It is the mission of the Joshua Hyde Public Library to serve all patrons of the Library. Materials are provided for information, for general educational advancement, and for the enrichment and recreation of borrowers.
Material selection is performed by the Children's Librarian for the Children's Department and by the Library Director and Adult Services Librarian for the other areas of the Library (i.e. Young Adult, Reference, Adult, etc.) For access to out-of-print materials, or otherwise difficult to acquire resources, as well as items that may fall outside this Policy, the Library depends on the Massachusetts Library System’s inter-library loan service (MLS ILL). The Library Director is responsible overall to the Library Trustees for the development of the collection.
Library materials are selected according to the following policy:
Materials selected must meet high standards of quality in content, expression, and format. These standards are not determined by any one individual, but rather from a consensus of well-known journals and critics (e.g. Library Journal, Booklist, New York Times Book Review, etc.).
The Library may purchase works written by authors whose views, though they may be widely rejected, have affected the shaping of world events.
The Library is responsible for providing materials on controversial issues, and whenever possible, to represent many shades of opinion on these issues.
Serious works are not necessarily excluded because of unpleasant language or frankness. If a work, overall, has artistic merit or provides important information, it has a place in the Library’s collection.
Criteria essential to the selection of non-fiction for both the Children's and the Adult collection include authoritativeness, accuracy, objectivity, timeliness, clarity of presentation, and community need. An attempt is made to limit purchase of specialized research materials for which there might be demand from only one or two members of the community.
An up-to-date, balanced and useful collection will be maintained through a continual discarding and replacing process. Worn but basic titles will be replaced and obsolete or infrequently used materials withdrawn.
The availability of funds may limit the range and number of materials considered for purchase.
The Library is opposed to the removal from its collection, at the request of any individual or group, books or materials which have been chosen according to this Collection Development Policy. Furthermore, the Library will oppose coercion on the part of an individual or group seeking to have books or materials added to the shelves contrary to this Policy.
Should any patron wish the Library to reconsider the selection of any materials they may fill out a Request For Reconsideration of Library Materials form and submit it to the Library Director. Alternatively the filled-out form may be emailed to the Library Trustees at JHPLTrustees@Gmail.com. The request will be considered by the Library Board of Trustees. The form is available upon request and may also be found at Page 9 of this Manual. Incomplete forms will not be considered.
Because they represent an ideal the Library is trying to maintain, the Board of Trustees is guided by the "Freedom to Read" joint statement by the American Library Association and the Association of American Publishers as well as the "Library Bill of Rights" adopted by the American Library Association. Both these documents are included here as appendices for the reader’s convenience.