Collection Development Policy
Introduction
The purpose of the West Florida Public Libraries (WFPL) Collection Development Policy is to provide information to the public about the principles that direct the selection and management of all public library resources acquired and shared by libraries in the system. The WFPL provides our patrons access to a broad and relevant collection of materials and resources their informational, educational, and recreational needs and desires in both physical and electronic formats.
The WFPL affirms the public’s right of free access to a diverse and balanced spectrum of reading, listening, and viewing materials in a variety of current and emerging formats. The WFPL has adopted the following American Library Association’s (ALA) guidelines for public access to information:
Selection Criteria
The following criteria are considered in materials selection (not all criteria must be met):
- Popular interest
- Contemporary significant or permanent value
- Currency of information
- Accuracy
- Local emphasis or relevance to the community
- Readability or ability to sustain interest
- Treatment of subject for the intended audience
- Reputation and qualifications of author, performer/composer, publisher, producer, or illustrator
- Creative, literary, or technical quality
- Reviews in professional literature
- Attention of the public, or recognition of material by other general interest media outlets
- Format and its ease of use
- Use of similar works as monitored through the integrated library system (ILS)
- Cost and availability
- Relation to existing materials in the collection
Help Build Your Library's Collection
Patrons may recommend materials for consideration using the Suggest a Title form. There is no guarantee these materials will be purchased.
If the item is unavailable, it can be requested through our Inter-Library Loan service. Millions of items can be borrowed from thousands of libraries. These are mailed to WFPL so expect it to take a week or two to arrive if available from another library.
Donations
The Library accepts donations in reasonable physical condition. Donated materials become property of the Library upon receipt and will be considered for addition to the collection in accordance with the selection and assessment criteria described in this Policy. Materials not added to the collection may be given to BCC approved recipient organizations including, but not limited to, the Friends of the West Florida Public Libraries, Inc. or the Friends of the Southwest Branch Library Foundation, Inc.
Upon request, Library staff will supply an acknowledgement of donation receipt for the donor’s income tax records. Library staff does not make recommendations, estimates, or appraisals on the value of donated materials.
Responsibility
The ultimate responsibility for the growth and maintenance of the Library’s collection rests with the Library Director, who in turn, delegates collection responsibilities to appropriate staff members. Those staff members are qualified by education, training, and experience to identify materials and resources for selection.
Collection Management
The Library adheres to professional collection management practices including the use of:
- Statistical reports;
- Continuous, Review, Evaluation, and Weeding (CREW method), identifying and ensuring our collections remain relevant and useful; and
- The following six undesirable factors (MUSTIE method) increase the likelihood of withdrawal from our collections:
- M = Misleading (and/or factually inaccurate)
- U = Ugly (damaged or worn)
- S = Superseded (by a new edition or a material with better coverage of the subject)
- T = Trivial (no longer of discernible literary or scientific merit)
- I = Irrelevant (to the needs and interest of the community)
- E = Elsewhere (found expeditiously through another resource)
Library Materials Reevaluation Request
Materials dealing with controversial views, language, or images are judged as entire works, not on isolated passages or sections. The Library recognizes that some library items are controversial and that any given item may offend a patron.
The Library will consider requests for reevaluation submitted by any current cardholder of WFPL. Current cardholders are asked to complete and submit the Library Materials Reevaluation Request form to state any objections to the library material or resource. Download a printable version of the form here.
Items and resources in question will be reviewed from the standpoint of the concerns expressed, though there is no guarantee that the reevaluation will result in a change of the material’s placement in the collection. Librarians and other staff who are qualified by education, training, or experience, may be designated by the Library Director to review the material and provide a recommendation. However, the Library Director is not bound by any recommendation and inherently maintains the ultimate responsibility for the final decision.
Upon request, a written response will be sent to the patron explaining the resulting decision made by the Library Director.
The Library Director’s reevaluation decision will stand for two years unless appealed for review by the Library Board of Governance (BOG).
The patron must initiate an appeal within ten days of the patron receiving the decision notice. The email time stamp will be used to indicate the start of the ten days.
The patron must submit a written communication to the Library Director in order to appeal the decision to the WFPL Library Board of Governance.
The patron may appeal the Library Director’s decision to the WFPL Library Board of Governance.
The BOG will refer the library Director’s reevaluation results back to the Director if additional information is presented in the appeal that could change the decision. However, the Library Director is not bound by any recommendation and inherently maintains the ultimate responsibility for the final decision.
Final results of an appeal will stand for two years.
Revised and approved on August 26, 2024, by the West Florida Public Libraries Board of Governance.
