Responsibility for Collection Development:
The Director of Operations completes all direct book, audio, and audiovisual purchasing, except for children’s books, which are ordered by the Children’s Director. Guidelines for selections come from best practices within the library profession. Each item is judged individually according to its own merit, subject treatment, patron interest, and cost, as well as the need for the item in a balanced, organized collection. Orders are placed through various vendors including, but not limited to, Amazon, Libraria, and the publishers. The Library takes into consideration public demand as indicated by published lists of bestsellers and upholds the principles found in the American Library Association’s Freedom to Read Statement and Library Bill of Rights. As such, the Library is a Book Sanctuary, collecting, protecting, and making available to others banned, challenged, and endangered books.
While the Library has the ultimate responsibility for collection development and material selection, patrons are encouraged to contribute to the building of the Library’s collection. Every effort will be made to accommodate patron requests that are within the scope of the Library Materials Selection Policy.
Included in the assignment of responsibility are decisions of classification, reclassification, preservation, withdrawal, or removal to remote location. These decisions are based on the nature of the materials, anticipated use, physical condition, and space constraints.
When appropriate, withdrawn materials will be disposed of through duplicate exchange agreements with resource sharing partners.
In making decisions, the Library considers reviews in library publications, standard bibliographies, patron requests, and authoritative reading lists.
Allocation of Funds for Library Materials:
The Library Director, the Director of Operations, and the Library Board of Trustees are responsible for determining how funds are allocated within the materials budget. Funds are allocated for reference and general materials, processing and binding of materials, and preservation, as well as for the various subject areas important to the community. Subject area allocations are determined with the assistance of a formula that considers populations, cost of materials, and material use. Adjustments to the formula figures may be made due to special considerations that are not measured by the formula. Each subject area allocation includes funds for books, magazines and newspapers, and audiovisual materials.
A general fund is used for the purchase of materials of a general nature which do not logically fit within any subject allocation, and for the purchase of appropriate materials in subjects. Any member of the community may initiate purchases from the general fund by submitting a Request to Purchase.
Special Format Statements
Serials:
Serials are publications that are issued periodically and expected to continue indefinitely. Usually they have volume and/or issue numbers. Serials include journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, abstracts, indexes, and annuals.
Since serials represent significant and continuing expense, requests from the community are scrutinized more carefully than in the case of books. A serial will be acquired only when there are assurances that it has direct use, or when the serial is of current general interest. Special interest recreational serials will normally not be acquired.
Sunday newspapers, such as the New York Times, which are representative of the various regions of the United States may be acquired, but not preserved, to supplement the daily coverage of the local newspapers.
Audiovisual Materials:
The Library will purchase audiovisual materials needed to support the community in all formats for which it has equipment or facilities. These formats include DVDs, audiobooks on compact disc and/or Playaway/Wonderbook, and music compact discs. The Library will not acquire works of pictorial or plastic art, photographs, or non-book curriculum materials, such as tests, toys, video games, or kits.
The Library will normally not acquire audiovisual materials except when there are assurances of direct use. Requests for more expensive materials are scrutinized more closely than requests for inexpensive materials. Factors such as potential use, published reviews, the quality of the product, and overlap with materials already owned are considered. For expensive materials without reviews, preview before purchase is preferred. The Library reserves the right to not purchase audiovisual materials for recreational use which are readily available from other sources, such as streaming platforms. However, the Library may choose to purchase an item for which demand is great, even if the item is available from another source.
Maps and Atlases:
The Library maintains a small collection of maps but does not actively acquire this format. A representative collection of general specialized atlases is acquired and maintained in the reference collection.
Government Documents:
The Library is not a federal or state depository and does not maintain a separate collection of government publications. Government documents, whether books or serials, are acquired in line with normal collection development criteria and integrated into the general collection.
Manuscripts and Rare Books:
The Library does not purchase manuscripts or rare books. These formats are acquired only as gifts and only when resources are available for conservation and/or preservation to assure future access.
Microforms:
The Library does not acquire microforms as they are potentially volatile. Back issues/volumes of serials that are not readily available in hard copy and current materials that are not readily available on paper may be found on the Internet or one of the many databases to which there is access with a Library card.
Paperbacks:
Paperback books for the regular collection are acquired when hardback editions are not available or more expensive. The Library maintains a limited number of mass-market paperbacks for recreational reading. Most of these paperbacks come from donations made by patrons.
Reference Collection:
The reference collection is composed of information sources which the reference department needs nearby to assist in responding to information requests. With few exceptions, reference materials contain short and discrete articles or bits of information which users will consult one or a few at a time. Reference materials include, but are not limited, to indexes, encyclopedias, handbooks, directories, dictionaries, and compilations of statistics.
Reference materials shall be as up to date as is necessary for the provision of current and reliable information. Superseded editions that are removed from the reference collection may be added to the circulating collection if the information in them is not obsolete or likely to be misleading to users.
Textbooks:
The Library will not purchase textbooks or add donated textbooks to the collection.
Duplication of Materials:
The Library will normally buy only one copy of any item. Exceptions are made when expected use will be heavy. Duplicate materials received as gifts may be added to the collection if warranted by heavy usage of the copies already in the collection.
Gifts:
The Library Director is responsible for the acceptance and disposition of gifts. The criteria for acceptance of gifts are the same as those governing the selection of purchased materials. Duplicate and unwanted materials are disposed of as the Library Director sees fit unless prior arrangements to the contrary have been made. The Library will acknowledge in writing all gifts but will not be responsible for the appraisal of gift materials.
Inventory:
The Library collection is inventoried every year, complete with a thorough weeding. The collection is also evaluated every year using the conspectus approach. This ensures that the Library collection remains current and balanced according to subject matter.
Withdrawal Policy:
The Library Director has the final say on the disposition of materials. An item is discarded or retained based on its physical condition, currency (especially in the scientific area), importance in its discipline, and circulation history. Items which have not circulated within the past five years are evaluated for withdrawal based on their relevance to the other factors. However, classics in a particular discipline may never be discarded, even if they never circulate.
An item’s circulation record may be accessed using the computer system.
Items which are too dilapidated to be of use to anyone are recycled. If the item was a classic, it is replaced with a new copy. Items which might still be of use or of interest to others are offered for free on the cart in the lobby or offered to other charitable institutions.
For items which may offend certain community members, please see the Library’s Request for Reconsideration Policy, but keep in mind that the Northampton Area Public Library is a Book Sanctuary.
Approved by the Library Board of Trustees on 1/11/2024
