3.2.7 Library Materials Selection Policy

Policy: 3.27

Library Materials Selection

Date of PLT Policy Adoption: April 14, 2009

Revised Effective Date: April 14, 2009

Scope: All Constituency and Employee Groups

Policy

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is twofold: First, as an internal document it will serve as a planning guide for developing the Library’s collection, and to clarify the selection criteria used to build and maintain the collection. This collection development policy shall be subject to periodic review.

Second, as an external communication device it will communicate to the College and to other concerned parties the rationale that underpins the decisions we make about the way materials money is expended. In this regard, it may also serve as a conduit of communication back to us, serving as a springboard for discussion and a catalyst for revisions and improvements to the policy.

The Library’s Mission

The mission of the Yavapai College Library is to support and enhance the academic, professional, and lifelong learning needs of the Yavapai College community. We do this by:

• Providing information resources, technology, and support necessary for success in teaching and learning;
• Providing environments, services, and programs that promote discovery, engagement, and the value of lifelong learning.

Goal of the Collection

The primary goal is to ensure that a wide range of library resources will enrich and support the curriculum and meet the needs of the students, faculty, staff and community. As such, this collection should include materials at varying levels of difficulty, with diversity of appeal, and allow for the presentation of many different points of view. In addition, our collection strives to support our students’ interests by providing them with materials for cultural enrichment, social growth, recreation, and enjoyment. To this end, it is the responsibility of the professional staff:

• To provide materials in a variety of formats that will enrich and support the curriculum, taking into consideration the varied interests, abilities, and learning styles of the students served.
• To provide materials that will stimulate growth in factual knowledge, literary appreciation, aesthetic values, and societal standards.
• To provide a broad spectrum of materials representing a balance of points of view so that students may have an opportunity to develop the practice of critical analysis and to make informed judgments in their daily lives.
• To place principle above personal opinion and reason above prejudice in the selection of materials of the highest quality in order to assure a comprehensive collection appropriate to the Yavapai College community.

Responsibility for Selection

The Library invites purchase suggestions from students, faculty, staff, and community members. Faculty are especially encouraged to make recommendations based upon their expertise in subject areas. However, because librarians can best judge the balance of the total collection and have daily access to current reviewing media, final decisions concerning acquisitions rest with them.

Selection Criteria Librarians and designated staff involved in the selection of library resources shall use the following criteria as a guide:

• Library resources shall support and be consistent with the general educational goals of Yavapai College and the aims and objectives of specific courses.
• • Library resources shall meet high standards of quality in factual content, presentation, artistic quality, and/or literary style. The reputation and significance of the author, producer, and publisher shall also be taken into account in selecting materials.
• • The validity, currency, timeliness or permanence, and appropriateness of material shall be considered in selecting library resources.
• • The decision to purchase selected items shall be commensurate with cost and/or need.
• • Library resources shall be appropriate for the variety of reading levels and learning styles of the students for whom the materials are selected.
• • The Library’s purchases shall meet curricular accreditation requirements.
• • Collections in a variety of formats shall be encouraged to support the variety of learning styles.
• • Library resources shall be selected for their strengths rather than rejected for their weaknesses.
• • The selection of library resources on controversial issues shall be directed towards maintaining a diverse collection representing various views

Intellectual Freedom

It is the responsibility of the librarians and designated staff to ensure that all points of view relevant to the College mission are represented in the collection. The Library endorses the American Library Association Library Bill of Rights (Appendix B) and The Freedom to Read

(Appendix C), which are attached as appendices, and the principles of those documents are an integral part of this policy statement.

Procedures

1. In selecting library resources, librarians and designated staff will evaluate available resources and curriculum needs and will consult reputable, professionally prepared aids to selection and other appropriate sources.

2. Requests, suggestions, and opinions regarding the purchase of library resources shall be gathered where appropriate. Recommendations shall be judged by the criteria outlined and shall be accepted or rejected by those criteria. Final selection is made by the librarians.

3. Gift materials shall be judged by the criteria outlined in this document and shall be accepted or rejected by those criteria.

4. Selection is an ongoing process which should include the removal of materials no longer appropriate and the replacement of lost and worn materials still of educational value (see Appendix G, Deselection, or Weeding).

Collection

Fiction Books

The Library attempts to maintain a collection of classics, semi-classics, and standard novels. Books which serve as a stepping stone to better reading, or which encourage an enjoyment of reading, may be purchased even though they may not be of the highest literary quality. Abridged versions are not purchased.

