Thank you, Nancy, I agree with that and think that the emphasis should be
on the professional doing the selection work rather than specific review
publications. When you go back to your administrators and board, you should
emphasize that a professional librarian should use a variety of review
publications but would always weigh the reviews against the needs and
interests of their specific clientele and community. If it's helpful, I
would be happy to write an official position statement from MASL to that
effect.
Heather Perkinson, M.Ed., M.L.I.S.
President, Maine Association of School Libraries
Greely High School Librarian

On Thu, Sep 29, 2022 at 8:07 PM Nancy Grant <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> unbiased = "unfairly prejudiced for or against someone or something"
> https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/
>
> Tricky word - proving "unbiased" may be a legal nightmare.  Some
> could argue that you are using a reference that is biased against a certain
> group, because there are no books listed about that group. And if you chose
> to use, for instance a Native American resource, are you being biased for a
> certain group?
>
> Is the district willing to review the list yearly, as new resources
> appear - ALA's yearly list for...whatever. And delete old resources that
> are no longer in existence?
>
> What about local authors - are they included in the listed selection aids?
>
> Who decides if a selection aid is "reputable"?
>
> What does the school attorney say about the wording of the policy? Is
> the language defensible?
>
> Have you contacted AASL to see if there are other considerations or support
> for or against using the language?
>
> Is this a better statement, which may satisfy the Board:  "The effective
> school library includes a professionally curated collection of resources
> selected based on their authority, currency, relevance, scope, and
> relationship to other items in the collection."
>
> https://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/advocacy/statements/docs/AASL_Role_of_the_School_Library.pdf
>
> Lots to consider with making changes in policy!
>
> Nancy B. Grant
> Maine Balsam Libraries Consortium President
> Retired LMS, NBCT
> Dover-Foxcroft, Maine
> 207-564-3098
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 29, 2022 at 2:37 PM Jennifer Redimarker <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > Good afternoon,
> >
> > With all the book challenges happening  in the country, our school
> district
> > is revisiting its Instructional and Library-Media Materials Selection
> > policy.
> >
> > To summarize, under procedures for selection, our district policy states,
> > "materials will be evaluated by professional staff." Our district would
> > like to tighten this up by listing specific reputable, unbiased selection
> > aids.
> >
> > I have been reading other Maine districts' selection policies on MASL,
> and
> > they are similarly worded; materials will be evaluated by professional
> > staff/personnel.
> >
> > My two questions are: Are there any Maine school libraries that list
> > specific resources in their Board policy in which they purchase their
> > library materials? And, how do you decide what to add to the collection,
> > especially if a title is a new release with few reviews?
> >
> > Thank you for your responses in advance. Our district wants to make sure
> we
> > are ready for any challenge that may come our way.
> >
> > *Jennifer Redimarker (she/her)*
> > *Marshwood High School Library Media Specialist/District Library
> > Coordinator*
> > *MHS Yearbook Advisor*
> >
> >
> > Be our friend on Goodreads!
> > <
> >
> https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/35716766-marshwood-hs-library?ref=ru_lihp_up_rs_0_mclk-exp65cell144-up1996174969
> > >
> >
>