Thank you for taking the time to show interest in the Library Advisory Council! Here are a few links to give you information on who is involved and how it works.

 

Library Advisory Council Members

These are our amazing volunteers who help make sure we can continue to stock new reading material for our OJS Dolphins

 

 

Library Advisory Council Agenda

This is the agenda for every meeting. It will be available in advance. Meetings are open to the public. Please understand that there may be differing opinions present. Please be respectful of all who are here. 

 

Library Advisory Council Minutes

These are the meeting minutes. If you want to know what a typical LAC meeting looks like, this is the perfect place to start. 

 

 

The Library Advisory Council is a requirement of Florida House Bill 1467. We meet 3-5 times a year to approve new purchases for the library and hear public concerns about the state and content of our collection. 

 

 

LAC FAQs

 

Q. Who should be on the school’s Library Advisory Council? 

1. Each school’s Library Advisory Council must be composed of at least: 

The school’s media specialist, two teachers, one parent and one community member.  Students and administrators may also be a member of the LAC.

Q. How often should the LAC meet? 

1. Each school’s LAC must meet at least three times per year, but may meet as often as needed.

Q. How should the LAC meeting agendas and minutes be maintained? 

1. The agendas and minutes should be posted on the schools library’s website.

Q. Do books being added to the professional library collection have to be presented to the LAC? 

1. No, only books for student circulation must be presented to the LAC. 

Q. Does a title that is being ordered to replace the copy of a title currently in the school’s library collection have to be present to the LAC?

1. No, replacement copies for titles already in a school’s library collection do not need to be presented to the LAC.

 

You can also view the Escambia High School Collection Development Policy for a detailed breakdown of how the collection is managed.  

 

How do I select materials?

 

I use professional review sources to help make my decisions. These sources have been provided the book they are reviewing and have read it in its entirety. There is a recommended age and interest range of the range of ages and grade levels for which the material will be most appropriate. Often these are behind paywalls. I also utilize other sources that are available to the general public. The Library of Congress has a great jumping off point full of links and helpful advice for finding informative and useful reviews. 

 

Parent Rights

 

Each parent/guardian has the ability to place limited or no access on their child’s access to reading materials at school. You can do this through the Focus Portal. Please visit the school’s website if you have questions about how to access their Focus accounts. 

 

Currently the default for student’s reading choices at school is Open Access, which means they may read anything from the school’s library or their teacher’s classroom library. This does exclude any books that are being currently challenged. They still need a signed permission slip to check out any of those materials. 

 

Limited access means that you (the parent/guardian) writes a note about what your child is or isn’t allowed to access. Say you don’t want your child to read books about dogs, you would write that as a note in the Limited Access section of your child’s Focus Account where it concerns the library. Please note that if your child has limited access, they will NOT be able to read books from their teacher’s classroom library and will only be able to check out books from the school media center. Additionally, if your child wants a book and the Librarian needs to make sure it meets your guidelines, it may delay their access to books. 

 

If you select No Access, your child will NOT be able to check out any books from the school library or their teacher’s classroom library. This will severely limit what they are able to read at school. The parent/guardian will be responsible for providing all their reading material. 

 

If you don’t want to place any restrictions on your child’s reading, no action is required. You only need to log in to Focus to make a change if you would like to place limitations. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!