Nonfiction Books

Nonfiction materials meet the selection criteria above and are selected to support the curriculum.

Textbooks

Textbooks currently in use at Yavapai College are not purchased.

Foreign Language Materials

The Library purchases foreign language dictionaries and select materials that support Yavapai College foreign language course curricula.

Juvenile Literature

Juvenile literature materials meet the selection criteria above and are selected to support the curriculum.

Materials for Faculty Research

Materials needed by faculty pursuing advanced degrees or for other research purposes and that are too specialized to fall within our general collection guidelines will be requested for the faculty member through Interlibrary Loan rather than purchased.

Periodicals

Periodicals represent a long-term commitment. They are costly to acquire, process, house and physically maintain. Space for growth of the collection is limited. Therefore, careful consideration needs to be made when adding new subscriptions or reviewing current holdings. Please refer to Appendix A, Periodicals Acquisition Policy, for a complete description of the materials selection policy for periodicals.

Non-Print Materials

This category includes books on CD/tape, musical recordings, videos, DVD’s, microforms and online databases.

Non-print items will be acquired according to the criteria for book selection. A variety of music will be purchased to support the curricula and general interests.

Videos, DVDs and CDs are primarily purchased to support the curriculum. A limited number of entertainment items will be purchased. Materials not purchased will be borrowed through Interlibrary Loan.

Microfiche and Microfilm

Microforms are purchased to support student research needs when titles are not available in online databases or back issue print volumes.

Online Databases

Online databases shall be selected on the basis of appropriateness to the curriculum, broad appeal to faculty and students, and appropriateness of design and format to the needs of our students. Online databases that are not used to support the research process shall not be purchased. Database purchases are subject to periodic review through Library committee process.

Other Material Types and Formats

With minor and rare exceptions, the Library neither collects nor plans to collect materials of types and formats other than those commented on above. Examples of other types and formats include, but are not limited to, workbooks and software used for courses that are not related to the research process and classroom instructional items such as anatomy models, classroom maps or kits. Technological developments in the future may mandate that this decision be revisited.

Gifts

Gifts are subject to the same selection criteria as newly purchased items. Items donated to the Library become the property of Yavapai College Library. Although the Library accepts gifts, it does so with the clear understanding that they will not necessarily to be added to the collection. In addition to the criteria above, processing costs, shelf space, duplication, and physical condition shall also be taken into account. The Library reserves the right to refuse a donation if the donor specifies special conditions, including, but not limited to, retrieval from a donor’s home, or special shelving requirements. Value assessment for tax purposes is the responsibility of the donor.

Archives

The archives of Yavapai College consist of the publications of the College, including catalogs, periodicals, handbooks, reports, year-books, brochures, and the minutes of meetings of the District Governing Board and the Faculty Association. They will also contain newspaper materials about the College.

Appendix A: Periodicals Acquisitions Policy

DESCRIPTION

A periodical is defined here as a journal, magazine, newsletter, or newspaper. As is true of the greater collection, periodicals are intended to support the curriculum, research needs, and general interests of Yavapai College students, faculty, staff and the community. The periodicals collection will generally not include materials needed for advanced degrees or research.

GENERAL POLICIES

The guidelines of the Yavapai College Library Materials Selection Policy will be applied to any periodical acquisition. In addition:

1. No more than one paper subscription of any title will be purchased per Library.
2. Newspapers are selected to provide local, regional, national, and international coverage, and on the basis of both their geographic location as well as their journalistic reputation.
3. All titles collected will be evaluated on a periodic basis in order to ensure current needs are being met.
4. Gift subscriptions will be subject to the same criteria as any other gift or subscription.

SELECTION CRITERIA

The same criteria that are applied when making selections for any resource for the Library collection will be used for periodicals acquisitions. Since even a relatively inexpensive journal title represents a continuing and growing expense, titles are added very selectively. The evaluation criteria includes but is not limited to:

1. Cost of the subscription relative to value of/need for title.
2. Dependable archival availability in electronic formats.
3. Relationship to other periodicals in collection.
4. Demand for title.
5. Appropriate level of specialization.
6. Quality and reputation of the periodical.
7. Uniqueness of the information.

