Collection Development Policy

Introduction

Tasman District Libraries is a public library network serving the residents of Tasman District, a region with a population of 57,807 (Census 2023).

Tasman is a geographically large area and extends from Golden Bay in the west through to Nelson Lakes in the east and down to Murchison in the south. There are four townships – Richmond, Motueka, Takaka and Murchison - and 17 settlements within the District. Historically the area has been largely rural in character with strong horticultural industries as well as some pastoral farming. More recently tourism has emerged as a major economic driver. There is also a thriving arts and creative sector.

Rapid growth in recent years has seen an increase in urban population, particularly in Richmond, the largest of the townships and Motueka, second largest.

The population of Tākaka has remained relatively static over decades while Murchison’s population has declined. Continuing population and settlement growth is predicted over the coming years, particularly around Richmond and Motueka.

Richmond township borders Nelson City. A reciprocal library membership arrangement with Nelson Public Libraries sees some Tasman and Nelson residents using both library systems and collections.

Tasman District Libraries consists of four branch libraries and an online library at tasmanlibraries.govt.nz. Branch libraries are located in Richmond, Motueka, Tākaka and Murchison.

Tasman District Libraries also provides regular long-term print loans for a number of small volunteer-run community libraries across the District. The community libraries are responsible for managing their own collections.

Tasman District Libraries' Mission and Vision

Tasman District Libraries’ mission is to provide quality library services which enrich the life of the community by promoting lifelong learning and the creative use of leisure.

The library brings people, ideas, information and inspiration together.

Tasman libraries contribute to the social and economic wellbeing of the community, help to develop a literate and informed community, and provide a collective resource that is greater than families or individuals can afford.

Purpose of the Collection Development Policy

The Collection Development policy is intended to:

outline the principles of how the library’s collections are curated
provide a framework for the development and management of Tasman District Libraries’ collections
define the library’s legal requirements and responsibilities

Scope

Tasman District Libraries collections include what is selected, acquired, donated, or created for customers’ use.

The policy is format neutral. The library selects and acquires or provides access to whichever format best meets customer needs. This means providing both print and digital or one format only.

This policy applies to all collections held across Tasman District’s four libraries.

Summary of collections

Tasman District Libraries builds collections which reflect the diverse range of recreational and information interests and needs of Tasman’s communities.

There are over 140,000 physical items in Tasman District Libraries’ collections, as well as access to over 21,000 eBooks and eAudiobooks available for use in our eLibrary collections. Additional digital material includes databases, streaming services, digital newspapers, and magazines.

The collections are managed as one, and customers can borrow and return items at any of our library branches.

In addition to the regular lending collections, the library has other collections not available for browsing on the open shelves these include:

Stack collection housed at Richmond Library. These items may be retrieved by staff for customer in-house use or borrowing.
Waimea South Historical collection housed at Richmond Library. These items are not available for loan.
Reference and Local History collections at each library. These items are not available for loan.

Guiding Principles

Bicultural Commitment

Tasman District Libraries recognises the unique place of Māori as tangata whenua of Aotearoa and is committed to contributing to the growth and understanding of Te Ao Māori in the Tasman District and Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka ā Maui. This recognition will be reflected in the emphasis given to the collection, creation and management of local and national Māori content within the library.

Through its collections the library supports the development and understanding of Mātauranga Māori in Tasman District and across Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka ā Maui, promoting bicultural awareness and actively supporting the partnership principle of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Tasman District Libraries is committed to partnership with Tangata Whenua.

Eight iwi are tangata whenua in Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka ā Maui:

Ngāti Kuia

Ngāti Rārua

Ngāti Tama ki Te Tau Ihu

Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui

Ngāti Kōata

Ngāti Toa Rangatira

Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō

Rangitāne o Wairau

Freedom of Information

Tasman District Libraries is committed to the principles of intellectual freedom and equity of access to information.

Tasman District Libraries aims to uphold the principles outlined in the UNESCO Public Library Manifesto which states that “Collections and services should not be subject to any form of ideological, political or religious censorship, nor commercial pressures.”

The library also endorses the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA) statement on Freedom of Information: “Libraries should… ensure that the selection and availability of library materials and services is governed by professional considerations and not by political, moral or religious views.”

These principles are endorsed nationally in Public Libraries of New Zealand: a Strategic Framework 2020-2025.

