Collection Development Policy

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Contents

• General Selection Criteria
• Responsibility and Requests
• Special Collections
• Scope
• Gifts Policy
• Collection Maintenance
• Reconsideration of Library Materials
• Appendix A: Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials
• Appendix B: The Tewksbury Public Library Local History Collection
• Deed of Gift

General Selection Criteria

Tewksbury Public Library strives to fulfill the informational, educational, and recreational needs of its users by providing quality materials. The following standards apply equally to all items considered for acquisition, whether purchased, requested, or donated. An item does not have to meet all of the criteria in order to be acceptable.

1. Appropriateness of subject and style for intended library users
2. Relevance to present and future needs of the community
3. Reputation and qualifications of the author or publisher of the work
4. Strengths and weaknesses of the existing collection
5. Consideration of the work as a whole, rather than on the basis of specific sections
6. Representation of trends, subjects, or genres of local or national importance
7. Currency and accuracy of the information
8. Price of item is within established budget guidelines
9. Contemporary and long-term significance
10. Literary or artistic merit
11. Favorable reviews and inclusion in reputable resources, such as bibliographies, publishers' catalogs, and professional or trade journals
12. Space requirements
13. Durability and sustainability of format for library use
14. Availability of materials through other area libraries or electronic resources
15. Popularity and user demand

The library seeks to provide a balanced collection representing a wide range of viewpoints, including controversial issues that may be objectionable to some individuals. A work will not be excluded from the collection because of frankness of content. The purchase of controversial items by the Library does not constitute endorsement of the views expressed.

Responsibility and Requests

The Library Director, acting within the policies established by the Board of Trustees is ultimately responsible for materials selection. The Director delegates this responsibility to professional librarians qualified by reason of education, training, and experience. Other staff members' and patrons' suggestions for the purchase of library materials are given careful consideration. Requested items may be added to the collection providing they meet the same criteria as all other materials.

Special Collections

The Library may maintain special collections in specific subject areas or formats. Separate policies, outlined in detail in Appendices to this document, may be developed exclusively for these collections. Refer to the Local History Collection Development Policy in the Appendix as an example.

Scope

The Tewksbury Public Library serves foremost as a community library for people of all ages who live and/or work in the Town. The Library's emphasis on collection development, is to acquire materials of wide-ranging interest to meet the needs of this general public.

General interest materials are collected on at least a basic information level. Basic information level collections serve to introduce and define a subject or author, to indicate the varieties of information available elsewhere, and to support the needs of general library users.

Therefore, the collection contains:

• A limited collection of monographs and reference works
• A limited collection of representative general periodicals
• Access to a limited collection of owned or remotely accessed electronic journals, texts, bibliographic tools, and similar formats

Basic information level collections are frequently and systematically reviewed for currency of information, and superseded editions and titles containing outdated information are withdrawn. Classic or standard retrospective materials may be retained.

Occasionally, popular and often-requested subjects or authors may be collected on a study or instructional support level. Study of instructional support level collections are more extensively developed and include works of well-known authors and selections from the works of lesser known authors.

Materials are purchased in the most appropriate format for library users within the Library's budgetary guidelines and constraints. The Library monitors the development of new and emerging formats, and considers the feasibility and usefulness of new technologies when making selection decisions.

The Local History Collection represents unique materials and subjects for which special guidelines apply (See Appendix B).

Gifts Policy

The Tewksbury Public Library recognizes the potential value that donations can add to the Library's collections. Gifts to the Library can be in the form of money or actual materials.

Gifts to the Library are evaluated according to the same selection criteria as all Library materials, regardless of the means of acquisition. These criteria include the condition of the material, the suitability of the format, and user demand. Please refer to the General Selection Criteria section for the complete list of criteria considered when adding materials to the Library collection.

Donated materials may be added to the collection or discarded, at the sole discretion of the Tewksbury Public Library. While any staff member may receive donations, the Library Director and/or the professional librarians will make the final decision as to whether donated materials are accessioned into the collection. All or part of a donation may be kept or discarded.

Once an item has been donated it is the property of the Library and is subject to the same processing, usage and disposal criteria as all Library materials. Upon requests the Library can acknowledge receipt of donated items, but does not keep records of the disposition of donated materials.