RETENTION

As space permits, the Library keeps periodicals of long term value to its mission indefinitely. Retention decisions for back files of other periodical titles are made on a case by case basis, and include but are not limited to:

• Full text coverage in our subscription databases.
• Relevance to the research needs of the Yavapai College community.
• Storage space considerations.

Appendix B: Library Bill of Rights

The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services.

1. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.
2. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.
3. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.
4. Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.
5. A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.
6. Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.

Adopted June 18,1948.

Amended February 2, 1961, and January 23, 1980,

inclusion of “age” reaffirmed January 23, 1996, by the ALA Council.

Appendix C: Freedom to Read Statement

A Joint Statement by: American Library Association and Association of American Publishers The freedom to read is essential to our democracy. It is continuously under attack. Private groups and public authorities in various parts of the country are working to remove or limit access to reading materials, to censor content in schools, to label “controversial” views, to distribute lists of “objectionable” books or authors, and to purge libraries. These actions apparently rise from a view that our national tradition of free expression is no longer valid; that censorship and suppression are needed to avoid the subversion of politics and the corruption of morals. We, as citizens devoted to reading and as librarians and publishers responsible for disseminating ideas, wish to assert the public interest in the preservation of the freedom to read.

Most attempts at suppression rest on a denial of the fundamental premise of democracy: that the ordinary citizen, by exercising critical judgment, will accept the good and reject the bad. The censors, public and private, assume that they should determine what is good and what is bad for their fellow citizens.

We trust Americans to recognize propaganda and misinformation, and to make their own decisions about what they read and believe. We do not believe they need the help of censors to assist them in this task. We do not believe they are prepared to sacrifice their heritage of a free press in order to be “protected” against what others think may be bad for them. We believe they still favor free enterprise in ideas and expression.

These efforts at suppression are related to a larger pattern of pressures being brought against education, the press, art and images, films, broadcast media, and the Internet. The problem is not only one of actual censorship. The shadow of fear cast by these pressures leads, we suspect, to an even larger voluntary curtailment of expression by those who seek to avoid controversy.

Such pressure toward conformity is perhaps natural to a time of accelerated change. And yet suppression is never more dangerous than in such a time of social tension. Freedom has given the United States the elasticity to endure strain. Freedom keeps open the path of novel and creative solutions, and enables change to come by choice. Every silencing of a heresy, every enforcement of an orthodoxy, diminishes the toughness and resilience of our society and leaves it the less able to deal with controversy and difference.

Now as always in our history, reading is among our greatest freedoms. The freedom to read and write is almost the only means for making generally available ideas or manners of expression that can initially command only a small audience. The written word is the natural medium for the new idea and the untried voice from which come the original contributions to social growth. It is essential to the extended discussion that serious thought requires, and to the accumulation of knowledge and ideas into organized collections.

We believe that free communication is essential to the preservation of a free society and a creative culture. We believe that these pressures toward conformity present the danger of limiting the range and variety of inquiry and expression on which our democracy and our culture depend. We believe that every American community must jealously guard the freedom to publish and to circulate, in order to preserve its own freedom to read. We believe that publishers and librarians have a profound responsibility to give validity to that freedom to read by making it possible for the readers to choose freely from a variety of offerings. The freedom to read is guaranteed by the Constitution. Those with faith in free people will stand firm on these constitutional guarantees of essential rights and will exercise the responsibilities that accompany these rights.

We therefore affirm these propositions:

1. It is in the public interest for publishers and librarians to make available the widest diversity of views and expressions, including those that are unorthodox or unpopular with the majority. Creative thought is by definition new, and what is new is different. The bearer of every new thought is a rebel until that idea is refined and tested. Totalitarian systems attempt to maintain themselves in power by the ruthless suppression of any concept that challenges the established orthodoxy. The power of a democratic system to adapt to change is vastly strengthened by the freedom of its citizens to choose widely from among conflicting opinions offered freely to them. To stifle every nonconformist idea at birth would mark the end of the democratic process. Furthermore, only through the constant activity of weighing and selecting can the democratic mind attain the strength demanded by times like these. We need to know not only what we believe but why we believe it.

2. Publishers, librarians, and booksellers do not need to endorse every idea or presentation they make available. It would conflict with the public interest for them to establish their own political, moral, or aesthetic views as a standard for determining what should be published or circulated.

