Adopted by Spokane Public Library Board of Trustees on October 16, 2018; Revised June 15, 2026.
Spokane Public Library is a free urban public library system providing up to date and useful materials that represent different points of view for educational, informational and recreational use by the citizens of the city.
It is the primary objective of the Library to provide and organize materials for citizens at every stage of life, making available curated materials that will meet the needs and interests of the residents of the City of Spokane. The Library is sensitive to all interests and provides a range of viewpoints.
We believe in equitable access to information, continuous learning, exploring new ideas, cultivating curiosity, fostering creativity, and building relevant and responsive collections.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this document is to establish the rules by which the Library develops its collections. Spokane Public Library provides unrestricted access to information and resources to connect the community to knowledge and new possibilities. This curated collection enriches our community’s quality of life and enjoyment, and sparks curiosity and supports learning at every stage of life.
The Library collections are part of the broader context of a library: its experiences, spaces, materials, and collaborations. We seek to respond to our community’s needs and aspirations through the collections. The collections reflect our diverse communities to foster a sense of belonging. We honor Spokane’s stories, creativity, and diverse voices in our collections. We champion literacy as a cornerstone of democracy.
OBJECTIVES
- To connect the community to knowledge and new possibilities by providing free resources and materials which inform, educate, entertain and enrich the community
- To include works of enduring value as well as timely materials on current issues
- To select materials based on community needs and interests
- To supplement the physical collection with digital access and interlibrary loan
- To provide opportunities for personal enrichment by helping people learn new skills and improve literacy
- To increase social awareness and community involvement
- To preserve and encourage the free expression of ideas essential to an informed citizenry
- To provide community groups and businesses with cutting-edge resources to meet their goals
RESPONSIBILITY
Final responsibility and authority for selection rests with the Executive Director, who operates within the framework established by the Library Board of Trustees. Oversight of the collection via an organized structure for planning, budgeting, selecting, and managing materials rests with the Support Services Director.
SCOPE OF THE COLLECTION
The Library provides materials and services that reflect the diverse educational, informational, and recreational needs of the community. In so doing, the Library provides access to content through print, multimedia, and other formats. The Library recognizes that content and medium should be suitably matched and that Library customers have different learning styles and preferences for how they receive information. Therefore, Spokane Public Library provides materials in a variety of formats, including, when appropriate:
- Print – such as hardcovers, paperbacks, magazines, and newspapers
- Non-print – such as audio and visual formats
- Digital resources – such as online databases, online learning, digital books, recordings, streaming content, historical archives, and images
- Equipment – such as tools, games, recreational items, and other hardware
- Experiences- such as tickets or passes to cultural, sporting and other recreational experiences
The Library develops a meaningful, evidence-based collection that is responsive to the needs and aspirations of our diverse community. Evidence-based methods include recommendations from customers and staff; traditional metrics (circulation, usage analytics such as downloads and website visits, and usage ratios); qualitative metrics (formal data such as customer feedback, program and services evaluations, and Library-wide institutional assessment); and less formal inputs via conversations with the community and professional insights in the course of community engagement. We recognize and celebrate that Spokane is unique, with broad and diverse interests and experiences. Each Library location is provisioned based on its purpose, space, and use patterns.The Library actively curates materials in languages other than English to serve the diverse linguistic communities of Spokane.
SELECTION GUIDELINES
In selecting materials, Library staff will use professional resources, metrics, judgement, knowledge and experience to select materials. The following guidelines inform selection decisions:
Selection is curation at its core. Material selection is defined by the expertise of professional staff, grounded in the Library’s mission, vision, and values, and informed by professional resources, metrics, community needs, and current topics. The following guidelines inform selection decisions:
- Public appeal and/or demand
- Accuracy, timeliness, format durability, and ease of use
- Cultural significance including literary merit, artistic quality, originality, and creativity
- Diversity of viewpoints and experiences
- Relevance to the present and potential needs of the community
- Local and current subject matter trends, interests, and events
- Local authors and content creators
- Local creators are subject to the same selection guidelines
- Circulation statistics
- Limits of budget and space
- Price and availability
- Professional and special materials, such as legal, medical and religious works, are purchased if they are of general interest
- The Library does not purchase textbooks unless they provide the best or only source of information on a subject or to complement an existing area with another perspective
- Periodicals are added to the collection based on relevance and community interest
- Audiovisual material with consideration to customer demand, budget constraints and reviews
- The collection may not necessarily include every work by a particular author
- Held by peer libraries
- All criteria need not be met for consideration
CHILDREN’S COLLECTION AND YOUNG ADULT COLLECTION
Spokane Public Library provides materials for children and young adults that inspire and support learning. The collection is intended to cultivate a sense of belonging, both in the local community and as a citizen of the world. The Youth Collection maintains a selection that is relevant, and of appropriate size, quality, and diversity to suit the needs of the community. The Library may not act in loco parentis; only each child and their parent or caregiver can decide what material is suitable for that child.
The Children’s Collection serves children age(s) birth through twelve by providing developmentally appropriate materials that meet their informational and recreational needs. Materials are reviewed by professional staff to ensure that they are appropriate and well-chosen. As all families are different, some materials in the Children’s collection may not be considered suitable by all adults for all children. A book that is considered not appropriate by one family may be just right for another.
