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Collection DevelopmentStatement
of Purpose
Objectives of Selection
Responsibility for Selection Material selection as a privilege belongs to every member of the library staff; as a responsibility, it rests finally with the Library Director. General Selection Principles
General Selection Criteria
Specific Selection Criteria
Adult Fiction
Adult Non-Fiction
Audible and Visual Media
Periodicals
Children's Materials
Approved by the Board of Trustees April 14, 1994 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This statement was approved by the Intellectual Freedom
Committee on 22 January 1980 and adopted by the American
Library Association
on 23 January 1980. 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 books from sale, to censor textbooks, to label "controversial" books, 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 These actions apparently rise from a view that our national tradition of free expression is no longer valid; that censorship and suppression are needed to avoid the subversion of politics and the corruption of morals.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 the use of books and as librarians and publishers responsible for disseminating them, wish to assert the public interest in the preservation of the freedom to read. We are deeply concerned about these attempts at suppression. Most such attempts rest on a denial of the fundamental premise of democracy: that the ordinary citizen, by exercising his 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 to reject it. 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. We are aware, of course, that books are not alone in being subjected to efforts at suppression. We are aware that these efforts are related to a larger pattern of pressures being brought against education, the press, films, radio and television. 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 uneasy change and pervading fear. Especially when so many of our apprehensions are directed against an ideology, the expression of a dissident idea becomes a thing feared in itself, and we tend to move against it as against a hostile deed, with suppression. 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 assumptions, 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 stress. Now as always in our history, books are among our greatest instruments of freedom. They are almost the only means for making generally available ideas or manners of expression that can initially command only a small audience. They are the natural medium for the new idea and the untried voice from which come the original contributions of social growth. They are essential to the extended discussion which 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 towards 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 men will stand firm on these constitutional guarantees of essential rights and will exercise the responsibilities that accompany these propositions. It is in the public interest for publishers and librarians to make available the widest diversity of views and expressions, including those which 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 his idea is refined and tested. Totalitarian systems attempt to maintain themselves in power by the ruthless suppression of any concept which 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. Publishers, librarians, and booksellers do not need to endorse every idea and presentation contained in the books 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 books should be published and 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 these that may be held by a single librarian or publisher or government or church. It is wrong that what one man can read should be confined to what another thinks proper. It is contrary to the public interest for publishers or librarians to determine the acceptability of a book on the basis of the personal history or political affiliations of the author. A book should be judged as a book. 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 men can flourish which draws up lists of writers to whom it will not listen, whatever they may have to say. 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 literature 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 taste differs, and taste cannot be legislated; nor can machinery be devised which will suit the demands of one group without limiting the freedom of others. It is not in the public interest to force a reader to accept with any book the prejudgment of a label characterizing the book or author as subversive or dangerous. The idea 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 each individual must be directed in making up his mind about the ideas he examines. But Americans do not need others to do their thinking for them. 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 each individual is free to determine for himself what he wishes 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. 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, bookmen 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 expended on the trivial; it is frustrated when the reader cannot obtain matter fit for his 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 their freedom and integrity, and the enlargement of their service to society, requires of all bookmen 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 books. We do so because we believe that they are good, 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 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, by the
ALA Council. The freedom to view, along with the freedom to speak, to hear, and to read, is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. In a free society, there is no place for censorship of any medium of expression. Therefore, we affirm these principles:
Source: American Film and Video Association, 1989. It is the obligation of a public library to reflect within its collection differing points of view on controversial or debatable topics and opinions. Polk County Public Library does not promulgate particular beliefs or views. The inclusion or selection of an item within the Polk County Public Library's collection does not express or imply endorsement of an author's viewpoints or opinions or of any viewpoint or opinion expressed in the item. Comments, suggestions, and expressions of opinions by patrons are welcomed by the Library and provide information about interests that is sometimes useful in meeting the public's needs. However, in selecting or withdrawing materials the Library Director follows guidelines stated in the Library's Collection Development Policy. Patrons who request reconsideration of library materials will first be referred to the Library Director. The Library Director will supply the initiator of the request with a copy of the Library's "Collection Development Policy," to which will be appended "The Library Bill of Rights," "Freedom to Read" statement, and "Freedom to View" statement, all formulated by the American Library Association and ascribed to by the Polk County Public Library. The initiator will also be supplied with the Library's form entitled "Request for Reconsideration of Materials" and will be asked to complete the form and return it to the Library Director. On receipt of the completed form requesting reconsideration of material the Library Director will review the material and the initiator's request. The Library Director may also ask another staff member who is familiar with the library's collection to review the material and request. Within three weeks of receiving the completed request, the Library Director will mail a letter in writing to the initiator of the request informing him/her of the Library Director's decision regarding the material or by what date he or she expects to be able to make a decision. If the patron is dissatisfied with the Library Director's decision he/she may ask for the Library Board of Trustees to review the request of reconsideration and may also ask for a meeting with the Library Board of Trustees. In this case, the Library Director will inform the Board of the request, of its disposition, provide a copy or copies of the material and the completed request for reconsideration for their review, and will assist in scheduling a meeting between the Board and the initiator of the request. The Library Director will also inform the County Manager of the request, its disposition, and of the planned meeting with the Library Board of Trustees. Subsequent to its review of the material and request and its meeting with the initiator of the request, the Library Board will judge whether in their opinion the reconsideration has been handled in accordance with stated policies and procedures and, on the basis of this judgement, will recommend that the Library Director's decision be upheld or overridden. Subsequent to the meeting, the Library Director's selection decision and the Library Board's recommendation will be offered to the County Manager. In the event that the incident becomes a public issue, the Library Director will provide complete and accurate information to the media and will seek guidance from the County Manager and/or County Attorney, appropriate State Library consultants, and the American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom. |
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