Public Library Policy Analysis

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A general examination of both policies show that they were authored with similar purposes but with different bureaucracies involved in the writing of the document. The Hawaii State Public Library System’s collection development policy is written with a legal tone containing short paragraphs and bullet points. The policy begins by defining the library system and states that it follows the Hawaii Constitution, state laws, and library’s mission statement. This is not the case when considering The Neill Public Library collection development policy. While serving a smaller population than the Hawaii policy, it is a larger document written purposely for the librarians and community. This policy begins by stating the purpose of a collection …show more content…

Both collection policies express the fact that they conform to the principles as stated in Library Bill of Rights, Freedom to Read Statement, the Freedom to View Statement and the First Amendment of the Constitution and profess that library will not stand in loco parentis, that is the library will not monitor or guide a child’s choices. The NPL and HSPLS also declare in their policies who has ultimate authority concerning the materials purchased for the library, with the NPL policy adding the importance of understanding and listening to community input. Both discuss selection criteria and point out issues such as cost, suitability of subject, and style for intended audience, as benchmarks considered when choosing an item to add to the collection and include selection criteria for electronic formats. The collection development policies of NPL and HSPLS also give the guidelines concerning gifts and donations, stating that the item will be treaded as a purchased item and must meet selection criteria. Both discuss weeding and copyright laws and end their policies with a section containing the information on the reconsideration of library materials and offer a form for individuals to request reconsideration of an …show more content…

One significant difference is that the Neil Public Library offers an all-inclusive policy with defined terminology and procedures. This may be due to the fact that HSPLS is written with a broader voice, to cover multiple branches and be in line with other state policies while NPL serves only one community. Included in the NPL document is information concerning the special collections such as the Parents Center, Art Collection and Palouse Heritage Collection. Other sections in their policy, not found in the HSPLS policy, are the organization of the collection, rules concerning interlibrary loan, and various ways patrons can access the collection. NPL also expands on the topic of Intellectual Freedom beyond HSPLS’s discussion of access, to explain how the library makes its decisions and will not offer up a system to rate the value of any item in the library. It even goes as far as to state that it is up to the reader to determine if an item is “appropriate for their needs and can define what materials or information is consistent with their personal values” (Neil Public Library Collection Development Policy, 2014,

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