Mission Statement

Louttit Library’s mission is to provide library materials, programs and services to enrich, enlighten and enhance the lives of all members of our community.

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The Louttit Library encourages all West Greenwich residents to use its resources, services, and facilities and to attend its events and programs. As a member of the Ocean State Libraries (OSL) consortium, Louttit Library’s holdings are available to anyone with a valid OSL library card in good standing. 

 

Materials Selection Responsibility

The legal responsibility for the selection of materials rests with the Board of Trustees which in turn delegates to the Library Director, (see Louttit Library Board of Trustees Bylaws Article V, Section 1.) The acquisition of library materials is carried out by the Children’s Librarian, and Adult Materials Buyer with input from library staff members, recommendations from library users and under the supervision of the Library Director.   

Tools used in selection include professional and trade journals, newspapers, publishers’ promotional materials, online forums, book club lists, and reviews from other recognized sources.

 

Scope of Collection

The Library shall seek to maintain a basic collection of current, popular materials for immediate access by local patrons. This collection is limited by the physical size of our location, as well as by our collection development budget. Fund allocation should reflect circulation trends and the evolving interests or our patrons.  The Library collection should also include items of state and local history, as well as works by local authors. 

The Library supports Inter-Library Loan cooperation for materials and resources available outside of its scope and budget.

 

Criteria for Selection

Specific criteria are used to build a collection that reflects the diverse needs and interests of our community.

Each item must meet one or more of the following criteria to be included in the collection.

  1. Current usefulness or permanent value.
  2. Importance of subject matter to the collection.
  3. Authority and competence in presentation.
  4. Importance as a record of the times/historic value.
  5. Quality of content, design, format or production.
  6. Favorable reviews found in standard selection sources.
  7. Relevance to community needs.
  8. High degree of potential demand.
  9. Suitability of subject, style, format and level for its intended audience.
  10. Authoritative and varying perspectives on controversial issues

  11. Cost

     

Donations

The same criteria governing the selection of purchased materials will also apply to gifts.  All materials donated to the Library shall be accepted provided they meet the same criteria for selection as purchased materials and provided that there are no conditions placed on use, location or deselection.

The library does not accept books or materials that are dirty, moldy, odorous, damaged, defaced, incomplete or otherwise deemed unsuitable.  Nor do we accept the following materials:

  • Textbooks,
  • Reader Digest Condensed books
  • Encyclopedia sets
  • Abridged editions
  • VHS tapes or audiocassettes
  • Magazines

Patrons may request a receipt for items donated to the library for income tax purposes, however we do not provide book/materials appraisals.

 

The Use of the Library’s Materials 

  • Library materials shall be selected to provide a broad range of viewpoints and shall not be marked or identified to indicate Library approval or disapproval of the contents. Responsibility for the reading, viewing or listening choices of children rests entirely with their parents or legal guardians. Selection of materials for the Library’s collections shall not be restricted by the possibility that children may obtain material their parents consider inappropriate.
  • The use of rare, scholarly or historical items or those which are fragile or of great value, or those unusually susceptible to theft, shall be controlled only to the extent required to protect them from damage or theft. 

 

Collection Maintenance

To ensure our collection remains relevant frequent weeding of materials is required. We will review our holdings using the M.U.S.T.I.E. Standard: eliminating items that are Misleading, Ugly, (damaged or worn out), Superseded (by a newer edition), Trivial, Irrelevant (to our community) and Elsewhere (meaning the material should easily be found someplace else).  Materials deemed no longer useful to the Library will be disposed of, donated, or sold to benefit the Library.

 

Reconsideration of Materials

Policies and procedures have been developed for the reconsideration of materials to assure that objections or complaints will be handled in an attentive and consistent manner.

Any person who wishes to challenge the inclusion of any library material in the collection must review the Reconsideration of Library Materials Procedure document and complete the Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials Form appended to this policy.

Approved by the Board of Trustees on 12/30/24