Bubblesworth Public Library

Bubblesworth Public Library

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 – Library Description2

Chapter 2 – Community Assessment6

Chapter 3 – CollectionDevelopment Statement9

Chapter 4 – Typesof Materials Available11

Chapter 5 – SelectionPolicy14

Chapter 6 – Review Sources27

Chapter 7 – Acquisitions Procedure42

Chapter 8 – Budget48

Chapter 9 – Weeding and Evaluation55

Chapter 10 – Reconsideration Policy61

References64

Appendix A65

Appendix B66

Appendix C70

BUBBLESWORTH PUBLIC LIBRARY

Chapter 1 – LibraryDescription

Library History

The 20,000 square foot Bubblesworth Public Library is located in the City of Bubblesworth, a suburb of the City of San Diego. The original community library opened in 1913 in a private residence. In 1924, the library moved to a private ranch, and again 1954 to a house trailer that was completely remodeled to accommodate the library collection. In 1962, the library moved to rented quarters in order to accommodate the collection of 10,000. By 1986, a more permanent facility was needed in order to meet the needs of the growing community. The current library facility was constructed in 1998. The library building and grounds cover one-half of a traditional city block.

Library Service Area

The service area of the Bubblesworth Public Library totals approximately 40 square miles. Five San Diego County Library Branches are located within this service area. Also located in the service areas are, numerous schools, both private and public.

The library’s architectural make up fits in with the surrounding Mission style and includes an authentic red-tile roof. The outside construction of the building is two stories, but the roof over the main part of the library is pitched with open windows that allow the natural light to illuminate the library entryway. The library includes multiple large windows that fill the building with natural light. Attractive landscaping surrounds the library on three sides. The parking area is located behind the library. A convenient book drop is located next to the parking lot, and is open 24-hours a day.

Three unique features exist within the Bubblesworth Public Library. The designers and members of the community donated labor and materials as a gift to the library. The three features are:

• A 300-gallon aquarium is in the Children’s Library.
• Four stained glass windows depicting scenes from Bubblesworth’s historical past are located in the Children’s Library.
• A reading room constructed in wood paneling and large cobbles that includes a hearth is located at the north end of the building.

The library has three study rooms available for public use. Two of the study rooms comfortably hold up to three people. The third study room can accommodate six people. A word processing room is also available in this section of the library.

The library facility includes a Community Meeting Room, located adjacent to the library courtyard. The courtyard includes fountains, tables, and chairs further extending the library environment. The Community Meeting Room is a separate building of approximately 5,000 square feet and is utilized regularly for community events, meetings, and library programs.

The Children’s Library comprises approximately 25 percent of the entire library facility. It includes a reference area, ten computers with software programs geared to younger children, picture books, juvenile fiction, and audio-visual resources for children. The aquarium is a beautiful accent that attracts many children.

All nonfiction materials are shelved together in the main section of the library, which comprises about 35 percent of the entire facility. Adult fiction genres are located together in the main section of the library, with the adult large print collection, and the young adult fiction materials.

A public computer area includes 20 computers and is centrally located in the library in front of the reference desk. Non-circulating reference materials are located in close proximity to the reference desk. The circulation desk is also located in this area, which comprises 20 percent of the library facility. All printed copies made from the public computers, are sent to printers behind the circulation desk for pick up. Both color and black and white printers are available. Online public access catalogs are located throughout the library for public use.

The staff area comprises the remaining 20 percent of the library, and includes a break room, office space, cubicles and the sorting area. A printer and fax machine are available for staff use.

LIBRARY STAFF

Branch Librarian

One full-time Branch Librarian oversees all library operations.

Technical Staff

The Branch Manager supervises technical operations under the direction of the Branch Librarian. There are four full-time Library Technicians I, three half-time Library Technicians I, three full-time Library Technicians IIs, one full-time Library Technician III, and a Library Technician IV, the full-time Branch Manager.

Reference Staff

The Branch Librarian is a Librarian IV. Reference staffing includes a full-time Librarian II, who oversees both the Adult and Young Adult programs. They are also responsible for material selection and deselecting. There are two full-time Librarians I. One is the Children’s Librarian who oversees all Children’s programming and is responsible for material selection and deselecting of the Children’s collection. The second librarian is a Young Adult librarian who oversees Young Adult programming and activities and is responsible for material selection and deselecting in the Young Adult section. Two half-time Librarians I, assist the full-time staff. Substitute librarians are called in on a regular basis to help staff the reference desk, which has three librarians on duty, six days a week, Monday through Saturday. Two reference librarians are on duty on Sunday.

