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Lake County Public Library

Collection Development

Collection Development Policy

Introduction

Lake County Public Library serves the residents and visitors of Lake County. Our Collection Development Policy is meant to provide guidance for the selection and evaluation of materials ensuring that we provide collections that are relevant and to the Lake County community. We also want our collections to be adaptable to changes within the community.

Scope of our collections

Our collections serve the informational, educational, cultural and recreational needs of our community. We collect in a variety of formats for children, young adults and adults. Additionally, we collect Spanish language materials.

A notable collection is our Colorado Mountain History Collection. This collection includes books, manuscripts, newspapers, ephemera, audio/visual materials and photographs related to the history of Lake County and surrounding regions. A majority of this collection is non-circulating, however a large-scale digitization project is underway. The digital collection can be viewed here.

Selection philosophy

In support of our Mission and Values we endorse American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights and statement on Freedom to Read. We strive to develop collections that covers a wide depth and breadth of topics and represents the diversity of our community. When selecting materials, we consider the following:

  • Currency and relevance to our community
  • Community requests and interests
  • Contemporary value
  • Local or state significance (Colorado history and authors)
  • Format needs (print, digital or audio)
  • Cost
  • Current needs of the collection and alignment with our strategic initiatives

Self-published books

The library generally does not purchase self-published books for the collection. Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the director based on the following criteria:

  • The title is being widely distributed either throughout the state or country;
  • The title is being collected by a number of libraries;
  • The title has been reviewed by reputable publications such as a widely distributed newspaper or magazine (e.g. Denver Post, Booklist);
  • The title is professionally bound and has a print run beyond 5000 copies;
  • Genre or topic fits Collection needs.

 

Selection Responsibility

The Library Director is empowered by Library Board of Trustees with the ultimate responsibility for selection of materials. The Director may delegate some selection responsibilities to appropriate library staff.

Colorado Mountain History Collection

The CMHC includes many formats and types of documents related to the history of Lake County and Colorado. LCPL has an ongoing digitization effort to make these items more accessible to researchers. Items have been prioritized based on condition and demand for usage. The full collection development and digitization plan can be viewed can be viewed here.

Maintenance & criteria for withdrawal

Like a healthy garden, a library collection also needs to be weeded to make room for new items. We carefully consider all items that are withdrawn from the collection based on the following criteria:

  • Physical condition
  • Relevance and community interest
  • Frequency of use
  • Timeliness
  • Multiple copies. Exceptions: high circulating items and multiple formats (large print, audio books, etc.) and for high circulating items.

Challenged Materials

Patrons may request reconsideration of material by filling out the Request for Reconsideration (Appendix A) form and submitting it to the Library Director. The Library Director will review the request and add it to the next Board Meeting’s Agenda.

The Trustees of the Library will set-up a Review Committee comprised of the Library Director, and two Trustees. This Review Committee will evaluate the item in question and report back to the Board. It will be up to the discretion of the Library Director whether or not the item will continue to stay on the shelf during its review process.

The Library Director will notify the patron of the outcome of the review. The results of the review, as presented to the Board of Trustees, will remain as a record as long as the item remains part of the collection.

Statement on Labeling and Rating

LCPL staff provides viewpoint neutral labeling only. Examples include genre and directional labeling. To provide this information, Library staff rely on information from the catalog records which are provided by the Library of Congress or other entities within our library consortium.

We do not label according to content; what may inspire one patron may offend another. Part of our mission to provide: "...equal access to information and [promote] diversity of ideas." This is true, regardless if we like those ideas or not. Labeling based on content is considered censorship because it is a value judgement and its intent is to " warn, discourage, or prohibit users or certain groups of users from accessing the resource" (ALA, Labeling Systems: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights). 

Lake County Public Library has adopted ALA’s Policy on labeling and rating: Labeling Systems: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretation/labeling-systems

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/labelingratingqa