Photo by Mary Jo Joiner

Welcome to the Kenai Community Library

163 Main Street Loop, Kenai AK 99611
Telephone 907-283-4378 Fax 907-283-2266

Kenai Community Library Collection Development Policy

Table of Contents

PURPOSE OF COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY

This policy is established by the Kenai Community Library management and the Library Commission of the City of Kenai to guide the library staff and to inform the public of the principles upon which the library is making decisions to obtain and maintain its collections. This Collection Development Policy statement supports the Library in its mission and defines the purpose and objectives growth and development of its collections.

KENAI COMMUNITY LIBRARY MISSION

The mission of the Kenai Community Library is to provide a comfortable and friendly environment in which the public may:
a.         Have a reasonable expectation that they will leave the building with what they came for;
b.         Relax and read current materials;
c.         Receive knowledgeable assistance and answers to questions;
d.         Pursue opportunities for lifelong learning;
e.         Find professionally selected materials in all formats for personal enjoyment;
f.          Enjoy programs or performances;
g.         Have access to technological resources.
            In support of this mission, the library provides individualized assistance, community outreach, professional expertise, and current technologies for equal access to facilities, quality services, and materials in a variety of formats.
            The Kenai Community Library will endeavor to:
a.         Provide service to every resident in the community;
b.         Provide non-residents the same services:
c.         Have the library open seven (7) days a week for at least a total of fifty-nine (59) hours.
The library supports theThe Library Bill of Rights of the American Library Association Freedom to Read statement. The Library’s mandate is to provide the public access to information on all sides of an issue.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

Kenai Community Library serves the City of Kenai and the neighboring communities. Its legal service population, as defined by the Alaska State Library, includes 13560 people, which almost equals the number of library card holders.

Kenai is located at the mouth of the Kenai River, on the shores of Cook Inlet. It is approximately 65 air miles and 161 highway miles from Anchorage. It is 11 miles from Soldotna and within a relatively short drive to Homer and Seward, the other major cultural centers on the Kenai Peninsula.

An old Dena’ina Athabascan Indian village, Kenai was settled by Russian fur traders in 1741 and in 1791 it became a fortified Russian trading post, Fort Saint Nicholas. Although Russian fur-hunters left at the end of the 19th century, Russian influence remained. A sizable Russian Orthodox community worships in the beautiful Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Church in Kenai, one of the Alaska’s oldest churches.

The end of the World War II brought an influx of homesteaders. After the discovery of oil near Swanson River in 1957, the Peninsula enjoyed an economic boom. Kenai became incorporated as a city in 1960 and its home rule charter was adopted in 1963.

Kenai has a diversified economy. Since 1965, after the offshore oil discoveries in the Cook Inlet, Kenai continues to be the center of the oil and gas industry. Tourism, commercial and subsistence fishing constitute other important economic sectors.

Kenai has two elementary schools, a middle school, Kenai Central High School and the Kenai Alternative School. It also has privately funded Kenaitze Head Start and the Aurora Borealis Charter School. Other learning institutions include Challenger Learning Center, PRISM - Fire Fighting Training Center and the Kenai Peninsula College, located between Kenai and Soldotna.

City of Kenai Population Characteristics - 2000 U.S. Census.

Population in 2000:
6,942

Population by Race:

Population by Gender and Age and Income

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Kenai Municipal Code states that:

“THE KENAI COMMUNITY LIBRARY WILL ENDEAVOR:

a. To provide free service to every resident in the community.

b. To support the Library Bill of Rights and the American Library Association Freedom to Read Statement.

c. To assemble, preserve, and administer books and/or other library materials.

d. To serve the community as a center of reliable information.

e. To provide nonresidents the same services.

f. To have the library open seven (7) days a week for at least a total of fifty-nine (59) hours.

(Amended during 7-7-99 supplement, 12-1-00 supplement)

MATERIALS

Books and other library materials will be added to the present collection to provide information, entertainment, intellectual development and enrichment to all the people of the community.

BOOK SELECTION

The Library Commission recognizing the pluralistic nature of this community and the varied backgrounds and the needs of the citizens declares as a matter of book selection policy that:

a. Books and/or other library material selection are and shall be vested in the librarian. Any book and/or library material so selected shall be held to be selected by the Commission.

b. Selection of books and/or other library material shall be made on the basis of their value of interest, information, and enlightenment of all the people of the community. No book and/or library material shall be excluded because of the race, nationality or the political or social views of the author.

c. This Commission believes that censorship is a purely individual matter and declares that while anyone is free to reject for himself books of which he does not approve, he cannot exercise this right of censorship to restrict the freedom to read to others.

d. This Commission defends the principles of the freedom to read and declares that whenever censorship is involved no book and/or library material shall be removed from the library save under the orders of a court or competent jurisdiction.

e. This Commission adopts and declares that it will adhere to and support:

1. The Library Bill of Rights, and

2. The Freedom to Read Statement adopted by the American Library Association, both of which are made a part hereof.

Gifts will be accepted with provisions as to addition to the collection upon examination of materials. Non-usable gifts will be given the disposition that is of most value to the library.

