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Collection Development and Materials Selection Policy
Youth Services Picture Books The Picture Book collection is a large, popular section in the Youth Services Department. Picture Books ideally should be books with illustration on every page. These illustrations should be so detailed that the story can be understood by studying the pictures alone, without the accompanying text. This broad category includes alphabet books and counting books. Books in each of these two sub-categories are marked with colored dots (red, blue, green, yellow, and orange respectively) so that they may be easily distinguished on the shelves. Picture books come in various sizes, but a great number of them are over-sized. They are approximately 32 pages long and are generally narrow, so that many of them fit on each shelf. It is not unusual for parents to check out10-20 such books per visit, especially when pre-school storytime is in session. In addition, the Youth Services Department's staff gathers picture books on specific subjects for teachers, who often ask for as many as 100 books at a time. Because of these factors, the picture book collection must be one of the largest in the department. Tiny Books are picture books which are so small that they become lost on the general picture book shelves, falling between larger books. Therefore, they are shelved in a separate area. Many of them are sturdy "board books" which are aimed at the youngest child. Influencing Factors Subjects often requested in picture books are animal stories, starting school, fear of the dark and going to the doctor, etc., the arrival of a new baby, the need for a parent to work, friendship and learning to get along with other children, seasons and holidays. Recently books for this very young audience have begun to cover such subjects as homelessness, AIDS, and the problems brought about when a parent loses his or her job. It is important to keep current with societal trends that influence patron interest and demand. Books are selected from reviews found in the following sources: School Library Journal, Kirkus Review, Publisher's Weekly, Booklist, Hornbook, and Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. Publishers' catalogs are also used when the quality of a particular author and/or illustrator's work is known and can be relied upon. Favorable reviews in newspapers such as The Chicago Tribune are also considered.
Classics are very important in this area. Parents frequently ask for books they loved when they were children. Often these books are still in print, and it is important that new copies be ordered as the old ones begin to deteriorate. Duplicates are purchased for classic and popular authors. It is particularly important for a library to maintain a large selection in this category to satisfy patron interest and demand. Books are kept as long as they are in good condition and continue to circulate. Books which are tie-ins to products, movies and TV shows, and which were purchased due to patron demand, such as Care Bears and Cabbage Patch Kids are removed once it is evident that the demand has passed. Picture books are rarely rebound because circulation depends to a large degree in this collection on attractive, colorful dust jackets. Therefore, picture books that continue to have child appeal are replaced with new copies. One or two copies of each picture book are kept, depending upon demand, popularity, and quality. The picture book collection should be maintained as a large collection of quality titles responsive to the interests and demand of the community. |
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