FARMINGTON LIBRARIES
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY
Updated and Approved October 22, 2025
Purpose
To guide Library staff in selecting, developing, and maintaining a balanced collection that meets the community's needs.
Policy
The Farmington Libraries provide free access to services, experiences, and resources to achieve its mission of empowering people to learn, connect, and grow. The Farmington Libraries provide a contemporary collection of material in a broad range of formats to meet the informational, educational, and recreational needs of the Farmington and Unionville communities. The Libraries strive to meet these needs within the confines of space, staffing and budget. The Libraries subscribe to the following fundamental principles developed by the American Library Association (ALA) relating to Intellectual Freedom and the Freedom to Read.
- The Library Bill of Rights
- The Intellectual Freedom: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights
- ALA’s Freedom to Read Statement
4. The Resolution on Challenged Materials
7. The Freedom to View Statement
8. The Free Access to Libraries for Minors Statement
9. The Public Library, Democracy’s Resource
10. Access for Children and Young People to Non-print Materials
11. Equity, Diversity, Inclusion
The above policies may be found by clicking the links above, which will bring you to the ALA website, or by conducting an internet search. If you need help accessing the policies, please ask at the Information Services Desk for assistance.
Community Served
The Libraries primarily serve Farmington and Unionville residents of all ages, educational backgrounds, and ethnic groups. The Libraries also serve those individuals who work in the Town of Farmington. In addition, as part of the Library Connection (LCI) Consortium, the Libraries serve residents of consortial member towns. The Farmington Libraries also participate in deliverIT, a statewide cooperative program among Connecticut libraries, serving any Connecticut resident with a valid public library card.
Purpose and Scope of the Collection
The Farmington Libraries aim to continuously improve and expand the library collection, including digital content, that reflects the community's interests. All ages, reading levels, and points of view are considered. Library materials are provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all residents. The Libraries serve as a place for voluntary inquiry, the dissemination of information and ideas, and the promotion of free expression and free access to ideas for all library patrons. As such, the Libraries’ collections represent a wide range of varied and diverging viewpoints.
The Libraries' collections include materials in a variety of formats, including print, digital and online materials, at many intellectual levels, to serve the educational, recreational and entertainment needs of a wide range of ages, and educational backgrounds, as well as ethnic, racial and cultural groups, lifestyles, and points of view. Emphasis is placed on popular materials and general information rather than on scholarly and specialized needs. As new formats evolve, these will be considered for inclusion in the collection. Because resources should reflect the changing requirements of our patrons, the collection development policy shall be subject to continuous review.
The collections at the Main Library provide materials that meet the educational, informational, recreational, and cultural needs of the community. The Barney Library collection primarily consists of recreational materials and basic information sources.
Youth Collections
The Farmington Libraries' children and teen collections include print, audiovisual and digital materials to foster the joy of reading, learning and discovery in children and young adults, ages birth through 12th grade. Youth Services librarians and staff select materials for children and young adult collections that reflect a variety of viewpoints using fundamentally the same processes as those for adult materials. These can include, but are not limited to:
- favorable reviews in reliable journals or standard bibliographic tools
- Reader demand and interest
- Age appropriateness
- Reading level
- Interest level
- Treatment of the subject for the age of the intended audience
- Suggestions from parents, guardians, teachers, and adults working with children.
The Libraries do not assume that all children and young adult material will be suitable for every individual. Responsibility for overseeing a child’s reading choices rests with parents and/or legal guardians and not library staff. The Libraries make their collections available to all.
Farmington Room Collection
Materials relating to the history of Farmington will be added, if appropriate, to the Farmington Room Collection. The Libraries also maintain a collection of town documents, including town and school budgets, minutes of the Town Council and Board of Education meetings, CDs of Town Council meetings, annual reports, town ordinances, and various special reports in the Farmington Room Collection.
Formats
The Libraries’ collections currently include materials in the following formats:
- Print books, magazines, newspapers, manga, and graphic novels
- Audiobooks on CD or Playaway, DVDs
- Downloadable e-Books, e-audiobooks, music, movies, and television shows
- Databases
- Library of Things, a special collection of objects such as board and videogames, toys, puzzles, mobile hotspots, equipment, and technology
Formats of materials may be added or deleted as technology or user needs change. Items will be purchased within budgetary constraints and the availability of materials.
Accessible Formats
The Libraries are committed to providing equitable access to library resources and services, mindful of accessibility standards, user feedback, accommodations, and support for persons with disabilities. To this end, the Libraries purchase large-print books, closed-captioned DVDs, audiobooks, playaways, e-books, e-audiobooks, and other formats. Upon request, Library staff can assist in connecting patrons with Braille materials.
Digital Resources/Databases
Selection of and access to electronic resources are integral to fulfilling the Farmington Libraries' mission. The Libraries balance the acquisition of digital resources with physical resources to ensure access to the widest extent possible within sound budget practices. This includes, but is not limited to: e-Books, e-audiobooks, magazines, music, movies, television shows, and databases, owned or licensed and maintained by the Libraries and made available to the public at no cost. Databases and e-materials are considered a part of the Libraries’ collections and are selected using the criteria outlined in this policy.
Procedures
Collection development is an interpretive set of processes used by professional librarians. These processes require: knowledge of community needs; familiarity with the libraries’ collections and appropriate bibliographic tools; a general knowledge of subject literature; and consideration of the library’s financial resources.
Responsibility of Selecting Library Materials
The responsibility for selection of materials is shared by the Libraries’ professional staff. Librarians are professionally trained and educated to curate and develop a collection that provides access to the widest array of library and educational materials. At the Farmington Libraries, Department Heads are responsible for training staff to select and acquire books and materials for the collection. Staff select a wide variety of diverse materials to ensure the collection meets our community's needs. Final responsibility for selection rests with the Executive Director who operates within the framework of policies determined by the Library Board and the budget.
