Materials Selection Policy

Collection Development Policy

This policy sets broad guidelines for the selection of library materials that correspond to the library’s mission and identified roles. It is also used to guide its library staff and to inform the public about the principles upon which selections are made.

1. Goal of Collection Development

The goal of collection development is to provide residents with materials and resources to satisfy their need to become well informed, to decide important questions, to discipline the emotions, to cultivate the imagination and to enjoy leisure by means of reading and other media services.

2. Objectives

To accomplish the above goals, the library has established the following objectives for material selection:

b. Responsibility for the material content choices of minors rests with their parents and legal guardians. Selection will not be inhibited by the possibility that materials may inadvertently come into the possession of minors.

c. The library will provide, too, a representative sampling of experimental and ephemeral material, but will not always attempt to develop an exhaustive collection of such material(s) The library considers it neither necessary nor desirable to acquire all materials on a given subject if such materials are duplicative.

3. Definitions

4. Responsibility for Selection

5. Use of the Library’s Collections

Adopted 9/15/2006 p. 1 Harrison Community Library

6. Criteria for Selection

8. Reconsideration Procedure

Adopted 9/15/2006 p. 2 Harrison Community Library

b. Any patron in the library’s service area who objects to the presence or absence of a work may present that objection by completing a “Patron’s Request For Reconsideration of Library Materials” form. The library director will review the request and the resulting decision will be communicated to the concerned party by letter. The concerned party may then schedule a meeting with the director to discuss this decision if desired.

c. If a satisfactory resolution cannot be reached through this process, the reconsideration form submitted by the patron, a copy of the director’s letter of decision and a written summary of the meeting will be forwarded to the library board of trustees for consideration and formal action at the next regularly scheduled public meeting.

d. No item under reconsideration will be removed without a formal directive from the board of trustees. Further, the board of trustees will not consider the request if the reconsideration form has not been completed fully, and if the item in question has not been completely read, listened to, or viewed.

e. The decision by the board of trustees is final. A permanent file will be kept of all records pertaining to any challenged item.

Adopted 9/15/2006 p. 3 Harrison Community Library

Patron’s Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials

The Harrison Community Library Board of Trustees has delegated the responsibility for selection and evaluation of library resources to the Director of the Library and has established reconsideration procedures to address concerns about those resources. Completion of this form is the first step in those procedures. If you wish to request reconsideration of library resources, please return the completed form to the director.