Mission:

The mission of the Monterey Trail High School and Edward Harris, Jr. Middle School Library Media Center is to support the mission of Monterey Trail High School and Edward Harris, Jr. Middle School; to support curriculum and standards; to promote literacy and the enjoyment of reading; and to ensure that our patrons in the school community become lifelong learners who can find, evaluate, and utilize information in a variety of formats in an effective, critical, and responsible way.

The Monterey Trail High School and Edward Harris Jr. Middle School Library Media Center will serve students from seventh through twelfth grade. Therefore, the library collection will include books and information resources for all of these grade levels. Because all materials in the collection will be accessible to all students, it is important that parents/guardians be active in determining the individual reading choices made by their child or children. Because the staff of the Monterey Trail High School and Edward Harris Middle School Library Media Center respects an individual's right to access information, we support the principles of the American Library Association Library Bill of Rights, the NCTE Student's Right to Read and district policy AR1312.2.

The mission is accomplished by a program that:

• creates literate, lifelong learners by encouraging reading for both pleasure and information and by instructing students in the acquisition of information literacy skills.
• assists classroom teachers in selecting appropriate resources to support and enhance state and district curriculum standards.
• respects the diversity of our student population by providing equal access to culturally rich and ethnically diverse collections in a wide range of reading levels.
• facilitates access to current technology and provides instruction in the effective, responsible, and ethical use of information.
• provides access to information beyond the school through networking and electronic retrieval systems.
• fosters creative and critical thinking through resources in a wide variety of formats.
• develops effective partnerships with teachers, administrators and community members to meet the educational needs of all students.
• encourages students to be productive members of a democratic society.

Library Media Center Selection Policy Criteria

The collections in the library will be selected to support and enhance courses and units of instruction taught at Monterey Trail High School and Edward Harris, Jr. Middle School.  Specifically it is important to maintain:

• support curriculum and standards
• materials to promote literacy and leisure reading
• current and adequate materials
• materials that are culturally diverse
• materials that provide the rigor to prepare students for future pursuits
• variety in media and print materials
• materials that represent varying opinions and political points of view
• materials of interest to students.