FdL school libraries implement monitoring system

Parents will be able to restrict what kids read
By Sharon Roznik • The Reporter
sroznik@fdlreporter.com • August 11, 2010
Parents of students in Fond du Lac Schools will be
notified during the first week of school that they can
monitor what their child is reading.
Although means to block library reading materials
has been in place since the days of card catalogs, a
new state-of-the art software program makes it that
much easier, said Fond du Lac School District
Curriculum and Instruction Coordinator John
Whitsett.
During a work session held Monday, the Fond du
Lac Board of Education got an overview of the new
Alexandria Library Automation software program.
Blocks can be put on authors, book titles and
certain subjects, to an extent.
"It can be used as an alert system if parents want to
tag authors and book titles they do not want their
children to read, but it will not be a content filter,"
said School Board President Eric Everson.
Parental supervision of reading material became a
topic of discussion this year when parent Ann
Wentworth wanted several books removed from the
library at Theisen Middle School.
Any time a parent contacted the school and wanted
certain books withheld from their child, the school
has taken action, Whitsett said.
"If, for example, a parent didn't want any books on
witchcraft, this was on alert with the librarian. They
steer the child to other material," he said.
Content cannot be blocked if it isn't known whether
or not the subject of witchcraft comes up in a
certain book, he explained.
"It's not perfect, but I think it's a big step toward
what we have been looking for. Parents have to be a
part of the process and watch what their children
are reading," he said.
Alexandria is a Web-based system that links the
libraries in 14 school buildings and also manages
the district's textbooks. A four-month installation
process included the input of a quarter million
pieces of data.
Parents can notify their schools' media specialists
and fill out a form to block their children from
specific reading materials. Only one to two parents
in three or four schools in the district have done so
in the past, Whitsett noted.
The alert will stay in place until the parent wants it
removed. There are no self-checkouts in any of the
school libraries.
"This message will be going out to our parents at
the beginning of the school year. We appreciate
their continued support of literacy at all levels, "
said School Superintendent James Sebert.
Wentworth said if a parent has to know the title and
author of a book, the issue is back to square one. S
he has argued for a book selection committee made
up, in part, of citizens, and a book rating system.
"It is not going to change anything," she said.
 See the form parents can use to block library reading materials in the Fond du Lac School District.