Publishers and librarians serve the educational process by helping to make available knowledge and ideas required for the growth of the mind and the increase of learning. They do not foster education by imposing as mentors the patterns of their own thought. The people should have the freedom to read and consider a broader range of ideas than those that may be held by any single librarian or publisher or government or church. It is wrong that what one can read should be confined to what another thinks proper.

3. It is contrary to the public interest for publishers or librarians to bar access to writings on the basis of the personal history or political affiliations of the author.

No art or literature can flourish if it is to be measured by the political views or private lives of its creators. No society of free people can flourish that draws up lists of writers to whom it will not listen, whatever they may have to say.

4. There is no place in our society for efforts to coerce the taste of others, to confine adults to the reading matter deemed suitable for adolescents, or to inhibit the efforts of writers to achieve artistic expression.

To some, much of modern expression is shocking. But is not much of life itself shocking? We cut off literature at the source if we prevent writers from dealing with the stuff of life. Parents and teachers have a responsibility to prepare the young to meet the diversity of experiences in life to which they will be exposed, as they have a responsibility to help them learn to think critically for themselves. These are affirmative responsibilities, not to be discharged simply by preventing them from reading works for which they are not yet prepared. In these matters values differ, and values cannot be legislated; nor can machinery be devised that will suit the demands of one group without limiting the freedom of others.

5. It is not in the public interest to force a reader to accept with any expression the prejudgment of a label characterizing it or its author as subversive or dangerous.

The ideal of labeling presupposes the existence of individuals or groups with wisdom to determine by authority what is good or bad for the citizen. It presupposes that individuals must be directed in making up their minds about the ideas they examine. But Americans do not need others to do their thinking for them.

6. It is the responsibility of publishers and librarians, as guardians of the people’s freedom to read, to contest encroachments upon that freedom by individuals or groups seeking to impose their own standards or tastes upon the community at large.

It is inevitable in the give and take of the democratic process that the political, the moral, or the aesthetic concepts of an individual or group will occasionally collide with those of another individual or group. In a free society individuals are free to determine for themselves what they wish to read, and each group is free to determine what it will recommend to its freely associated members. But no group has the right to take the law into its own hands, and to impose its own concept of politics or morality upon other members of a democratic society. Freedom is no freedom if it is accorded only to the accepted and the inoffensive.

7. It is the responsibility of publishers and librarians to give full meaning to the freedom to read by providing books that enrich the quality and diversity of thought and expression. By the exercise of this affirmative responsibility, they can demonstrate that the answer to a “bad” book is a good one, the answer to a “bad” idea is a good one.

The freedom to read is of little consequence when the reader cannot obtain matter fit for that reader’s purpose. What is needed is not only the absence of restraint, but the positive provision of opportunity for the people to read the best that has been thought and said. Books are the major channel by which the intellectual inheritance is handed down, and the principal means of its testing and growth. The defense of the freedom to read requires of all publishers and librarians the utmost of their faculties, and deserves of all citizens the fullest of their support.

We state these propositions neither lightly nor as easy generalizations. We here stake out a lofty claim for the value of the written word. We do so because we believe that it is possessed of enormous variety and usefulness, worthy of cherishing and keeping free. We realize that the application of these propositions may mean the dissemination of ideas and manners of expression that are repugnant to many persons. We do not state these propositions in the comfortable belief that what people read is unimportant. We believe rather that what people read is deeply important; that ideas can be dangerous; but that the suppression of ideas is fatal to a democratic society. Freedom itself is a dangerous way of life, but it is ours.

This statement was originally issued in May of 1953 by the Westchester Conference of the American Library Association and the American Book Publishers Council, which in 1970 consolidated with the American Educational Publishers Institute to become the Association of American Publishers.

Adopted June 25, 1953;

revised January 28, 1972, January 16, 1991, July 12, 2000,

by the ALA Council and the AAP Freedom to Read Committee.

A Joint Statement by .

