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McLean School Library
Library
McLean School Library Information
Hours
- Monday - Friday: 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. School Holidays:
Closed. School Vacations: Closed
Library Availability
- The Library is available to all students, with individual
teacher permission, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Borrowing and Overdues
Grades K - 4: 1 week loan period
Grades 5 - 12: 2 week loan period
Overdue notices are sent out monthly.
No fines are collected for late books.
Replacement cost will be charged for lost books.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Library/Media Resources program,
derived from the American Association of School Librarians, is to
ensure that the students and staff are effective users of ideas
and information and delight in books and literature in any form.
This mission is based on the following premises:
We live in an information society.
Information is infinite and our need for it is essential.
As technology changes the modes and pace for creating and
storing information, our strategies for accessing information must
change.
The needs for information, problem-solving, critical thinking
and decision-making are inherent in all areas of the curriculum,
and at all stages of life.
The study of quality children's literature, both imaginary and
informational, fosters readers and writers across the
curriculum.
Students, teachers, and the library/media specialist must be
partners in the research process and the selection of
literature.
In line with McLean's mission, classroom teachers and the
library/media specialist must be co-designers of instruction in
order to accommodate the needs of traditional learners and those
with learning differences.
To meet this mission, the curriculum for library/media is
organized into two major sections:
Information literacy, or the ability to access, evaluate, and
use information from a variety of sources, and
Literature appreciation to instill a lifelong love of reading,
regard for the written word and appreciation of the thoughts and
ideas presented in literature.
In all instances, the library/media specialist works in
partnership with the classroom teachers to ensure that all of
these skills are fully integrated into the school curriculum.
Acquisitions Policy
The McLean School Library provides a wide range of
instructional materials in appropriate formats on all levels of
difficulty, with diversity of appeal, and different points of view
represented for all students. It is also the policy of the school
to permit a systematic review of the existing collection and to
provide for the reconsideration of challenged materials.
The legal responsibility for instructional materials rests with
the Head of School who delegates this responsibility to
professional personnel. The McLean School Library supports the
American Library Association Bill of Rights and the American
Association of School Librarians' Bill of Rights. Accordingly, our
school library will:
Provide materials that will support and enrich the curriculum,
taking into consideration the varied interests, abilities,
maturity levels, and learning styles of the students.
Provide materials that will stimulate growth in factual
knowledge, literary appreciation, aesthetic values, and ethical
standards.
Provide materials on opposing sides of controversial issues so
that users may develop under guidance the practice of critical
analysis.
Provide materials representative of the many religious, ethnic,
and cultural groups and their contributions to our American
heritage.
Provide materials having the positive values of respect for
human dignity, and of insight into many cultural patterns.
The criteria for developing the Library's collection are based
on the educational goals of the School, learning styles of the
students, teaching styles, curricular needs, faculty and student
needs, existing materials, and networking arrangements.
Selection criteria for curricular materials in any format
(book, video, filmstrip, etc.) include the following:
- Accuracy and completeness;
- Relevance to today's world;
- Reflection of the problems, aspirations, attitudes, and
ideals of a society;
- Contribution to the objectives of the instructional
program;
- Appropriateness of subject matter and style for user;
- Representation of differing viewpoints on controversial
subjects;
- Stimulus for creativity.
- The librarian uses evaluation tools and processes in
selecting materials, including professional journals,
first-hand evaluations, standard bibliographic tools, both
general and specialized, and recommendations from faculty and
students.
