Divide County Library’s Operations Policies

Divide County Library’s Operations Policies

1. Introduction

Mission Statement:

The Divide County Library’s mission is to inspire the joy of reading and encourage the pursuit of knowledge.

Purpose of the Policy:

The purpose of the Collection Development Policy is to serve as an official statement of the Divide County Public Library’s commitment to meeting the informational and recreational needs of the community served, as well as to provide guidance to the library staff for meeting these needs.

Community Assessment:

In addition to general community awareness, the library will continually use various assessment tools, including surveys, customer registration data, customer requests, and information from other community groups, to determine the best way to meet the community’s information and recreational needs. The library is committed to a flexible, evolving, and ongoing assessment process.

II. Responsibility for Selection

Responsibility for Selection:

Under the terms of the North Dakota Century Code 40-38-04, the Board is ultimately responsible for all library expenditures, approving selection policy, and setting the goals and objectives for the library and its collections. The Library Director is responsible for oversight and approval of all library expenditures, and thus for selection. The Director may delegate the selection and deselection of materials to qualified library employees. 

The library applies the Miller test, the United States Supreme Court’s primary legal test for determining whether speech or expression, including library material, constitutes obscenity. There are three prongs of the Miller test. The work is only considered obscene if all three conditions are satisfied.  

1. Whether the average person applying contemporary community standards would find the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; 

2. Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and 

3. Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. 

III.  General Selection Criteria and Tools

Statement Regarding New Collections:

The Divide County Public Library continues to investigate new formats and technologies for inclusion in the library’s collections. New formats and technologies will be added to the collection based on popularity and available budgetary resources.

 General Selection Policy:

The general criteria listed below apply to the selection of all materials for the Divide County Public Library. Collection-specific criteria may be mentioned in their respective collection development profiles. Not all titles selected will meet all the requirements listed, but will fall into at least one of these categories:

• Source materials and thoughtful interpretations that document or shed light on the past
• Contemporary materials representing varying points of view are of current interest and may have future significance, including those that reflect current conditions, trends, and controversies.
• Materials that inform and increase an individual’s ability to function effectively as a member of society
• Materials that provide an aesthetic experience, stimulate the imagination, and increase an individual’s potential creativity.
• Materials that expand an individual’s understanding of the world in which they live
• Materials that entertain and may enhance an individual’s enjoyment of life
• Public demand and interest
• Timeliness of information and/or significance of the subject
• Evaluations in professionally recognized critical review sources
• Special local interest or community relevance
• Authority and competence of the author and/or reputation and standing of the publisher
• Effective expression
• Contribution to the diversity or breadth of the collection
• Effectiveness and suitability of format, durability, and ease of use
• Replacement of lost copies and/or updating to current information
• Availability of information elsewhere
• Impact on materials budget
• Support of the Library’s mission and roles

General Selection Tools:

The Divide County Public Library uses the following resources when making selection decisions: Professional journals, trade journals, subject bibliographies, publishers’ catalogs and promotional materials, reviews from reputable sources, lists of recommended titles from professional sources, popular and news magazines, related websites such as Amazon.com, and sales representatives for specific materials. Customer purchase suggestions are also an important source, and they are added to the collection as long as they meet the stated selection criteria.

IV. General Deselection Criteria

Deselection, the systematic removal of materials from the collection, is an essential component of total collection development. Ongoing reevaluation of materials is necessary in order to maintain a current, accurate, and inviting collection. Deselection improves the accessibility of the remaining materials, enhances the appearance of the collection, and helps improve the overall circulation and turnover rates of materials.

Discarded materials become surplus property and may be sold for fundraising purposes or discarded at the Library’s discretion.

The process and decision to deselect an item take into account the same criteria used when the item was first selected for inclusion in the collection. Please see the Deselection Policy for more information.