(Amended during 7-7-99 supplement, 12-1-00 supplement)

COOPERATION

Kenai Community Library participates in the Alaska Library Network and in OCLC to meet local requests for information and library materials. It will attempt to cooperate with school, college, Court and other local libraries in order to provide the best possible service to its patrons."

SELECTION OF MATERIALS

Formats Collected:

Print and Audio Visual Media:

Books, large print material, music cassettes, music compact discs, videocassettes, DVDs, maps, books on tape, multi-sets (book and CD or floppy disk), magazines, newspapers, and pamphlets. Also selected are 16 mm films, photographs, mounted pictures and music scores - only if they pertain to the city of Kenai or Kenai Peninsula.

Electronic Media

The Library provides patrons with full and free access to the Internet. Kenai Community Library Internet Policy states that:

“The Internet with its highly diverse and often controversial content is an unregulated resource and can be used only at your own risk. Beyond its home pages, Kenai Community Library cannot control the information found on the Internet and is not responsible for its accuracy, correctness or its suitability. “

The Library subscribes and provides on-site access to a limited number of commercial databases and also has a limited collection of databases and education games on CD-ROM and on diskettes.

Selection Criteria:

The Kenai Community Library will endeavor to serve the whole community. All the suggestions for purchase coming from the library users and the staff are welcome and are always given a serious consideration. The library will attempt to stay aware of community interests and information needs, as well as general cultural trends. The main points considered in the selection of materials are importance and individual merit of an item, prominence of the author, critical reception, suitability and demand, timeliness of the material, its place in the existing library collections, spatial and budgetary constraints.

Children’s and young adults’ materials are selected by the Youth Services Librarian. The remaining collections and the ultimate responsibility for the selection and weeding of library materials rest with the Director.

In addition to examining materials that come to the Library through publisher and vendor approval plans, such as, McNaughton plans, Bethany House or Junior Library Guild, the review sources regularly consulted as part of the material selection process include: Kirkus Reviews, Riverbank Review, Library Journal, Anchorage Daily News, Family Fun, Parents Magazine, New York Times Book Review and many sources available through the Internet. The Library attempts to purchase, when appropriate, the winners of the major literary prizes such as the Newbery and Caldecott, National Book Awards, Pulitzer and Booker Prizes.

Selection criteria for electronic resources additionally include: ease of access, hardware requirements, and comparison of content with other available formats, licensing requirements, networking capabilities, staff training and customer assistance requirements.

Children’s and Juvenile collections

The children's collections of the Kenai Community Library are divided into three groups: Easy Books, Juvenile and Young Adults collections.

Easy Books - serve children from birth through third grade, by providing books and other media for recreational use, general information and elementary school level curriculum support. They include picture and holiday books, easy readers, beginner chapter books and Alaskana. The books are selected based on literary excellence, accuracy and timeliness of factual material, and high quality art and illustrations.

Juvenile - collection serves children from fourth through eighth grades. It includes fiction and non-fiction, reference materials and Alaskana. It is designed to address the recreational and informational needs and to stimulate the interests of young people in reading and the world around them. It includes the statewide Battle of the Books collection and the Young Reader’s Choice award winners. The juvenile section is intended to be aesthetically appealing and to be browsing in nature.

Young Adult - materials are primarily meant for the high school audience. It is a relatively new collection that is integrated with adult fiction and non-fiction materials and follows similar selection criteria.

Adult collections

Fiction - Works of contemporary fiction, and classic works of enduring value. Fiction is selected according to the following criteria: popular demand; reputation of the author and publisher; appropriateness to the library's users; importance as a document of the times; relationship to the existing collection and to other titles and whether a title is part of an existing series.

Nonfiction - The library acquires materials of both permanent and current interest in all subjects, new books by or about high profile personalities or by authors respected in their profession. Acquisitions are based upon the merits of a work in relation to the needs, interests, and demands of the community.

Reference - Reference materials are meant to provide quick, concise, and current information or they may serve as an index to other materials in the collection. They are typically used daily by the public and Library staff to answer specific questions and are designed by the arrangement and treatment of their subject matter to be consulted for definite items of information rather than to be read consecutively. Materials in the reference collection are designated for use within the Library, whether in print or computer-based formats.