Library Curriculum
Kindergarten
- Locate and select appropriate books
- Checkout and return books
- Care for books while in the students' care
- Recognize the difference between fiction and
non-fiction
- Identify the role of the author and illustrator
- Identify the parts of a book
- Work cooperatively to participate in class
projects
Kinderfirst
- Locate and select appropriate books
- Checkout and return books
- Recognize the difference between fiction and
non-fiction
- Identify the role of the author and illustrator
- Identify the author's purpose for writing
- Identify the parts of a book
- Work cooperatively to participate in class
projects
- Recognize various authors and illustrators
- Relate text to personal experiences through writing
and illustrations
Grade 1
- Recognize genres including fairy tales and folktales,
fantasy, and realistic fiction
- Recognize various authors and illustrators and begin
to identify them by their style
- Identify the parts of a book including the front
cover, author, illustrator, barcode, spine, call number,
and publisher
- Find the call number on the spine of books and know
its purpose
- Recognized author letter alphabetization of
books
- Recreate and alphabetize call numbers
- Locate picture books on the shelves by call
numbers
Grade 2
- Recognize various ways in which books can be created
and bound including participating in creating class
pop-up books, big books, flip books, and shape books
- Find biographies in the Library and understand what
they are and how they are organized
- Locate reference books in the Library such as the
dictionaries and encyclopedias
- Properly use the dictionary to look up the meanings
of words; recognize that words are alphabetically listed
and how to use guide words
- Understand that dictionaries are in multiple volumes
and concepts are listed alphabetically
- Properly use the encyclopedia; gather, record, and
present information on a topic
- Locate non-fiction books by general themes on the
shelves
- Locate and select appropriate books at their reading
level
- Use the computerized Library catalog to search for
books by subject
Grade 3
- Use reference books to locate information on various
topics
- Read and take notes on their research topic and
present their information
- Use non-fiction books to gather information; utilize
the Table of Contents, Glossary, and Index
- Formulate appropriate research questions; extrapolate
the key concept or keywords to guide their search
- Locate the Dewey Decimal Number on the spine of the
book
- Roughly locate books on the shelves by general Dewey
category
- Use the computerized Library catalog to search for
books by subject, title, and author
- Recognize various fiction authors and begin to
identify them by their writing style
- Mimic genres through retelling stories and retelling
in other points of view
- Participate in class projects and productions
Grade 4
- Locate and select appropriate books at their reading
level and connect the literature to personal
experiences
- Participate in a variety of literature based
activities including reader's theatre
- Express the emotions of characters in stories through
dramatizations and reader's theatre
- Utilize reference materials such as periodicals,
databases, electronic encyclopedias, and websites
- Identify the concept of plagiarism
- Identify authority sources and websites; distinguish
between credible and non-credible websites
- Locate the Dewey Decimal Number on the spine of the
book; locate non-fiction books on the shelves by Dewey
Decimal Number
- Use the computerized Library catalog to search for
books by subject, title, and author and locate those
books on the shelves
- Use the computerized Library catalog to search for
websites by subject, determine if the site is appropriate
for their purposes, and go onto the Internet from the
Library catalog
Grade 5
- Review/refine Fourth Grade Library skills (variety of
reference sources)
- Identify/locate successfully all materials using
electronic catalog
- Differentiate between keyword and subject searching
(electronic)
- Begin to explore specialized materials (biographical
dictionaries, electronic encyclopedias, and subject
specific encyclopedias)
- Skim/scan for information (curriculum-related
projects)
- Learn how to use library databases (encyclopedia and
periodical databases)
- Use of outside resources
Grade 6
- Review/refine Fifth Grade Library skills (electronic
and non-electronic)
- Learn to use electronic periodical (magazines and
newspapers) databases to obtain information
- Assess accuracy, authority of sources
- Appreciate literary awards (Caldecott, Newbery)
- Continue the exploration of specialized materials
(almanac, thesaurus, and other specialized individual
volumes)
- Develop critical faculties for
evaluating/discussing/recommending literature
Grades 7-12
- Grades 7-12 do come into the Library?Media Center for
regularly scheduled research skill classes. When
individual classes begin their research projects, the
supervising teacher schedules the class to come to the
Library for a 1-to-2 day session on research skills and
sources. Students also come in as a class or individuals
to select books for book reports or leisure reading.
Seventh and Eighth Grade and Upper School study halls are
also held in the Library
Volunteer Library Committee
McLean School welcomes volunteers to the Library!
Any help parents can offer is most appreciated, and flexible
scheduling is possible for all Library work.
The chair of the Library Committee helps to coordinate
volunteers, on a biweekly schedule. Most parents help in the
Library in three-hour shifts, every two weeks. Certain individuals
are able to come every week, and this is a great help.
