Acquisition Policy

I. Objective of Service

The Library exists to serve the students, faculty, and parents of Saint Mark's by supporting the academic, social, and philosophical ideals of the school as reflected in its Mission Statement.

II. Selection of Materials

A. Objectives and Criteria: Library materials include print, audio, video and online resources. Selection of these materials is determined by the librarian’s knowledge of the ethos of the school and its academic curriculum, and is guided by evaluation of age-appropriate media that serve the needs and interests of the students, teachers and parents. The vision of the school as reflected in its Mission Statement, acts as the impetus to seek materials that:

  • Stimulate a love of learning
  • Offer exposure to a broad range of information and life experience
  • Foster an inclusive world view

The library strongly supports Saint Mark's commitment to diversity as expressed in the Guiding Principles for a Diverse, Inclusive and Socially Responsible Community. The librarian actively seeks works that promote tolerance and respect; any work that intentionally promotes intolerance or disrespect will not be included.

As an active participant in the Saint Mark's Computer Network, the library helped to create and seeks to implement the school’s Acceptable Use Policy. The ethos put forth in this document governs not only the selection of online resources but acts as a determining factor in all areas of media selection.

B. Reviewing resources: Professional reviewing sources (both print and online), recommendations by colleagues, parents, students, booklists and links published by libraries, bibliophiles and trusted informational web sites are all sources that may be taken into account in selection of materials. Recommendations aside, other factors may be enough to commend inclusion or exclusion of material; the librarian must then make a judgment call.

III. Procedures for Re-evaluation of Materials:

If a book, film or web site is of concern to a parent for any reason, it is very helpful for the librarian to hear this concern. Please contact the librarian directly. The librarian may agree that the material should be withdrawn or retained in a more restricted use category. Should a concern still remain, the issue would be taken to Administration for resolution. A concern about material assigned by a classroom teacher should be brought directly to the teacher and not to the librarian. In either case it would be helpful to consider the following questions:

  1. To what do you object about the material? Please cite specific examples.
  2. What harm do you feel might result from the use of this material?
  3. Did you read and/or view the work in its entirety?
  4. What do you understand to be the underlying theme or purpose of this material?
  5. Can you cite objections from reviews or other commentaries on the work?
  6. What would you like the school to do about the distribution of this material?

IV. Donation Policy

The library welcomes donations of new and used books, videos, and other library materials.

  • Materials that meet the library’s criteria for selection and fill a need in the collection will be processed for circulation.
  • Materials that do not meet the library’s selection criteria or that duplicate items in the collection will be offered to classroom teachers or given to persons or non-profit organizations who can use them for the benefit of children or animals.
  • Materials that are out of date, in poor physical condition, or offensive will be discarded.

Prepared originally May, 1981 by Ia Forrester. Last revised January, 2006.