Selection Criteria
To guide Library staff in selecting, developing, and maintaining a balanced collection that meets the community's needs, Farmington Library staff follow professional standards. To this end, staff consider, but are not limited to, the following materials selection criteria:
- Public demand based on requests for the title, including predicted public demand
- Contributes to a balanced collection, within and across subject areas, that reflects a variety of viewpoints
- Subject area depth reflecting patron interest
- Interests of differing age groups
- Availability of materials in other libraries through the Library Connection, Inc. (LCI) Consortium, interlibrary loan, and Deliver IT
- Local authorship/subject matter; this consideration, in some cases, overrides literary and artistic considerations
- Literary quality as determined by professional review journals
- Artistic merit, scholarship, authority, logical presentation, accuracy, relevancy, timeliness, usefulness, and historical significance
- Established review sources, standard lists of recommended titles and information provided by publishers, producers and distributors
- Format
- The extent to which the item supplements, expands on, or supports the existing collection, rather than duplicates it.
- The Libraries do not purchase textbooks or curriculum-related materials for educational institutions or their students. Textbooks may be purchased if they provide information that cannot be found in other resources and because that information will meet an anticipated need in the collection.
An item need not meet all criteria to be selected.
The Libraries are committed to providing an equitable basis for purchasing materials, ensuring that consideration of the needs of historically oppressed, underrepresented, and underserved groups is integral to collection development and management.
The Libraries regularly review current and emergent demographic trends for the Libraries’ constituent populations to inform collection development and management. The Libraries regularly assess the adequacy of existing collections to ensure they meet the needs of the Libraries’ constituent populations.
All Library materials are evaluated and made available in accordance with the protections against discrimination set forth in Section 46a-64 of the Connecticut General Statutes.
To facilitate access and satisfy user demand, multiple copies of titles may be purchased in multiple formats. Demand is determined by the number of requests for, or holds on, a particular title.
Damaged or lost materials are replaced if available and deemed relevant to the collection.
Collection Maintenance
Librarians review library collections systematically, using professionally accepted standards, such as: material relevance, physical condition, availability of duplicates, availability of age-appropriate or grade-level material and continued demand of material.
A healthy library collection is regularly reviewed to ensure the material in the collection is accurate, current, in good condition, and is still used by the community. Material that is no longer useful is withdrawn from the collection to make room for new acquisitions. Review criteria for withdrawing an item from the collection include, but are not limited to:
- Material has enduring value
- Material is of local interest or specific to the community
- Use Patterns: Material which has not circulated for three years shall be considered for withdrawal
- Physical condition: Damaged materials will be discarded unless the content is significant to the community and cannot be replaced in any format
- Age of material: Classics and valuable editions will be retained, dated materials will be discarded and replaced with more current materials when they are available
- Subject matter is no longer accurate, timely, or relevant
- Material is available elsewhere, including other libraries or online
- Material is duplicated in the collection
Withdrawal and Replacement Process
The replacement of materials is determined by demand, the number of duplicate copies, currency, accuracy and informational value of the material, availability of other materials on the same subject in the collection, availability for purchase, and availability for borrowing from another member library of the LCI Consortium or through interlibrary loan.
Withdrawn materials are marked “discarded” and may be sold to the public at the Friends’ book sales. All items, regardless of medium, not selected for inclusion in the book sales, may be donated to suitable organizations or disposed of as recycled waste regulations permit.
Resources
Recognizing that budget levels will vary and may require a flexible approach to the addition of new materials during each budget year, it is the aim of the Libraries to budget 10% of the annual operating budget for the addition of new material to the collection.
The materials budget will be allocated across all formats and collections in a manner that provides sufficient resources to both the Main and Barney Library. General allocations of resources will be reviewed by the Executive Director with the Board annually.
The Farmington Libraries cannot purchase all materials requested; the Libraries extend their resources through cooperation with other libraries and networks. Library staff may suggest borrowing items from other libraries in the LCI Consortium or Interlibrary Loan sources such as FindITCT.org for items not included in the collection and will initiate a patron hold or interlibrary loan as requested.
Gifts/Donations
The Libraries welcome gifts of books and other materials for the collection and apply to them the same standards of selection that govern purchases. Gift materials are accepted with the understanding that those that meet the Libraries’ selection criteria may be retained, and those that do not may be redistributed to the Friends of the Farmington Libraries for sale, to other non-profit organizations, or may be disposed of in any way the Libraries deem appropriate. No conditions may be imposed relating to any gift after its acceptance by the Libraries. For more information about donations to the Libraries, see our Gift and Donation Policy on our website.
Intellectual Freedom and Controversial Material
The Farmington Libraries fully endorse the principles documented in the Library Bill of Rights, the Freedom to View Statement, and the Freedom to Read Statement of the American Library Association. Materials available in the library present a diversity of viewpoints, enabling patrons to make the informed choices necessary in a democracy.
The Libraries also select a wide variety of library materials that satisfy the diverse interests of our community. The Libraries uphold the right of the individual to access resources, even if the content may be controversial, unorthodox, or unacceptable to some. The Libraries’ varied collection is available to all; however, it is not expected that every item in the collection will appeal to everyone.
Library Material Review and Reconsideration
The Farmington Libraries recognize the importance of hearing from the public regarding material selection. Farmington and Unionville residents may request reconsideration of library materials, displays or programs in accordance with our Review and Reconsideration Policy, available on our website.
Location
This policy is housed on the Farmington Libraries’ website: https://www.farmingtonlibraries.org/about-us/policies. A copy is maintained in the Libraries’ Administration Office.
This policy conforms with CT Public Act 25-168 Sec. 322,323