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Author: District Consultant
Collection Development Guideline
Reconsideration of Materials
The District recognizes the right of individuals and libraries to question the inclusion of materials in the District collection. The Library will give serious consideration to each patron’s opinion. Only requests from patrons in our service area shall be considered.
Once a decision has been made on an item, no future challenges will be accepted for the next two years unless the area(s) of concern are substantially different.
Decisions on SCs are based on careful review of the objection, material, and Library policies, including these guidelines, the Library Bill of Rights, and the American Library Association’s guidelines on intellectual freedom.
Purpose
The District develops resources to help local libraries provide the best possible services for their patrons and communities. There are two audiences for District resources: those resources helpful for training and improving librarians and those resources the District provides to the public on behalf of the local libraries.
Scope
“Collection” refers to any materials selected for and owned by the District. These guidelines govern only those resources obtained by the District and do not govern the collection of the District Center (Oil City Library).
The focus of the collection shall be to support the collections of local libraries as well as state library initiatives and trends.
The collection may be composed of a variety of styles, formats, and levels of difficulty. The collection shall be selected and made available to the entire district, though selected materials in the collection may only be made available to librarians.
The collection shall be reviewed and revised on an ongoing basis to meet current and anticipated needs. The District strives to meet collection standards set forth by the state of Pennsylvania’s Office of Commonwealth Libraries. The District recognizes and respects intellectual property rights and conforms to legislation regarding copyright protections.
Responsibility for Collection Management
Ultimate responsibility for the selection and withdrawal of materials rests with the District Consultant, who operates within the framework of policies and procedures set forth by the Oil Region Library Association. Suggestions and participation from library staff members and the public are encouraged and given serious consideration in the management process. Allocation of the materials budget will be determined based on collection focus, indicators of use, and cost per item.
Selection
Impartiality and judicious selection shall be exercised in all materials acquisitions practices. Selection of materials does not indicate endorsement by the District of the contents or views contained within those materials.
No materials are excluded from selection on the basis of race, nationality, sexual orientation, political, social, or religious beliefs. Each type of material will be judged in its entirety, not on the basis of isolated passages or sections. Each item will be judged in terms of its own kinds of excellence and for whom it is intended.
The District strives to provide access to the greatest number of quality materials possible to serve the over 130,000 residents in our service area. We work in tandem with our local libraries and place a higher emphasis on materials unlikely to be purchased by them. Higher emphasis will be placed on resources that meet the needs of underserved populations, including those who have broadband challenges. Patron recommendations are welcome through our website or in-app features and are regularly reviewed for trends and unmet needs. The collection is selected to be useful, diverse, inclusive, and responsive to community needs.
Digital collections (eBooks and downloadable audiobooks) face unique challenges to curation; namely that the content is licensed, not owned, by the District. Publishers allow libraries to purchase content under models ranging from metered licenses (allowing a certain number of checkouts or a certain length of time) to purchase costs being 5-6 times higher than retail to not allowing libraries to lend titles at all.
With these restrictions in mind, the focus of the popular digital collection will be on current titles. Purchasing multiple copies, having every format, filling author backlists, and owning completed series will not be a priority. License cost will weigh heavily in selection.
Evaluation
The collection will regularly be evaluated to determine if the provided resources are still supportive of the mission of the District and the needs of local libraries. The evaluation is crucial to developing and maintaining a useful collection.
Reconsideration of Materials
The District recognizes the right of individuals and libraries to question the inclusion of materials in the District collection. The Library will give serious consideration to each patron’s opinion.
Individuals questioning material in the library collection may request reconsideration of a selection decision by submitting a written Statement of Concern (SC) to the District Consultant. The Consultant will respond in writing to the individual’s SC and include a copy of these guidelines. Any appeal must be requested in writing to the District Administrator for review by the DAC.
The SC form can be found on the District website. Only requests from patrons in our service area shall be considered.
Once a decision has been made on an item, no future challenges will be accepted for the next two years unless the area(s) of concern are substantially different.
Decisions on SCs are based on careful review of the objection, material, and Library policies, including these guidelines, the Library Bill of Rights, and the American Library Association’s guidelines on intellectual freedom.
Review and Supersession
These guidelines will supersede all previous selection and deselection policies and guidelines. The guidelines shall be reviewed periodically.
Approved by District Advisory Council June 28, 2023
Purpose
The Feedback, Grievance and Evaluation Procedure delineates the guidelines for the Oil Creek Library District to receive and respond to feedback, settle grievances, and conduct District evaluations.
