Library Materials Selection Policy
The mission of the Fresno County Public Library is to select, organize, preserve, and make freely and easily available books, technology, programs, services and more to inform, enlighten and entertain people of all ages.
I. Responsibility for material selection
Responsibility for initial selection of adult, teen, and children's materials rests with librarians. Suggestions from library users are always welcome and are given serious consideration. The final responsibility for materials selection rests with the County Librarian.
II. Criteria for selection
Each acquisition, whether purchased or donated, is considered in terms of the following standards. Clearly, however, an item need not meet all of the criteria to be acceptable. In general, materials which are produced primarily in advocacy of a specific group are not added.
A. General criteria:
- Insight into human and social conditions.
- Suitability of subject and style for intended audiences.
- Present and potential relevance to community needs and interests.
- Contemporary significance or permanent value.
- Relation to existing collection.
- Attention of critics, reviewers, and public.
- Scarcity of information in subject area.
- Availability of material elsewhere in the community. (Holdings of specialized libraries within this community are considered in developing the library's collection.)
- Price and format.
- Acquisition and preservation of local history.
B. Specific criteria for the evaluation of works of information and opinion:
- Authority.
- Comprehensiveness and depth of treatment.
- Clarity, accuracy and logic of presentation.
C. Specific criteria for the evaluation of works of imagination:
- Representation of significant literary or social trends.
- Vitality and originality.
- Artistic presentation and experimentation.
- Authenticity of historical, regional, or social setting.
As the library must serve as a resource for the individual to examine issues freely and make his/her own decisions, the collection must contain the various positions expressed on important, complicated, or controversial questions, including unpopular and unorthodox positions.