Our Mission
The Media Services Department will develop, implement, and enhance district-wide resources and media services that enrich teaching, nurture learning, and develop essential life skills for all students.
We strive for the success of being Future Ready Librarians that are learning-centered and include professional learning, ensure equitable digital access, invest strategically in digital resources, cultivate community partnerships, advocate for student privacy, lead beyond the library, design collaborative spaces, curate digital resources, and tools, empower students as creators and build an instructional partnership as outlined in the FLDOE FINDS Information Literacy Model and the AASL standards.
Duval County Public Schools has a school library media program with itinerant or full-time media specialists at the elementary level. Each media center is encouraged to offer flexible access, so students may access the library collection at any time of need, as is the system in our public libraries. Students in K-12 are given access to the public library using their student identification at Jacksonville Public Library working to give greater access to research and learning, digital libraries, kids and teen materials, and services. For questions, please Email Lisa Rivera-Scallan, Instructional Materials and Media Services.
Request to Limit Access to Books and Media Materials
Pursuant to HB 1069, all Florida school districts will adopt and publish on their website the process for a parent to limit the books and media materials his or her student can access in the school's library. School libraries extend from the school library media center to include classroom libraries.
School Administration:
As part of beginning of school year registration materials, the principal or designee will include directions for parents to complete an electronic form to limit access of books and media materials their child can access, through the Focus Parent Portal. Included will be information to access a hard copy of the form in the event the parent is not able to access technology at home or at school. Although this communication to families is required, completion of the form is at the parent’s discretion. As part of this communication, families will be notified that at any point in the school year they can complete the form.
The DCPS Books and Media Materials Access form will include the following required student information:
Legal first and last name
Name of school
Student identification number
Choice of access level: unlimited, limited, no access
If limited access is selected, the parent may select from a menu of genres or enter his/her limits
Parent/Guardian name
Parent/Guardian contact number
Parent/Guardian email address
Storage of Information:
Administration and instructional personnel associated with each student will have access to form submissions through their personalized Focus accounts. For hard copy submissions, administrators and teachers will store these in an electronic folder system/Focus.
Media specialists or instructional materials managers, as designated by the principal, will place the access information associated to each student into the district’s online media database system.
Parents have the option to update any submissions at any point during their child’s/children’s enrollment in Duval County Public Schools.
Procedures for Developing Library Media Center Collections
Selection Process:
All school districts will adopt a process for developing library media collections and selecting instructional materials pursuant to HB 1467 and s. 1006.283.
A trained certified media specialist will select books being made available to students through the school library, classroom libraries, and recommended or assigned grade-level reading lists. The selection of library media collections will be based on reader interest and support of the state academic standards and aligned to the curriculum, and the academic needs of students and faculty.
Media specialists will be trained annually on the procedures and selection process of collections and resources.
a. Developing a balanced media collection:
The selection of library media materials are further guided by a knowledge of the abilities, needs, interests, motivations, cultural patterns, and maturity levels of the students. Materials recommended for the purchase will be considered based on overall purpose, and support of state standards. alignment and curriculum, timeliness or permanence, the relevance of the subject matter, quality of the writing/production, readability and popular appeal, and authoritativeness. These procedures will consider the unique needs of the individual school programs based on professional knowledge of the curriculum and requests from administrators and teachers. Such procedures will also consider the needs of the individual student based on professional knowledge of children and youth and requests from parents and students.
b. Collection removal/discontinuance: Professional development will provide media specialists the practice of regular removal or discontinuance of books based on, at a minimum, physical condition, rate of recent circulation, alignment to state academic standards, relevancy to curriculum, out-of-date content, and required removal based on reconsiderations.
c. Providing quality collections: A fair and equitable collection based on collection analysis will provide for a continuance of viable resources in the library media center. In alignment with the criteria in HB 1467 and 1006.40(3)(d), reputable, unbiased, professionally prepared selection aids, journals, and guides should be consulted in the selection of library media resource materials. The selection committee will be fair and unbiased in the selection of a variety of materials and adhere to the requirements in HB 1467 and s.1006.40.
Initiation of Resource Materials Reconsideration:
A parent or legal guardian of a DCPS student or Duval County resident may request a reconsideration of the inclusion of a particular material in a school collection.
Challenged materials will be removed from circulation until due process procedures have been completed.
No challenged material may be removed from the FLDOE-approved adopted curriculum or
from a collection of aligned resource materials except by action of the School Board. Any School Board action to remove materials will be accompanied by the Board's statement of its reasons for the removal.
