Torrance Public Library Collection Development Policy

1. Torrance Public Library Collection Development Policy May 2011

2. Purpose To present an official statement that reflects the mission of the Library to provide materials that satisfy the educational, informational, recreational, and cultural needs of the community it serves.

3. Needs Assessment Library users are defined as: • Torrance residents • Torrance employees • Population from surrounding communities • Students from Kindergarten through college • Genealogists • The business community

4. Collection Responsibility Responsibility for the development of the collection lies with the professional library staff. Librarians, Senior Librarians, Principal Librarians, and the City Librarian all have collection development responsibilities for specific subject areas and formats.

5. Selection Criteria Selection of library materials is based upon several criteria: • Formats included • Subjects emphasized • Intended audience • Scope and limitations of collection • Cost and available funds

6. Deselection Process As materials become worn, dated, damaged or lost, replacement is determined by staff members, who establish whether or not: • There remains sufficient need to replace the item • The item is still available and can be replaced • Another item or format might better serve the same purpose • Updated, newer or revised materials better replace a given item • The item has historical value • Another networking agency could better provide that or a comparable item

7. Patron Suggestions • Items requested for purchase via the formal, fee-based request process are given serious consideration within these guidelines: • The items should be published within the last year. Items of significance published earlier than the past year will be considered for purchase if they remain in print. • Two positive reviews from unbiased, preferably professional media can be found for the item. • The item meets the criteria and parameters for selection as set forth in the policy.

8. Gifts / Donations • Donations of books, periodicals and other materials are judged on the same basis as materials being considered for purchase • Retention and/or utilization of donations of materials are at the discretion of library staff • Materials not selected for inclusion in the library collection are given to the Friends of the Library, who use the items at their discretion.

9. Cooperatives • Southern California Library Cooperative (SCLC)

10. Intellectual Freedom In principle and in practice, the library values and seeks a material collection representative of the diversity of its clientele. There shall be no discrimination in the selection of material for the collection on the basis of gender, race, creed, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, class, color, marital status, or religion.

11. Conclusion Torrance’s collection development policy is thorough, comprehensive, and constantly under evaluation and revision by reference staff. It could stand to contain a collection map and technology access chart, but the Senior Librarian made the point that the policy is not widely requested by patrons or other City staff, and they need to weigh the time it would take to create these documents with their actual use.