Collection Development

 

1. The Bellevue Public Library provides free service to all individuals in the community, both children and adults. Its objectives include serving a wide variety of people with a vast range of experiences, education and desires. Because the audience for library service is large and heterogeneous, the library's goals and objectives must be big enough to encompass an impressive range of human needs.

The Bellevue Public Library attempts first and above all else to supply the general information needs of the community. It tries, by building a collection of books and other materials and by providing personnel to use them, to be the place Bellevue adn Jackson County residents think of whenever they need information on any subject.

The Bellevue Public Library attempst to provide a significant source of recreational materials for reading, viewing and listening for people of all ages and interest. The Bellevue Public Library attempts to be a cultural force in the community by acting as a storehouse of ideas- a place where people can go to find the very best and the very worst ideas that man has had on any subject. Further, the Library attempts to be more than just a storehouse and tries to act as a clearinghouse for the latest and newest ideas that people have about themselves and the world around them.

To achieve these ends, the Library provides educational service to adults, seeking therby to assist the individual in a continuing learning process. It also provides special service to children and young people and seeks to direct and stimulate these readers by offering them a carefully selected collection of books and other materials with skilled personal guidance.

 

2. Ultimate responsibility for materials selection policy lies with the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees delegates to the Director the selection of library materials and the development of the collection.

 

3. The objective of selection is to collect those books and other library materials that will inform, entertain and contribute to enrichment of mind and spirit.

Library materials are selected by the Library Director and staff. Competent reviewing media and basic lists of standard works are consulted as an aid in selection. Recommendations from the public are welcomed.

The Library will review decisions regarding specific materials upone written request. A form form this purpose is available at the circulation desk.

Basic to the Library's Material Selection Policy is the Library Bill of Rights and the Freedom to Read Statement adopted by the Council of the American Library Association.

All Library materials must meet such of the following criteria as are applicable to its inclusion in the collection:

A. Current usefulness or permanent value.

B. Authority and competence in presentation

C. Importance as a record of the times.

D. Relation to the existing collection.

E. Relative importance in comparison with other works on the subject.

F. High standards of quality in content, format and binding.

 

4. The principles stated in the adult materials selection policy are applicable to the selection of materials for children. The Library cooperates with the school libraries so that the services of the two agencies may complement each other. The major function of the school library is to furnish curriculum-related materials. The Public Library seeks to provide a more comprehensive collection.

Library materials are not marked or identified to show approval or disapproval of the contents, and no book or other item is sequestered, except for the purpose of protecting it from theft or injury. If the Library owns a rare and/or scholarly item it may be controlled to the extend required to preserve the item(s) from harm.

Responsibility for the reading of children rests with their parents and legal guardiance. Selection of materials for the adult collection is not restricted by the possibility that children may obtain materials their parents consider inapprpriate.

The Libary does not try to offer the resources of a large reserach facility. Interlibrary loan is used to secure from other libraries those specialized materials which are beyond the scope of the library's collection. Since the Jackson County Historical Society and Jackson County Genealogical Society are within a 30 mile radius, no attempt is made to develop exhaustive collections in those fields.

The Library acknowledges a particular interest in local and state history and in the works of local authors.

 

5. The Library welcomes gifts of books and other materials with the understanding that it will evaluate them in accordance with the criteria applied to purchased materials.

When the library recieves a cash gift for the purchase of memorial books or collections, the selection will be made by the Library Director in consultation with the donor. The name of the donor or the person memorialized will be entered on teh bookplate.

 

6. The same criteria will be used in weeding materials from the collection as are used in their acquistion. In order to maintain the collection in its most attractive and useful condition, the librarian will use judgement in removing from the collection materials which are no longer useful, or are not in a condition suitable for circulation. Materials no longer useful to the library may be given to other libraries or disposed of.

 

7. It is the policy of the Bellevue Public Library to keep all materials in a good condition suitable for circulation. If materials are returned in an unusable condition, the patron, as a condition of his/her borrowing from the library, is liable for damges of no less than $5.00 per book and/or the price of the periodical so damaged. The property rights of the damaged poor or periodical remain with the library, except as states below. All damaged books are to be returned to the library.

For purposes of this section of the Bellevue Public Library Collection Development Policy the term unusable condition is defined as any one of the following:

A. Any single tear(s) that exceeds 1/2 inch on any one page.

B. Any stains, smudges, mud on the jacket or any page of a book that cannot be removed without leaving a substantial discoloration of the page.

C. Any obvious holes in the jacket or on the pages.

D. Any writing or drawings on the jacket or any of the pages.

 

8. The Bellevue Public Library has the right to determine the quality of materials provided for circulation. The Library Board and staff realize, that some materials in the library's collection will be objectionalbe to some people in the community. The library, however, belongs to the whole community- to the minority as well as the majority. It has a responsibility to serve that community in all its variety. That responsibility includes providing for the needs and interests that may offend a few or even a great many people.

A conscientious effort is made to provide a balanced collection. The library attempts to represent all sides of controversial issues. In no case does the library take an official stand on any public question. The function of teh library is to provide information, not to advocate specific points of view.

The library welcomes comments and criticisms of its collections. However, no citizen in a democracy has the right to prevent another from reading a specific book by demanding its removal from the library shelves. Anyone wishing to make a formal complaint may do so by filling out the form "Citizen's Request and Reconsideration of a Book". The form will be considered by the Bellevue Library Board and their decision will be final.

 

9. This statement of policy will be revised by the Library Board of Directors as circumstances require.

 

Approved February 2019