Children's Book Collection Policy
The library maintains a Children’s Book collection to support academic programs that work with children’s and young adult literature. This collection is also available to the community to borrow and supports our students, faculty, and staff with children. The library works with faculty in the College of Education, Counseling, and Ethnic Studies and in other Colleges to ensure the materials in the collection meet pedagogical and research needs.
Acquisitions
There are limited funds available to purchase new titles on a regular basis for this collection. At minimum, the library will purchase the following annual children’s book award winners:
- Caldecott Medal
- Newbery Medal
- Coretta Scott King Award
- Pura Belpré Award
- Geisel Award
- Stonewall Book Award: Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children's and Young Adult Literature
These awards are typically named in January at the ALA midwinter meeting and are subsequently purchased at the beginning of the spring semester.
When additional funds are made available via donation or other means, the library will focus on adding titles to the collection that reflect diverse voices and experiences. Purchases may include titles published in Spanish or bilingual titles.
The library will accept donations to the Children’s Book collection, but the library faculty reserves the right to reject donations and to remove any previously accepted donations at any time. Donated items that are not added to the collection will be discarded or sold following all applicable state property policies.
Retention Decisions
The collection will be periodically reviewed for currency and condition. The library reserves the right to remove titles that no longer meet collection needs or that are in poor condition. Librarians use circulation and publication date data to make retention decisions, and may also consider the extent of holdings in other libraries.
Some titles in the Children’s Book collection are included in the SCELC Shared Print agreement. These titles have a retention commitment agreement through July 2032. These items are housed in the ARS - Juv location.
Approved by Library Faculty, Jan 31, 2025