Mission and Practices

Our Mission: Trinity-Pawling School will provide an educational experience that makes a transformational difference in the lives of its students by enabling them to discover and pursue their distinctive gifts and talents.


Gardiner Library and Learning Commons

Gardiner Library and Learning Commons supports the mission of the School by providing a resource center where students can work alone or together; learn research, digital citizenship, and critical thinking skills; and read from a collection of publications that reflects the needs and diversity of our community. The Makerspace, which is the hub of design thinking on campus, is used by classes to facilitate project-based learning and student clubs to create and ideate.


Selection Policy

We follow the American Library Association’s guidance on School Library Selection Criteria:

  • Support and enrich the curriculum and/or students’ personal interests and learning
  • Meet high standards in literary, artistic, and aesthetic quality; technical aspects; and physical format
  • Be appropriate for the subject area and for the age, emotional development, ability level, learning styles, and social, emotional, and intellectual development of the students for whom the materials are selected
  • Incorporate accurate and authentic factual content from authoritative sources
  • Earn favorable reviews in standard reviewing sources and/or favorable recommendations based on preview and examination of materials by professional personnel
  • Exhibit a high degree of potential user appeal and interest
  • Represent differing viewpoints on controversial issues
  • Provide a global perspective and promote diversity by including materials by authors and illustrators of all cultures
  • Include a variety of resources in physical and virtual formats including print and non-print such as electronic and multimedia (including subscription databases and other online products, e-books, educational games, and other forms of emerging technologies)
  • Demonstrate physical format, appearance, and durability suitable to their intended use
  • Balance cost with need

(ALA’s Selection Policy Toolkit)

In addition, we consult the age and grade level guidelines of Booklist and School Library Journal, which are two of the ALA’s Top Five Recommended School Library Reviewing Sources.


Selection of Materials on Controversial Topics

Libraries are a cornerstone of the community, dedicated to serving the information needs of everyone. As such, they collect and make available a wide variety of information resources representing the range of human thought and experience. With such a broad spectrum of ideas and information available, it is inevitable that people will occasionally encounter resources they believe to be inappropriate or offensive. (https://www.ala.org/tools/challengesupport/respond)

The Gardiner Library and Learning Commons will provide materials diverse in their difficulty levels and viewpoints. Library staff will select materials that offer divergent opinions on controversial topics. Access to these materials will allow students to develop the critical thinking skills needed as we prepare our students for today’s ever-changing world. These materials will also support the personal growth and individual needs of our diverse student body.


Reconsideration Procedure

We recognize each individual’s right to question items in the collection. To that end, the following policy is in effect:

  • Persons who are concerned about the appropriateness of library resources may choose to make a formal request for reconsideration of the work in question. 
  • A formal reconsideration request is a written document (Sample Reconsideration Form) that is reviewed by a committee consisting of the library faculty and Head of School.
  • The committee will meet within a reasonable time and respond with a decision in writing/email.

Questions? Reach Out!

Amy Foster
Director of the Gardiner Library & Learning Commons
afoster@trinitypawling.org

Library Resources