Media Center / Library

The mission of the St. Scholastica Library and Media Center is to provide a dynamic, technology rich environment with a wide range of print and digital resources that support St. Scholastica Academy's college preparatory curriculum and “to ensure that that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information.” (Information Power 1998)

BELIEF STATEMENTS:
The St. Scholastica Library and Media Center ensures that each student will: 

Become information literate by:
  • Accessing information efficiently and effectively
  • Evaluating information critically and competently
  • Using information accurately and creatively (Information Power, 1998)
Become a life long learner by:
  • Appreciating literature and other creative expressions of information (Information Power, 1998)
Become socially responsible by:
  • Practicing ethical behavior with regard to information and information technology
    (Information Power, 1998)
Furthermore, The St. Scholastica Library and Media Center believes that
  • Reading is a fundamental skill for learning, personal growth, and enjoyment. (AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner)
  • Ethical behavior in the use of information must be taught (AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner)
  • Technology Skills are crucial for future academic and employment needs (AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner)
 
GUIDING PRINCIPLES:
  1. The Library and Media Center is essential to learning and teaching and is fully integrated into the curriculum.
  2. Access to the full range of information resources and services through the library media program is fundamental to learning.
  3. The Library and Media Center encourages and engages students in reading, viewing, and listening for understanding and enjoyment.
  4. The Library and Media Center supports the learning of all students and other members of the learning community who have diverse learning abilities, styles, and needs.
  5. The Library and Media Center is founded on a commitment to the right of intellectual freedom.
    (All derived from Information Power, 1998)
GOALS:
  1. “To provide intellectual access to information through learning activities that are integrated into the curriculum and that help all students achieve information literacy by developing strategies for selecting, retrieving, analyzing, evaluating, synthesizing, and creating information in all formats and in all content areas.” (Information Power, 1998)
  2. “To provide access to information through a carefully selected and systematically organized collection of diverse learning resources that represent a wide range of subjects and formats.” (Information Power, 1998)
  3. “ To provide a systematic procedure for acquiring information from outside the Library and Media Center through mechanisms such as electronic databases” and e-books. (Information Power, 1998)
  4. “To provide resources and activities for learning that represent a diversity of opinions, …perspectives, and to support the concept of intellectual freedom… that is a prerequisite to effective and responsible citizenship in a democracy.” (Information Power, 1998)
 
TIME OF OPERATION:
The SSA library is open Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.

Students may make use of the library before school, break, lunch and after school. Current resources include approximately 8,000 books, 20 periodical subscriptions and access to several highly acclaimed on-line databases. A list of these databases is found on the SSA Library home page. URL addresses and passwords are provided for student use at school or home 24/7.
St. Scholastica Academy is a Catholic, all-girls, college-preparatory high school located in Covington, Louisiana. Founded in 1903, SSA perpetuates the Benedictine tradition of balancing prayer, work, study, and community in developing adolescent girls into Christian women grounded in the Gospel values of the Catholic faith. St. Scholastica Academy is a Catholic girls high school of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. As such it admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities available to students at its schools. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, or athletic and other school-administered programs.