Mission Statement
Honoring the vision and legacy of its founder, the Mark Twain Library offers the Redding community a center for intellectual, educational, social and cultural enrichment, providing a wide variety of materials, resources, and programs for all ages. –Adopted 1/11/2010
Statement of Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to ensure that the Mark Twain Library’s collection reflects the mission of the Library as defined by the Board of Trustees and implemented by the Library staff. It assures the integrity, consistency and continuity of selection and deselection practices and clarifies the methods and principles of those practices to both the staff and the public.
The Mark Twain Library is guided in its selection policy, and in all its activities, by the “Library Bill of Rights” and the American Library Association’s “Freedom to Read Statement.”
Background Information
Redding is an exurban/rural town founded in 1767 by settlers from Fairfield Parish, approximately 60 miles from New York City. Redding has always had a select group of writers, artists and musicians among its population, including Samuel L. Clemens (aka Mark Twain), who moved here to his final home in 1908. He was the founder of this library, and the first president of the Mark Twain Library Association.
Redding was one of the first communities in New England to understand the value of open space, and was in the vanguard of green-belt communities. The town retains its rural character through the diligence of its citizens, who stay aware of regional trends and policies.
As an association library, the Mark Twain Library does not receive full funding from the town government. Fiscal responsibility is important in collection development and management. Other town agencies and institutions (e.g. the schools, Town Hall) have collections that complement and enhance the Mark Twain Library collection, and the Library works cooperatively with them.
The Library building serves as a lending library as well as a community gathering place. It is not an archival library, but maintains a collection of books by or about Mark Twain. It also assists with research into Mark Twain and his years in Redding. Because space is limited, the general collection must constantly be evaluated for the relevancy of material selected for inclusion on the shelves. Special collections, while perhaps valuable, are not necessarily appropriate for a general interest library, with the exception of the book collection given to the Library by Samuel Clemens, and the artifact collection presented to the Library after his death.
The Mark Twain Library is a member of Bibliomation, a consortium of libraries with a shared bibliographic database.
Material Selection
Using the previously stated background material as a guide, and with attention to the Library’s mission and intent, the following general criteria shall apply to books selected for the Library collection, including materials and collections being offered as gifts to the Library:
- Relevance to the interests and needs of the Redding community
- Affordability
- Availability
- Timeliness and/or popularity
- Value added to the collection as a whole
- Relevance to the mission and/or strategic plan
Material not deemed suitable for purchase for the Mark Twain Library collection may be obtained through the Bibliomation consortium or the interlibrary loan system that the Library uses.
We attempt to have copies of important works but will not automatically replace materials if they are available through the Bibliomation consortium.
Multiple copies are purchased for items with high reader demand.
Responsibility for Selection
The Board of Trustees entrusts material selection to the Library Director, subject to the general policies and standards of the Library. Selection may be performed by other staff with professional level training in material selection.
Selection Tools
Selection tools will include (but not be limited to) professional judgment as the first criterion, professional and trade journals (Library Journal, School Library Journal, Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and The Horn Book), and online book and media reviews (Amazon, New York Times, and other authoritative websites). The Library strives to be responsive to all inquiries about resources, and adds requested items to the collection after consideration of quality, cost, and relevance.
Selection Criteria
The Library provides a broadly based and diverse collection of resources with a balance in points of view in a timely, cost effective manner.
Mark Twain Library acquires materials in many subjects and formats, based upon the merits of a work in relation to the needs and interests of the Redding community.
Selection is a discerning and interpretive process. Each type of material must be considered in terms of its own excellence and the audience for whom it is intended. No single standard can be applied in all cases. Some materials may be judged primarily in terms of artistic merit, scholarship or value to humanity; others are selected to satisfy the informational, recreational, or educational interests of the community.
Digital books from services like Overdrive are selected cooperatively by Bibliomation staff members. The Mark Twain Library also purchases direct pay-per-use access for local library patrons to download and stream services, e.g. Hoopla. The content provided by such service is not selected by library staff but rather is provided as a package of titles.
Research database subscriptions are selected using the criteria listed in the “Material Selection” section above. Other criteria used include:
- Interests and information needs of the community
- Currency, relevance and quality of online resources
- Ease of use
Audiobooks, music CDs, and DVDs on discs are selected using the same criteria as books.
Periodical subscriptions are maintained to keep the Library collection up-to-date on current issues, to provide material not available in book form, for reference work, and for general reading. Hard copy periodicals are used mostly for browsing; online databases provide research resources. Newspapers are selected to meet current reference and research needs.
Areas of particular interest to the community (including but not limited to the following) are considered important and should be part of the collection of the Library:
- Local history
- Redding authors and/or illustrators
- Samuel Clemens
- Open space
The collection management of children’s and teen materials is the same as for the adult materials.
Gifts of items for the collection will be accepted if they meet the guidelines for new material selection. Otherwise they will be donated to our annual book sale that raises funds for the Library.
Maintenance and De-accession of Material
Periodic inventory of the collection is the responsibility of the staff. Items that are unsuitable, worn, damaged, outdated, or no longer relevant should be withdrawn.
Mark Twain Library staff systematically review the collection with the goal of maintaining the quality and vitality of library resources. Collection analysis incorporates the use of library data, circulation reports, and other statistical information for continuous collection evaluation, as well as the use of the patron Requests for Reconsideration of Library Material process.
The Library staff will consider all requests for the withdrawal of material from the collection. The Library Director, with the recommendations and proper background on each item, will bring these requests to the Board of Trustees.
Revision adopted by the Mark Twain Library Board of Trustees October 16, 2023
