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Collection Development Policy

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Collection Development Policy

Adopted: January 13, 1983  
Amended as Recorded in Board Minutes  

Introduction 

The Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library (“the library”) serves a diverse community of individuals of various economic, religious, social, and political backgrounds. The goal of the library is to provide materials in a variety of formats for information, education, and recreation.  

MPHPL upholds these Collection Development tenets as endorsed by the American Library Association: 

  • In a free society, information on all points of view should be available to all individuals.  
  • The public library provides free access to materials and ideas and is responsible for selecting materials that reflect varied viewpoints and tastes.  
  • The existence of a particular viewpoint in the collection is an expression of the library’s policy of intellectual freedom, not an endorsement of a particular point of view. 

Goals of Selection 

Selection is made based upon the following five goals:

  1. Popular topics and titles – to offer current, high-demand, high-interest materials in a wide variety of formats.  
  2. General information – to provide information on a broad array of topics related to school, work, and personal life.  
  3. Lifelong learning – to develop a collection to support our patrons’ personal growth and development throughout their lifetime.  
  4. Local History and Genealogy – to provide a collection of printed materials and other resources that chronicle the history of the greater Mishawaka area as well as genealogy research tools.  
  5. Cultural awareness – to offer materials and resources to help patrons to gain an understanding of their own cultural heritage and the cultural heritage of others.

Responsibility 

Ultimate responsibility of the collection rests with the Library Board of Trustees, who have delegated this responsibility to the Library Director, who has further delegated collection development to the Collection Services Department.  

Selection Criteria 

Library staff will utilize their professional judgment, training, and expertise in choosing materials for the library collection (print, non-print, and digital) which meet our goals of selection and stay within our published budget.  

The following criteria are used to evaluate and select items for the collection:  

  1. Current or anticipated appeal; popular demand  
  2. Critical reviews  
  3. Enduring value  
  4. Current, historical, or local significance of the author or the subject 
  5. Relevance to the existing collection; content  
  6. Importance of subject matter  
  7. Representation of diverse points of view  
  8. Timeliness; date of publication  
  9. Price, availability, and budget  
  10. Support of library programs and initiatives  
  11. Suitability of format  

Local and Family History Collection 

Materials are added in the following priority order:  

  1. Mishawaka  
  2. Penn and Harris Townships  
  3. St. Joseph County, Indiana  
  4. Surrounding Michiana counties, defined as Berrien, Cass, Elkhart, LaPorte, Marshall and Starke counties  
  5. Indiana  
  6. Other areas of genealogical interest and supporting materials

Digital Selection Criteria 

The selection of Digital content is the responsibility of the Collection Services Coordinator. The same selection criteria applies to digital content as to all other formats.

OCLC World Share Inter-Library Loan  

Requested items that do not meet selection criteria may be obtained from other libraries through Interlibrary loans.

  • Eligible Items: Print books  
  • Ineligible Items  
    • Textbooks  
    • Reference materials  
  • Not available to Temporary residents, Reciprocal borrowers, and PLAC, as well as Homebound, Institution or Senior Center cards, or Youth-Limited card holders. 
  • Limit of 2 ILL items per patron at any one time; materials must be returned before any additional requests are allowed  
  • Most items are free of charge to our patrons; if a lending library attaches a fee, the patron will be notified and billed if the item is still desired

Reconsideration of Materials 

The library believes that individuals may reject for themselves or their children materials which they find unsuitable but should not exercise censorship on others. Parents who wish to limit or restrict the reading of their own children must personally oversee their selections.  

Despite the care taken to select the best materials and the qualifications of the selectors, objections to a selection may be made. When this happens, the principles of The Freedom to Read and the professional responsibility of the staff must be defended.  

If a complaint is made, the procedures are as follows:

  • Patrons who wish to request material be removed or reclassified will be asked to submit a Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials form. 
  • A committee of professional librarians will review the material in its entirety, taking into account the same criteria used for selection as well as journal reviews and any other supporting documentation.  
  • The committee will make a recommendation to the Library Director, who will make a final decision on the material.  
  • This decision will be communicated to the patron, who may appeal the decision in writing to the Library Board of Trustees.  
  • The Trustees will, at a regular or special meeting:  
    • Consider the request based upon whether the item as a whole meets the library’s selection criteria  
    • Render a decision on the item  
    • Communicate the decision to the patron via official letter  
  • The questioned material will not be removed from the shelf during the reconsideration process.

Collection Maintenance 

Professional library staff regularly review the collection to ensure its content continues to meet community needs, is up-to-date, accurate, clean, and accessible. De-selection of materials (commonly known as weeding) is an integral part of collection maintenance.  

A systematic evaluation of the collection by staff is conducted according to the C.R.E.W. (Continuous Review Evaluation and Weeding) guidelines. This process identifies items for replacement, retention, or de-selection. Materials that are worn, obsolete, unused, superseded, or duplicated are removed. Factors such as copyright date, circulation counts, and timeliness of the material are also taken into account when making weeding decisions. The library will retain those materials that continue to have enduring or permanent significance to its mission and overall collection goals.