To uphold the principle of intellectual freedom, the library attempts to supply a balanced collection containing varying viewpoints on controversial issues. Material will not be suppressed or removed simply because it gives offence. While recognising the right of the individual to reject material, this should not diminish the overall breadth of the collection for other customers.

Materials will not be marked or identified to show approval or disapproval of contents. The library commits to the concepts of intellectual freedom and access to information within the parameters set by statute.

The Library will provide information required for customers to participate in the democratic process and will attempt to represent varying points of view on a broad range of subjects so that all members of the community may be informed and make individual judgements.

Items prohibited by the Films, Videos and Publication Classification Act 1993 will not be purchased by the Library and material restricted by provisions of this act will not be issued to customers under the specified age. Apart from these statutory requirements, the Library will have no active censorship role.

Tasman District Libraries supports the right of children and young adults to choose their own material. The responsibility for a child’s selection rests with parents or legal guardians.

There are no restrictions on which types of content may be accessed by specific customer groups except for any existing statutory prohibitions or Tasman District Libraries membership restrictions

Equity of Access

Tasman District Libraries is committed to the principle of equity of access to information. This includes:

Removing barriers to accessibility; a variety of technologies, formats and services are provided to give customers easy and effective access to the resources they may require.
Providing access to resources for those who cannot afford them.
Addressing the needs of those who do not have access to the internet at home.

As much as possible, content is available to customers when, how and where they want it. The libraries continue to explore new collection products and platforms.

Comprehensive and Relevant Resources

The Library collects and manages resources to meet the information, research, recreation, cultural and lifelong learning needs of our present and future communities. Resources are collected or created with sufficient breadth, depth and focus to meet those needs.

Tasman District Libraries’ collections:

Support people in their lifelong learning and development of skills and knowledge.
Support recreational and leisure interests.
Support participation in the democratic process at local and national levels.

Community Heritage

The library is committed to collecting, preserving, and providing access to documentary heritage pertaining to the Tasman Region so that appropriate material, irrespective of original format, is acquired and retained for future generations.

Tasman District Library’ collections reflect and celebrate local culture, history and creative output, and support Tasman residents to share their stories with each other.

Content Management and Selection

Development of the collections is based on customer demand, evidence of usage and professional understanding of the materials required to provide depth and key works within different parts of the collections. In addition, an understanding of emerging trends globally and locally maintains the currency and future focus of the collections.

Selection for and management of adult collections is the responsibility of the Collections Services Librarian.

Selection for and management of children’s and young adult collections is the responsibility of the Children’s Librarian.

Selection for and management of Reference and Local History collections is the responsibility of the Collections Services Librarian and the Information Services Librarian.

Selection for particular parts of the collection may be delegated to other staff with overall responsibility remaining with Collections Services Librarian, Children’s Librarian, or Information Services Librarian.

Richmond Library collections contain the broadest coverage of material. Last copies of titles worthy of retention are relocated from branch libraries to the appropriate Richmond Library collection.

Selection Criteria

Tasman District Libraries’ collections are actively selected and curated by the Collection Services Team. Space and funding constraints mean decisions must be made in selecting materials. The Collection Services Team follows the guiding principles and selection criteria in this policy document. These principles and criteria are applied holistically when making collection decisions. Works will be considered in their entirety when being assessed for inclusion.

General criteria for selection include the following:

Anticipated and expressed customer demand
Present and potential relevance to local communities
Positive critical reviews from independent industry sources
Suitability of subject and style for intended audience
Availability from contracted suppliers, and reliable supply to New Zealand markets
Suitability of format for library use.

For nonfiction, the following criteria are also applied:

Authority, competency, and reputation of the author/creator in the field in which they are publishing
Reputation of publisher in the field
Information is accurate and current at the time of purchase
Evidence of research based on other works in the field
New or expanding subject area.

In addition, the following criteria are considered for eResources:

Ease of use and accessibility for customers
Any unique features of the digital version of the content
Supported across a range of common devices, browsers, and operating systems
Licensing model provides a range of content within regional availability
Stability of the model for licencing content and managing customer access
It is acknowledged that suppliers may include, restrict, or remove content from eResources products, and that this may be done outside the control of Tasman District Libraries.

