The mission of the library media program in the Pequannock Township School District is that which is set forth in Information Power: Guidelines for School Libraries:

i.e., to ensure that the students and staff are effective users of ideas and information.

This mission is accomplished:

• by providing intellectual and physical access to materials in all formats
• by providing instruction to foster competence and stimulate interest in reading, viewing, and using information and ideas
• by working with other educators to design learning strategies to meet the needs of individual students

To carry out this mission, the school library media center must offer a variety of services whose primary functions are the development of thinking and information skills and the development of motivation for reading; and must use the expanding search capabilities of the computer. Services range from the selection and processing of appropriate materials and arranging them for ease of access, to providing access to materials outside the individual library media center, to providing instruction to staff and students in locating, evaluating, and using the materials.

Essential to the success of any library media program is a pleasant and well-organized physical facility with a welcoming atmosphere and an environment conducive to learning. That facility must be open and staffed five days a week.

Two further essentials to providing intellectual and physical access to information are adequate support staff (secretarial and/or paraprofessional) and flexible scheduling. Without support staff the library media specialist becomes mired in clerical routines and cannot be available to staff and students for planning and presenting activities and providing instruction.

If classes are scheduled rigidly into the library, neither the library nor the services of the library media specialist are accessible to those classes and individuals who are working on research activities.

"Students and teachers [should] have access to the library media center and to qualified professional staff throughout the school day. Classes [should be] scheduled flexibly to encourage use at point of need."