In a case where more than one item is being challenged, each material will receive its own separate review process to ensure that each material receives careful consideration.
The district’s Academic Services division will keep a current list of all challenged materials and the final resolution. This listing will be published on the Media Center Procedure Webpage and will be reported to the Florida Department of Education annually. School Administration
A parent/legal guardian who has an objection to the use of a specific resource material accessed in the classroom and/or the school library media center should request, in writing, a conference with the principal or principal's designee to discuss the use of the material. In the event this is an aligned novel study text, an alternate text can be offered to the student.
The principal or designee will schedule a conference with the parent or legal guardian.
If the issue is not resolved at the conference, the principal or designee shall provide an explanation of the reconsideration process and will direct the parent or legal guardian to the Media Center Reconsideration Form.
District Material Review Committee Process
Upon receipt of a Request for Reconsideration of Materials Form, the Superintendent’s designee will schedule a review of the request to be added to the regular agenda review committee meetings.
Once a form has been submitted, challenging a library media material, written communication will be sent to schools to temporarily pull the material from the open circulation pending the final reconsideration outcome.
The District Material Review Committee will consist of, but is not limited to, at least 3 members of the following with the inclusion of a certified media specialist.
Supervisor of Instructional Materials and Media Services, or designee
A parent/legal guardian
An appropriate grade level and/ or subject area teacher
Director of the appropriate content area, or designee
A member of the district’s SAC committee
A student representative
ELA director, or designee
In preparation for its review, each member of the District Material Review Committee will receive a copy of the completed Request for Reconsideration of Materials Form, and any other relevant information about the challenged material that the District Material Review The committee will need to conduct a non-biased review.
A minimum of 3 members must be present at the meeting in order for the District Material Review Committee to reach a decision on each request.
In reviewing the challenged material, the District Material Review Committee will:
Review the challenged material (i.e., poem, individual book, a section of textbook, video, etc.).
Determine the extent to which the challenged material supports the curriculum.
Weigh merits against alleged faults in forming opinions based on the challenged material as a whole and not on passages isolated from the context.
Consider the maturational age for which the material was intended.
After careful consideration and deliberation, the District Material Review Committee will issue a recommendation:
Either the challenged instructional material does not meet the criteria for inclusion in the school’s materials collection and/or contains prohibited content pursuant to HB 1467 and s. 847.012 regarding the appropriateness of materials. If this is the case, the Committee will recommend it to the Chief of Academic Services that the district shall discontinue the use of the material for any grade level or age group for which such use is inappropriate or unsuitable.
That parent's permission is required for checkout.
That the material is relocated to an appropriate grade span.
That the challenged instructional material does meet the criteria for inclusion in the school’s materials consideration under HB 1467 regarding the appropriateness of materials.
The committee’s recommendation shall be deemed to be that recommendation on the “Material Review Rubric” which receives the most votes from the committee members.
The committee will present the Chief of Academic Services with a written explanation of the finding.
The district will submit a listing of books that have been removed to Florida Department of Education annually.
Review of Reconsiderations
If the challenged library resource is retained, the district will not convene a reconsiderationcommittee relative to the same complaint for a period of 5 years.
A decision to sustain a challenge shall not be interpreted as a judgment of irresponsibility on the part of the professionals involved in the original selection or use of the material.
Assurances
The Superintendent or designee will develop criteria for the selection of resource materials that (a) provide for the effective consultation of teaching staff members at all appropriate levels; (b) ensure that the Board's budgetary allotment for resource materials is efficiently spent and wisely distributed throughout the instructional program and the district; and (c) ensure an inventory of resource materials that are well-balanced and well-rounded in coverage of the subject, types of materials, and a variety of content.
The Superintendent or designee will evaluate the continuing effectiveness and utility of resource materials and recommend to the Board the removal of those materials that no longer meet the standards set forth.
Reconsideration of Media Materials
Parents, stakeholders, and community members, you are encouraged to review the list of instructional materials utilized in all of our schools by visiting the searchable list of library media materials.
For a searchable list of all materials available in the library/media center at each school site, please view the Destiny Follet Website
Select the "Catalog" tab.
The screen will default to "Library Search," located on the left of the screen.
In the "Find" box, type in the title of the book.
Please utilize the Reconsideration Form if you would like to reconsider materials made available to students in classrooms or libraries, as well as instructional materials.