Collection Development Policy

Collection Development Policy 

The Slater Library’s goal is to provide the communities of Griswold and Lisbon access to material of a diverse nature that will meet the needs and interests of the community. The aim of  the library is to provide material representing different points of view for the educational,  informational, and enrichment of its users. 

The purpose of this policy is to inform the public about the guidelines used to develop and manage its collections. 

Objectives:

Responsibility for Selection 

Ultimate responsibility for developing and enhancing the collection rests with the Head Librarian who operates within the framework of this policy. The Children’s Librarian, in conjunction with the Head Librarian, is responsible for selecting materials for the children’s collection. All staff members are encouraged to participate in the selection of Library resources. 

Scope of the Collection 

The Library provides material and services that reflect the diverse informational, educational,  and recreational needs and preferences of its users. In doing so, the Library provides access to  content through print, multimedia and digital resources. The Library recognizes that content and  media should be suitable matched, and that patrons have different learning styles and preferences  for how they receive information. Therefore, Slater Library provides material in a variety of  formats, including but not limited to: 


Criteria 

The Library is primarily a popular materials library, emphasizing breadth of subjects over depth  and general over specialized knowledge. The Library focuses its resources on popular works  that will be of interest or educational value to a majority of the community’s residents. It does  not maintain resources of a specialized or academic nature, but when feasible, will attempt to  borrow such items from other libraries. 

Children’s Library Guidelines 

The Children’s Library offers developmentally appropriate materials that meet the informational  and recreational needs of children ages birth through twelve. In addition, the Children’s Library  provides materials and programs on childrearing for parents and caregivers. 

The Children’s Library maintains a collection that is relevant, and of appropriate size and  quality, and that represents a diversity of views and expressions. To ensure that all parts of the  collection are appropriate and well chosen, the Children’s Librarian consults professional review  sources before purchases. The Children’s Librarian may also rely on the recommendations of  patrons and educators. 

Factors that may influence the selection of children’s material which include print book, DVDs  and video games are: 

Some materials in the children’s collection might not be considered appropriate by all adults for  all children. Only each child and his or her parent or caregiver can decide what material is  suitable for that child to read. 

Young Adult Guidelines 

The Young Adult Collection offers developmentally appropriate materials that meet the  informational and recreational needs of preteens and teenagers age twelve to eighteen. The  Young Adult area contains a collection that is relevant, of appropriate size and quality, and  diverse in nature to encompass a variety of viewpoints. To ensure that all parts of the collection  are appropriate and well chosen, the Head Librarian consults professional review sources before  purchase, but also relies on the recommendations of library patrons. Some material in the    

Young Adult collection may not be considered appropriate by all adults for all teenagers. While some  books may be too mature for one teen, other teens may be ready for them. Only each teen and  their parent or caregiver can decide what material is suitable for that teen to read. 

Adult Selection Guidelines 

All or some of the following criteria are considered when adding new items to the collection: • Accuracy, timeliness, accessibility, durability, and ease of use 

Periodicals are added to the collection on the basis of relevance, price and community interest. 

Audiovisual material is added to the collection with consideration to patron demand and budget  constraints. The library acquires material that is deemed to be in the most popular format for its  patrons. 

Textbooks or other materials that support an educational curriculum are not generally purchased,  nor accepted as a donation. 

All criteria need not be met for purchase consideration. 

Collection Maintenance 

In order to provide the best service to our community, the collection is regularly evaluated. To  keep the collection fresh and relevant, the Library maintains a schedule of evaluation, applicable  to both print and digital resources. 

The criteria for withdrawal from the collection are: 

Items removed from the collection may be sold with proceeds to benefit the library, or disposed  of at the discretion of the Head Librarian.

Collection evaluation and maintenance is a continuous and ongoing process based on  quantitative and qualitative evidence and professional judgment. 

Patron Suggestions 

Suggestions are welcome and all requests from Slater Library patrons are considered, using the  same criteria for all parts of the collection. 

If an item is unavailable or not financially feasible for purchase, we will attempt to obtain the  item from interlibrary loan. 

Gifts  

Slater Library may accept gifts of new materials with the understanding that the same guidelines  of selection for the rest of the collection are applied to gifts. The Library reserves the right to  evaluate and dispose of gifts in accordance with our Collection Maintenance policy. 

Controversial Materials 

Slater Library does not promote a particular belief or viewpoint. The library provides material  that showcase a variety of opinions that may be considered important or controversial.  Language, situations or subjects that may be offensive to some community members do not  disqualify material whose value is to be judged in its entirety. 

Free access to the collection is important to the mission of the library. The Slater Library  supports the following documents: 

Challenged Material 

Freedom of expression is protected by the Constitution, which requires a procedure to scrutinize challenged expression before it can be suppressed. Therefore, any legal attempt to regulate or suppress materials in the Library should be closely researched to ensure that the protected expression is not unfairly censored.

In order for material to be reconsidered as part of the collection, a patron must: 

Once a form has been completed and submitted, the Head Librarian, in conjunction with a designated Board member, will review the request and write a written response to that request.  A patron may ask that the full Library Board of Trustees review the decision.

Please complete the form via Google Forms here, or via the embedded form below.