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Policy
for MATERIALS SELECTION
The Board of Trustees believes that it is essential that the Milton Public Library
have an extensive, comprehensive and cosmopolitan book collection which both reflects
and fulfills the library needs of the citizens of Milton. Furthermore, the Trustees
endorse the fundamental rights protected byt he first amendment of the U. S. Constitution
and the American Library Association's statement on labeling and the Freedom to
Read as well as the Library Bill of Rights.
The Library Director is responsible to the Board of Trustees for the supervision
of the professional staff in the selection of books and the development of the
collection. In committing this expression of policy to paper, it is not our intention
to restrict the director and staff in the selection of books either because of
their subject matter or the personal, political or philosophical opinions of their
authors. Rather we urge and recommend that the director use his/her best judgment
as a professional librarian in making selections.
An ongoing effort shall be made to build and maintain a collection which meets
the recreational, informational and educational needs of the townspeople. Objectivity
in selection shall be sought, so that the collection reflects the interests of
the entire community rather than of only the library staff or single segment of
the community. Whenever possible and appropriate, materials on both sides of a
controversial or partisan issue shall be included. The Trustees strongly urge
the staff to actively seek to identify the special characteristics of the citizens
of Milton in order to better serve them with materials that will meet their needs
and interests.
In addition to the standard reviewing media that are used in making a selection
of materials changing community interests and patron's demands for particular
titles and types of materials shall be given substantial weight in the process
of material selection. Light fiction and beast sellers shall be bought as long
as funds allow and shall be kept as long as demand for the title exists.
We realize that because we wish our book selection policy to reflect the diverse
interests and points of view of our community that there is the possibility that
a book or books in the library collection may be regarded by some as personally
unpleasant, offensive or politically repugnant. However, we regard both our and
the library's foremost obligation to be the providing of books to the community
as a whole, and to do this our collection must represent many different perspectives,
even those which may be regarded by some as controversial due to individual political
expression or moral implication.
We do not intend this policy statement to be a specific checklist of all selection
criteria, but we do believe it would be helpful to explain the board considerations
used in assessing books.
First is the identifiable need for specific titles. This means that certain books
upon publication will have an assured popularity with our users or will fill an
obvious intellectual, informational or academic need of our patrons such as to
warrant immediate selection. The professional librarians of the Milton Public
Library by their continued analysis of the circulation records of the material
actually borrowed from the library allows them to make such judgments and to make
them accurately.
Identifiable need is measured and known not only by study of past library use,
but also from constant and current interaction with patrons seeking books for
many different purposes including school assignments and entertainment reading.
Second is the individual assessment of a book. Each book is assessed on its own
individual merits. Is this book worth the expenditure of limited library funds?
Quality, or lack of it, is the primary focus of an individual title assessment.
Quality is defined not merely as literary of scholarly merit but also as high
entertainment value. Books that can be expected to be in high demand, to meet
the identifiable need, should be selected even if the individual assessment is
low. A poorly written best seller that is heavily borrowed is definitely justifying
its purchase.
Both identifiable need and individual assessment are used in responding to a patron
request for a title. It is assumed that most titles requested by patrons will
have been foreseen as identifiable needs and will already have been ordered by
the library. Request titles not purchased by the library are generally those that
are requested by a single individual.
The foremost consideration when examining patron request is if the book has potential
interest to more people than the one making the request. No book should be ordered
simply because it is requested by one patron. Patron requests should have a potential
appeal to the broad community and should be able to meet the criteria of an individual
assessment.
Books that have been poorly reviewed and have not been ordered by the librarian
should not be purchased until there is a demand fro them. A "demand"
will be interpreted as meaning that more than four (4) requests are made by individuals
not connected by kinship or group affiliation.
All efforts, within general library need and budget restrictions, will be made
to provide a useful collection of materials to assist Milton students. But this
collection is to be considered complementary to the school collection, not a duplicate
of it. Overly specialized studies with narrow appeal should not be considered
as necessary to supplement student needs.
The remarks about books in this policy statement will apply equally to any and
all other library materials included in the collections of the Milton Public Library.
STATEMENT OF WEEDING
Materials which no longer meet the stated objectives of the library will be discarded
according to accepted professional standards that would include the consideration
of the materials physical condition, relevancy of the information therein contained
and to the collection. Furthermore, the non-circulation of an item in the previous
three years of a single circulation within the last ten years will be considered
the criterion for making weeding decision. The library will be weeded on a continuous
basis. Any materials discarded from the collection may be sold by the Friends
of the Milton Public Library in their book sales. Or, they may be discarded in
a manner similar to gifts to the Library.
DONATIONS OF MATERIALS TO THE LIBRARY
Acceptance of gifts (of books and other library materials) will be determined
by the librarian on the basis of their suitability to the library's purpose and
needs in accordance with the library's materials selection policy. Use or disposal
of gift material will be at the discretion of the librarian. These materials may
be put up for sale by the Friends of the Milton Public Library, donated to non-profit
institutions or discarded in any other manner deemed suitable by the Library.
Milton Public Library 476 Canton Avenue Milton Massachusetts 02186
617-698-5757 E-mail:miref@ocln.org