Public Library Policy

Public Library Policy

Revised: 3/2016
Library Board Approval 3/2016

Table of Contents

Mission Statement

Statement of Purpose

SECTION 1: COLLECTION AND REFERENCE

SECTION 2: CIRCULATION
SECTION 3: SERVICES
SECTION 4: FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT
SECTION 5: BUDGET AND FINANCE

SECTION 6: GOVERNING
APPENDIX

Mission Statement

The Comstock Township Library strives to provide information that fulfills every avenue of interest. With our professional staff, we aim to give the community the most up-to-date information in a variety of formats. We achieve this with the expertise of librarians, information technology, as well as the scrutiny of our collection in order to maintain relevance.

Statement of Purpose

The Comstock Township Library strives to achieve the following objectives:

-To be the central hub of knowledge in Comstock Township.

-To acquire and make available myriad formats that will fulfill the educational interests of patrons.

-To encourage the youth in their search for knowledge, and in attaining satisfying experiences through books and other formats.

-To present the adult reader with materials that meet their idiosyncratic tastes, whether through their vocation, interests, or as a societal contributor.

-To encourage educational merit and interest.

-To uphold reference service, which locates authoritative information, and provokes thought in both the youth and adults.

-To provide popular materials in the library’s collection.

-To house entertainment for both adults and the youth.

-To encourage intellectual freedom through all formats.

-To promote diversity in our collections, and to house relevant, authoritative materials within our library.

SECTION 1: COLLECTION AND REFERENCE

1.1 Materials Selection-General Collection Policy

1.2 Specific Selection Policies by Collection

1.2.1 Reference Collection
1.2.2 Periodicals Collection
1.2.3 Adult Collection
1.2.4 Media Services Collection
1.2.5 Juvenile and Young Adult Collection

1.2.6 Juvenile and Young Adult Reference Collection

1.3 Gifts, Memorials and Donations

1.4 Collection Maintenance

1.4.1 Withdrawal Policy

1.5 Requests For Reconsideration Of Library Materials

CTL Policy 1.0

MATERIALS COLLECTION
1.1 General Selection Policy:

The Library selects material in accordance with guidelines stated by the American Library Association in its Library Bill of Rights, Freedom to Read and Freedom to View statements.

A. Authority for selection of materials is delegated by the Library Board to the Library Director and the Director’s designated staff, including (but not limited to) these staff positions: the Information Services Librarian, Children’s Services Librarian, the Public Services Librarian, and Reference Librarians.

B. Any library materials so selected shall be considered selected by the Library Board.

C. The selection of materials is characterized by flexibility, open-mindedness, and responsiveness to the changing needs of the citizens of Comstock. Materials are evaluated as complete works and not on the basis of a particular passage or passages.

A work will not be excluded from the library’s collection solely because it represents a

particular aspect of life, because of frankness of expression, or because it is viewed as controversial.

All acquisitions, whether purchased or donated, are evaluated by the following standards. Clearly, however, an item need not meet all of the criteria to be acceptable, nor will any single criterion be decisive.

Neither the order of the general criteria nor the order of items in a list of specific criteria indicated relative importance.

D. The following general criteria are used:

1. Present and potential relevance to community needs.

2. Suitability of subject, style, and reading level for the intended audience.

3. Importance as a document of the times.

4. Appropriateness and effectiveness of medium to content.

5. Reputation and/or significance of author, publisher, or producer.

6. Positive review in one or more appropriated professional journals.

7. Positive critics’ and staff members’ reviews.

8. Relationships to existing materials in the collection.

9. Within limits of budgets for materials.

10. Not available, or with limited accessibility, from other lending sources.

11. Insufficient materials available on the same subject.

CTL Policy 1.1

12. Author or illustrator is local.

13. Format is appropriate to Library use and is not easily damaged.

14. Enhances a specific collection within the Library.

15. Author or producer is already represented in the collection.

16. Literacy and artistic merit.

17. Accuracy of content.

18. Popularity with library patrons.

CTL Policy 1.2
MATERIALS COLLECTION

1.2 Specific Selection Policies By Collection

1.2.1 Reference Collection

1. Purpose: To select and maintain a reference collation that meets the needs of Comstock Township Library users, and, at the same time, to keep the collection at a size that can be efficiently managed and used by the reference staff.

