To: the Library Board of Trustees From: Katie Clausen, Katie Laurence, Madeleine Riehs, and Kara Williams

Date: December 1st, 2013 Subject: Park Ridge School Library Cards Dear Library Board of Trustees, Recently, it has come to our attention that our current model of providing library cards to Park Ridge students who are outside of our library zones is problematic. We would like to propose a slight change to our policy in order to more closely align with the principles outlined in our vision and mission statements. According to our policy on student cards, we provide cards for students outside of taxable library areas if the attend a Park Ridge school for the duration of the school year. This is to allow students to borrow materials for school use. By limiting this access to the school year and claiming that the materials are for school use, the community we serve is being sent the message that we as library professionals put more importance on academic materials than on materials for personal learning or entertainment. This is a judgment value that not only goes against our professional ethics, but also against our vision and mission statements which state that we serve to provide the community with access to information, recreation, and enlightenment as well as materials for personal growth. Furthermore, by limiting the access of students in the Park Ridge school districts to only during the school year, we are dismissing the population of students who attend summer school, which an ABC News report has claimed is 46% of Chicago Public School students. By making a few simple changes to our current policy, we can align ourselves more closely to our vision and mission and also provide better access to students in the Park Ridge school districts. If we modify our policy statement and include our mission wording, we have a policy that states: It is the policy of the Park Ridge Public Library to enter into contracts with schools within the City of Park Ridge to provide limited borrowing privileges to students that reside in a community outside of the RAILS system or in an unincorporated area that is not taxed for library services so these students may borrow materials for school use have

increased access to information, recreation, and enlightenment. Additionally, by changing section four of the rules, we can allow our patrons access through the summer, stating: 4. Student Library Cards are issued for the current school year and expire on the last day of the school year summer vacation as determined by the schools official calendar. We strongly urge you to consider what we see as a limitation to the access of our patrons, and reevaluate our current policy concerning school library cards. If we push this through the library board, we can have the policy changed before the end of the school year and give out patrons access to our materials for this upcoming summer. Together, we can remove this barrier and provide better access to all of our patrons, not just the ones who are borrowing our academic materials. Sincerely, Katie Clausen, Katie Laurence, Madeleine Riehs, and Kara Williams