Collection Maintenance:
In order to conduct the cost of continually supplying shelf space for the addition of newly acquired items and to keep the Library's collection composed of materials pertinent to the needs of the public, it is imperative that the County Library
scientifically remove, or withdraw, materials judged as no longer useful.
Factors contribution to the withdrawal of material from the County Library collection include material which is:
- In poor physical condition
- Little used and of questionable value
- Ephemeral and no longer timely
- No longer considered accurate or factual.
Other materials typically withdrawn from the collection include excess copies of best sellers, or other formerly popular titles, occupying shelf space but which are no longer heavily requested.
Challenged Material:
The County is against the
addition or deletion, at the request of an individual or group, of any materials which
have been selected or not selected on the basis of the Library's materials selection
criteria. It is true that some materials are controversial and they might, at one time or
another, offend and individual or group. However, the purpose of the Public Library and
the process of selecting library materials systematically, is predicated on the Library
users' right to and similarly, the users' freedom from censorship by others. The Library
firmly believes that while all of us are free to reject for ourselves books and other
materials which we do not approve, we should not, and cannot, in the context of a free
society, exercise this freedom to the point of censoring or restricting the reading
freedom of others.