Materials Selection Policy -

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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:

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• 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Other materials typically withdrawn from the collection include excess copies of best sellers, or other formerly popular titles, occupying shelf space but which are no longer heavily requested.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 an 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.