Resource Selection Policy

General Statement of Purpose
The Fremont Public Library District’s Board of Trustees approves and adopts a resource selection policy to provide broad guidelines for the professional staff responsible for the selection of library resources. It is also used to inform the public about the principles upon which the selection of library resources are based.

Guiding Principles
The Library’s Board of Trustees supports intellectual freedom and has adopted as policy the following statements provided by the American Library Association (ALA): Freedom to Read Statement, Freedom to View Statement, and the Library Bill of Rights. These statements can be found online at http://ala.org.

The Fremont Public Library District also adheres to the ALA Code of Ethics. The Library strives to select resources that appeal to all persons, recognizing the diversity of the District and patrons who represent a variety of races, creeds, colors, national origins, religions, marital statuses, sexual orientations, genders, gender identities/expressions, physical appearances, physical or mental abilities, socioeconomic levels and education levels.

The presence of a resource in the Library’s collection does not imply the Library’s endorsement of opinions expressed by its creator, nor does the failure to select a resource imply Library disapproval of those opinions.

The patron’s choice of library resources for personal use is an individual matter. Responsibility for the use of resources by children and adolescents rests with their parents or legal guardians. The Board of Trustees recognizes that while individuals are free to reject for themselves and for their children materials of which they do not approve, they cannot restrict the freedom of others to read, listen, and view within any guideline set forth by the Library.

Responsibility for Selection
The Fremont Public Library District’s Board of Trustees empowers the Library Director to delegate resource selection to a staff of librarians with professional education and training. The general public and other staff members may recommend resources for consideration. Final responsibility for the selection of all resources rests with the Library Director.

Principles of Selection
In accordance with the Library’s Purpose Statement: To Engage the Community, Inspire Creativity and Enrich Minds, the Library is committed to providing resources that meet the identified needs and demands of the patrons in the library district, both now and in the future. Selected resources offer a variety of levels of difficulty, with diversity of appeal and presentation of different points of view, and in a variety of formats as demand dictates and publishers make available for purchase.

Criteria for Selection
When selecting resources, each type of resource must be considered in terms of its own merit and the audience for whom it is intended. Some resources may be judged primarily in terms of artistic merit, scholarship, or value to humanity; others are selected to satisfy the literary, informational, recreational, or educational interests of the community. Durability, availability, and price are also influencing factors. All selectors have a professional responsibility to be inclusive, not exclusive, in developing collections. Efforts will be made to provide resources representing a variety of interests, viewpoints and interpretations.

De-selection (weeding) applies the same criteria as selection. Continually removing items from the collection is necessary to keep the collections current, useful and of a manageable size.

The Library has adopted standard criteria for selection (and de-selection) that are commonly used by most libraries. These criteria are described in the most recent edition of CREW: a weeding manual for modern libraries published by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. CREW stands for Continuous Review, Evaluation and Weeding.

Online databases or websites that the Library provides access to from its website are subject to the same criteria as all resources and also must be totally free to Fremont Public Library patrons or the general public, including any app or software downloads necessary to access the resource. Associations or organizations that wish to be linked from or referenced on the Library website must match the same criteria.

Special Resource Collection Considerations
The Adult Services collection includes some smaller collections such as Local History and World Languages that are targeted to specific audiences and may have slightly different selection and deselection guidelines based on their specific audience’s needs.

The Youth Services collection comprises collections that are targeted to specific audiences based on the different levels of child development. The goal is to provide materials not only for education but to also meet the enrichment and entertainment expectations of our youngest community members in order to encourage life-long library use. Some materials reach a broad range of age-groups and therefore may be shelved in multiple locations.

The Library’s website strives to present a cultivated collection of online resources that meets the needs of the community. The resources offered are a combination of purchased databases, e-material platform subscriptions and links to free websites that meet our selection criteria. The website is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all types of resources under a particular subject. It is not a search engine; rather its goal is to offer a select list of the best online resources to serve a particular need or interest of the community.

Gifts
Gifts shall meet the same selection criteria as purchased resources. The Library retains unconditional ownership of all donations and makes the final decision on acceptance,
use, or disposition. The appraisal of the gift for tax purposes is the responsibility of the donor.

When the Library receives a cash gift for the purchase of resources, whether as a memorial or for any other purpose, Library staff will select specific resources that most closely match the type of material or subject areas as indicated by the donor.

The memorial or gift identification will be provided on a label affixed to the item when possible, or in another format at the Library’s discretion. Memorial gifts are not perpetual; having a gift identification tag will not prevent the resource from being deselected when it meets that criteria.

Requests for Reconsideration of Resources
Any patron in the Fremont Public Library District who objects to the presence or absence of a work may do so by completing the “Citizen’s Request for Reconsideration” form and handing it in at any service desk, mailing it to the Library, or emailing it to ref@fremontlibrary.org.

No resource under reconsideration will be removed without a formal directive from the Library Director or the Board of Trustees. Once a resource has been reconsidered and retained or removed, it will not be formally reconsidered again.

Click here to fill out a Citizen's Request for Reconsideration of Library Resources and to view a printable version of this policy.