The primary objective of the Sanilac District Library is to provide and organize significant books and other library materials and to give guidance in their use.  The collection of library materials shall be developed in order to meet the cultural, informational and recreational needs of the community on a fair and equitable basis to all individuals and to cultivate and promote the library as a resource capable of meeting the challenges of today and into the future.

Collection Development and Material Selection Policy

This Collection Development Policy has been created in order to provide continuity for the Library staff and Board, to provide guidance for the Library Director, to identify goals for collection development and to clarify the Library’s position on intellectual freedom.

The ultimate responsibility for materials selection rests with the Library Director, who operates within the framework of policies determined by the Library Board of Trustees. The general public and staff may recommend materials for consideration. Standard lists, bibliographies and book reviews may be used as aids in making selection decisions, especially where a collection development goal is to build or maintain the collection. Current sources are: Amazon, Baker & Taylor’s Forecast and Growing Minds, Booklist,   Library Journal, Michigan Electronic Library and others.   

Points to be considered in adult materials selection are literary, educational, informational and recreational value; authority and effectiveness of presentation; qualities conducive to critical thought and understanding; available funds and space.  Contemporary and popular authors are included as well as those who have demonstrated enduring worth.  Titles are selected on the basis of content as whole and without regard to personal history of the author.  In the case of controversial subject areas, variety and balance of opinion are sought whenever available.

Materials for young adults are selected with the aim of helping teenagers find self-realization to live useful, well-adjusted lives in the community and know and understand the world at large.  The materials are selected to widen the adolescent’s thinking, to enrich life and to help fulfill informational, recreational, emotional and cultural needs.

The children’s collection is selected to provide pleasurable reading for reading’s sake and, insofar as possible, to provide information in all fields of knowledge which are of interest to children.  It is carefully selected for children of all ages, abilities and reading levels and emphasis is put upon materials which stimulate imagination, mental growth and the development of taste for good literature and beautifully made books.  Criteria for book selection include literary and artistic worth, accuracy, suitability of content and vocabulary to the age of the readers, the contribution of the book to the balance of the total collection, and price.

It is not the purpose of the collection to serve as an elementary, high school or college supplementary library, although many of its materials may be so used. It is the responsibility of the schools to provide textbooks and curriculum materials.

If a material is not chosen for the library’s collection, it has been excluded for one or more of the following reasons:  it does not measure up to the library’s standards; the library already has adequate coverage on the subject; insufficient funds; or space limitations.  As a policy, the library does not purchase materials trading on a taste for sensationalism or which are purely pornographic.  On the other hand, serious works which present an honest aspect of some problems of life are not necessarily excluded because of coarse language or frankness.

The library welcomes monetary gifts, endowment funds and bequests for purchasing library materials.  The same standards apply in determining which materials to purchase with the gift as are used in the selection of any item procured by the library.