Periodicals - are selected according to the following criteria: whether the periodical is indexed in one of the Library's indexing services; inclusion in or exclusion by standard indexing resources; cost; requests by library users or City of Kenai employees; whether the periodical has local or regional interest; and whether a subject area needs to be expanded to help balance the collection.

Alaskana Reserve Collection (non-circulating) and Alaskana Circulating Collection - contain materials which deal with environment and the natural history, culture, sociology, economic and political history of Alaska with a special emphasis on the City of Kenai, the Kenai Peninsula and the Cook Inlet. Due to physical and financial constrains the Library cannot build a comprehensive Alaskana collection. It will make an effort to purchase local publications, either by Kenai authors or those produced by local government, organizations and other groups. Attempts will be made to purchase relevant materials from other polar regions if they complement the existing collection.

Genealogy collection – materials are purchased by or with the cooperation and under the advice of the local genealogical society – the Totem Tracers. This is a growing collection suitable for the beginning genealogist who then can proceed to the more in-depth research using resources available for loan or on the Internet.

Government documents – since the Library is not a depository library, government documents are purchased using the same criteria as adult nonfiction, reference and Alaskana materials. Special emphasis is placed on those government documents that deal with the City of Kenai, Kenai Peninsula or businesses and industries affecting the region – such as oil, gas and commercial fishing.

Media collections

Videos and DVDs are purchased very selectively, with emphasis on documentaries, film classics, Alaskana, travel, instructional materials or PBS series that are not available in local video stores.

Children collections include audiotapes and video productions of folk tales, picture books, feature films, story-telling sessions, computer based educational CDROMs and music for sing-along programs.

Books on tape – a collection of popular literature and literary classics, coming to the Library through McNaughton’s rental plan and through donations are selected using the same criteria as for the print collections.

Music CD collection - this collection started with the generous donation from the Friends of the Library contains the “core” collection of classical and popular music carefully selected from the standard music bibliographies and is augmented periodically with the best selling CDs on the market.

WEEDING AND COLLECTION MAINTENANCE

It is the policy of the Library to develop and maintain collections which meet patron needs for current and retrospective information and which further address cultural, educational and recreational needs and interests of the community. Weeding is an on-going process essential to this end. When information in material becomes dated and misrepresentative of current knowledge or the materials themselves become damaged beyond use or are no longer in demand, they will be removed from the collection.

Sources such as Fiction Catalog, Public Library Catalog, and Children’s Catalog are checked before a specific title is discarded.

REPLACEMENT

It is the responsibility of the director to assess the need for replacing material that is destroyed or lost from the collection.

GIFTS

All material presented to the Library as gifts is subject to the same scrutiny and review as that purchased. The Library reserves the right to dispose of gifts as it deems appropriate; material received as gifts may be included in the collections, used in the Friends of the Library book sales or discarded. The Library cannot appraise the value of donated materials but can provide an acknowledgement of receipt of the items if requested by the donor.

MEMORIAL BOOKS

The Friends of the Library accept donations toward the purchase of memorial books or other materials that are selected by the staff in accordance to the donor’s wishes and in accordance to the selection policy standards and the collections needs. Each of these items will have a commemorative book plate placed inside the front cover or in other visible location in case of other media.

RECONSIDERATION

Library patrons can voice their objections as to the suitability of particular materials in the collections by filling out a formal form “A Request for Review of Library Materials”. During the time of the review challenged materials will not be removed from the collection. Director will read or view the material in its entirety, check the reviews and recommended bibliographies and will present a written recommendation to the City Manager and the Library Commission.

The Library Commission will hear patron appeal if the Director’s recommendation does not meet patron’s approval.

KENAI COMMUNITY LIBRARY – A REQUEST FOR REVIEW OF LIBRARY MATERIALS

DATE ______________

Check one: Book _____ Video ______ DVD ______ CD _____ tape ______other__________

TITLE ________________________________________________________________________________

AUTHOR ______________________________________________________________________________

PUBLISHER ___________________________________________________________________________

Review requested by: __________________________________________________________________________

Representing:

Self: ________________________ Organization: __________________________________

Address: _______________________________________________Telephone: ______________________

What is your objection to this material? Please, indicate specific pages, sections or pictures.

______________________________________________________________________________________

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Is there anything worthwhile about this work? ________________________________________________

Did you read, hear or see the entire work? ____________________________________________________

If you read a review of this title or heard opinions given by scholars or by literary critics please, list them below: ______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

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Any additional comments?

______________________________________________________________________________________

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Signature _______________________________

Please use the other side of this form for any additional comments