Burlington Public Library
210 Court Street · Burlington, IA 52601 · 319-753-1647
Directions | Hours | Contact Us | About Us | BPL Home Page

Burlington Public Library Policies
Collection Development

The Burlington Public Library Board maintains that the freedom to read is essential to our democracy. Therefore, this Board affirms the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, Freedom to Read, and Freedom to View documents as statements of each individual’s right to freedom of choice in information and materials use.

It is the task of the staff of the Burlington Public Library to choose, organize, and make print and non-print materials available to the users of the library without regard to age, sex, race, creed, social, educational, or economic backgrounds.

In addition to professional knowledge and experience, the library staff will use requests, staff suggestions, use patterns, community issues, review literature, special bibliographies, and reports of information trends as source data for the selection of materials to be added to and deleted from the library’s collection. The library staff will endeavor to be impartial in materials selection and will make every effort to obtain materials to represent more than one point of view. Inclusion of material in the collection does not constitute an endorsement. The Library recognizes that certain materials are controversial and that any given item may offend some library users.

The library staff will withdraw materials from the collection that are worn, damaged, outdated, or no longer used. Disposal of withdrawn library materials will be determined by the Library Director.

Gifts of print and non-print materials are accepted with the understanding that the library staff may add the materials to the collection or dispose of them using the same criteria as purchases. It is the responsibility of the donor to provide the value of a gift for tax purposes. If contact information is provided by the donor, donations to the library will be acknowledged with a note of thanks from the library to the donor.

Items that are not owned by the library may also be requested by residents of Burlington and the contracted service areas. An effort will be made to purchase the materials if they meet the selection criteria as outlined in this policy or to borrow such items using interlibrary loan as a means of fulfilling the request.

The ultimate responsibility for materials selection rests with the Library Director who operates under the policies determined by the Library Board of Directors.

Any person who wishes to object to the inclusion of a particular item in the library’s collection may discuss the concern directly with the Library Director. If the concern cannot be adequately addressed through this discussion that person may complete a Statement of Concern Regarding Library Resources form requesting reconsideration of the item in question. When the form is returned, it will be forwarded to the Burlington Public Library Board of Trustees. The Library Board will make the final ruling on the concern. The item in question will remain in the collection and available during the review process.

Revised and adopted: August 17, 2011; August 19, 2009; October 18, 2006; May 20, 1998; April 17, 1996; May 9, 1990; April, 1990