Library Policies - Materials Selection

INTRODUCTION

The Dixon Public Library provides local public library service to people of all ages who have a wide variety of tastes, interests and concerns. Dixon Library’s Material’s Selection Policy sets forth the guidelines to be used by the library’s professional staff for the selection and placement of books and other materials in the library’s various collections. Dixon Library’s collections include print, non-print and on-line resources.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR SELECTION

The Dixon Public Library Commission is legally responsible for the policies of the Dixon Public Library.

The initial responsibility for selection of print, non-print and on-line materials for children, young adults and adults lies with the library’s professional staff. The ultimate responsibility for material’s selection rests by law with the District Librarian.

When choosing new materials for inclusion into the print, non-print or on-line collections, the professional library staff makes its selection in a manner based upon principle rather than on personal opinion, reason rather than prejudice, and judgment rather than censorship. Selection must be inclusive rather than exclusive. Variety and a balance of opinion are the acknowledged Dixon Library material’s selection guidelines.

All staff members as well as the general public are encouraged to recommend titles for consideration.

PRINCIPLES OF SELECTION

The Dixon Public Library selects, organizes and circulates materials which record thoughts, expressions, knowledge, ideas and opinions offered in any format throughout all of recorded history. The library provides these resources in order to serve the diverse informational and recreational needs of this community.

GENERAL MATERIAL’S SELECTION GUIDELINES

• Adhere to the American Library Association’s LIBRARY BILL OF RIGHTS and INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM statements.
• Meet the needs of the individual and of the community by respecting those individual needs which are expressed and those basic universal needs whether expressed or not.
• Regard the individual merit and value of each work
• Act as a complement to the library’s existing collection, goals, objectives, services and budget

PRIMARY MATERIAL SELECTION CONSIDERATIONS

• Materials included in Dixon Library’s collections must be measured first by a number of criteria. The primary test for the selection of any item is whether it is of any proven or potential interest to the people whom the library serves.

SECONDARY MATERIAL SELECTION CONSIDERATIONS

• Availability and cost of the item
• The amount of similar material already in the collection
• The extent to which the material may be already available elsewhere in the community
• Durable, manageable and attractive physical make-up of the material
• Attention by critics and/or reviewers
• Local interest or demand
• Direct relationship to the goals for Dixon Library’s Collection Development.
• Treatment of factual information with accuracy and authenticity
• A Writing style and presentation of content that reflect quality and merit
• Writing style that is clear, comprehensible, skillful, convincing, well-organized, and unbiased
• Technical audio, electronic and/ or visual production that is clear and well crafted
• Provides special features such as useful illustrations, photographs, maps, charts, graphs, etc.
• Range of possible uses such as recreational, informational, school reports, business information, professional development, etc.

PLACEMENT OF MATERIALS

The public has access to all library print, non-print and on-line materials

Inclusion of materials into the library’s collections is a professional decision. Criteria for purchase include:

• Assigned classification
• Format
• Susceptibility to loss or damage
• Rarity or cost

WITHDRAWAL OF MATERIALS

DONATED MATERIALS

Donations of materials or funds to enrich the library’s collections are welcomed. Gift donations must meet the same criteria as purchased materials. The library reserves the right to make the final decision on the use of funds or donated materials as well as the disposition of these same donated materials.

SUITABILITY OF MATERIALS

In choosing materials to suit and satisfy the wide variety of tastes indigenous to Dixon, it is necessary to include an eclectic mixture of differing viewpoints. It should also be recognized that some materials chosen may be offensive, appalling or trite to some readers but may be meaningful and significant to others. Regardless that divergent opinions are represented in the materials included in Dixon Library’s

Print, non-print, and on-line collections, that fact alone may not be interpreted to mean that Dixon Library in any way endorses any or all of the opinions expressed in its collections.

Print, non-print, and on-line materials shall be made as accessible to the public as possible. Dixon Library does not serve as a censor for the reading materials available to any member of this community. The library recognizes the importance in a democratic society to allow individuals to form their own opinions on issues, particularly controversial ones Therefore, the library will acquire, within the guidelines set forth in its Material’s Selection Policy, resources that may be considered controversial in nature.

Responsibility for the reading materials of minors rests with their parents or local guardians. Selection of Dixon Library materials will not be restricted by the possibility that these resources will come into the possession of minors. The library does not act in loco parentis.

PROCEDURES FOR RECONSIDERATION OF MATERIALS INCLUDED IN COLLECTIONS

1. Encourage the complainant to review Dixon Library’s Selection of Materials Policy and make no commitments or comments.
2. Provide the complainant with Dixon Library’s Suitability of Contents Policy
3. If indicated, invite the complainant to file his/her objections in writing by providing him/her with a copy of Patron Request for Review of Library Materials form which is the mechanism used to submit a formal complaint to the District Librarian.
4. If the complainant completes the form, then advise the patron that the District Librarian and the professional librarians will:
• Re-examine the challenged material.
• Survey appraisals of the questioned material in professional reviewing sources.
• Determine the extent to which the material supports the goals of the library
• Weigh the material’s seeming merits against alleged faults to form an opinion based on the material as a whole and not on passages isolated from context.
• Discuss the material and prepare a written summary for the complainant
• That if the complainant does not agree with the decision of the professional staff, then an appeal may be sent to the Library Commission.

Approved by the Library Commission on 21 October 1998.

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