Collection Development Policy
Purpose of the Policy
The purpose of Wayland Free Public Library’s policy is to clarify for the public and library staff the criteria used for selecting materials, as well as the responsibility for the collection. We have included a Mission Statement and Goals, and a brief description of the community and library to help put these criteria into perspective.
Introduction and Description
Wayland is a suburban community of approximately 14,000 people located eighteen miles west of the city of Boston. The town is recognized for its excellent school system and fine recreational facilities including a lake, ponds, a beach, boating, ski and hiking trails, and public vegetable gardens.
The Wayland Free Public Library (WFPL or “the Library”) has an illustrious history as one of the nation’s first tax-supported libraries for the public. An elected board of six trustees governs the library. They are responsible for hiring a director to administer their policies and carry out the mission of the institution. The library is heavily used and hours are generous.
Mission Statement
The Wayland Free Public Library is dedicated to meeting the diverse needs of the community, blending traditional and innovative library resources, services, and programming.
–Mission statement adopted November 20th, 2024 by the Board of Library Trustees
Levels of Collection
The Library collects for three major purposes: 1) to provide popular materials, 2) to foster independent learning, and 3) to support formal education.
In fulfilling its first—and foremost—purpose, the library will maintain a collection of current, popular materials in all formats for all ages. The primary focus will be recreational reading, viewing, and listening, with attention to providing nonfiction materials that are especially popular locally (e.g. Biography, travel, gardening, interior design, cooking). Recent statistics indicate that most of our borrowers use the library in this way; therefore, the largest portion of resources is devoted to this purpose. In fulfilling the second purpose, the library must provide a strong reference collection. Last, the library will obtain materials to assist students in all formal education programs. Standard reference works will be acquired. Up-to-date periodical subscriptions, materials on current issues in history, social sciences, science, and technology are important.
In fulfilling all its purposes, the Library will make extensive use of regional and network interlibrary loan services.
Selection
The materials for the Library must be selected with the purpose of carrying out the mission of this institution. To assist in the process of selection, the following criteria are among those used to judge the quality and quantity of the items that are chosen: need, demand, value, reception, and relationship to other items in collection/Minuteman Library Network.
Non-fiction
Fiction
Materials Selection Sources
At the discretion of the Director, works by Wayland authors that might escape widespread critical attention are nonetheless welcome in our collection with the understanding that the library reserves the right to withdraw them at a later time.
Selection Responsibility
The responsibility for selecting materials legally rests in the hands of the governing board of this library–the Board of Library Trustees. The Board delegates this responsibility to the Library Director. The director is responsible for the development of the collection on a day-to-day basis. The Library’s book selection committee, under the supervision of the Director, regularly reads reviews and considers patron requests. The Adult Department book selection committee includes the library director, the head of circulation and the head of reference and other staff as needed.
In Youth Services, book selection is the responsibility of the Head Youth of Services. The Library does not pass judgment on the selections that children make; that is the responsibility of their parents or guardians. Selection of materials for the adult collection is not restricted by the possibility that children may obtain materials their parents consider inappropriate.
Clientele
The clientele of the Library includes adults, ranging from young adults to senior citizens, and children of all ages. Library users include independent learners, individuals enrolled in formal education programs, members of various racial, ethnic or religious groups, individuals for whom English is not their first language, the disabled, retirees, parents, caregivers, teachers, etc.
Scope of Collection – Subjects
A wide variety of subject matter is represented in the WFPL collection. The Library attempts to be inclusive, adding materials that present a variety of points of view. At the same time, the issues of cost of the materials and restricted usefulness must be considered. For example, the library generally does not purchase textbooks, genealogical materials and monographs priced over $80 retail, with the exception of reference books.
Local History Collection
The purpose of the Wayland local history collection is to preserve materials that document the history of Wayland and to make these materials available to researchers and the general public. The major focus of the collection is historical and current information about Wayland. WFPL collects government records only if those records document significant moments in the history of the town and therefore warrant permanent preservation. Duplicates of existent materials are not collected, except at the discretion of the Library. Museum objects are generally not collected. WFPL accepts donations if they are deemed relevant to its collection policies.
Formats
WFPL collects materials in a number of formats, to include but not limited to: print, media, downloadables. We also subscribe to online reference and periodical databases.
Materials Budget
The Library’s materials budget is allocated so that all areas, such as adult, reference, children’s and teens, and audiovisual, are assigned a specific percentage of the budget, which may vary slightly each year.
Gifts
WFPL accepts gifts of materials or money for materials by groups, individuals, businesses, and others. However, the gifts must meet standard criteria to be added to the collection. Often because of space and redundancy, gifts are put up for sale by the library or by the Friends of the Wayland Library. (The Friends are a library support organization that sponsors fund-raising activities to finance a variety of library programs not covered in the town budget.) Cash gifts for books to be purchased in honor or in memory of an individual are gratefully accepted. Cash donations may also be made to The Millennium Fund.
Collection Maintenance
WFPL’s collection will be maintained through judicious weeding of outdated, outmoded, not used, and worn-out materials. If needed, these are replaced with duplicates or newer materials on the same topic. Weeding the collection is considered of primary value to the maintenance of a good collection. Book sales, which include some withdrawn library materials, are held by the Friends twice a year. Books donated to the Library, not used in the collection, are also sold at this time.
Intellectual Freedom and Censorship
It is WFPL’s policy to purchase materials based on the criteria presented above. A number of books and other materials purchased that will meet these criteria may be offensive to certain members of the community. WFPL sees its function as a purveyor of information on many topics, levels, and opinions. To meet its goals and objectives, the Library must protect the freedom of all to choose their own information and the style in which it is presented. To that end, we subscribe to “The Library Bill of Rights” and its several interpretations, including “The Freedom to Read” and “The Freedom to View” statements. These documents are available in the links above, at the website of the American Library Association, or by request from the Library.
The public library is a unique institution and is charged with being an unbiased repository of recorded knowledge. To that end, any attempt by a group or individual to remove items from the collection, or to add items not meeting standards set by this policy shall be opposed by the Board of Library Trustees, director and staff. Wayland residents with concerns about materials in the Library’s collections may direct their concerns to any staff member, who will address it with a supervisor. If the resident wishes for a more in-depth assessment, a formal Request for Reconsideration may be submitted. Such requests are reviewed only when made by a Wayland resident.
The Board of Library Trustees has the legal responsibility for the collection and protecting it in accordance with the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution.
Consortia, Cooperatives, and Networks
WFPL is a member of the Massachusetts Library System. It is also a founding member of the Minuteman Library Network. The main purpose of membership in cooperatives is resource sharing for better access to information and library materials. WFPL’s memberships in both the state-funded MLS and the nonprofit automated MLN cluster means a larger selection of materials for our patrons.
Review of Collection Development Policy
This policy shall be reviewed by the Board of Library Trustees on a regular basis. Sections requiring revision will be reviewed by staff and presented to the Board for its acceptance into policy at that time.
Approved by the Board of Library Trustees 2/26/2020. Revision approved 6/15/2022.