Gloucester
City Library
Library Materials Selection Policies
OVERVIEW
The mission of the Gloucester City Library is to provide access to resources that inform, educate, enlighten and entertain our diverse community. It is a center for lifelong learning, welcoming patrons of all ages, backgrounds and interests. The Library’s collections respond to the informational, education and cultural needs of the community.
The Library is a public forum for the collection, use and dissemination of information and ideas in a democratic and free society. The Library also is neutral ground, making information and ideas available without discrimination, without coercing a viewpoint on our public and by resisting barriers to information others may wish to impose. Inclusion of material in the collection does not consist of endorsement of its viewpoint by the Library.
RESPONSIBILITY
The Board of Trustees delegates the responsibility for the selection to the Library Director, who may delegate some selection to staff librarians.
SELECTION OF MATERIALS
Providing a high quality library collection is an art, not a science, and many factors are considered as part of the selection process.
The most important factor in selecting materials is to acquire items of current usefulness and of interest to the patrons of the Library. For items in high demand, duplicate copies may be purchased.
Many other selection factors include: anticipated demand; patron requests; price; reviewed recommendations; format; presentation; differing points of view or perspectives; and the needs of the current collection.
The Library may join with other libraries to jointly offer certain materials on a rotating or cooperative basis.
As determined by the Director and staff librarians, and in accordance with national and regional protocols, interlibrary loan will be used to fulfill appropriate requests from patrons.
TYPE OF MATERIALS COLLECTED
Information is collected and
made available in many formats. These include, but are not
limited to:
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books
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periodicals
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other printed materials
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DVDs and videocassettes
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audiocassettes
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compact discs
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microforms
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digital information by computer
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CD-ROM
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on-line through the Internet
Because of space and budget limitations, certain types of materials may be
collected in the one format that we believe to be the most useful for our
patrons.
DONATIONS of BOOKS and OTHER MATERIAL
Donations of books and other material to the Library are evaluated by the staff librarians for their usefulness to the collection, being guided by the same general selection principles as for newly purchased materials.
Donations will be acknowledged, if requested. However, the responsibility for assigning a monetary value of the donation is with the donor, not the Library.
REMOVING MATERIALS FROM THE COLLECTION
Space in the Library is finite. The ongoing acquisition of new materials also necessitates the ongoing removal of other materials.
Many factors are used to determine what materials should be removed including:
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popularity
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subject area strength
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currentness
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condition
Withdrawn materials will be
sold as used items or discarded.
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Intellectual Freedom
The Board of Trustees of the Gloucester City Library affirms its commitment to:
THE
LIBRARY BILL OF RIGHTS
and
THE FREEDOM TO READ
CHALLENGES TO MATERIALS
Any person who wishes to complain about a book or other material from the Library will fill out a form and return it to the Library Director. The Director and Board will review the complaint and determine the proper disposition of the issue.
During the time any complaint is under review, the material being challenged will not be removed from the active collection.
This policy supercedes all previous policies. Adopted by the Board of Trustees June 20, 2006.