Carver County Library Board Policy: Collection Development 
Section LB4

Date Approved: 4/14/26
Previous Policy: 9/10/24
Review Date: 9/2027

I. MISSION OF THE CARVER COUNTY LIBRARY (“Library”) AND COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT

A.  Mission Statement of the Library 

To best serve the Carver County community, the Library will be a provider of resources, spaces, and experiences that enrich and empower people’s lives. 

 B. Purpose of the Collection within the Context of the Mission

The Library acts to fulfill its mission by selecting, acquiring, organizing, maintaining, evaluating, and providing access to a collection of materials in print, media, and electronic formats that address and anticipate the interests and needs of the members of a growing and diverse community.

 II. PURPOSE OF THE COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY 

• To inform the public of the principles governing collection development at the Library.
• To constitute a public declaration of the Library’s commitment to the principles of free access to ideas and information, and to provide collections that reflect a variety of viewpoints.
• To guide staff in making decisions about the selection, maintenance, and retention of Library materials.

III. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT  

Collection development at the Library is founded on the principles of intellectual freedom and equal access for all. The Library provides a collection that balances viewpoints across a broad spectrum of opinion, subject interests, and skill levels. Using selection practices that are responsive to the changing needs of the community, the Library selects, acquires, organizes, maintains, and evaluates collections for the general public while recognizing the needs of special population groups. Budget, staffing, and space limitations require a focus on materials that appeal to a broad range of users, rather than the academic and highly technical works collected by universities and other research institutions. 

A. Intellectual Freedom 

The Library subscribes to the principle that the freedom to read and view is essential to our democracy and that unrestricted access to a wide variety of materials is essential to the preservation of a free society. To ensure the rights of the residents of Carver County to a broad range of ideas and concepts, the Library endorses the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, the Freedom to Read Statement, and the Freedom to View Statement. 

Decisions to select or retain an item are based on the merits of each work or information source as it relates to the goals and coverage of the overall collection. The Library considers the value of each item in its entirety and within the context of the collection, not on specific passages or section in the item itself. 

Materials are not marked, labeled, or sequestered to show approval, disapproval, or judgment as to suitability of content for particular audiences. Materials are not excluded, removed, proscribed, or suppressed because of their creator’s origin, background, or views, or because they represent a particular aspect of life, frankness of expression, or controversial subject matter. Parents and legal guardians have the responsibility for their children’s use of Library materials. 

Inclusion of an item does not constitute endorsement of its content by the Library Board.

B. Access 

All Library materials are available to all customers.   

The Library needs to comply with certain laws, regulations, policies and procedures.  According to  Minn.Statutes, § 134.51, Subd. 1 , “A public library must not ban, remove, or otherwise restrict access to a book or other material based solely on its viewpoint or the messages, ideas, or opinions it conveys.” 

The Library encourages ease of access to materials by using standard library practices to organize, manage, and display materials, by providing staff to assist in locating items, and through the delivery of materials. 

The Library is committed to the expeditious and cost-effective delivery of materials and information to its users. To facilitate this, the library participates in interlibrary loan networks to make materials not in the collection available for customers. Electronic resources are made accessible through web-based environments. 

In all these efforts, the Library will operate within the provisions of the United States copyright law.

C. Diversity 

A diverse collection should contain content by and about a wide array of people and culture to authentically reflect a variety of ideas information, stories, and experiences. It should also embrace the values of diversity, equity, and access.

Collection development should reflect the philosophy inherent in Article I of the Library Bill of Rights: “Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.”

Librarians have an obligation to select, maintain, and support access to content on subjects by diverse authors and creators that meets—as closely as possible—the needs, interests, and abilities of all the people the library serves. This means acquiring materials to address popular demand and direct community input, as well as addressing collection gaps and unexpressed information needs of marginalized and underrepresented groups.

A well-balanced collection does not require a one-to-one equivalence for each viewpoint but should strive for equity in content and ideas that takes both structural inequalities and the availability of timely, accurate materials into account. A diverse collection should contain a variety of works chosen pursuant to the library’s selection policy and subject to periodic review.

