Collection Development

Selection Policy

The Atkins Public Library endorses the Library Bill Of Rights as adopted by the American Library Association.

The Library belongs to the entire community and an effort will be made to provide a balanced collection.

An attempt is made to represent all sides of controversial issues. Our function is to provide information.

The Library applies the same principles of evaluation of gift materials that applies toward purchased items.

A patron may object to specific books or other materials, they will be asked to complete the form “Citizens Request for Reconsideration of Material” or no action can be taken on any item.

Collection Development Policy

The Library Director is responsible for selecting materials, which conform to approve collection development policies. Library staff may be involved in the selection process under the Director's Supervision. Other interested persons are encouraged to make suggestions and recommendations. Revised September 17, 2014

Donations

The Atkins Public Library accepts donations of any kind. Once an item is donated to the Atkins Public Library it becomes the property of the library. The donation will be evaluated and used at the library's discretion. Adopted September 10, 2018

General Principles for Selection

In general, items selected should be useful to the community, and should be representative of the best materials available. The following general criteria should be considered during the selection process.

Popular appeal or current community interest.

Quality, for books, this include there style, validity, readability, etc.

For non-print items this includes content as well as physical format

And technical quality (sound, picture, construction, packaging, etc)

Relationship to materials already in the collection Permanent value, such as a classic work in a given area, a basic reference source, a record of the times depicted.

Availability of the same or similar materials in the local area

Intended audience

Price

Each item should be evaluated according to its merit in and of itself. Items will not be excluded because of race, religion, political views or reputation of the author. Items will not be excluded due to judgment based on individual passages taken out of context. Library materials are not marked or identified to indicate approval or disapproval of their content. Parents and legal guardians are responsible for supervising their children's reading. Selection of materials for adult collections will not be restricted by the possibility that children may obtain materials that are considered inappropriate by their parent or guardians. Controlled or restricted access to certain items may occur when it is apparent to the Director or the Board that such a step is necessary to preserve item from physical damage or theft.

Selection Policy of the Atkins Public Library

The purpose of the Atkins Public Library is to provide circulating and reference materials to meet the needs of all citizens of Atkins and Surrounding areas regardless of age. It is the Policy of the library to select materials that fulfill informational occupational, educational and pleasurable needs. Also materials of contemporary and historical significance, permanent value and purely recreational interest. The following four participles from the “Library Bill of Rights” shall be adopted and applied to the selection of library materials.

1. As a responsibility of the library services, books and other library materials selected should be chosen for values of interest, information and enlightenment of all people of the community. In no case should library materials be excluded because of race or nationality, or social, political or religious views of the authors.

2. Libraries should provide books and other materials presenting all points of views concerning the problems and issues of our times; no library materials should be proscribed or removed from libraries because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

3. Censorship should be challenged by libraries in the maintenance of their responsibility to provide public information and enlightenment.

4. Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas. In choosing materials for its collection it is the intent of the library to serve all of the community, neither to promote nor censor the ideas or opinions of any particular group within or outside the area. Because of limited budget and space the library does not consider it necessary or desirable to collect all materials on a given subject or to duplicate the same. It does not attempt to act as a research library or to supply materials that relate only to the curriculum of the schools. However, curricular items of interest to the general public will be considered. The library acts as a selector rather than a censor. In censoring, materials they are intentionally withheld, because of a part of their contents. In selection, materials are judged in their entirety, balancing the item under consideration with the library's present collection, community needs and desires and budget. Works are viewed with regard to their literary educational, informational value, authority and effectiveness of presentation.

Responsibility

Material selection and all library activities rest with the librarian who works under the authority of and the policies determined by the Board of Trustees. The librarian's attempt to identify community needs to determine areas of the collection that are inadequate, as well as those areas need to be updated.

Junior Fiction and Young Adult

These materials are intended to serve patrons between the ages of eleven and sixteen. They are marked JF or YA before the call number, and are shelved in their own area. Junior fiction should entice and encourage young and often reluctant readers; increasing their sense of enjoyment in reading. Special attention is given to materials of particular interest of this age group.

Children Books

These materials are intended to serve patrons between the ages of preschool and ten. They are to be marked Easy before the call number, and are to be shelved in their own area of the library. These materials are selected to serve everyone from preschool through age ten. We have board books for the very young, easy readers, picture books and beginning chapter books. The best in Children fiction generally includes well- knit plots, imaginative writing and illustrations with strong characterization and appropriate literary styles.

Parental Supervision of Children Reading

The library makes no attempt to assume the rightful role of parents in monitoring, controlling, or curtailing the reading of children. Parents should be interested and involved in what reading their children do. The library does not assume responsibility for the possible miss use of information found in the collection of young readers.

Fiction General

The fiction collections are intended to meet the needs and interests of the readers with widely differing tastes, interests and reading levels.

Non Fiction

The nonfiction collections are intended to serve a wide variety of interests and a much diversified clientele. When an issue of current interest seems controversial or unresolved, the Library will attempt to collect materials showing a variety of viewpoints and differing opinions on that issue. The Library does no endorse particular viewpoints contained in the collections, and the Library maintains a neutral stance on unresolved and controversial issues.

Weeding

A careful and continuous weeding program is necessary to maintain a collection that continues to have matters that contribute to educational, informational, cultural and recreational needs of the community. Those books and materials that no longer serve these needs must be removed from the collection. Removal is determined by the lack of current use and\or condition of the material.

Reconsideration of Library Materials

The patron who objects to the presence of any particular library material should fill out the “Reconsideration of library materials” form, which may be obtained from the director or any staff person. After the form is completed, the Director will re-examine the material. If the form is not completed, no reexamination or reconsideration will take place. When the director makes a decision regarding the material, the board and the patron will be notified as to the decision and the reasons for it. If the patron wishes to contest the decision, he/she may present the complaint to the Board of Trustees for final review; wither by letter or by making prior arrangements to be on the agenda of a board meeting. The board will consider the complaint and the director's decision and will make the final decision.