Collection Maintenance

Collection maintenance optimizes the Library's usefulness by ensuring that materials are appropriate to the library's objectives, easy to locate, and attractive to users. The Library's credibility is enhanced when the books and other materials are found by patrons to be up to date and relevant, and when the library's bibliographic records, such as the online catalog, accurately reflect the library's holdings.

The ongoing process of collection maintenance accomplishes several purposes:

• Inventory control provides a more accurate volume count by identifying lost materials
• Analysis provides feedback on the collection's strengths and weaknesses
• Weeding makes the collection more appealing by systematically replacing worn materials, materials that are no longer appealing, and materials that are no longer accurate

Weeding

Materials that no longer meet the stated objectives of the library are identified, withdrawn, and discarded according to accepted professional practices. Those staff members who have a direct role in the selection of materials (i.e., the Director and professional librarians) conduct deselection, also known as weeding, under the general guidance of the Library Director in accordance with established policy.

Some criteria considered for weeding:

• Damaged
• Worn
• Superseded
• Replaced
• Outdated
• Multiple copies
• No longer useful
• No longer in demand
• Triviality

Inventory Control

On a regular basis, reports are generated listing items without current and/or recent activity. Shelves are checked to determine whether items are lost, in which case they are deleted from the library's online catalog. If an item is located on the shelf, it is reviewed against criteria to determine whether it should remain in the collection.

Shelf Reading

On a regular basis shelves are examined to determine that books are in the correct order. Shelf reading also identifies errors in call number labels and locates books belonging to other libraries.

Reconsideration of Library Materials

Library patrons may request reconsideration of library materials. Upon a request for reconsideration, this procedure is followed:

1. The patron will be directed to a Professional Librarian or the Library Director, who will explain the materials selection policy to the patron. A copy of the policy may be given to the patron if requested. If the patron wishes, he or she may fill out and submit a Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials Form (see Appendix A) to a professional librarian or the Library Director.
   
2. The completed form will be reviewed by one or more professional librarians and by the Library Director. The material will be evaluated to ascertain that the selection criteria outlined in this policy were applied in the selection of the material and the Library Director shall deliver a written response to the patron within 14 days of the date that the Reconsideration Form was submitted.
   
3. If the patron is not satisfied with the decision, he or she may appeal in writing to the Library Director, who then convenes a Reconsideration Committee. The committee will consist of a Library Trustee, a member of the library staff, and members of the community selected jointly by the Trustees and the Library Director.
   
4. As the material is being reviewed, the Reconsideration Committee employs the selection criteria our lined in this document, as well as reviews from professional journals, and comments by the patron. The material will be reviewed in full. Library materials are not removed from the collection during the review process. The committee will recommend an action to the Library Director within 30 days. The Library Director will inform the patron in writing of the final decision.
   
5. Results of the Reconsideration will be retained on file.

Appendix A:
Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials

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Appendix B:
The Tewksbury Public Library Local History Collection

Mission Statement

The Tewksbury Public Library Local History collection has been established for the purpose of preserving and making accessible for research materials that help to document the founding, development, and achievements of the Town of Tewksbury.

Collection Development Policies

Scope

The major emphasis of the collection is the Town of Tewksbury. Additional materials that help to reflect the Town's history, including documents on the Merrimack Valley region - its waterways, indigenous peoples, social and labor conditions, are added; where such material has a direct connection to our understanding of the Town. Resources that assist in the comprehension of history materials are collected.

Formats collected are primarily paper documents, including: books, serials, maps, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, notebooks, town records, unpublished writings, pamphlets, broadsides, and various other ephemera, as well as documents on microfilm or microfiche that has been used as a means of preservation. The History Room has a small collection of photograph prints and negatives, video and audio recordings, and CD-ROMs.

Selection Criteria

Permanent collections will be selected based upon the material's fit within the scope of the collection, and the Library's ability to properly care for and preserve the material.

Gifts

The Deed of Gift (attached) will serve as a formal written documentation, acknowledging by the donor the transfer of the gift to the Library.

Discarding Materials

Since the collection is a research collection, the Library will not deaccession material unless it does not fit within the scope of the collection.

Deed of Gift

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Approved by the Board of Library Trustees, March 7, 2005

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