Parenting Collection

Reviewed May 2007

General Comments

This collection offers a variety of information to parents and patrons working with children. This small collection is housed in the Children's section of the library so parents/patrons can have easy access to a representative collection of parenting materials. Subjects addressed include, but are not limited to, physical development, sexual development, sexual abuse, health, social problems, childhood diseases, handicaps, sibling problems, and guidance on reading and storytelling. This collection, further supported by the adult nonfiction collection and the easy fiction collection, was developed to offer patrons a sampling of the information the Library has to offer on these topics.

Development Plan

Coverage of the more popular subjects such as physical development, health, social problems, guidance, and childhood diseases are developed and maintained. Collection emphasis is on keeping the collection current and relevant to the interest and needs of the community. Single copies are purchased and sufficient to satisfy patron demand.

Influencing Factors

Purchases and buying patterns are determined in large part by:

• shelf space.
• budget constraints.
• new works.
• circulation statistics.
• patron requests.

Retention/Weeding

• Titles in this collection are generally very basic and do not date as quickly as more in- depth materials. However, close attention is paid to the quickly changing world and misinformation is withdrawn immediately.
• 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• Books are withdrawn due to damage, loss, drop in general interest level as evidenced by circulation figures, or content relevancy and currency.