V. Adult Collection Overview

The Divide County Public Library Adult Collection primarily serves the recreational and informational needs of all people in Divide County. The collection consists of fiction, genre fiction, and nonfiction works. Materials for the Adult Collection are selected and maintained using the General Selection Criteria unless otherwise noted. In accordance with the Access to Materials Policy, the library does not deny or abridge the use of materials because of an individual’s national origin, age, background, or views. Parents or guardians are responsible for the materials their children choose.

Large Print:

The Large Print collection is primarily a duplication of titles already in the library in standard type. The collection includes literary classics, popular bestsellers, genre fiction, and nonfiction. Large-print books are seldom reprinted, so emphasis is placed on purchasing the most desirable titles soon after publication. Staying current with series, popular works, and titles that will appeal to an older audience is essential when selecting this collection.

VI. Special Collections

Reference:

The library maintains a Reference collection primarily used to answer reference questions and serve the informational needs of our patrons. Reference materials remain in the library to be readily available to all library users. The reference collection contains standard works in areas of general reference, medical information, automotive, business, and local and regional history. Included are indexes, encyclopedias, state legal codes, biographical resources, dictionaries, almanacs, directories, and current and historic atlases. These reference materials cannot be checked out, as they are essential to the collection and need to remain intact for years to come.

VII. Periodical Collection

The Divide County Public Library first and foremost purchases and retains periodicals that meet the research, informational, and educational needs of Divide County’s citizens. 

The Periodical Collection includes periodicals in print, microform, and online databases.

The newspaper collection includes newspapers from major cities, but the primary focus is on regional newspapers. The local newspaper, The Journal, is available on microform from its beginnings in the late 1900s.

Magazines are maintained at the library.  The majority of magazines are retained for the current and previous two years. After retention magazines are put on the donation rack for anyone to take as needed.

IX. Electronic Resources

Electronic resources are defined as subscription databases, e-books, e-magazines, and other resources accessed digitally via PCs, tablets, e-readers, phones, or other Internet-connected devices.

The Divide County Public Library participates in resource-sharing agreements with the North Dakota State Library, ODIN, and the North Dakota Digital Consortium. Agreements allow the library to receive competitive pricing and divide administrative and selection responsibilities. Decisions on the acquisition of electronic resources are made in cooperation with these organizations and reflect the variety of missions and collection goals of member libraries, not solely those of the Divide County Public Library.

Electronic Resources and Databases:

The Library may add electronic resources for its own use or as part of a resource-sharing agreement. These are subject to the General Selection Criteria.

Electronic databases are selected in coordination with the library’s reference staff or relevant professional staff to meet general collection needs. The vendor will provide a demonstration or trial subscription for staff to evaluate. Additional criteria used to assess electronic resources include:

• Access to multiple concurrent users
• Access to remote users
• Ease of use
• Additional functionality compared to print formats
• Access to retrospective information
• Vendor relationships, technical support, and contractual concerns

E-Books and Similar formats:

Electronic materials such as e-books, e-videos, e-magazines, and e-audiobooks are subject to the General Selection Criteria.

Additional criteria used to evaluate e-content platforms include:
• Ease of use
• Access to a variety of popular devices
• Access to multiple concurrent users when possible
• Vendor relationships, technical support, and contractual concerns

Since electronic materials do not wear out or take physical shelf space, condition and usage are not considered as deselection criteria. All other deselection criteria, such as relevance, are considered. In the case of a resource-sharing agreement, the Library may not be able to deselect all desired materials or respond to item challenges for electronic materials accessed as part of the agreement.

X. Media Collection

The Media Collection consists primarily of DVDs, music CDs, and audiobooks on CD. The collection is intended to fulfill both recreational and educational needs. Selection and maintenance of these materials fall under the General Selection Criteria.

XI. Children’s Services Collection Overview

The Divide County Public Library Children’s Services Department primarily serves the needs and interests of Divide County residents from birth through early adolescence (grade six) as well as their adult caregivers. The collection also serves teachers in Divide County schools, childcare providers, homeschooling families, and adults working with or interested in materials for children, as well as Divide County residents who work in outside communities. Further, the collection supports library services for this age group.

