Selection Policies & Guidelines

• Selections must meet the BCPS Library Selection Guidelines informed by BCPS Rule 6002: Selection of Instructional Materials. 

Recommendations

1. Over-order by at least 20% in case of Out of Stock items, etc.   (In-person schools should not over-order eBooks. However, VLP should still over-order by 20%.)

2. Mark your most-wanted print and eBooks 1st Choice. Only select 50% or less of your order as First Choice.  

1. 1st Choice eBooks will fill first

2. 1st Choice print books will fill second (money will be held for all 1st Choice print books)

3. Remaining eBooks will fill third

4. Remaining print books will fill last 

3. Look for the Green IN STOCK icon when selecting a title.

   

    

4. Two positive reviews for the age group are required.  If two reviews are not offered in Titlewave, consult other sources on the Reviews wiki page. 

1. More crucial for fiction than nonfiction, but be careful about biographies and controversial topics. If 2 positive reviews not available, consider finding books at BCPL to review yourself, or using Google Preview in BCPL catalog.

2. You could also search Destiny with Location set to All Baltimore County Public Schools to see who else might have the books, and get feedback or ask to see the books.

3. Be careful about age-appropriateness with books in a fiction/graphic novel series; in some cases later titles in a series are more mature. 

4. No YA or Adult titles for Elementary collections; no Adult for middle school collections. Use caution for YA titles (especially Fiction) in middle school collections. 

UPDATE: Follett has changed the language in Titlewave. Audience has replaced Interest Levels.

1. Check Reviews for Maryland Black Eyed Susan nominees; we have found books on their lists which are not age-appropriate.

2. Order "fluff" titles/series only in moderation to entice reluctant readers (e.g. princess & superhero books, Legos, Transformers, etc.)
1. Ask STUDENTS and TEACHERS for recommendations!
1. Set up a box for students to submit recommendations. Create a form where they can recommend a title, books by a certain author, in a series, or about certain topics. This could be a paper an/or online form.
2. Email teachers to ask what topics would support their curriculum units.

Prohibitions

1. No "Not Yet Published" or "Pre-order" books, or books that are listed as "In bindery" (Bound to Stay Bound).

2. No paperbacks, unless "must-have" and not available in another binding (in moderation). Choose FollettBound Sewn (1st choice) or FollettBound Glued (2nd choice) instead if available, which carry a lifetime guarantee.

1. Paperbacks will be covered with Kapco protective covering by Follett at a charge of $3.25 per book (required district specification). 

2. See the Vendor Guarantees section for information on the book guarantees and replacement information. 

3. No toy/movable books (e.g. pop-up books and other books with flaps, sliders, and other manipulated parts).

4. No Professional titles- Collection Development funding is not to be used to purchase professional titles, it is for student books only. Please speak to your administrators for funding print professional titles.

5. No makerspace kits that include manipulative items/equipment such as K'Nex, snap circuits, Google Cardboard,  etc.

6. Do not order sets/series as one item. Instead, select individual titles to add to a list. This extra step provides additional information about when a book is released and access to reviews for each title. INSTEAD, expand the set/series to select each individual title. 

7. List of reconsidered titles due to Rule 6002, Form A Baltimore County Public Schools Citizen's Review of Instructional Materials.  The document includes titles that were withdrawn from school libraries and maintained in school libraries as a result of the Reconsideration Request Process. Removed titles may not be ordered for the school library collection. Additional directions for using the notes feature in Destiny may be accessed by BCPS library media specialists.  

eBooks & Audio books

1. Order eBooks/Follett Digital Audiobooks as you see fit to meet the needs of your readers. (No recommended ratio). 

2. Elementary: Select books/eBooks to support K-5 Library Media curriculum and other content curricula. Refer to PreK-5 LM Curriculum Long Range Planners and Unit Overviews.  

3. Mark your most-wanted eBooks 1st Choice. 

1. 1st Choice eBooks will fill first

2. 1st Choice print books will fill second (money will be held for all 1st Choice print books)

3. Remaining eBooks will fill third

4. Remaining print books will fill last  

4. Limited term eBooks: You may order 12-month access, 24-month access, 36-month access eBooks, or 24 checkouts. 

5. Directions for Identifying Expired eBooks.

6. Follett has set up a Lightbox Evaluation Site for BCPS LMS to preview Lightbox titles December 1, 2021- February 11, 2022. 

1.  Follow the instructions on this Evaluation Site Guide to access the site and preview Lightbox titles that meet your students' needs or interests. 

2. Please review carefully any Lightbox titles you are considering for purchase, as we have found that the quality of linked videos, websites etc. varies.

3. The Trial Site includes Lightbox titles for Interest Levels K-3, 3-6, 5-8, and YA/9-12 (labeled as Interest Level: Professional). If you want to see all the offerings for one of those grade bands, use the Filters menu to limit your search by Interest Level. 

1. NOTE: Lightbox titles labeled with Interest Level: Professional are actually titles for YA/Grades 9-12.

4. To order Lightbox titles after reviewing them, search in Titlewave using the keyword Lightbox and the book title, e.g. “Lightbox China”

5. In TitleWave, you can browse the Elementary or Secondary Lightbox Catalogs or Shop Elementary or Secondary Lightbox from links at the bottom of the TitleWave front page, or shop Lightbox from the Shop by Department Menu > eBooks & Digital.

6. All regular Elementary schools already have the Lightbox title Carnivores.

7. You may order Interactive eBooks, such as Capstone, Lerner, Rosen and Gareth-Stevens, etc. which will display in Destiny Discover (with pointing finger instead of E icon) and will also appear on the Interactive eBooks ribbon. These open in a new window on the publisher's platform, and are read using the publisher's eReader. This presents an opportunity to teach students about the features that all eReaders have in common, as well as slight differences.

8. You may order Playaways, Follett Digital Audiobooks, or Audisee audiobooks which are accessible via Destiny Discover and play in the Follett eReader.

9. No audio CDs or DVDs.

10. Text to Speech is a feature in some of the eBooks. In order to determine if an eBook has this feature, open the Preview in Titlewave (if available) to determine whether the text-to-speech option is available. 

11. Follett is offering a new eBook option called Assigned-User Access. These are short term eBooks intended for the classroom: one book one school, Battle of the Books, Summer Reading, Book Club, etc. These are a short-term lending model that are assigned to individual patrons. Assigned-user eBooks do no show up in the search on Destiny Discover and are not circulated. They can be managed by teachers and are inexpensive since they are purchased for as 1 copy per student for that time frame (in most cases, 90 days). Each copy is assigned to a student/patron's account and the term for the book begins the day the book is assigned. These eBook assignments will show up on Destiny Discover under My Stuff > Assigned. Since these titles will not show in Destiny, this format SHOULD NOT be purchased with Library funding.