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Collection Development Policies

Collection development policies are crucial to the library, from the director to the staff to the patrons and to the board.  The policy should establish clear guidelines on how library materials are evaluated, acquired, retained and discarded in order to best serve the community.   The minimal elements of a policy are:

• state who is (are) responsible for materials selection;
• explain how materials and formats are selected;
• discuss gifts and donations;
• address weeding;
• explain the reconsideration of materials forms and process; and
  include documents from the American Library Association such as ALA’s Bill of Rights, The Freedom to Read and the Texas Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Manual.  
  
  Collection development policies should be reviewed, approved and signed each year by the library’s board or the city/county official that oversees the library’s operation.

• The AALS Professional Collection has several titles that address collection development policies.  Some of the recommended titles are Developing Public Library Collections, Polices and Procedures; Library Collection Development Policies; and Model Policies for Small and Medium Public Libraries.  If you are interested in borrowing any of these titles, and you are a library staff member within AALS, please call the AALS Office at 210/207-2609 for additional information.  
  
  If you need a policy model for collection development, please call the AALS Office at the number above.

   

Online collection development policies are found below.

Hennepin County Library
ACQWEB’s Directory of Collection Development Policies on the Web
Morton Grove Public Library’s Collection Development and Materials Selection Policy
Longview Public Library’s Collection Development Policy 
Wichita Falls Public Library’s Collection Development Policy
Tempe Public Library’s Collection Development Policy 
The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County 
San Marcos-Hays County Public Library’s Collection Policy Statement (for local historical materials)
Multimedia Seed’ Links to Collection Development and Selection Policies

 More information on creating, writing and updating collection development policies:

Arizona State Library’s About Collection Development Policies  
Writing a Collection Development Policy
A Practical Approach to Writing a Collection Development Policy (from ALA) 
Alternative Basic Library Education (Collection Development Policy)

Intellectual freedom documents that are frequently used in library policies are listed below.

ALA’s Freedom to Read 
The Freedom to View 
Library Bill of Rights 
ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Statements and Policies 
Texas Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Manual