The Young Adult Collection serves teens/children age(s) thirteen through eighteen by providing developmentally appropriate materials that meet their informational and recreational needs. Materials are reviewed by professional staff to ensure that they are appropriate and well-chosen. As all families are different, some materials in the Young Adult collection may not be considered suitable by all adults for all children. A book that is considered not appropriate by one family may be just right for another.
LIBRARY OF THINGS
The Library maintains a Library of Things that includes non-traditional materials that provide opportunity for learning and/or recreation beyond the books and audiovisual materials in the physical collection. The selection and addition of these items are subject to the same criteria as the rest of the collection as well as practical, legal, and safety considerations. Checkouts are limited to City of Spokane resident cardholders in good standing.
MUSEUM & CULTURE PASSES
Museums & Culture Passes are tickets and passes to cultural, sporting, and other enriching events and performances in the community. The tickets are limited and are distributed through a holds system on a first-come, first-served basis. Checkouts are limited to City of Spokane resident cardholders in good standing.
COLLECTION MAINTENANCE
To provide the best service to our community, the collection is regularly evaluated. To keep the collection fresh and relevant, the Library uses the following criteria for withdrawal from the collection:
- Items are worn, stained or damaged beyond repair
- Items are out of date, contain inaccurate information, or are not historically significant
- Newer, more current or more comprehensive resources are available
- Duplication
- Low circulation
- Declining interest
- Space considerations
Currently useful items withdrawn by reason of condition, loss or damage will be considered for replacement.
COMMUNITY RECOMMENDATIONS
Community recommendations are welcome and subject to the same criteria as other material. If an item is not purchased and it is eligible for interlibrary loan, we will attempt to obtain the item via Interlibrary loan for City of Spokane residents.
INTERLIBRARY LOAN
Spokane Public Library follows the American Library Association Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States and complies with Copyright Law (17 U.S.C.) and its accompanying guidelines. Interlibrary loan services are available to City of Spokane residents who have a valid library card in good standing. Spokane Public Library participates in interlibrary loan services only with libraries within the United States.
The Library does not request materials it already owns when viable copies exist within the Library system. Loan periods, renewals, overdue fees, lost or damaged item charges, and any restrictions on use are determined by the lending library. Requested materials are obtained only from libraries that lend free of charge.
As a lending library, Spokane Public Library does not charge other libraries for borrowing materials. Local history materials, special collections, reference books, and other unique items are not available for loans. Materials that are not on hold for another customer may be renewed for the borrowing library.
GIFTS
Gifts and donations supplement the purchased collection. There is a cost to adding gifts and donations, so the Library reserves the right to determine the disposition of all gift materials. Donated items are evaluated using the same selection criteria as purchased materials. To be added to the general collection, items should be in like-new condition and represent formats and titles consistent with the Library’s current collecting priorities.
VALUES
The Library adheres the to the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, the Freedom to Read and Freedom to View statements, and the Free Access to Libraries for Minors-An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights. The Library also endorses the Washington Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Statement. The Library supports open access as defined by the American Library Association. “Open access” refers to materials made publicly and freely available via digital repositories and archives.
CONTROVERSIAL MATERIALS AND INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM
Spokane Public Library is responsible for providing materials to patrons of all ages, backgrounds, and opinions. The Library does not promote particular beliefs or views. The Library provides materials for various opinions, which can apply to important, complex and controversial questions, including unpopular and unorthodox viewpoints. Language, situations, or subjects that may be offensive to some community members do not disqualify material whose value is to be judged in its entirety.
Responsibility for monitoring a child’s reading, viewing, and listening habits rests solely with that individual’s parent or guardian. The selection of materials for the adult collection is not restricted by the possibility that children may obtain materials their parents or guardians consider inappropriate.
Due to the age and breadth of our collection, we understand there is language in some materials’ descriptions that may be considered outdated, inaccurate or potentially harmful. These descriptions do not reflect the present views of the Library. They reflect the attitudes, social circumstances, places and time periods in which the people who created them were living.
Organizing material in a public library’s collection involves the use of standardized metadata created by external organizations, such as the Library of Congress. Some potentially objectionable language in our catalog may be part of this metadata. The Library strives to mitigate harmful language in our catalog and in materials’ descriptions where possible.
Youth materials of historical or literary significance that contain harmful stereotypes may be withdrawn or moved to the adult collection.
Concerns about materials in the Library’s collections may be directed to any staff member.
GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The Library values human creativity, knowledge, and expertise and prioritizes human-generated content in its collections. The Library does not knowingly select, purchase, or accept donations of materials that are primarily authored or generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
The Library recognizes that the publishing landscape is evolving rapidly, and that some licensed platforms and subscription services may include AI-generated or AI-assisted content that is not fully disclosed or within the Library’s direct control. In these cases, staff will apply the Library’s standard selection and collection maintenance criteria, with human authorship considered a valued attribute of quality.
The Library also recognizes that human creators may use AI for assistive tasks such as grammar assistance, editing, or research support. These uses do not disqualify a work, provided the final product reflects the human author’s original intent and voice.
INLAND NORTHWEST SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
The Inland Northwest Special Collections (INSC) serves as a repository for materials that document the history, culture, and current state of Spokane, Spokane County, Washington, and neighboring states. Please see: Inland Northwest Special Collections Policy.