The Children’s Services collection should be balanced to meet the needs of each age level served, and all selected materials will meet these age criteria.

While local school curricula are generally supported, textbooks and workbooks are excluded from the children’s collection unless deemed appropriate for the collection.

The library does not limit children to using only materials in the children’s collection. Parents or guardians are responsible for the materials chosen by children.

Board Books:

Board books—small, sturdy books aimed at babies and toddlers—are housed in a special board book bin in the children’s areas of the library facilities. In addition to durable cardboard pages, most board books address simple concepts, such as colors, shapes, letters, and counting.

Children’s Nonfiction:

The Children’s Nonfiction collection contains informational books on popular subjects, as well as subject-oriented, homework-related books for children through sixth grade. The collection may contain some books written for older audiences if the subject matter is of interest to children and the book is appropriate. Materials in this collection are selected for accuracy, quality, and community interest. The collection strives to cover a wide range of subjects and viewpoints.

Easy Readers:

The books in the Easy Reader collection are primarily for beginning readers in kindergarten through second grade. Easy Readers generally fall into various levels based on how easy or difficult they are for children to read. The collection contains fiction and nonfiction books with illustrations, simplified and/or controlled vocabulary, a large typeface, and a limited number of words and lines per page.

Picture Books:

The Picture Book collection is an extensive, popular collection in the Children’s Department. Picture books combine text and illustration to tell a story. The illustrations in picture books are designed to extend and complement the text.

The Picture Book collection consists primarily of titles appropriate for children from birth through age eight.

Youth Fiction Collection:

The Youth Fiction collection comprises fiction titles and graphic novels selected to meet the recreational needs of our youth. The Youth Fiction collection contains books appropriate for independent readers in second through sixth grade. Books include literary classics, award winners, historical fiction, adventure, humor, horror, sports fiction, and contemporary realistic fiction. In library locations where space permits, mystery, fantasy, science fiction, and graphic novels are shelved in separate sections for the browsing and reading convenience of library patrons.

Nonfiction materials appropriate for youth are interfiled within the Adult Nonfiction collection.

Divide County Library does not have a young adult section. Any materials that would be categorized in this section would be located in the adult fiction or nonfiction sections as needed. If a patron would like to read young adult material, a purchase request may be submitted.  An additional option will be mentioned to the patron to search the card catalog for materials readily available at our Divide County High School.  The High School carries this section to great lengths, stretching our taxpayer dollars to the fullest and using them appropriately as deemed by the Director and Library Board.

XIV. Children’s Online and Electronic Resource Collections

The Children’s Department provides librarian-selected and approved online resources for children, teachers, parents, and caregivers. Internet sites, subscription databases (electronic resources), and online readers’ advisory collections are some examples of the online resources selected by the Children’s Services staff. As with other library materials, restriction of a child’s access to online resources, especially the Internet, is the responsibility of the parent or other caregiving adults. Parents are encouraged to work closely with their children to select material that is age-appropriate and in keeping with personal and family values.

Children’s Services staff regularly review selected sites. However, due to the nature of the Internet, the content or purpose of websites can change rapidly and without notice; therefore, Library staff cannot be held responsible for these changes. In addition, staff-recommended sites are limited to those directly linked to our Divide County website.

The Divide County Public Library’s database collection includes a variety of youth-specific databases intended for use by students in kindergarten through twelfth grade.

XV. Children’s Services Media Collections

Children’s Videos:
This collection includes entertainment, instructional, educational, and informational videos.
The fiction video collection primarily contains popular G and PG-rated video titles.

The nonfiction video collection primarily contains popular educational video series.

Read-Along Kits:

Read-Along kits include a sound recording paired with a picture book or easy reader, packaged together in a bag. These kits are primarily for children from birth through age eight.

Children’s Audiobooks:

The Audiobooks collection primarily includes unabridged children’s titles. The collection consists of children’s classics, award winners, and popular contemporary titles.

Adopted: 3/29/2023

Amended: 9/27/2023

Reviewed: 12/3/2025