Collection Development Policy

Rockcastle County is an area of Kentucky chiefly made up of farmers, blue-collar workers, and educators. Rockcastle County has one high school, which is state of the art, one middle school, and three elementary schools. The community is small, just barely over 16,000 residents.

Rockcastle County is located 45 miles south of Lexington. Renfro Valley is the main tourist attraction and the home of Kentucky Music Hall of Fame. Rockcastle County was the home of Kentucky author John Lair who founded Renfro Valley.

Agriculture is one of the main economic strengths of the county. The Hospital and the school system are the largest employers. There is very little economic development even though we are located next to a major interstate highway. One or both adults in most families have to travel out of county for above minimum wage employment. Approximately 62% of students enrolled in school receive free or reduced lunch. Our tax base is relatively low, due to the fact that there is very little economic development. There is not a lot of hope for raising the Library income from taxes.

The Rockcastle county Public Library is a small, but an efficient library. It has been serving the needs of the community for almost fifty years, since 1953. When the Library first opened it was opened one day a week. The library is now open forty-six hours a week, Monday through Friday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Bookmobile service began in 1954. The Bookmobile serves numerous shut-ins, the Day Health Facility, Nursing Home, and Respiratory Care Center as well as home stops due to the rural nature of the county.

The Library’s collection is made up of over 26,000 items including, books, reference materials, print and non-print, periodicals or subscriptions, videos, and audios. The library is divided into five sections, Adult Library, Genealogy and Kentucky room, Children’s Library, Teen Career Center, and Administrative office.

The current staff consists of the Library Director, a Bookmobile Librarian, Children’s and Young Adult Librarian and two Library Assistants. The Library staff provides service to patrons in academics, reference materials, historical research, interlibrary loan, as well as recreational reading. The goal is to serve the community and be a center for educational needs, and personal growth in specialized areas. The staff encourages the use of technology to make access to current information easier for patrons. The staff provides library tours. The Library staff hosts’ special programming for different age groups.

The Library is completely automated and has a large circulation desk. Eight computers for public access are housed at the Library. Internet access is available and also up-to-date software. The on-line catalog is available for all patrons to use and search by title, author, subject, keyword etc.

The Rockcastle County Library acknowledges and strives to observe the American Library Association Library Bill of Rights.

The mission statement of the Rockcastle County Public Library gives guidance and direction concerning choice of materials.

“The Rockcastle County Public Library provides access to materials and services to help community residents obtain information meeting their educational, personal, and professional needs. Special emphasis is placed on supporting students at academic levels preschool through college. Special emphasis is also given to leisure reading and personal information needs of county residents.”

4. To provide a community oriented center for learning, for research, and
special emphasis on historical research.

8. To provide service through interlibrary loan when materials are not
available.

9. To provide technological resources, and to make changes where
necessary for on going public access to relevant information.

10. To oversee the collection, its circulation by using automation reports,
and weeding the out-dated and worn materials.

The Collection Development Policy is written to help make the public and the Library staff aware of the objectives and goals of the Rockcastle County Library. Its purpose is to aid the patrons and staff in a better understanding of the selection of materials and the responsibility of the collection.

This policy was written and achieved by consulting all library staff members in their specialized areas; a community survey was also taken into consideration. Comments and thoughts were weighed in an effort to put forth the most constructive and profitable policy for our community needs and the future of the Rockcastle County Library.

The County Judge of Rockcastle County, Kentucky officially appointed the Library Board of Trustees. The Board is made up of five members, President of the Board, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and the Technology Consultant. Specific details concerning the board members terms to serve are stated in the Rockcastle County Public Library By-Laws. The official Board of Trustees meets every second Monday of each month.

The Rockcastle County Public Library has patrons of all ages. Adults, young adults, and children make full use of the Library and all of its resources, print materials, non-print materials and public access to computers.

The responsibility for selecting the materials for the Library rests with the Director. The Director works within the guidelines set forth by the Library Board of Trustees when acquiring materials. Staff members may make suggestions based upon their communications with the patrons, their requests and suggestions.

The Rockcastle County Public Library provides within its financial means the items that most effectively meet the needs of its patrons in the areas of education, reference, historical research, reading, entertainment, and personal areas of interest.

Allocation of funds for acquisitions will be determined based upon use in each area, and individual cost of items. Quality and quantity of the items are also a consideration.

The Library appreciates patron recommendations and comments about the collection and service by community surveys and individual request. The most recent community survey taken in 2001 brought changes in Library hours. An overwhelming number of patrons requested longer hours to accommodate their personal use of the library. Also another change brought about was a broader selection in print materials for men.

Patron suggestions are taken into consideration when deciding upon materials. Book reviews are extremely helpful in this process. Book lists from reputable sources are also examined. Library catalogs are searched for up-to-date non-fiction in specified areas. Popular on-line Book Store reviews are also taken into consideration. Subject areas that may be lacking are always reviewed.

