1 Regular Business Item No 3
Attachment 2
Fullerton Public Library
Materials Selection and Deselection
Policy
SELECTION/DESELECTION POLICY STATEMENT
The Fullerton Public Library selects and deselects materials based on the subject knowledge and expertise of professional librarians assigned to col- lection development, along with recommendations from the public and other library staff, professional and popular media reviews, and evaluation of review copies from publishers. Budget and space limitations require a focus on materials that appeal to a broad range of users, rather than the academic, highly technical or otherwise specialized collections which are the mission of the Fullerton’s universities and research institutions. No ma- terials are excluded or removed from the Library on the basis of the au- thor’s race or nationality, or their political, social, or religious beliefs. Ma- terials dealing with controversial views are judged as entire works, not on isolated passages or sections.
SELECTION/DESELECTION POLICY OBJECTIVES
In support of the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read Statement, the Library affirms the public’s right of ac- cess to a broad spectrum of reading, listening and viewing materials, and upholds the right of any individual to secure information, even if the con- tent may be controversial, unorthodox, or unacceptable to others.
Selection (acquisition) and deselection (removal) of materials is carried out in conjunction with the following policy objectives:
• The Library’s collections seek to meet the broad and diverse inter- ests of the community and respect both the Library’s autonomy and the specific needs of the community it serves.
• The Fullerton Public Library strives to serve as a center for voluntary inquiry and the dissemination of information and ideas. • Library materials should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people, and should present diverse points of view in the collection as a whole.
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• The Library acknowledges and affirms the right of the public to re- ceive access to a range of social, political, aesthetic, moral, and other ideas and experiences.
SELECTION/DESELECTION POLICY METHODOLOGY
The Board of Trustees of the Fullerton Public Library, appointed by the Fullerton City Council, is responsible for the resources in the library. Selec- tion is delegated by the Board of Trustees to the library professional staff (librarians) and approved by the Library Director. Selection responsibilities are carried out by individual librarians assigned to various collections and subjects. Professional staff adhere to the following guidelines in making their selections:
Engaging in open, continuous two-way communication with library patrons and recognizing that individuals have different ways of expressing their needs based on age, language, economic status, culture, or other charac- teristics
• Interacting with patrons with understanding, respect, and respon- siveness
• Handling all requests equitably
• Working in partnership with one another to understand and respond to community needs
• Understanding and responding to rapidly changing demographics, as well as societal and technological changes
• Recognizing that materials of varying complexities and formats are necessary to satisfy diverse needs of library users
• Balancing individual needs and broader community needs in deter- mining the best allocation of collection and staffing budgets for ac- quiring or providing access to materials and information • Seeking continuous improvement through ongoing measurement • Reviewing the collection on a regular basis to identify areas of com- munity interest that may need to be strengthened
Professional library staff use the following criteria to evaluate materials for selection or deselection. An item or resource need not meet all of these criteria in order to be acceptable.
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• Present and potential relevance to community needs
• Suitability of physical form for library use
• Suitability of subject and style for intended audience • Cost
• Importance as a document of the times
• Relation to the existing collection and to other materials on the sub- ject
• Attention by critics and reviewers
• Potential user appeal
• Requests by library patrons
• Authority
• Comprehensiveness and depth of treatment
• Skill, competence, and purpose of the author
• Reputation and significance of the author
• Objectivity
• Consideration of the work as a whole
• Clarity
• Currency
• Technical quality
• Representation of diverse points of view
• Representation of important movements, genres, or trends • Vitality and originality
• Artistic presentation and/or experimentation
• Sustained interest
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• Relevance and use of the information
• Effective characterization
• Authenticity of history or social setting
REQUESTS FOR RECONSIDERATION
Community members have the right to voice concerns or submit formal complaints about library materials. Fullerton Public Library has established the following procedure to handle these objections.
A community member wishing to have the materials reconsidered must complete a Request for Reconsideration form, available inside the Library, and return the completed form to the Library Director. Only requests from Fullerton Public Library cardholders in good standing will be considered.
Requests from outside parties or organizations, or from individuals other than Fullerton Public Library cardholders, or from individuals will tempo- rary library cards, will not be considered.
The Library Director will make determination based on Fullerton Public Li- brary’s Materials Selection/Deselection Policy and inform the community member of the decision reached within two (2) weeks of receiving the re- quest.
A community member may appeal the determination of the Library Direc- tor within 10 days of receiving the determination by submitting a written request to reconsider to: Fullerton Public Library, c/o Library Director, 353 W. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton, CA 92832 or by submitting an email to [email protected] The written request shall set forth the grounds and reasons for the request. The Library Board of Trustees shall consider the request within 30 working days of the Library Director’s receipt of the Request for Reconsideration. The Board’s decision shall be issued in writing within five (5) working days after the hearing. The deci- sion of the Library Board shall be final.
In considering formal Requests for Reconsideration, the Fullerton Public Li- brary adheres to the principles of intellectual freedom that are inherent in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and ex- pressed in the Library Bill of Rights, adopted by the Council of the Ameri- can Library Association. When materials are questioned, the Fullerton Pub- lic Library seeks to defend the principles of intellectual freedom rather than the materials themselves.