2. Specific Criteria
A. Materials that provide facts and information in demand or of potential use by those to be served by the Library or by staff.

B. Materials which can be updated must be current. ***purchase of updates determined by level of use, document decisions in standing order file; can be recorded in notes section of catalog record.

C. Materials should not duplicate items already held unless the new item is more timely, easier to use and/or more comprehensive.

D. Materials should complement existing materials.

E. Academic and/or technical level materials should be within the range of patrons and staff.

1.2.2 Periodicals Collection

1. Purpose: To supplement and complement the materials in the adult collection. This collection is intended to be more timely and more frequently updated than the adult collection. Most materials circulate; exceptions are current issues of the newspapers.

2. Specific Criteria:

1. Offers ease of information retrieval, such as, but not limited to, inclusion in a standard periodical index or abstracting journal.
2. Contributes to a balance and range of information.
3. Provides lasting value.
4. Has high quality of writing and/or design.
5. Is within both budget and space constraints for the collection.

1.2.3 Adult Collection

Purpose: To provide the community with current information on subjects of topical as well as continuing interest; different points of view on contemporary and controversial issues; historically significant points of view; materials for instruction in areas of interest; and materials for entertainment and recreation.

1.2.4 Media Collection

Purpose: To help meet information needs of Comstock citizens by providing access to, and assistance in locating, information and materials in non-print formats such as DVDs, audiotapes, and compact discs, and other information and technologies that may emerge.

Prime Time Hits is a collection of the latest DVD releases. DVDs are kept in this collection for a period of time (usually 3 months). Prime Time Hits are available for circulation only to Comstock Residents, with a check out limit of two (2). After items are moved to the regular DVD collection, they are available under the regular DVD guidelines.

1.2.5 Juvenile And Young Adult Collection

Purpose: To provide materials in various formats to meet the needs of children for recreational, information, and self-educational use, as well as to supplement their formal education.

Programs will be offered to supplement and to enhance use of the collection.

This collection is primarily a circulating collection, except for the newest editions of encyclopedias, some dictionaries, and other general reference works. Earlier editions of such materials do circulate whenever updates become available.

1.2.6 Juvenile And Young Adult Reference Collection

Purpose:To facilitate adult study of, and to promote expertise in, children’s literature.

This collection also supports programming for both adults and children in the Young People’s Department.

Items in this collection circulate only with special permission from the Young People’s Librarian.

1. Specific Criteria: To qualify for inclusion in the Juvenile and Young Adult Reference Collection, a work will fall into one or more of these categories:

1. Adult-level reference and other materials about children’s authors, illustrator, editors, and publishers.
2. Professional journals relating to children’s literature and reading.
3. Examples of unusual or notable materials for children.
4. Information about children’s reading and the reading process.
5. Toy books and other realia relating to children’s books.
6. Materials about the development, planning, and presentation of programs for children and adults.

Additional copies of some, but not all, materials in this collection may also be available in the Library’s circulating collections.

Rare books and some realia may be stored in locked cabinets. Staff will make these available on request or by appointment for in-Library use (but not for circulation).

CTL Policy 1.3

1.3 Gifts, Memorials and Donations

The library will accept donations or gifts of books, audiovisual items, and other material with the understanding that they will be added to the library collection on the basis of suitability to the library’s purpose. The same principles that are applied to the purchase of library materials shall be applied to gifts and donations. All gifts are subject to evaluation by the general and specific criteria listed in the policy for the relevant collections. Donors are informed that any gifts to the Library may or may not be added to the collection. The library staff will not declare a dollar amount for the value of any donated materials. Memorial markers should be removed from all gifts that are being disposed of. The library reserves the right to decide if the donations are added to the collection, sold in the Library Book Sale. Monies from such sales are used to benefit Comstock Township Library services and programs.

