I think this is an important question.  I would bet that public schools cannot restrict public access to library catalogs.  There is a link to our catalog on our school's website, but I admit I have stopped short of advertising to parents that they use it (if book challenges were not a threat, I love the idea of involving parents in the search for books their children might like to read).
 I suggest asking CEA Legal for advice.  Our district recently had a Teachers and the Law workshop with them, and I was impressed with the breadth of knowledge the lawyer presenter had.

Elaine Shapiro, Broad Brook Elementary School

On Wed, May 3, 2023 at 8:55 AM Stieber, Rachel <rstieber@windsorct.org> wrote:
Hi Casey,

Students access our Destiny catalog and Sora website though Classlink, so only staff and students can access without asking. We just recently had a parent request access through our Humanities Director. We were happy to send a link to Destiny so they could search for the books that they were looking for. They were prepared to draft a Freedom of Information Request to the Board Office, but it never came to that.

Rachel Stieber,
Sage Park Middle School, Windsor


 

On Tue, May 2, 2023 at 12:32 PM LaPlante, Casey via CASL-L <casl-l@mylist.net> wrote:
Our Curriculum Director says the catalog is NOT public information, but our administration wonders if that is correct. That's why I'm asking if anyone knows if legally we MUST make our catalogs available to the public. Or if I have to make it easy for them...like can I hand them a binder of 15,000 titles? If we still had card catalogs in drawers they wouldn't be able to demand to come in and search the drawers as easily as they can an online catalog.

Thanks,
Casey

On Tue, May 2, 2023 at 12:14 PM Barbara Johnson <bajohnson@colchesterct.org> wrote:
We do have our destiny catalog out in the public in Colchester.
Students do need to log in in order to access electronic materials and our databases per our contract requirements.
However anyone is able to search for books and see what's in my collection.
This is our Board policy... I would check with your curriculum director and your Board.


On Tue, May 2, 2023, 12:09 PM LaPlante, Casey via CASL-L <casl-l@mylist.net> wrote:
Esteemed Colleagues--

I should probably know this, but does the public have a right to access our online catalog, or can we password protect it just for members of our school community? I've made our Destiny Catalog unavailable online unless someone logs in, but the admin is wondering if the catalog falls under FOI.

Thanks,
Casey

--
Casey LaPlante
Library Media Specialist
Granby Memorial High School
Granby, CT



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Casey LaPlante
Library Media Specialist
Granby Memorial High School
Granby, CT



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Rachel Stieber

She/Her(s)

Library Media Specialist

Sage Park Middle School, 25 Sage Park Rd., Windsor, CT 06095

rstieber@windsorct.org 860-687-2030 Ext.3165

https://sites.google.com/a/windsorct.org/sage-park-library/

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” ~Maya Angelou


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