Volunteers assist with book reshelving, labeling, book
covering, and periodical check-in. Some parents have helped with
library class projects for the younger students. We also welcome
any parents who would like to help with special projects, such as
creating a "books on tape" library, or a Great Books Club for the
students.
Please contact the McLean School Library, if you would like to
begin volunteering at any time.
Resources
General Collection
McLean School Library contains a collection of
approximately 18,000 volumes, over 50 serial titles, and more than
500 audiovisual items, including audio cassettes, videos, DVDs and
CDs.
The focus is upon collecting current materials suitable for
students from ages 5 to 19, in these areas:
- Generalities, including reference works in curriculum
subject areas, recent encyclopedias and specialized
reference materials
- Philosophy, psychology and related disciplines,
including intelligence, learning, and child/adolescent
psychology
- Religion, including comparative and world
religions,
- Social Sciences, including government (and the U.S.
Civil Rights movement), laws and trials, social
structures and problems, current trends in education,
customs, etiquette and folklore
- Languages, including Spanish and Latin works
- Pure Sciences, including appropriate works in all
physical and life sciences
- Technology, including health sciences, engineering,
agriculture, home economics and related disciplines.
- Arts, including the fine arts, photography,
decorative arts, music, and sports
- Literature, including children's fiction, poetry,
plays, and multicultural works in English and
Spanish
- General Geography and History
Searching the McLean School Library Catalog
- One goal for the future is to allow you to search our Library
catalog over the Internet. In the meantime, we offer you links to
search local public library catalogs, and university and college
libraries around the world.
Periodicals
Paper
- American Heritage
- Bookbag
- Booklist
- Calliope
- The Chronicle of Higher Education
- Classroom Connect Newsletter
- Cobblestone
- Cricket
- Discover
- Education Week
- Educational Leadership
- eSchool News
- English Journal
- Faces
- Footsteps
- Games Magazine
- Girls' Life
- Guitar Player
- Independent School
- Journal of Learning Disabilities
- Kids (National Geographic &endash; formerly World)
- Kids Discover
- Learning Disability Quarterly
- Library Talk
- Multicultural Education
- MultiMedia Schools
- Muse
- National Geographic
- Newsweek
- People en Espanol
- Ranger Rick
- The Reading Teacher
- Reading Today
- Road and Track
- School Arts
- School Library Journal
- Science and Children
- Science Scope
- Soccer Jr.
- Sports Illustrated
- Sports Illustrated for Kids
- Sports Illustrated for Women
- Teacher's Helper
- Teaching Exceptional Children
- Teaching PreK-8
- Teaching Tolerance
- Technology & Learning
- Teen People
- Transworld Skateboarding
- Transworld Snow Boarding
- USA Today
- Washingtonian
- Washington Post
- Zoobooks
Electronic
- Students also have access to bigchalk and EBSCO
magazine and newspaper databases. See librarians for link
information.
Electronic Reference Sources
Encyclopedias
Special Collections
- In line with McLean School's dedication to the diversity of
learning styles, the Library has developed a collection of
resources in this area. Books, periodicals, and videos all form
part of this growing special collection. Parents are welcome to
check out materials from our Library.
Research Guides
Choosing a Topic
Choosing
a research topic is an important decision that can make a
difference between a successful paper and a frustrating
experience.
This web site, from the University of California, Santa Cruz,
gives some great hints about picking a topic that is not too broad
and not too narrow.
Starting to Research
If you are researching an unfamiliar topic, start with an
encyclopedia and then work your way to more specialized books.
This is a good way to get an overview or summary of a large
subject and narrow it down.
Finding
background information is necessary before you decide how to
approach your research topic.
Evaluating Your Sources
With the arrival of the Internet, it has become even more
important to be critical of the sources of information you choose
for your research paper.
Important tips:
Remember to check who is responsible for the web page you are
using. If it is not a reputable organization or author, be wary of
the accuracy of the information.
Remember to separate fact and opinion clearly when researching
on the Web.
