Governance
Collection Development Policy
The Board of Trustees of the Half Hollow Hills Community Library adopts and declares that it will adhere to and support the most current Library Bill of Rights and the most current Freedom to Read Statement of the American Library Association. Both documents are a part of this policy.
Within its financial limitations, the library provides a general collection of reliable materials embracing broad areas of knowledge. Included are works of enduring value and timely materials on current issues. Within the framework of these objectives, the selection of materials considers community needs, expressed and inferred from studying community demographics and evidence of areas of interest.
Material Selection and Maintenance of the Collection
The Library Director delegates the responsibility for selecting materials to HHHCL librarians. Each department head supervises the maintenance of the library's collection, and individual staff is assigned areas for ordering, maintaining, and weeding.
Librarians shall make the selection of library materials based on timeliness, accuracy, expression, the significance of the subject, and evaluations in professionally recognized review journals and other sources. No materials shall be excluded due to race, nationality, or the political or social views of the author. The library's selection of materials does not mean endorsement of the opinions expressed but is an expression of the library's policy of intellectual freedom. Individuals should also recognize that some materials may be offensive or shocking to some readers but meaningful and significant to others. Works should be considered as a whole, not in isolated parts.
Since no library can acquire all print and non-print materials, every library must employ a policy of selectivity in acquisitions. The library provides a collection of materials embracing broad areas of knowledge. Best-sellers and anticipated best-sellers or popular titles will be purchased in multiple copies as determined by demand and advance publicity. Other community and area library resources are taken into consideration when selecting materials. Rather than buying every item, the library may borrow materials through interlibrary loans.
Curated information sources available through the Internet uses the same principles applied to books and other formats.
The library will accept gifts or donations if they meet the general criteria for selecting materials. Items not added to the Library's Collection will be donated to other organizations or sold to benefit the library.
The Board of Trustees also recognizes that removing no longer useful materials from the collection is as essential as maintaining the library collection. Therefore, the weeding policy shall include the same factors for consideration as the selection policy.
Request for Reconsideration of Library Material
Comments from community members about the collection or individual items frequently provide librarians with valuable information about interests or needs that the collection may not adequately meet.
Selected or excluded materials may be reevaluated upon request.
A HHH Community Library Cardholder objecting to a book or other material should submit the form, Patron's Request for Reconsideration of Library Material, available at any public service desk or from the Library Director's Office. Cardholders should submit the written request and the material in question to the Library Director's Office. It will be reviewed, and a report, along with a recommendation, will be forwarded to the Library Board of Trustees.
Adopted : 11 /17/08
Revised: 1/18/ 22