American Library Association and

Association of American Publishers

Subsequently Endorsed by

American Association of University Professors

American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression

American Society of Journalists and Authors

American Society of Newspaper Editors

Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith

Association of American University Presses

Center for Democracy & Technology

The Children’s Book Council

The Electronic Frontier Foundation

Feminists for Free Expression

Freedom to Read Foundation

International Reading Association

The Media Institute

National Coalition Against Censorship

National PTA

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays

PEN American Center

People for the American Way

Student Press Law Center

The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression

Appendix D: Procedure for Dealing with Challenged Materials

STATEMENT OF POLICY

Occasional objections to Library materials will be made despite the quality of the selection process. This section details the procedure for handling reconsideration of challenged materials in response to questions concerning their appropriateness. The Yavapai College Library subscribes to the principles of intellectual freedom inherent in democratic societies and expressed by the Library Bill of Rights adopted by the Council of the American Library Association. In the event Library materials are questioned, the following guiding principles and procedures will be observed:

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

1. Any party associated with Yavapai College Library may raise objection to Library resources used in the Library despite the fact that the individuals selecting such resources were duly qualified to make the selection, followed proper procedure and observed the criteria for selecting library resources.

2. Yavapai College supports the Library Bill of Rights and the Freedom to Read (see appendices), adopted by the American Library Association. When Library resources are challenged, the principles of the freedom to read/listen/view must be defended as well.

3. Access to challenged material shall not be restricted during the reconsideration process.

4. The major criterion for the final decision is the appropriateness of the material for its intended educational use.

5. A decision to sustain a challenge shall not necessarily be interpreted as a judgment of irresponsibility on the part of the professionals involved in the original selection and/or use of the material.

PROCEDURE FOR HANDLING COMPLAINTS

1. All complaints to Library staff members shall be reported to the manager responsible for collections, whether received by telephone, letter, email, or in personal conversation.

2. The manager shall contact the complainant to discuss the complaint and attempt to resolve it informally by explaining the philosophy and goals of the Library, the Library’s selection procedure, criteria, and qualifications of those persons selecting the resource.

3. If the complaint is not resolved informally, the complainant shall be supplied with a packet of materials consisting of the Library’s Materials Selection Policy, and the procedure for handling objections. This packet will also include a standard printed form which shall be completed and returned to the Director of Library Services before consideration will be given to the complaint.

4. If the formal request for reconsideration has not been received by the Library within two weeks, it shall be considered closed.

5. In accordance with the statement of philosophy, no questioned materials shall be removed from the College pending a final decision.

6. Upon receipt of a completed objection form, the Director of Library Services will evaluate the complaint in writing in terms of the policies outlined above. The written evaluation will include the decision to remove or retain the title. Copies of both the request and the evaluation will be sent to the requesting party and to the College Provost.

7. Appeal from this decision may be made to the College Provost. The College Provost will take the appropriate action (to remove or retain) and will so advice the concerned parties.

Appendix E: Letter to Complainant in Regard to Challenged Item

Date:

Title of Challenged Item:

Dear

We appreciate your concern over the above title in our Library. Yavapai College Library has developed procedures for selecting materials, but we realize that not everyone will agree with every selection made.

To help you understand the selection process, we are sending copies of Yavapai College Library’s:

1. Materials Selection Policy

2. Procedure for Dealing with Challenged Materials

3. Request for Reconsideration of Material form

If you are still concerned after you review this material, please complete the Request for Reconsideration of Material form and return it to me. You may be assured of prompt attention to your request. If I have not heard from you within two weeks, we will assume you no longer wish to file a formal complaint.

Sincerely,

Director of Library Services

Appendix F: Request for Reconsideration of Material Form

Date:

Your Name:

Address:

Phone Number:

Email:

Resource on which you are commenting (please circle):

• Book

• Audiovisual Resource

• Newspaper

• Magazine/Journal

• Electronic Resource

• Other (please explain)

Title:

Author/Producer:

What brought this title to your attention?

Please comment on the resource as a whole as well as being specific on those matters which concern you. (Use more space if needed.)

What resource(s) do you suggest to provide additional information on this topic? (Optional)

Please return this form within two weeks of receiving it to the Director of Library Services. If we have not heard from you within two weeks, we will assume you no longer wish to file a formal complaint.

Appendix G: Deselection, or Weeding, Policy

Weeding is an integral part of the Library’s materials selection process. In order to maintain a vital, current collection examination of materials is an ongoing process.

An item is considered for discard (and possible replacement) when it is:

• Obsolete or outdated

• Superseded by a newer edition

• Worn beyond use

• Damaged

• No longer circulating and/or used for reference purposes

• One of many copies of a formerly popular title

Although the Library uses standard library guides, it recognizes that weeding must take into account local needs as well as standard date-and-use driven guidelines. When in doubt, librarians shall ask for assistance from relevant departments.