The purpose of the Materials Selection Policy is to list the general standards used to select materials for the statewide Montana Library2Go downloadable e-content collection.
The MontanaLibrary2Go member libraries recognize that American democracy functions only if the full range of human ideas is accessible to the people. Proponents of various points of view must be able to make their cases fully and openly, however popular or unpopular they may be.
This principle has fostered freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and in Article II, (Section 7) of the Constitution of the State of Montana. These basic charters protect the free expression of ideas and the private reading
rights of individuals. The MontanaLibrary2Go libraries regard these freedoms and the principles that fostered them as paramount to their philosophy, purpose, and operation.
The collection, protected by the First Amendment and the Constitution of the State of Montana, exists for the benefit of the patrons of the participating libraries (List libraries, Appendix A).
The MontanaLibrary2Go collection, in accordance with the Library Bill of Rights, the Freedom to Read Statement, and the Freedom to View Statement which by reference are incorporated as part of this policy (see Appendices B, C and D) is designed to fulfill this democratic ideal.
Factors to be considered in adding specific materials to the MontanaLibrary2Go collection will include the composition of the present collection, collection development objectives, reviews from standard sources and price.
No materials will be excluded from consideration because of the race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, political or social view of the material, the author or the intended audience.
Individual items, which in and of themselves may be controversial or offensive to some patrons, may appropriately be selected if their inclusion will contribute to the range of viewpoints and effectiveness of the MontanaLibrary2Go collection as a whole.
The MontanaLibrary2Go consortium encourages its patrons to suggest items, topics, or authors they would like to see included in the collection. Patron suggestions will receive serious consideration and requested materials that fit selection criteria will be purchased whenever possible.
The member libraries of MontanaLibrary2Go acknowledge the right of their individual library patrons to question materials in the collection. Individual MontanaLibrary2Go libraries will not remove titles from the collection due to the collection’s statewide, shared nature.
Anyone questioning materials in the collection should contact the Library Director of their member library, who will give the patron a copy of this policy and review it with them. A library patron who still has questions regarding MontanaLibrary2Go material may next contact any member of the MontanaLibrary2Go Statewide Selection Team. The Selection Team will review the material and make a recommendation to the Montana State Library Commission by contacting the State Librarian. The Commission will review the recommendation and make the final decision on the material.