Library Collections

Purpose of Library Collections

The Geneva Free Library develops collections to promote literacy, support education, encourage life-long learning, and meet the diverse cultural, informational, and recreational interests of the community. The library provides materials in a variety of formats and strives to balance the selection of high-demand and popular formats and materials with formats and materials that help meet specific community needs, such as materials in Spanish and large print, adult education, work-force retraining, and local history. The library develops collections for all members of the community, including children, teens, and adults.

Collections for Children

The library’s children’s collections include materials designed to serve the needs and interests of all children from infancy through age twelve, as well as parents and caregivers. A wide variety of materials and formats is considered for the collection, such as books and periodicals, audio and video recordings, toys and games, and online and electronic media. The collection includes well-written works of popular fiction in both hard-cover and paperback editions, factual material on a wide variety of subjects, and materials reflecting the diversity of the community.

Careful consideration is given by library staff when selecting each new item and reviews are frequently used to guide the staff’s selections. Every new edition of a recommended title is treated as a new title.

Literary quality, good design and format, and illustration are important criteria in the evaluation of materials, as are accuracy, relevance, and appropriateness for the intended audience. The quality of the production and performance and the relevance to children are important considerations with audio and video recordings. Educational benefits to children are additional considerations in the selection of games and electronic media.

The collection includes a wide variety of materials that reflect the beliefs and attitudes of their time and place. Non-fiction books are considered in relation to all the other books available on the same subject. Special consideration is given to those books which deal with topics about which very little else is available, such as books about children with special needs and books on local history.

The library considers local school curriculum when making selections.

Collections for children are primarily circulating collections but may include collections that are non-circulating and available for use in the library only, such as reference materials.

Collections for Teens

Collections for teens and young adults seek to provide a wide range of materials to meet and stimulate the interest of teenagers in reading and in the world around them. Material is selected that is aesthetically appealing, is developmentally appropriate, and meets the recreational and information needs of the intended audience. Materials can include hardcover and paperback editions of books, periodicals, audio and video recordings, games, and online and electronic media.

Materials are selected for teens. Selection is based on the same criteria used to select materials for adults and children but is also guided by the following:

1. Does it say something to teens?
2. Is it worth saying?
3. How well is it said?
4. Does it appeal to teens?

Careful consideration is given by library staff when selecting each new item and reviews are frequently used to guide the staff’s selections.

The library considers local school curriculum when making selections.

Collections for teens are separately identified to provide a transition between the collections for children and adults.

Collections for teens are primarily circulating collections but may include collections that are non-circulating and available for use in the library only.

Collections for Adults

Collections for adults meet the diverse informational, recreational, and educational needs of the library’s current and prospective patrons, whose reading levels vary greatly. These needs are met by a variety of formats and materials, including books, periodicals, audio and video recordings, and electronic and online media.

Adult collections cover a wide range of subject areas and topics with varied points of view. Careful consideration is given by library staff when selecting each new item and reviews are frequently used to guide the staff’s selections.

Factors that determine the selection of materials for adults include context; authority, e.g., background of the author, sources used, and the reputation in the field of the publisher or producer; current interest in the subject; relative value in the field covered by the material and the value of the material in relation to the collection; currency of information; duplication of material already published or available in the library; effectiveness of presentation, e.g., organization of content, format, use of illustrations; and available space.

Collections for adults are primarily circulating collections but may include collections that are non-circulating and available for use in the library only, such as reference collections. Reference collections may include almanacs, atlases, bibliographies, dictionaries, directories, encyclopedias, handbooks, local governmental rules and regulations, as well as supplemental sources on a wide variety of subjects, levels and formats.

Freedom to Read, See, and Hear

The Geneva Public Library believes it is essential in a free society that all citizens have access to library materials and that no restrictions are placed on what anyone may read, see, or hear in a public library’s collections.

The Geneva Public Library agrees with the principles articulated in the American Library Association’s Freedom to View; Library Bill of Rights, Free Access to Library Materials for Minors, Freedom to Read, and Statement on Labeling.

Well-intentioned persons or groups occasionally question the “appropriateness” of specific items in library collections, or the effects some materials may have on impressionable persons. Suggestions are sometimes made regarding the restriction, removal, or labeling of certain library materials. The library understands and appreciates these suggestions and concerns but believes the risk of not providing free access to information and ideas is greater than the risk of providing it. The library, therefore, enunciates the following principles:

Controversial Materials

In an effort to provide our patrons with diverse sources of information and the widest possible range of ideas and viewpoints, we acquire materials that may be controversial because of profanity, social, economic, or political ideas, religious viewpoints, the background of the author, the kinds of information provided, or other reasons. Acquisition or use of any item does not imply approval or endorsement of the contents.

Ages

Judges, legislators, educators, and others give increasing recognition to the fact that children and teens need access to all the information and ideas that are essential to their growth. Therefore, anyone, of any age, who is eligible for a library card may have the use of any item in the library, and is not to have that privilege limited by any staff member. If parents wish to limit their children’s access to certain materials, that is their responsibility and not the library’s.

Labeling

It is sometimes suggested that a label be affixed to library materials indicating a political or social point of view or indicating that such an item is questionable or controversial. Such labeling suggests that people are incapable of making up their own minds about controversial subjects, and this practice is contrary to the American idea of the free market place of ideas. We do not subscribe to this practice.

Review of Library Selections

The library is willing to review its selection of items in its collections on a case by case basis. Individuals who question the “appropriateness” of specific items may initiate such a review by submitting their concerns to the Director in writing. The review is to include a full reading, hearing, or listening of the item by the Director and by the individual requesting the review. The Director will meet with the individual and report his or her findings to the Library Board of Trustees. No item is to be removed or restricted—because of a complaint—until after the Board has examined the individual’s request and the findings of the Director.