specialists are available to consult with students and with a parent or guardian of students to find appropriate materials but are not responsible for final selections of the student.
   2. If a student’s parent or guardian wishes to restrict their student’s access to any particular library/media center material (a specific work or title), the parent or guardian may make a written request to the library/media center specialist and the student will then not be allowed to check out that item. 
   3. If a specific work or title was subject to reconsideration on the claimed basis that the work was or contained sensitive material, and the work or title was retained on the shelves, the name of the work or title and the author will be listed on the District’s website for parents’ information.
      
      
6. RECONSIDERATION PROCEDURES
   1. A student, parent, employee, or board member may request reconsideration of library/media center material,on the grounds that the library/media center material is sensitive material or that the library/media center material does not meet the criteria for educational suitability.
   2. Requests for reconsideration on the basis that the library/media center material constitutes sensitive material will follow the procedures outlined in Policy 8250. All other requests for reconsideration of library/media center materials will follow the policy outlined below.
   3. Once a specific title has been reviewed by the reconsideration committee and retained, that title may not be brought to the reconsideration committee at the same school for a period of three calendar years from the date of the decision by the reconsideration committee.
   4. Process: 
      1. Prior to filing a request for reconsideration on any basis, the individual must be ready to review the library/media center material in its entirety.  Note, students are not required to complete the reading or viewing of the library/media center material they are challenging. 
      2. The person filing the request will then meet with the Library/Media Center Specialist who shall explain, if possible, the intended purpose and use of the item in question.   
      3. If the Library/Media Center Specialist is unable to provide information or if the individual is not satisfied with the information provided, the individual shall then meet with a school administrator regarding the concern.
      4. If, after meeting with the administrator, the individual wishes to request reconsideration formally, the individual shall complete the “Request for Reconsideration of Library/Media Center Materials” and provide the form to the administrator of the school where the library/media center material is located.
      5. All requests for reconsideration will be reviewed by the administrator and the Director of Teaching and Learning. The administrator will determine if the form has been fully completed and the requirements for requesting reconsideration have been met.  If so, the administrator and the Director of Teaching and Learning will both: 
         1. read, view listen to and/or examine the material in its entirety;
         2. read reviews and consult recommended lists; and
         3. determine the extent to which the material meets the selection criteria for educational.
      6. The administrator and the Director of Teaching and Learning will then make a determination to either remove or retain the material and will send a written response to the person requesting reconsideration explaining the determination to either remove or retain the material and the rationale for doing so.
      7. The decision of the administrator and the Director of Digital Teaching and Learning is final.
      8. Parents who are dissatisfied with the decision to retain learning material in the Library/Media Center may make a written request to the library/media center specialist that the student not be allowed to check out that item.  
         
         
7. CLASSROOM LIBRARIES
   1. Teachers with instructional materials in their classroom available for students to check out or borrow (classroom libraries) must apply the same selection criteria for educational suitability to classroom libraries as is applied to libraries/media centers.
   2. If instructional material is in the library/media center collection, a teacher does not need to go through the selection process to include that material in the teacher’s classroom library.
   3. A student enrolled in a class with a classroom library, a parent of such a student, an employee at that school, or a Board member over that school may submit a Request for Reconsideration of any material in a classroom library. 
   4. A classroom library reconsideration request will follow the same procedures set forth in Section VI above, except that the person requesting the review will first address concerns with the classroom teacher and not the Library/Media Center Specialist.

Revised September 2024