Remember to check the date the site was last updated. The
information could be outdated.
Here are more
hints on resource sources.
Plagiarism
Copying someone's else work and calling it your own is
called plagiarism.
It is considered cheating, and it is wrong. DO NOT copy words
from any book or other source and use them in your paper without
quotation marks. Plagiarism could cause you to be expelled from a
high school or college. As an adult, you could be fired for
committing plagiarism.
Bibliography and Footnotes
A bibliography is a list of the books and other resources
you used for your research paper. There are many different styles
of bibliography you can use, but you must choose one style and
stick with it throughout your research paper.
Generally, your sources will be listed in alphabetical order,
by the author's or editor's last name.
For books, the most common structure is:
Author name. Title. Place of Publication: Publisher, date.
For more detail on how to cite magazines and other materials,
try:
- Landmarks
for Schools: Citation Machine
This site gives you templates to use to create bibliographic
citations and footnotes.
Some tips:
Be very careful with spelling and punctuation. The goal is to
allow the reader to find your source again. 'Copy' and 'paste'
your web site addresses from the web browser right into a word
processing program, if possible, to avoid mistakes.
Remember to note the date you used the web site. This is
important information for anyone using your research paper
bibliography. Web sites change very quickly.
Copyright
Copyright is the author's or creator's ownership of
his/her work. This right of ownership is protected by law. You
cannot use or copy or sell another's work, without permission.
The copyright law is complicated, and there are some
exceptions.
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- For permission to use information from the Internet use
this Permission
Template.
Great Research Web
Sites
For basic facts on countries around the world, try the
CIA
World Factbook, United
States Department of State, Portals
of the World, a Library of Congress site. They contain the
latest population and other statistics, plus geographical and
historical information on almost every major world country.
A number of easy-to-use web sites for every reference need are
also available. Two of the most popular are My
Virtual Reference Desk and The
Internet Public Library.
McLean Web Search
For Beginners
Internet Search
Libraries on the Web
Web Sites: By Subject
For Beginners
A Glossary
of Terms can be a most useful tool in unraveling the mysteries
of the World Wide Web. Once again, it is best to use the medium
itself to find the answers. Many websites offer glossaries of
commonly-used Internet words.
Plain English
Internet Glossary
NetGLOS:
The Multilingual Glossary of Internet Terminology (more than a
dozen languages)
Internet Search
Searching the World Wide Web can be a frustrating
experience without an effective starting point. Luckily, the Web
does provide these starting points, called search engines or web
directories. At these special websites, you can type in what you
are looking for, and the search engine software does the rest. Not
all are created equal, however, so we offer several places to do
comparison shopping. Once you are connected to the Web, almost all
further searching is free of charge.
The Librarians at McLean recommend a number of search engines
for the younger researchers. Yahooligans
and Kids
Click!. The following three search engines are recommended for
the older researchers: Google
for being the most comprehensive and resulting in the most
relevant finds, All the Web
for being the fastest and largest, and Northern
Lights for being the most likely to find a hit when others
can't.
Web Sites: By Subject
A number of Subject Directories which catalog sites by
subject are available on the web. These include Yahoo,
Looksmart, About.com,
and The Internet Public
Library.
For those who place their trust in librarians as information
professionals, there is a highly recommended website, organized by
subject area, called
Librarians'
Index to the Internet
There is a sub-set to this site. If you type in the term
lackie in the search box this will add the capability to
search additional databases.
Other Useful Sites
Government
History
Libraries on the Web
Local Public Libraries
College and University Libraries
Other Special Libraries
Upper School News Flash
- Watch this area during the year for exciting projects,
contests, and web sites!
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- For what movie to see this weekend, try The
Internet Movie Database
- Visit the Upper
School Librarian's web page for monthly updates and photos of
class events and projects.
Middle School News Flash
- Watch this area during the year for exciting projects,
contests, and web sites!
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- Summer Reading Lists
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- Visit the Middle
School Librarian's web page for monthly updates and curriculum
related web sites.
Lower School News Flash
Visit the Lower
School Librarian's web page for monthly updates and photos of
class events and projects.
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