Purpose
The primary purpose of this policy is to guide staff in the selection and maintenance of the Library’s collection. This policy also informs the public about how the Library develops and manages its collection of materials.
Definitions
Collection: all materials that the public can borrow or use at the library.
Collection Development: involves the selection of material to add to the Library’s collection, as well as the maintenance of the collection to remove outdated and under-used items from the Library’s collection.
Collection Maintenance: removing outdated and/or under-used items from a library’s collection.
Demand: current interest in a specific title or collection, usually identified by the number of requests and/or checkouts, or anticipated interest due to the popularity of the author / series / title.
Format: type of material, for example: book, e-book, audiobook on CD, and DVD.
Library: the use of ‘Library’ with a capital L refers to Halifax Public Libraries.
Materials: the items that make up the Library’s collection, such as books, e-books, audiobooks on CD, DVDs, and magazines.
Non-traditional materials: items in a library’s collection other than print, audio-visual, and digital, such as musical instruments, light therapy lamps, and CO2 monitors.
Selection: finding, assessing, and adding material to the collection.
Collection Development Statement
Free access to information and ideas is a democratic right of every citizen and is enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The library recognizes Section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guarantees that “everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication.”
Public libraries ensure this right by providing free access to a wide range of thoughts, ideas, information, and expressions from a diverse range of perspectives, including those which may be regarded as unpopular, controversial, or offensive. The presence of materials in the collection does not indicate the Library’s endorsement of the content or viewpoints.
Materials deemed offensive by some will not disqualify their inclusion in the collection, nor will materials be excluded from the collection solely because a child or teen may access them.
Halifax Public Libraries’ Collection will:
- meet the needs and interests of the various communities which the Library serves;
- provide opportunities for lifelong learning, discovery, and entertainment;
- include accessible formats;
- reflect the diverse backgrounds, identities, histories, and cultures that are part of the community.
Using the Library’s Collection
The use of library materials is an individual choice. While a person may reject materials for oneself, they may not restrict access to materials for other people.
The Library encourages parents and guardians to engage with their children about choice of materials. Library staff are not responsible for approving a child’s choice of material.
The Library assigns ratings to DVDs in accordance with various film boards and rating institutions. The Library does not assign its own ratings and corresponding borrowing restrictions.
Intellectual Freedom
The Halifax Public Libraries is committed to upholding the Statement on Intellectual Freedom and Libraries of the Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA), opens a new window. The Library builds a collection that contains and represents a wide variety of ideas and opinions.
Criteria for Selection
The Library chooses material based on our selection criteria. Librarians evaluate critically and do not choose or reject material based on their personal values or beliefs.
Material is judged on the basis of the work as a whole and not by a part taken out of context. No criteria are absolute and totally satisfactory, and rarely is every specific principle applied during the selection process. Therefore, an item need not meet all the criteria in order to be acceptable. Popularity of the work and/or public interest & demand may be the primary criteria applied.
Selection Criteria include, but are not limited to:
Demand
- Current or anticipated popularity of author, title or series, and/or coverage in media and social media;
- Current or anticipated popularity of digital and non-traditional materials.
Quality
- Reputation, knowledge and experience of the author, creator, and/or publisher;
- Professional and industry journal reviews;
- Credible and professional discussions of the literature, subject/content by industry experts.
Subject Matter
- Contains Canadian and local content;
- Reflects local, national, and international events and/or interests;
- Holds significant historical value;
- Amplifies underrepresented voices;
- Presents a discussion, argument, or information not already well represented in the Library’s collection;
- Provides entertainment value.
Audience
- Style and formats suitable for intended audience;
- Textbooks and titles published for academic usage are typically not added to the collection;
- Represents Canada’s official languages, English and French, Mi’kmaq language, and other languages spoken by the populations of our communities.
When selecting items for the collection, the library also considers the Collection Development budget along with general costs of materials.
Digital Collection
The Library is committed to providing a collection of digital material. While the above selection criteria is applied to building our digital collection, there are limitations:
- Some digital collections are purchased as a package and the Library is not able to select or remove specific content;
- Not all published titles are available for the Library to purchase as an e-book or e-audiobook.
Suggestion for Purchase
The public are encouraged to suggest titles for addition to the Library’s collection. These suggestions will be considered using the Library’s criteria for selection. Persons making suggestions are asked to complete a Suggestions for Purchase form via their online library account. Staff may submit a suggestion on a customer’s behalf if the customer does not have an online library account.
Customers requesting materials which are not added to the collection may be referred to other local libraries or to our interlibrary loans department, which, when available, will borrow requested titles from other libraries.
Creator Submissions
The Library welcomes submissions from creators, such as writers, musicians, illustrators, and film makers. All submissions are considered using the Library’s selection criteria. For more information about how to contact the Library about your work, please visit the Information for Creators page on our website to complete the required form.
Donations
The Library accepts gifts of books and other circulating items which can be integrated into existing collections and which fit collection development policies. The Library will decide where to put the donation, how to describe it, and how the public can use the item. The Libraryreserves the right to dispose of gifts not added to its collection. The library does not evaluate materials for tax receipt purposes. More details about donating materials can be found on the Library’s website.
Halifax Public Libraries welcomes gifts of money and bequests and is a registered charity under the Canadian Income Tax Act. More details about donating money can be found on the Library’s Cash Donation Policy.
Collection Maintenance
The Library regularly assesses its collection. When items are no longer being used, are outdated, or are damaged, they may be removed from the collection.
Collection Maintenance is done to:
- have a collection which reflects the current and anticipated needs of the community;
- remove dated or worn materials from the collection;
- effectively utilize space in the Library.
Withdrawn, damaged, or missing materials are not automatically replaced with the identical title. The Library will apply its selection criteria to determine when replacing discarded titles is appropriate.
Request for Review of Library Materials
While staff are always willing to discuss the make-up of the collection, the Library is obliged to withdraw only that material judged illegal by the higher courts in Canada. Please see our Request for Review Policy for more information.