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Policies

Mission

The Utica Public Library District is a unique community resource that aims to support the informational, educational, and recreational needs and interests of the community. The Library provides the community with convenient, creative, easily accessible materials and services, that inform, inspire, enrich and amaze the growing community.

The Utica Public Library District subscribes to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, The American Library Association’s adopted Library Bill of Rights, and the Freedom to Read Statement of the American Library Association and the American Book Publisher’s Council.

Collection Development Policy Purpose

The Collection Development Policy is one of the Utica Public Library District’s fundamental policy documents. It has been approved by the Library Board and its purpose is to outline the philosophies that create and shape The Library’s unique collection, the practices that maintain the collection and the guidelines that help the collection grow to fit the community’s needs and protects the collection from outside societal and political pressures. The Collection Development Policy strives to ensure that the Library’s collection will remain focused on the mission put forth in this policy. The Collection Development Policy also strives to reflect the needs of The Library’s community and to create an experience that is meaningful and inspirational for the individual user.

Responsibility for Selection

Responsibility for the initial selection of material rests with the Library Director and is to be based on the criteria outlined in this policy. Library staff will have regular and direct input into the selection of materials and suggestions from users will be considered. All staff that provide selection input have an obligation to stay informed on community habits, patterns, needs and interests as well as knowledge of current materials.

Criteria for Selection

  • Community demand, interest or need
  • Accuracy, quality and timeliness of the information
  • Relation of the work to the existing collection
  • Price, media format, ease of use and/or quality of actual media (ex. Book’s binding, missing, ripped or torn pages, scratched or unscratched disks, etc.)
  • Prominence, authority and/or competence of author, creator or publisher
  • Authenticity of historical, regional or social setting

Specific Selection Policies

Print Materials

  1. Fiction The fiction collection will be developed to support the recreational reading interests of the community and will provide a quality collection of contemporary and classic materials.
  2. Nonfiction The nonfiction collection will be developed to support the educational, informational and recreational needs of the community
  3. Large Print This collection will be developed in accordance with that of fiction and nonfiction with the intent to provide for the demand of materials in this format.
  4. Local History/Genealogy The Library will continue to develop and maintain a collection of materials that relate to the history of Utica, Utica Township, Deer Park Township and Waltham Township.
  5. Self-Published material collection will be developed to support the recreational reading interests of the community as well as the educational and informational needs of the community and will provide a quality collection of contemporary materials. The Library takes a special interest in collecting materials written by local, self-published authors.
  6. Children’s Material The collection serves youth from birth through eighth grade. Children’s material is chosen based on the need of community schools, children and how well the material promotes literacy and critical thinking. The collection is developed with equal emphasis on popular materials and educational value.
  7. Young Adult Material The collection will be developed keeping the interests, needs and reading levels of young adults (middle school through high school aged) in mind. Special collections of magazines, books, graphic novels and virtual reality headsets (Google Cardboard) will be provided for Young Adults.
  8. Reference The reference collection is a collection of non-circulating materials that are designed to support basic research and provide information for the community in all subject fields. Reference materials are sometimes Local History but are also comprehensive in their scope, current in their timeliness and arranged to facilitate the quick and accurate finding of information. Selection of reference material will be to keep the collection up-to-date in areas used most frequently. Older editions of reference material should be discarded. As funding becomes available The Library may replace reference publications with electronic formats so that the accessibility to reference materials can be maximized.
  9. Audiobooks The audiobook collection will consist of popular fiction and nonfiction books in CD format, Electronic Audiobook format including mp3 and OverDrive Listen. Selections will be done in accordance with fiction and nonfiction.
  10. Foreign Language Material The collection will be developed to aid the informational and recreational needs of the community, adding print and audio materials. The Library will stay alert to the increasing diversity in the district and will acquire materials as the growth warrants.
  11. Archival Material The Library will preserve and make available historical papers and records related to the history of the Library district that have been gifted to The Library. New collections may be accepted so long as the resources are available to preserve, house and service the records and so long as the records are deemed to be of historical value and accurate.
  12. Periodicals The Library will maintain and develop a variety of general-interest and popular magazines. The library will also subscribe to the Chicago Tribune and Peoria Journal Star as the local, major newspapers are donated to The Library.
  13. E-Books This collection will be developed in accordance with that of fiction and nonfiction with the intent to provide for the demand of materials in this format. Format for E-books consists of Overdrive Read, EPUB Book, Kindle Book, Open EPUB Book and PDF Book.
  14. DVDs This collection’s intent is to provide quality entertainment materials and educational and informational for home use. At present the library does not actively purchase materials for this collection, but relies on clean, scratch-free, donated materials.

Gifts/Donations

The Library welcomes gifts of funds and materials to enrich the collection. New and used donated materials will be considered so long as the materials meet the Criteria for Selection stated in this policy. Gifts of materials are accepted with the understanding that should the material not meet the Criteria for Selection, the material will be sold by The Friends of the Library or recycled. A receipt for donated materials is available upon request and will contain an itemized list of materials received. The Library is unable to appraise the value of donated materials. Monetary gifts will be applied to the selection of materials unless the Library Board in partnership with the Library Director feel it would be best applied elsewhere. The Library reserves the right to determine the use of all gifts.

Reconsideration of Material

The Library believes in freedom of information for all, and does not practice censorship. Requests for reconsideration of materials can be to include or remove materials from the library. In both cases, the Request for Reconsideration of Library Material should be completed in its entirety and forwarded to the Library Director. Material will be reconsidered in its entirety and requests for reconsideration of materials will be considered based on the criteria outlined in this policy. If satisfaction is still not met, the requestor may appeal to the Library Board.

Collection Maintenance, Replacement and Weeding

The Library’s collection should be regularly reviewed to ensure that items in the collection continue to meet community needs and The Library’s Criteria for Selection. Materials that do not meet the criteria, obsolete items, old editions or no longer needed duplicate copies are to be removed from the collection. Some materials may be replaced upon assessment by the staff. Staff will also asses the need to replace materials that are damaged, destroyed or lost and monetary compensation may be required of users that have damaged, destroyed or lost materials. Items are not automatically replaced and decision are based on community need and budget.

Appendices

Reading is an adventure at Utica Public Library!