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Administrative Rules, Accreditation, and Compliance for School Libraries



Rules & Statutes

Oregon Administrative Rules (OAR) are a state agency's interpretation and implementation of Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) or laws. These OARs and ORSs relate to school libraries:

  • Media Programs: OAR 581-022-2340 from the Oregon Department of Education 

    A district must assign responsibility for the library program to personnel. In doing so, they should refer to the conditions in section 3 of the Oregon Administrative Rule.

  • District-level Continuous Improvement Plans: OAR 581-022-2250 from the Oregon Department of Education

  • Library Media endorsement to add to teaching license: OAR 584-220-0145 from the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission

  • Library Media Program Standards for universities: OAR 584-420-0415 from the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission

  • Retention of circulation records: OAR-166-400-0035 from the Secretary of State, Archives Division 

    The minimum retention is 1 year after the school year in which records were created.

  • Senate Bill 1098 (2025), also known as the Freedom to Read Act: Codified in ORS 337 sections 260, 277, and 280 and in ORS 336.082(3) from the Oregon Department of Education 

    This clarifies that it is against the law to discriminate in the selection, retention, or removal of school and classroom library materials and other instructional materials that are by or about a protected class.

Accreditation

The Northwest Accreditation Commission, a division of Cognia, accredits schools in Oregon.

  • School library programs are no longer called out in their accreditation standards (p. 5).

  • School or district staff may point to their library program as evidence of meeting certain indicators.

  • For example, this is indicator 3.6:
    The institution provides access to information resources and materials to support curriculum, programs, and needs of students, staff, and the institition.

Continuous Improvement Plans 

House Bill 2586 (2009) is legislation that requires Oregon school districts to plan for strong school library programs as part of their district-level Continuous Improvement Plans (CIP). As of the 2022-23 school year, CIPs have been integrated with other major iniatitives of the Oregon Department of Education, and the CIP and other sections of the integrated plan are due on March 31, 2023. CIPs are due appoximately every four years, and the prior due date was November 1, 2019.
 
  • Districts must account for school libraries by responding to this question, per the Well-Rounded Education section of the Aligning for Student Success Guidance document (p. 57): 

    How do you ensure students have access to strong library programs?

  • The Oregon Department of Education has not developed support materials related to the school library question. For a past iteration of the CIP process, they offered a document called Resources & Research for Oregon’s District Improvement Indicators. Information on pages 101 – 105 lists and provides context for the two formerly-required school library indicators. 

  • In addition, it could be helpful for districts to refer to the Oregon Association of School Libraries' Strong School Library Rubric and to know how a strong school library program is defined in the Oregon Administrative Rule for CIPs:

    (l) “Strong school library program” means a planned effort to ensure the instruction of students, school staff, and the broader learning community in library skills, information literacy, and educational technology; such a program promotes a rich array of literacy experiences supporting life-long reading; facilitates collaboration in lesson planning and instruction; ensures equitable access to library resources and licensed school librarians; and develops and manages current, plentiful, and diverse library collections of print and electronic resources that support classroom curricula and student interests. 

Division 22 & Compliance

Every November, school districts must submit a Division 22 Assurance of Compliance form to the Oregon Department of Education indicating whether or not they were in compliance with the standards in OAR Chapter 581, Division 22 during the previous school year. 
 
  • The administrative rule about school library programs is included because it is part of Division 22. 

  • If a district is not in compliance with a mandate, staff must indicate how they plan to achieve compliance.

  • Districts must share compliance information with their board and the community by November 1, which includes posting their report on the district website by that date; districts must submit the assurance form to the Oregon Department of Education by November 15. 

  • Someone who disagrees with compliance information that a district submits must file a complaint at the district level; if that is not resolved, then a complaint may be initiated with the Oregon Department of Eduction.
 
Jen Maurer, School Library Consultant || jennifer.maurer@slo.oregon.gov || 971-375-3540