Materials that are by popular authors are put on standing order plan. The majority of these books are Fiction. The list from time to time is updated according to patron usage and request. Sometimes it is necessary to make a change in the standing order due to lack of circulation. The Director regularly checks the standing order plan and makes changes accordingly.

New forms of materials may be considered as a purchasing option depending on up-dated reports, patron request, cost, and consideration of Library space.

While durability and quality of binding is important. The Rockcastle County Public Library believes in servicing all patron needs and therefore paperback books are an important part of the the collection. Library editions are purchased especially in the Children’s Library because of the extreme handling of the books, as well as the circulation.

Most of the videos purchased by the Library are instructional. The majority of the popular videos are donated and added into the collection. Packaging for the major part of these materials is in the form of plastic cases with open-ended area for the barcode to show.

Audio books are purchased and regularly checked for sound quality. Packaging for these materials usually comes with the tapes in the form of a binder type case that shuts. Barcodes are put on the outside of these materials.

Other formats in the library include maps, microforms, periodicals, paperbacks, newspapers, and pamphlets. Videotapes are the most recently developed format. Compact disks may be added in the future if the budget allows for them. Textbooks are not included in the collection.

The Library under certain circumstance may purchase multiple copies, based upon patron needs, and usage. However the Director may choose to purchase one or two copies of several popular titles instead of several copies of one title. Duplicate copies are purchased in large print of the popular titles for the visually impaired readers.

The Rockcastle County Public Library uses the Dewey Decimal System to classify the collection, and endeavors to abide by the Anglo American Cataloging Rules, second edition, 1998 revision/2001 amendments. OCLC is also a resource tool for assisting in classifying materials. Books are divided into fiction, non–fiction, biography, reference and all genres are included such as science fiction; romance; westerns etc. The materials are also classified by age appropriateness, Easy for children, Juvenile, Young Adult and Adult.

Once an item is made a part of the collection it may be necessary from time to time to repackage or re-cover the item. If the item is relevant, up-to-date and circulates well, preservation of that item is important. After the item is out-dated, not circulating and worn, the weeding process must take place in order to maintain the collection. An item that has out-lived its usefulness is then discarded.

A book sale is held once a year. Books that are donated, and are not made a part of the collection may be sold or given away.

The practice of weeding the materials will be based upon the date of the materials, condition of materials, and number of duplicated materials.

If the item is extremely dated it is possible that it would not be relevant in our ever-changing times. The collection must be checked regularly for out-dated items. The condition of an item is very important. An item may be in very poor condition, or even damaged beyond repair. After going through a process of mending it may no longer be suited for the shelf. The date on the item may be such that it would need to be replaced. Duplicate copies may be removed from the collection if low circulation of the items warrants their removal.

Rockcastle County Public Library has in its collection many different views on given subjects. The Library does not give endorsement to any one-view point over another. The Library tries to provide a fair and balanced platform for opposing views.

The community patrons may have comments about the collection or a particular item in the collection. The Director will be happy to listen to any comments pertaining to an item and explain the policy on censorship. If the patron would like to pursue the matter further a formal request for removal may be made in writing by filling out a Reconsideration of Materials Form. Once the patron has filled out the form it can be submitted to the Library where upon the Board of Trustees will review the request.

Upon reviewing the request and the item in question for reconsideration the Board of Trustees will make a decision and inform the patron in writing within a 30-day period.

Gifts may be donated to the Library with no conditions attached. Once an item has been donated it is placed in the control of the Librarian under the guidance of the Board of Trustees, at which point it will be examined. Condition of an item, currency, and relevance will be taken in to consideration.

Once examined the item will then be cataloged and put in the collection or disposed of at the Librarian’s discretion. Usually items that are donated with conditions will not be accepted if they can’t be used as a part of the collection or require extreme measures to house them.

The Library has several historical documents, genealogy records, census, cemetery records, and the Mt. Vernon Signal from 1884 (the local newspaper) on microfilm etc. Effort is being put into searching for a cost effective way to preserve these items for the future. These records are important to our community, but also to people from other states who have roots in Kentucky. Many requests are made for information from the genealogy records here at the Rockcastle Library. Fiction and non-fiction titles by Kentucky authors, along with the historical materials are housed together in the Genealogy-Kentucky Room.

The Teen Career Center presently houses a separate collection of career books for Juvenile and Young Adult patrons.

The Library has a few first editions and rare books, but no special housing has been made for them at this time.

Many of our readers who are elderly or otherwise visually impaired find the large print collection valuable. There is a large print collection that rotates in our Library region every three months. This collection gives our large print readers a larger variety of reading material.

The Rockcastle Library participates in a Regional Interlibrary Loan Network. The Regional Interlibrary Loan gives patrons access to materials that the Library could not otherwise provide.

The Board of Trustees will review this policy once a year. Updated revisions may be suggested by staff members and considered by the Board at this meeting. If revisions are adopted the Collection Development Policy will be amended.