CTL Policy 1.4

1.4 Collection Maintenance

As materials become worn, dated, damaged, or lost, replacement will be determined by the appropriate librarians, who will determine whether or not:

A. The items are still available and can be replaced

B. Another item or format might better serve the same purpose.

C. There remains sufficient need to replace that item.

D. Updated, newer, or revised materials better replace a given item.

E. The item has historical value.

F. Another networking agency could better provide that or a comparable item.

1.4.1 Withdrawal Policy

Book withdrawal is an important aspect of collection development. When library books lose the value for which they were originally selected, they should be withdrawn. The purpose of a withdrawal policy is to insure that the collection remains vital and useful by:

• Discarding and/or replacing items in poor physical condition.
• Eliminating items with obsolete, misleading, or superseded information.
• Reducing the number of copies of titles whose relevance to the community has lessened.

The professional staff will evaluate the materials collection for replacement and/or discard on an ongoing basis, using the “C.R.E.W.” method of evaluation developed by Joseph P. Segal. This process (Continuous Review, Evaluation, and Weeding), uses the following criteria to evaluate a title’s current usefulness to the materials collection:

• M = Misleading (and/or factually inaccurate)
• U = Ugly (worn and beyond mending or rebinding)
• S = Superseded by a truly new edition or by a much better book on the subject
• T = Trivial (of no discernible literary or scientific merit)
• Y = Your collection has no use for this book (i.e. irrelevant to the needs and interests of the community)

Date of publication, last date circulated and average number of circulations per year are useful indicators of the above factors.

CTL Policy 1.5

1.5 Requests for Reconsideration Of Library Materials

The Comstock Township Library staff and Commission Members support intellectual freedom and subscribe to the principles of the American Library Association’s Library freedom and subscribe to the principles of the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights and its statements on Freedom to Read and Freedom to View. The Library staff apply the selection criteria described in the “Materials Selection Policy” and thus endeavor to provide books and other materials that reflect the diversity of viewpoints within the community.

Library patrons may nominate books or other materials to be either added to or removed from the collection. When a request for reconsideration is made by a patron, this procedure is followed:

1. A member of the Library staff explains the selection policy to the patron. If the patron wishes, s/he may then submit a written Request for Reconsideration of Library Resources to the Library Director. (See Appendix III for form)
2. The completed form is reviewed by one or more members of the Library staff who have responsibility for materials selection, and by the Library Director. The Library staff members objectively review the resource in question to ascertain that the selection criteria and principles stated in Section I-VI were applied in the selection process. The Library Director or a member of the Library staff shall make a written response to the requester within 14 days of the date that the reconsideration form was submitted. The Library Director shall also notify the Library Commission of each Request for Reconsideration submitted.

1. If the requester is not satisfied with the decision of the Library staff, s/he may appeal in writing to the Library Director, who then convenes a Reconsideration Committee. This committee will consist of:

1. One member of the Library Commission.
2. Members of the Library staff with responsibility for materials selection.
3. Members of the community selected jointly by the Library Commission and the Library Director.

1. In reviewing the request for reconsideration, the Reconsideration Committee employs the selection criteria (described above in this document) and considers other appropriate information, including professional reviews and recommendations, comments from the Library staff, and comments from the requester. Library resources are not removed from the collections during the review period. Copies of the materials in question may be checked out as evaluation copies for use of the Reconsideration Committee, appropriate staff or the Library Director.

CTL Policy 1.5

1. Within 30 days the Reconsideration Committee will recommend an action to the Library Director, who will reach a decision and inform the requester and the committee in writing of that decision.