Student Workers/Pages

There are five student workers that sort and shelve books. They work overlapping schedules, seven days a week. They work 10-15 hours per week, but their hours vary.

The Collection

The Bubblesworth Public Library collection contains approximately 125,000 materials.

Chapter 2 – CommunityAssessment

Community Assessment Methods

To assess the community/service area of the Bubblesworth Public Library, population and housing estimates for 2007 from local government agency SANDAG were used, and to gain a better understanding of whom actually uses this library and what types of services they use/desire most, a survey was conducted.

Community: Population and Housing

From the San Diego Association of Governments, SANDAG, population and housing estimates for 2007, the total population of Bubblesworth Public Library’s service area is 50,889. With relation to ethnicity, this community make up is mostly white (74 percent) with smaller representations of Hispanics (12 percent), Asian and Pacific Islanders (8 percent), and African Americans (2 percent).

While the median household income adjusted for inflation of 1999 is $75,706, nearly a quarter of the population earns between $30,000 and $59,000 per year and over a third of the population makes over $100,000 per year. In terms of age, the majority of residents are between the ages of 35 to 64 with 24 percent of the community being children ages 0 to 17.

Based on this information, the community that Bubblesworth Public Library serves is financially viable and is comprised of a large amount of middle-aged people and a significant number of school-aged children.

Survey: Library Use and Services

A use and needs assessment survey was conducted within the service area of the Bubblesworth Public Library over a 1 month period from 9/1/08 through 9/30/08. The results of the survey indicate who uses the library, how often, at what times, what types of programming are wanted, what kinds of resources are wanted, and what kind of informational resources are desired. Surveys were distributed at the library, the Center for Development Corporation office for employees and Ambassadors to hand out, the monthly city hall meeting, and 6 local businesses lining Main Street (the central area of the downtown revitalization project started in 2003).

Library Use

1,000 people returned surveys, 800 from customers who frequent the library at least once per week, 200 from non-regular library customers. 10 percent of respondents visit the library more than once a week while less than 2 percent visit less than once a year. Although the majority of the surveys returned were originally picked up at the library, the overall results show that the community is very active in the library and uses its services more often than not.

Services Used

For services used at the library, the survey shows one of the most popular services provided is children’s books- 40 percent of all surveys returned had children’s materials listed on them under services used. It is not surprising that children’s books are one of this library’s most used materials given that nearly a quarter of the population is under the age of 18. Other services used by many are new books and DVDs with 60 percent of all surveys mentioning either or. Of the three most popular services mentioned on the surveys, all three are this library’s highest circulating materials. Other services important to customers are free Internet access and programming.

Services Desired

From the survey, respondents want to see more new materials, more DVDS, more programming, and more computers. Very few listed services which were not in some format already provided by the library, showing that Bubblesworth Public Library is on track with providing services the community wants and uses. Of the few surveys that did contain requests for services not already provided, customers desire a genealogy/research department, computer classes and for the library to open more hours. While only very few surveys returned mentioned services not already provided, the library is there to meet the needs of all customers in the best manner possible and even the needs of the few cannot be ignored.

Chapter 3 – CollectionDevelopment Statement

The Bubblesworth Public Library District’s Board of Trustees recognizes that the District

includes individuals and groups with diverse interests. The library was created to serve all

people within the District’s service area. The Board states:

The Collection Development Policy is based on and reflects the District’s mission, vision, goals, and values.

• Library materials in all formats shall be selected on the basis of the value of interest, information, and enjoyment of all the people of the community.
• Some general criteria that will affect adding or removing materials from the library collection include, but are not limited to: condition of materials or relevance to the collection, accuracy of information, timeliness of the material, customer interest, collection development objectives, significance of subject and style for the intended audience, and limitation of budget and facilities.
• The District shall be responsive to public suggestion of titles and subjects to be included in the library collection. Gifts of materials are subject to the same criteria as are purchased materials.

Selection authority and responsibility ultimately lies with the District’s director. He or she will delegate educated and trained professional staff to select and acquire appropriate materials.