Collection development, as well as cataloging and classification, should be done according to professional standards and established procedures.

Developing a diverse collection requires: 

• selecting content in multiple formats;
• seeking content created by and representative of marginalized and underrepresented groups;
• evaluating how diverse collection resources are cataloged, labeled, and displayed;
• providing resources in formats that meet the needs of users with disabilities.

Adapted from the American Library Association’s “Diverse Collections: an interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights.” (American Library Association, 2019)

IV. RESPONSIBILITY FOR COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT 

Collection development is a process guided through all its stages by the expertise and judgment of librarians. The Library Director is responsible for the administration of the policy and delegates this responsibility to library professionals. Final responsibility for the direction, purpose, and scope of collection development rests with the Carver County Library Board. 

 V. COLLECTION MANAGEMENT 

A.  General Criteria 

To build a collection of merit, materials are evaluated according to one or more of the following criteria. An item need not meet all of these criteria in order to be added to the collection:

Customer interest or demand

Interests of new and growing population groups Contemporary significance

Timeliness

Authority, reputation or qualifications of the author, artist, publisher, or producer

Suitability of subject and style for the intended audience

Attention of critics, reviewers, media, and the public

Suitability of format for the content and for library use 

Relationship to existing collections and other material available on the Subject 

Diverse ways in which people learn and acquire information. 

 B. Selection of Materials 

Sources for selection decisions include, among others, user requests or recommendations, publisher catalogs, vendor databases, advertisements, and published reviews. Librarians use their subject knowledge and expertise in combination with accepted standards to select and evaluate collection items. Gifts and purchases are selected using the same criteria. An item need not meet all criteria to be selected. 

 C. Maintenance and Evaluation of Materials 

Condition, content, inherent value, timeliness, and use are the primary criteria used to determine the retention of materials in the collection. The library also removes worn, damaged, and obsolete materials that cannot be repaired and are no longer usable. Materials recalled or made unavailable for purchase may also be considered for weeding. As demand declines, the library selectively removes multiple copies, making exceptions for areas of special importance to the overall collection. An item that is damaged or lost may be replaced if it is deemed useful and is still available for purchase. Deaccessioned materials may be sold through in-branch or periodic Friends of the Library sales or used in collaboration with other government or community agencies. 

 D. Gifts 

The Library gratefully accepts gifts of money and materials under the circumstances outlined in Donations Policy #LB 15. 

  E. Local Author Collection 

 In the spirit of reading local, the Library has a Local Author Collection to showcase the emerging literary efforts of our community. This collection will introduce library users to homegrown talent that is not yet nationally known and give local authors a way to connect with their audiences. For inclusion within the collection, works must meet the guidelines documented in the Local Author Collection submission form. 

 F. Request for Reconsideration 

 Individuals may request reconsideration of a selection or classification decision of library materials by submitting a written request for reconsideration form, Collection Development and Request for Reconsideration. This form is available at all library locations and on the Library’s website. The Library Director will respond in writing to the individual’s request. The Carver County Library Board, upon request, hears appeals of the Director’s written response. The final decision on appeals rests with the Carver County Library Board. 

 Per Minn. Statutes, § 134.51, Subd, 5 (d), upon the completion of a content challenge or reconsideration process in accordance with the governing body's adopted policy, the governing body must submit a report of the challenge to the Commissioner of Education. 

G. Artificial Intelligence and Collection Development    

The library respects the intellectual property of human authors and creators. As AI work is likely to contain erroneous information and may be plagiarized, we will make reasonable efforts to not purchase AI-generated content or AI-generated audio editions.   Any such content purchased inadvertently will not be weeded unless it meets the criteria for doing so. AI-assisted content that uses AI tools to edit, correct, or refine content is permitted, subject to the same materials selection criteria detailed elsewhere in this policy.  If possible, AI materials will be labeled as such in catalog records. We will also follow MELSA guidelines regarding AI and digital collection development.  

VI. ADDENDA 

 American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights

The Freedom to Read Policy Statement 

The Freedom to View Policy Statement 

 Access to Library Materials and Rights Protected (Minn. Statutes, § 134.51)