Should the requester wish to appeal this decision, s/he may make a final appeal in writing directly to the Library Commission which will schedule and conduct a public hearing within thirty days of the final written appeal in order to reach a final decision

SECTION 2: CIRCULATION

2.1 Library Cards

2.1.1 Adult Comstock Township Residents

2.1.2 Juvenile Comstock Township Residents
2.1.3 Non-residents

2.1.4 Reciprocal Borrowing Agreements

2.1.5 MIlibrary
2.1.6 Internet Only Cards (red)

2.2 Loan Periods

2.3 Check out limits:

2.3.1 Comstock Residents

2.3.2 Kalamazoo and Portage Residents

2.3.3 MILibrary Card Holders

2.4 Kindles and Tablets In-house Checkout Policy

2.5 Holds and Renewals

2.6 Fines, Memberships and Fees

2.6.1 Fines

2.6.2 Membership

2.6.3 Fees

2.7 Confidentiality of Library Patron Records

CTL Policy 2.1

2.1 Library Cards

The library will serve all residents of Comstock Township. People residing outside of the geographical area, but owning property in the township, or employed as educators by an educational institution in the township shall be considered residents. Books, magazines, and reference works may be used inside the library by anyone regardless on library card status.

2.1.1 Adult Comstock Township Residents
Comstock Township Residents are eligible for a free Comstock Township Library Card. To register for a card, patrons need to bring in an ID and proof of current residency. This could be a driver’s license and recent postal delivery or tax bill. Parents registering their children must also bring in proof of ID and residency for themselves. Children’s cards will be linked to their parents card.

2.1.2 Juvenile Comstock Township Residents
Juveniles under age 18 must have their parent sign their registration form

They may borrow any item, excluding videos, Dvds, and games. Parents are responsible for all materials and fines on juvenile cards.

2.1.3 Non-residents

People living outside the service area may use the library upon payment of a fee of thirty-five dollars ($35) per year. This payment will entitle all members of a nonresident family, having the same address, to borrow library materials. The fee is based on Public Act 89, MCL Sec. 397.561a, 11a (1977).

2.1.4 Reciprocal Borrowing Agreements

Comstock Township Library has reciprocal borrowing agreements with Kalamazoo Public Library and Portage District Library. Comstock Township Residents may apply for a Portage or Kalamazoo Library card by taking their CTL Card and an ID to these libraries, and have access to most of their materials.

2.1.5 MILibrary

The Comstock Township Library participates in the MILibrary program. MILibrary card stickers are available at participating libraries. Patrons with a MILibrary card sticker may apply for a Comstock MILibrary Card by showing their home library card with the MILibrary sticker and a current ID. Comstock patrons should ask for a MILibrary sticker at the Circulation Desk if they wish to use other libraries participating in the MILibrary program. Comstock patrons will need a current ID and Comstock Township Library card with the MILibrary sticker to apply for other library’s cards. MILibrary patrons are limited to books only.

2.1.6 Internet Only Cards

RED INTERNET ONLY CARDS (RIC)

In an effort to consolidate records into our database and provide one database to check on patron status, RED “ Internet Only Cards” (RIC) will be issued.

A. ADULT PATRONS

Patrons whose home library does not participate in MILibrary, or is not a reciprocal borrowing library. and wish to use the Internet on a regular basis may fill out a library registration slip for a RED “INTERNET ONLY CARD”. The “RED INTERNET ONLY CARD” does not allow them to check out materials.

1) This option should be offered to “regular internet patrons”, not occasional customers that are issued a guest pass.

2) The patron will go to the circulation desk, show their picture ID with current address, and fill out the registration form entitled “Patron Registration –Red Internet Only Card” (blue). Circulation will issue the RED “INTERNET ONLY CARD” using the barcodes that start with 4…..

3) Patron information will be added to the circulation module and protocols have been set with TLC with restrictions that will prevent material checkout with these cards.

B. JUVENILE PATRONS:

Juveniles who do not qualify for a library card due to residence or lack of parent’s signature for a regular card, may apply for the RED INTERNET ONLY CARD if they have returned an Internet permission slip signed by a parent or legal guardian.
Permission Slip:
1. If a juvenile has returned a permission slip signed by the parent or legal guardian and does not have a regular library card (for example: MILibrary or family card), they would qualify for a RED “INTERNET ONLY CARD”. The permission slip will be filed in the YP Department and they will let circulation staff know to issue a Red “Internet Only Card”.
2. For those juveniles that have a regular library card already on file, the YP staff will add “Internet Permission Slip on file in YP” under comments. YP staff will update current records as time permits.