In general, items will not be added to the collection if they:

Contain material classified as legally objectionable by the office of Film and Literature Classification
Contain material produced with the primary purpose to advocate criminal activity
Contain material which primarily focuses on pornographic content
Contain material which primarily focuses on exploitative violence
Are specialist/academic publications unless there is demonstrated broad public appeal
Are multiple copies of the same text to satisfy academic/school syllabus course demands
Are books designed to be written in, e.g. crossword/sudoku books, reflective journals, study exercise books

Deselection

Deselection of content is an ongoing practice within all Tasman’s libraries and is essential in maintaining quality of stock and working within the space constraints presented by finite shelving and storage space.

Deselection decisions are guided by usage data and the physical condition of items.

Items that are heavily in demand despite wear and tear are replaced wherever possible.

General considerations for deselection include the following:

Is it damaged or in poor condition?
Is its superseded by more recent work on the subject?
Does it contain information that is inaccurate, outdated, misleading?
Is there lack of ongoing customer usage?
Is it no longer relevant to the needs and interests of local communities?
Is it part of a long, broken, or incomplete series or sets of volumes where individual items cannot be replaced?
Has it been recalled by the publisher?
Is it fully and completely accessible online via a source which is unlikely to remove it?

In addition, eResources and magazines have unique reasons for content removal beyond deselection:

Titles are removed from the New Zealand market by suppliers
Costs of licence renewals become prohibitive
Lack of a reliable supply to New Zealand markets
For magazines, space constraints do not allow for the retention of long runs of material.

If items are rated by the Classification Board after inclusion in the collection, Tasman District Libraries will abide by the necessary legal requirements which may include:

Relabelling the item
Restricting access
Removing the item from the collection

Disposal of Withdrawn Materials

The Library follows sustainable practices and considers sustainability implications wherever possible. These include:

Consideration when deciding whether to repair or replace
Recycling packaging and other relevant library related materials
Ensuring best use is made of stock before deselection
Holding public book sales
Valuable items, no longer appropriate for the Library collection, may be sold at commercial value
Offering unwanted items to other institutions where content more appropriately matches their collection scope
Recycling disposal of books with outdated and potentially unsafe information, e.g. medical advice

Donations

Tasman District Libraries will accept donated works on the understanding that they will be included in the collection only if required and meet the collection criteria. Donations that do not meet the collection criteria will be disposed of.

Any items accepted must be in excellent, as new condition.

CDs and DVDs are not accepted as donations.

Magazines may be accepted provided continuity of supply is assured.

Donations added to the collection will be managed like all other material and will be subject to the same conditions of loan, use, retention, display, and disposal

Collection Plan

Information on content selection, retention and deselection policies for individual collections is detailed in the Tasman District Libraries Collection Plan.

Review process

Users of Tasman District Libraries who disagree with a Collection decision may request a review.

The request should be made in writing on the Collection Decision review form available on Tasman District Libraries’ website or on request at any branch library.

The request should indicate how the Collection decision has not followed the principles and criteria set out in this Policy, in the opinion of the requestor.

Questioned titles will be re-assessed as an entire work, not specific portions (e.g. images, pages, sections, or chapters). The re-assessment will include consideration of the context of the work within the library collections.

When a Collections Decision Review form has been received the following process will be used:

The form is received and acknowledged by Tasman District Libraries.
The customer’s request is assessed by the Collection Services team, based on the principles and criteria in this Policy.
A decision is made by the Collection Services Librarian and the customer is advised of a decision within thirty days of receipt. The response will include the reasons for the decision.
If the customer disagrees with the Collections Services Librarian’s decision, they may ask for the issue to be raised to the Tasman District Libraries Manager. The decision of the Tasman District Libraries Manager will be final.

Appendix 1 – Legislation

Appendix 2 – Reference Documents

Appendix 3 – Definitions

Collection(s): Refers to the library’s resources, in both print and digital form. The term may be used to describe a part, or the whole of these resources.
Collection development: The process of planning and building collections. Collection Development is subject to budget allocations for new material.
Collection Management: This includes all activities relating to the maintenance of the library’s collection.
Deselection: The process of assessment of items for possible removal from the collection.
eAudiobook: A downloadable audiobook. A sound recording of a book or text being read aloud. Also known as a “talking book”.
eBook: A digital representation of a printed book or a book in digital format.
eLibrary: Collectively describes those books, magazines, databases, and other information published in digital format which are part of the library’s collection.
eResource: Umbrella term for digital/online resources.
IFLA: International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.
LIANZA: Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa.
Reference: Items that are not for loan but can be viewed in person in the library.
Selection: The process of deciding which materials should be added to library collections.