Material Selection Policy
Appendices: The Freedom to Read and the Library Bill of Rights as appended are integral to this policy statement.
Adopted by the Chemung County Library District Board of Trustees May 18, 2006.
“Fulfilling individual needs for educational, recreational, and cultural information”
The primary purpose of the Library District is to provide and organize library materials to assist individuals fulfilling their needs for educational, recreational, and cultural information. Library District staff select, organize, and preserve materials on an extraordinarily wide scope – the arts and sciences, the humanities and social sciences, and all topics between. This information may be of lasting importance or temporary use. It may originate in the print or electronic publishing industry, from government agencies, or from other information providers. Regardless of source, the purpose of gathering and disseminating this information is to assist individuals with their self-education, enlightenment, and enrichment. As a rule, the public library does not purchase texts to support the curriculum of public or private schools. Instead, we purchase materials that supplement school curriculums.
“Library materials” encompasses many formats
Our neighborhood library collections are composed of information in many formats. These formats include print, audio, video, microfilm & microfiche, Braille and others. Information in electronic format, whether purchased by subscription through the Internet or maintained locally on computer workstations, forms an essential part of our collections. The generic term “library materials” encompasses these many different formats of information collected and made freely available to the public.
While print and image on paper has proven to be the most successful format over time, audio and video formats have evolved rapidly over the past generation, leaving the library in the position of making transitions from film to video to DVD, and from record to tape and compact disc. Print information, especially traditional reference library information, is now making a similar transition, from paper to CD-ROM, to disk, to Internet-based information. From the Library District’s web page, patrons can initiate searches on the Internet. Internet-based resources, including the World Wide Web, are beyond the confines of the library’s collection, and we cannot guarantee their accuracy, completeness, or appropriateness for all library users.
Objectives of the Library District
The Chemung County Library District maintains the following objectives:
- To provide and organize materials to meet the basic informational needs of the community;
- To give professional, trained assistance in the use of the collection;
- To fulfill current requests and anticipate future needs of library patrons;
- To cultivate and encourage individuals in the pursuit of life-long learning;
- To cooperate with groups in the area to stimulate educational and cultural activities;
- To sponsor discussion groups, programs, forums, and projects which promote learning and growth through library use; and
- To publicize the library as a free and accessible resource for educational and recreational reading, viewing, and listening needs.
The selection of materials hierarchical in nature
The responsibility for the selection of library materials is hierarchical in nature. It is delegated from the Library Board of Trustees, through the Library Director, to the staff responsible for the library collections of our neighborhood libraries. This does not preclude others from making recommendations for purchase based upon their reading, viewing, or listening interest and knowledge.
Reviewing sources used by library staff
Library District staff use industry standard professional reviewing literature for regular and systematic purchases of new library materials.
An important addition to these sources is the individual request from library patrons. Individual requests may be purchased if they meet the objective criteria for the selection of library materials.
Objective criteria for the selection of library materials
Throughout this process professional reviewers and library selectors base their judgement on the following qualities inherent to each item:
- Accuracy of content
- Historical or permanent value of the work
- Credibility and importance of the author
- Quality of expression or visual content
- Importance of the work to the Library’s existing collection
- Contemporary or timely social significance of the topic
- Availability of other materials on the same topic in the collection
- Accessibility for the general public to the same material elsewhere in the community, including materials in hospital, technical, college, or special library collections
- Suitability of the material in representing varied levels of complexity to reflect the educational backgrounds and reading skills of the community members
- Quality of the physical format, including binding, print size, durability, and illustration
- Reputation of the publisher
- Price
A selected work need not satisfy all criteria listed above to be included in the collection. A wide range of materials is selected to meet the demands of the community, including entertainment, which may not be of lasting value.
Materials on controversial topics should be represented in the Library
The collection should and does contain opposing views on controversial topics of interest that will generate intense interest, vehement debate, and strongly held and conflicting opinions by many individuals in the community. While controversies exist within many fields, in fiction and non-fiction and in print or non-print formats, among the most controversial topics are parapsychology, pseudo science, and the occult. At other times, sex education materials may be controversial. Religious texts also generate widely divergent opinions and strongly held personal feelings. Prominent social and political thinkers of divergent opinions will also generate controversies. Even deceased authors, like Mark Twain, can elicit strong opinions and controversy. It is an essential role of the public library to make these and other controversial materials freely available to individuals.
The Library District collects and disseminates information and ideas but does not advocate particular points of view
As an institution, it is the role of the Library District to collect and disseminate information and ideas. It is not the Library District’s role to advocate for or endorse any particular idea, opinion, or point of view. The Library District selects information that supports a wide range of competing and often conflicting ideas and opinions for consideration by library patrons. Furthermore, the Library District will not usurp the responsibility of parents, caregivers, and guardians who are more properly responsible for supervising the reading, viewing, and listening habits of children.
Gifts and memorials
Gifts of new or used library materials are often delivered to our libraries. They will be included in the collection if in the opinion of library staff responsible for selection, they meet the objective criteria for the selection of library materials listed in this policy. Reviews may be consulted to assist in decision making. Gifts become the property of the Library District and it maintains the right to dispose of gift materials in the manner it deems suitable, most often to our libraries’ book sales. Cash memorials are encouraged and will be used to purchase new materials for the collection.
The reconsideration process
The Board of Trustees recognizes the importance of providing a process whereby opinions from the public regarding materials selected can be voiced. To comply with this policy, a request for reconsideration must be made in writing on forms provided by the library. These forms are available at all our public libraries in Chemung County. They are also available from the Library Director. Upon completion of the request for reconsideration, members of the public may mail or deliver in person the form to the Library Director.
Upon receipt of the signed form, the Library Director will:
- Examine the material in question, the issues raised, and the circumstances involved;
- Make a decision to remove or retain the material in question; and
- Respond in writing to the request within one week.
Should the patron believe the decision of the Library Director is not supported by the library materials selection policy, the patron may appeal the decision to a hearing by the Board of Trustees by notifying the Library Director, who will make necessary arrangements. Following the hearing, the decision of the Board of Trustees will be final. Above all, the Board of Trustees has as its concern the fairness of such a hearing so as to protect the rights of all persons who are involved.
Form for the reconsideration of library materials
Patrons wishing to have the Library District reconsider library materials can click here to complete a fill-in-the-blank PDF form print and send to the Director.
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