The purpose of this Collection Development Policy is to establish criteria for what, how, and why materials are selected for inclusion in the Northborough Free Library.

COMMUNITY

The Northborough Free Library is supported by, and recognizes as its primary clientele, people who live and work in the Town of Northborough.  Additionally, the Library participates in cooperative lending agreements through a membership in the Central/Western Massachusetts Resource Sharing Consortium (C/W MARS) and participation in national interlibrary loan services.  The Library also partners with the MA Board of Library Commissioners to provide additional shared resources.

COLLECTION RESPONSIBILITY

The final authority for the selection, evaluation, and deselection of library materials is delegated by the Board of Library Trustees to the Library Director and, under the Director’s guidance, to members of the staff who are qualified by training and experience.

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM

The policies of the Northborough Free Library are informed by principles contained in the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, Freedom to Read, and Freedom to View statements, as well as the Intellectual Freedom Guide for Massachusetts Libraries published by the MA Board of Library Commissioners.

The library provides free and open access to its holdings for patrons of all ages and backgrounds.  Access to materials is not restricted or monitored by staff.  Responsibility for reading, listening, and viewing choices rests entirely with the individual library user or, in the case of minors, with their parent or legal guardian.  While people may reject certain materials for themselves or their children, they may not restrict the freedom of others to read, hear, or see those materials.

SELECTION CRITERIA

The library’s collection is intended to reflect and support our diverse community.  A wide range of subjects, viewpoints, authors, and formats are collected in order to reflect the diversity of needs and interests within our community.  Our selection process and criteria include, but are not limited to, the following considerations:

  • Contemporary relevance or significance
  • Permanent value
  • Popular demand or anticipated interest
  • Purpose and quality of the material
  • Representation of diverse viewpoints, trends, creators, and/or cultural movements
  • Creator’s authority, reputation, skill, and significance
  • Critically reviewed in professional or literary periodicals
  • Suitability of format
  • Whether the item addresses a gap in the current collection
  • Budget 
  • Available space
  • Availability elsewhere in the library’s network
  • Materials of local and regional interest
  • Subscriptions to online resources are subject to cost, accessibility, and availability of library licenses
  • Non-traditional objects to encourage learning and recreation

Children and Teen Materials: Materials are selected for children and teens with the intention to meet and support recreational and entertainment reading needs, encourage reading and pre-reading skills, supplement educational needs, and reflect the diverse backgrounds and abilities within the community.  Recommended ages for reading materials is available through the publisher.  Staff selecting materials for Children and Teen collections follow the same principles guiding development of the general collection.  The responsibility of determining what a child should or should not read or view is that of the parent and/or guardian, and not determined by the Northborough Free Library or the staff.

Formats: The Northborough Free Library may choose to add or discontinue specific format types from its collection.  Decisions about what formats to include are based on space availability, budget, obsolescence, and popularity.  

Special Collections: The Northborough Free Library maintains a State and Local History collection that differs from the management and development of the general collection.  Curation of this collection is driven by the following priorities: historical significance, condition of the material, public interest, space, and ability to properly archive materials.  The collection mainly focuses on materials unavailable in digital format which are significant to the Town of Northborough, its history, and the immediate surrounding area.

Collection Limits: The selection of materials is limited to general or basic works that are not too specialized or considered beyond the scope of public library service.  The library budget, space to house materials, and ability to circulate material are driving forces of the limits to our collections.  The Library does not purchase or house textbooks or other curriculum-related materials due to their limited scope and cost.  When selecting various forms of media, selectors consider and are limited by the accessibility and usability of the format, cost, popularity, and significance.

Donations: Donated materials (intended for the library’s circulating collection) are added based on the same selection criteria of purchased materials.  Donations of other items (anything not intended for the library’s circulating collection) fall under the criteria set forth in the Library Gifts Policy.

Local and/or Self-Published Authors: Local authors whose books have been published by a reputable publisher and have been well-reviewed will be evaluated in the same way as other books purchased for the library.

Local authors and self-published works are subject to the same selection criteria as other materials.

DESELECTION OF LIBRARY MATERIALS

Library staff regularly review materials on the shelves to maintain an up-to-date, attractive, and useful collection that fits within our space constraints.  Withdrawing materials that no longer meet our collection standards is equally important as our selection process.  Our deselection process and criteria include, but are not limited to, the following considerations: 

  • Condition of the item
  • Relevance, accuracy, and/or obsolescence of the information
  • Use of or demand for the item
  • Format of the item
  • Number of copies of the item available on the shelf and within the library’s network

 

Materials are NOT removed from the collection due to controversy surrounding the item, its author, or the content within.  The library does not remove materials from the collection for the purpose of selling them.  Materials will not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

Whenever possible, efforts are made to keep items from being thrown away.  Materials are donated to the Friends of the Northborough Library or another non-profit, recycled, or given to another library.  Materials that are badly damaged, moldy, or are otherwise unable to be recycled will be properly disposed of.

MATERIALS EVALUATION

Northborough Residents wishing to suggest a title or new format for inclusion in the library’s collections may do so by completing our Title Suggestion Form.  Suggestions will be routed to the appropriate staff member for review.  Residents wishing to be notified will receive a reply if the decision is made to add the suggested item to the collection, but this is not a requirement.

POLICY REVIEW

This policy shall be reviewed periodically by the Library Director and the Library Board of Trustees.


Last update: October 5, 2023