Policies + Procedures — Academic Policies — Library Materials Selection

2.19 Library Materials Selection

I. Purpose

Establish criteria for selection of library materials.

II. Scope

Applicable to all materials considered for acquisition by the Library.

III. General

The Library subscribes to the materials selection principles contained in the Library Bill of Rights which follows.

Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all the people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.
Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapprovals.
Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.
Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.
A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background or views.
Libraries that make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.” _{Adopted by the American Library Association 1996}

The professional library staff share in the responsibility for selecting materials which do not logically fall in the fields of other professional staff. The librarians routinely need to identify and correct inadequate coverage.

IV. Procedures

General Selection Criteria

Accuracy and objectivity
Appearance of title in selection aids
Availability or scarcity of materials on the subject in question
Ease of access
Format
Importance of subject matter to the collection
Overall purpose of the item
Quality of writing
Reputation and significance of the author
Reputation and standards of the publisher
Timeliness or permanence of the item.

Specific Selection Principles

Gifts. Gifts of materials are accepted by the Library with the explicit understanding that, once received, the Director of Library Services will use his/her discretion in determining whether the materials should be added to the collection, or if the materials should be discarded. Gift materials will be evaluated using the criteria above.
Duplication of Titles. The Library endorses the policy of adequate provision of significant materials. However, it is not the function of the Library to supply classroom sets of materials nor materials for extended use in faculty offices. If duplicates are necessary for assignments of large numbers of students, a ratio of one title per twenty students should be used as a guide.
Replacement. Replacement of lost or damaged materials is to occur only after the title is re-evaluated with normal selection evaluation.
Textbooks. Purchase of textbooks in use on campus is to be avoided. Texts in general are avoided unless information presented in them is not available elsewhere.
Periodicals and Newspapers. Periodicals and newspapers in print and digital formats are included in the Library if accurate and objective, if indexed in standard indices, if representative of points of view or subjects needed in the collection, if of local interest and significance.
Government Publication. The Library has been designated a Government Documents Depository Library by the U.S. Government. This allows the Library to select on a continuing basis free government publications. Because of the requirements to keep such material for five years, selections must be judicious, and at times purchased without the resulting requirement inherent in the free acquisitions.
Materials for Faculty Use. The Library will furnish library materials basic to the support of faculty classroom presentations. The Library is not designed, however, to serve as a research library for the advanced scholar, and is not, therefore, considered as a source of materials for the personal interests and needs of individual faculty members. Interlibrary loan is available for this purpose.
Non Print Materials. The same selection process that applies to print materials applies to non-print materials.
Rare Books. Emphasis in selection is on the information itself, and not original issues.