Policies - Policy Manual
CRESTON PUBLIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION ORGANIZATION AND POLICY MANUAL
3.7 Materials Reconsideration Process
Members of the Creston Public Library Association are free to express concerns they might have about the nature of any item held in the collection.
Current members who wish to have a particular item removed or access to it restricted, however, are required to comply with the following procedures. Non-members cannot initiate a reconsideration request.
a. - The member must address his or her concerns to a CPLA employee preferably the Chief Librarian, in person, by phone or by fax.
If the request is simply for an item to be reclassified within the collection itself, the Chief Librarian may elect to forego the following steps and simply proceed with the reclassification. No further action is necessary unless the patron is not satisfied with the Chief Librarian's decision.
b. - The patron will be asked to read the CLA Statement on intellectual freedom, posted at the circulation desk or provided by mail, to which the Library Association adheres.
c. - If the individual wishes to pursue the matter, he or she is required to fill out a Materials Reconsideration form, available from any staff member. Completed forms are then forwarded to the Chief Librarian.
d. - The Chief Librarian will convene a panel consisting of him/herself and two current Board members. This panel will jointly review the request and the collection item. The patron will then be sent under signature of the Chief Librarian a written copy of the panel's decision on the matter. The decision of the panel must be sent to the patron in question no later than thirty (30) days after the Chief Librarian receives the request for reconsideration.
Copies of the signed Materials Reconsideration Form as well as the decision of the panel will be sent at the same time by mail to all standing Board members.
e. - The patron has fourteen (14) days from the date of the written decision in which to request that the matter be discussed at a regular meeting of the Board. This request is to be made in writing to the Chief Librarian.
f. - The matter will be added to the agenda of the next regularly scheduled Board meeting which allows Board members at least forty-five (45) days in which to preview the matter.
g. - Upon meeting with the Board, the patron has a maximum of thirty (30) minutes in which to raise his or her concerns. Additional time will be provided only at the discretion of the Chair of the meeting.
Following the discussion but during the same meeting, the Board will address the matter in camera. The Board then has the option of upholding the panel's decision or overturning it. Any decision taken will be made through a show of hands, simple majority rules.
If time does not permit the completion of this process during the meeting in question, the board may elect to convene a special meeting within twenty-one (21) days at which to render a final decision.
h. - Once reached, the decision of the Board will be forwarded by mail in writing under the signature of the Chair to the patron within ten (10) days.
i. - If the patron fails to attend the regularly scheduled Board meeting at which the matter has been added to the agenda without providing at least twenty-four (24) hours' notice to either the Chief Librarian or a member of the Board's executive, the reconsideration process will be considered complete.
If at least twenty-four (24) hours is provided, the matter will then be added to the agenda of the next regularly scheduled meeting. Only one such re-scheduling is permitted.
j. - Only one reconsideration request will be considered from any Association member on a given item. Anyone else submitting a request for reconsideration on the same time for similar reasons within twenty-four (24) months of the completion of a first request will be sent a copy of the final written decision rendered in the first case (minus the name of the original requester), and the matter will then be closed.
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