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McLean School Library

Library

Photo: McLean Library

McLean School Library Information

Photo: McLean Library

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

Photo: 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

Photo: Library 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.

Search Library Catalogs Over the Internet

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

Photo: Electronic Resources

 

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

Photo: 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.

 
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

Photo: 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!
 
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!
 
Summer Reading Lists
 
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.