School Libraries cleared for digitalisation: MoE
View(s):Books printed over 20 years ago, highly academic material not suitable for schoolchildren, books that undermines national unity, containing outdated and misleading information, old annual reports and newspapers, books not used by students, are instructed to be removed immediately from school Libraries, to accommodate the latest updated and relevant collection.
The Ministry of Education (MoE) said that, in order to introduce digital and electronic Libraries into schools, weeding/discarding is an essential criteria to Library management.
A circular has been issued including weeding instructions to all Provincial and Zonal Directors of Education, school Principals, Principals of Teacher Training Colleges and National Education Colleges. It has been instructed to complete weeding/removing of unnecessary books by Dec.31, 2018, in order to accommodate new reading material.
“It is a hindrance to utilize the Library with unnecessary items in school Libraries and Learning Resource Centres, as the space and the time allocated, to spend for selecting material from a library is limited,” the MoE Secretary stated.
The procedure includes the Principal appointing a 5-11-member committee to work with the school librarian/library committee. The committee will prepare a weeding list, make submissions/recommendations, indicating items for weeding, and finally decide on the removal.
The Circular states that materials to be removed should be exhibited within the school premises, followed by an open negotiation with representatives from teaching staff, parent’s committee and students.
Among those to be considered before weeding are dictionaries and encyclopedias, if the existing version is more than 20 years old, Central Bank annual reports and Budget proposals, subject books for Mathematics, Science and Technology, readers demand and preference, cost effectiveness of rebinding, availability of substitute material and conserving books with a historical or cultural value.
“It is sufficient to keep Central Bank reports up to 5 years and Budget proposals up to 2 years,” the Circular states.
- Nadia Fazlulhaq