Literature (800)

General Comments

This collection provides introductory information on poetry, riddles, jokes, readers' theater, writers, holiday story collections, and rhymes. Emphasis is on American and British literature.

Development Plan

Books offering poetry are the main focus of this collection. Sources including poetry, riddles, and jokes are heavily developed and maintained. Other subjects, especially literature of Germanic languages, Romance languages, Italian, Romanian, Rhaeto-Romantic languages, Spanish and Portuguese literatures, Italic literature-Latin, Hellenic literature-Classical Greek, and literature of other languages are minimally developed due to lack of availability of appropriate level materials and limited interest on the part of young patrons. However, stories from other countries can be found in the 390s under fairy tales, folklore, and fables. Collection emphasis is on keeping sources relevant to the interests and needs of the young patron. Occasionally duplicate copies are purchased to satisfy patron demand, but, in general, single copies are sufficient.

Influencing Factors

Purchases and buying patterns are determined in large part by:

• reading level.
• new works.
• budget constraints.
• circulation statistics.
• patron requests.
• shelf space.
• visual appeal.

Retention/Weeding

• Titles with child appeal that continue to be used are considered for replacement.
• Physically worn materials are replaced or updated.
• Books are withdrawn due to damage, loss, drop in general interest level as evidenced by circulation figures, or content relevancy and currency.
• Titles with multiple copies are checked for usage, and duplicate copies are withdrawn as demand decreases.