Qualified staff will assist the public in selection of materials. They may also advise the public on how to request materials they would like to see added to the collection. Keeping in mind materials must fit within budget constraints.

The Board of Trustees adopts and declares that it will adhere to and support:

• The Library Bill of Rights, adopted by the American Library Association
• The Freedom to Read and the Freedom to View Statements, adopted by the American Library Association.

The Board recognizes the rights of individuals to read, listen, and view library materials. An individual is free to select or reject materials for their self; however, an individual does not have to restrict the freedom of others. Parents have the responsibility to guide and direct the reading or viewing of their own children. The library District does not stand “in loco parentis”.

Chapter 4 – Typesof Materials Available

Reference

The reference section of the library contains materials that are available for in-house use only. This section encompasses the general reference titles (non-fiction), local history, microfilm collection (containing several decades’ worth of archived back issues of various newspapers and periodicals), and up-to-date business and consumer related periodicals. Also in the reference section are hardcopies of newspaper back-issues (dating back three months) and an extensive collection of National Geographic magazines that date back to the early 20th century.

Periodicals

This section is comprised of magazines and newspapers. There are approximately 100 different magazine subscriptions available, with current issues for in-house use only and back-issues (dating back one year or less) available for checkout. The diversity of cultural, recreational, and political interests within the community is reflected in the magazine collection. There are eight different newspaper subscriptions, local and national, for in-house use only. The two most recent issues are kept in the periodicals section, and back-issues are stored in the reference section for three months.

Adult

The majority of the materials in the adult section are books. 50 percent of the books are comprised of non-fiction titles, and 50 percent fiction titles. Approximately 5 percent of the non-fiction titles are biographies, which are shelved separately from the rest of the non-fiction collection. Juvenile and young adult non-fiction books, including biographies, are interfiled with the adult materials. Non-juvenile related multimedia materials, such as DVDs, videocassettes, music CDs, CD-ROMs, and audio books, are kept in the main lobby area. There are also separate sections devoted to large print and foreign language materials, within each of which both fiction and non-fiction books from each of those categories are shelved. The majority of the foreign language materials are in Spanish, since Latinos comprise the largest percentage of non-English native speakers in the community.

Young Adult

The majority of the materials in the young adult section are books. Approximately 10 percent of the fiction titles are graphic novels, which are shelved separately from the other fiction titles. There are 10 different young adult-related magazine subscriptions available in this section, with current issues for in-house use only and back-issues (dating back one year or less) available for checkout. Young adult-related multimedia materials such as DVDs, videocassettes, music CDs, CD-ROMs, and audio books, are interfiled with the adult multimedia materials.

Juvenile

The majority of the materials in the juvenile section are books. The juvenile fiction titles are separated according to reading level, and include board books, picture books, books for beginning readers, and chapter books, each of which are shelved separately. Juvenile non-fiction books are interfiled with the adult and young adult non-fiction in the adult section of the library. Juvenile-related multimedia materials, such as DVDs, videocassettes, music CDs, CD-ROMs, and audio books, are shelved in the juvenile section. Foreign language juvenile materials are shelved separately from English-language materials in this section, and are comprised of fiction and non-fiction books, reference books, audio books, and films (DVDs and videocassettes). The majority of the foreign language materials are in Spanish, since Latinos comprise the largest percentage of non-English native speakers in the community.

Chapter 5 – SelectionPolicy

ADULT MATERALS

Adult Fiction

Readers of fiction do so for pleasure and base their selections on popularity, personal interest and recommendations. The need for a varied fiction collection is paramount to the library and to meet the needs of its readers. Therefore the library selects titles of general/popular fiction and genre fiction, which includes but is not limited to fantasy, science fiction, mystery, romance, adventure, historical fiction and westerns. Titles are acquired based on reviews, author reputability, suggested purchase lists, popularity and demand.

Adult Non-Fiction

The library is the community’s resource for information in numerous subject areas, fields of study, personal growth and recreation. To meet the information needs of the community the library maintains a non-fiction collection covering a wide range of subjects including: various arts, business, technology/computer science, cookery, crafts and hobbies, genealogy, health and medicine, history, careers and employment, geography and travel, education, literature, law, philosophy, psychology, religion, and science. The library maintains materials with current information and trends in these subjects and the extensive subcategories in each subject, and will make additions to the collection as they become available.