As a responsibility of library service, books and other library resources selected for the Pound Ridge Library District will be chosen for values of interest, information and enlightenment for all the people of the community. In no case will library materials be excluded because of the race or nationality or the social, political, or religious views of the authors.
The Library shall provide books and other materials presenting all points of view concerning the problems and issues of our times; no library materials should be proscribed or removed because of partisan or
doctrinal position.
Censorship will be challenged by the Library in the fulfillment of its responsibility to provide public information and enlightenment.
Books and materials are selected which provide borrowers with information about themselves, their work, their community, the world, and their place in it. They shall provide borrowers with the basic and/or classic significant works in the fields of human endeavor including science, the arts, and the humanities.
Because each community has its own specific characteristics, the demands made upon our collection are special to Pound Ridge. Selection must be inclusive rather than exclusive. The selective process must provide:
- Materials to further informal education and self-realization
- Materials to further the individual’s growth toward creative maturity and to encourage freedom of thought
- Materials which give information of value to individuals, government, business, etc.
- Materials on national, state, county, and local history
- Materials for recreational purposes
Serious works, which present an honest aspect of life or of some human problem are selected for their positive values and insights and are not necessarily excluded on a basis of coarse language or frankness. The Library does not buy pornography or books or materials which trade in sensationalism.
The Library recognizes and accepts its responsibility to provide books and materials for children and young people: to broaden their educational background and experience; to open to them the profound experience of reading as a prerequisite and necessary tool for living; and to make available to them books and materials that enrich the quality of thought and expression and provide recreation. The collection will include as wide a selection as possible. The criteria will be value and presentation of the subject matter.
It is not the purpose of the collection to take the place of the elementary, middle school, high school or college library. It is the purpose of the collection to supplement and enrich the collections of the school libraries.
The Pound Ridge Library District’s emphasis is the whole field of informal education by selecting the best materials to guarantee an objective collection for the adults and children of Pound Ridge. And that selection will be determined by our basic principles.
*Based on the ALA (American Library Association) “Library Bill of Rights”
Revised and approved by the Pound Ridge Library Board of Trustees, May 13, 2003
Policy approved by the Pound Ridge Library Board of Trustees, November 10, 2009
Policy approved by the Pound Ridge Library Board of Trustees, December 20, 2011
