Library Rules for Students:

• Respect the rights of others to work effectively.

• No food or drinks.

• Appropriate language only!

• Show care when using all library resources.

• Unless you are visiting with a class, students must have a pass to visit the library.

• Passes for small groups (no more than 4) may be obtained from your classroom teacher.

• If you are visiting from recess, please eat your food before you visit.

• Do not leave the library unless you have a pass specifying you are to return to class.

• Please return your books on time. Books may be checked out for two weeks, and renewed twice. Students must be responsible for the books they check out: if the book is lost or damaged, the student must pay the replacement cost, or replace the book with the same edition.

• Only teachers may arrange to sign out audiovisual material, software and/or equipment.

Library Rules for Student Computer Use:

• Library computers are available for educational use (only).

• When others are waiting, please limit your time online.

• Games, chat and/or email is not permitted unless specifically set up by a teacher as an instructional activity.

• Do not install or remove any software on our computers.

• All software installed on our computers is copyrighted. Please do not copy, distribute or alter it.

• Show respect for intellectual property by following our guidelines for multimedia and web page production.

• It is your responsibility to recognize and honor the intellectual property of others and to comply with restrictions regarding plagiarism and the use or citation of information sources.

• Print only what you really need. Do not waste limited paper resources.

• Respect other people's files. Do not change, copy, read or access files that are not yours.

• Do not bypass any security measures installed on this computer

• Treat our computers as you would treat your own--with respect

Teachers:

Class time in the library must be reserved to ensure adequate staffing and to avoid conflicts with other classes. The teacher should sign up for the date and time, and indicate which areas of the library will be used (i.e. fiction/multimedia room, regular collection, or computer lab).Because of limited space, no more than two classes will be able to sign up for the library at the same time.

A teacher should not send more than four students to the library without accompanying them. Any unaccompanied student entering the library during class time will need to have a pass from a teacher, indicating his/her purpose for coming to the library.

The library will also provide resource support for specific assignments. Library staff can pull relevant materials from the collection and put them on a special shelf for student use, or create research guides (on-line or on paper). The more time we have to develop these support materials, the better they will be. Special presenations (PowerPoint, Internet, etc.) can also be arranged with prior notice.

Even if no direct library instruction is required, please notify library staff of any upcoming assignments which will require library research. With notification, the library can forestall student frustration by providing more informed help or by placing limited resources on reserve.

Written copies of assignments are always appreciated.

Selection and Challenge Policy for Library Materials:

For selecting materials for collection development, the American School Foundation of Guadalajara Library Media Centers take into account the mission statement and the following objectives:

• To provide materials that will enrich and support the curriculum, taking into consideration individual needs and the varied interests, abilities, background, and maturity levels of the students served.

• To provide materials that will stimulate the acquisition of factual knowledge and the development of literary appreciation.

• To provide sources of information which allow students to make informed judgments.

• To provide materials containing a wide range of views on various issues so that students may develop the practice of critical reading and thinking.

• To provide materials representative of different religious, ethnic, and cultural groups.

• To place principle above personal opinion and reason above prejudice in the selection of materials of the highest quality in order to assure a comprehensive educational program.

Criteria for Selecting Library Materials:

• Individual learning styles, curriculum, and the existing collection.

• Bibliographical sources, reviews in professional journals, selection lists.

• Recommendations of professional staff, parents, students.

• Need for material, availability, suitability, quality, and cost.

Criteria for Gifts and Donations:

Gifts of books or other materials are accepted, but the ASFG Library Media Center reserves the right to examine and evaluate the materials based on the selection criteria, and include, dispose, or resell them at its own discretion.

Criteria for Deleting Materials:

• Poor physical condition

• Outmoded or obsolete subject content

• No longer pertinent to the curriculum

• Superseded by more current information or formats

Challenged Materials:

The ASFG Library Media Center staff seeks materials that will provide a broad range of viewpoints and subject matter. Because an item is selected for inclusion in the collection does not mean the opinions or interpretations expressed are endorsed or promoted by the Library Media Centers or the ASFG. If a complaint is made, the procedure will be as follows:

The staff will courteously hear the complaint, explain selection procedures and philosophy in terms of the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, but will make no commitments as to how the material in question will handled.

If the complainant wishes to pursue the complaint further, he/she will be given a Request Form for Reconsideration of Library Material to fill out completely and return to the Director of the Library Media Centers.

Upon receipt of the form, the Director will consult professional resources and reviews, and with an ad-hoc committee composed of the Director General, Section Principal, teachers, students, etc. and will make the final decision on the fate of the material in question.

During the review process, the challenged material will not be removed from circulation; however, access to the materials can be limited or denied to the child of the parents making the complaint, if they so request in writing.

ASFG Research Integrity Policy

Rationale:
At ASFG, we strive to teach students the ethic of responsibly documenting the ideas of others in all formats. To do so, we believe that we must not only teach the reasons for and mechanics of documentation, but we must also hold students accountable for the ethical use of the ideas and words of others.

Therefore, all teachers should provide the instruction and support necessary for students to use research ethically. All students are expected to exercise good faith in the submission of research-based work and to document accurately, regardless of how the information is used (summary, paraphrase, and quotation) or regardless of the format used (written, oral, or visual). Plagiarism, in any form, is unethical and unacceptable.

Specifically,

The teacher would ideally provide:

An assignment sheet with explicit requirements and directions.

A specific rubric for assessment of the process and the product.

Checkpoints to facilitate the research process, to assist students in time management, and to provide opportunities to help students during the process.

Time and availablitlity for students who are having difficulty with note-taking, documenting, or formatting procedures.

Clear guidelines for acceptable help from human sources (peers, adults).

It is the student’s responsibility to:

Meet checkpoint deadlines.

Ask questions and to seek help from teachers and library staff.

Follow standard research guidelines and MLA or APA format per teacher direction (available online at ASFG Library home page).

Submit an Bibliography page to credit help given by others (help that has been approved by teacher giving the assignment).

Use in-text or in-project documentation accurately and appropriately.

Use Works Cited and Works Consulted pages accurately and appropriately.

Submit only his/her own work.

Plagiarism includes:

Direct copying of the work of another submitted as the student’s own (from that of another student or other person, from an Internet source, from a print source).

Lack of in-text or in-project documentation.

Documentation that does not check out or does not match Works Cited/Works Consulted.

Work that suddenly appears on final due date without a clear provenance (does not include checkpoint process requirements).