Feedback is understood to be any suggestion for improvement or general question regarding District services. Feedback is accepted from any member library director, staff, volunteer (including Board members), and patrons.
A grievance is understood as an issue that needs an outside mediator for resolution. If the issue is with the Consultant, the mediator will generally be the Administrator. All other grievances will generally be mediated by the Consultant. The grievance process is not intended to resolve in-house conflicts (e.g. staff vs. director). It is intended to help resolve issues between two or more member libraries, a board/director conflict, or an issue the member has with District services. Any Staff or Volunteer, including Board members, of member libraries may initiate this process.
Evaluations are understood to be evaluations performed on District services. District employee evaluations will be conducted in conjunction with the policies of Oil Region Library Association.
Expectations
It is expected that any feedback given will be constructive and professional. It is expected that all parties will work to resolve any grievances in good faith, following the reporting protocol.
It is expected that if the District feels that they are not able to implement the feedback or be helpful in resolving a grievance that they will respond accordingly to the submitter with the reasoning and any other helpful resources.
It is expected that evaluations will be conducted regularly and in good faith with all affected parties.
Record Keeping
A log of all feedback and grievances will be kept at the District office. The District will strive for keeping a balance between the desire for anonymity and the need to keep individual concerns from affecting the group dynamics.
The District will share relevant responses to questions and feedback with member libraries in a consistently accessible manner. Any applicable issues and concerns that arise through the year will also be addressed and reviewed during the mid-year and annual strategic review processes.
Evaluations of District services will be shared in summary with all member libraries and will be maintained at the District office. Evaluations of District will be kept confidential and in the Personnel files held by Oil Region Library Association.
Records will be kept according to the Oil Region Library Association Document Retention Policy unless otherwise specified.
Procedures
Feedback Reporting and Resolution
- Feedback can be submitted via the online form posted on the website. Verbal and informal feedback will be tracked to the extent possible in the feedback logs.
- A District staff member (generally the Consultant) will respond to the feedback within approximately one week of receipt, whether a change will be made or not.
- If applicable, the feedback suggestion will be taken to the District Advisory Council or District Executive Committee.
- If a change is made according to the feedback, the submitter will be notified directly, if contact information was provided. The change will also be noted in the feedback log.
Grievance Reporting and Resolution
- It is expected that any member library will address an issue or concern directly with the affected party first.
- If the situation fails to be resolved, the concern will then be addressed to the Consultant via the Grievance reporting form. (Note: if the issue involves the Consultant, use the Grievance with Consultant form.)
- If the Consultant fails to resolve the concern, the concern may be brought to the Administrator.
- If the Administrator is unable to resolve the concern, it may be then brought to the District Advisory Council. The decision of the District Advisory Council will be final.
Evaluations
- Quality Evaluations
- The District delivers all evaluation materials prior to each meeting. It is expected that all participants will maximize the quality of discussion at meetings by taking the time to review the materials and pose any questions in advance.
- The District conducts an annual evaluation of District services, including Consulting services, to gather honest and appropriate feedback.
- The District invites all member libraries, including branches, to evaluate the strategic plan and develop initiatives so the District service population is as represented as possible.
- If an issue or concern is noted, the Feedback, Grievance and Evaluation Procedures will be followed.
- Strategic Planning Evaluation
- Annual Review Process
- District staff completes an in-house review.
- Each member library completes independent assessments of the District’s achievement of stated goals as well as its individual contribution to meeting said goals.
- District staff and member libraries meet together to develop a cohesive evaluation from their combined perspective.
- The District Advisory Council reviews the formal evaluation.
- Mid-Year Review for Current Fiscal Year
- The member libraries complete a mid-year review of the current strategic goals and adjust as necessary.
- The mid-year review is reported to the District Advisory Council.
- Goals Statement for Future Fiscal Year
- The member libraries develop an annual goals list, based on the strategic initiatives of the plan, in conjunction with the budget to ensure appropriate funding.
- The Goals Statement is approved by the District Advisory Council.
- Annual Review Process
- District Staff Evaluations
- Member libraries will be given the opportunity to evaluate the District Consultant and the Youth Services Coordinator in relation to the services provided. All other District staff, except the Administrator will be evaluated for their District service by the District Consultant.
- The District Administrator will take any member library feedback into account when performing the annual evaluation for District Consultant. All member library feedback will be included in the evaluation paperwork for the District Consultant.
The OverDrive Collection Guidelines articulate the unique challenges and purposes of the Oil Creek District’s OverDrive collection. The collection is still subject to the Collection Development Guidelines and only defines those aspects which require more detailed guidance than the general guidelines.