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Melissa Townsend-Crow

LIBR 266

May 13, 2014

Presentation 6:  Pomona Public  Library and Los Angeles County Library

For the purpose of this presentation, I will be comparing the Collection Policies of the Pomona Public Library and that of the Los Angeles County Library. These libraries differ in that the Pomona Public Library is a city library which serves approximately 150,000 residents while the Los Angeles County Library system serves approximately 10,000,000 residents. Their collections also differ, which is to be expected. What I found unexpected, however, is that the smaller library has more special collections than the larger – in area as well as population served – county library system. This reflects the unique community served by the Pomona Public Library and most likely played a part in keeping that library open when budget constraints forced the city to make some tough choices. Instead of closing the library, however, the hours were cut back in half and the city allocated $400,000  -- roughly 20% of the previous year’s operating costs -- to keep it open in 2011. According the current budget (“2014-2015 Fiscal Proposed Budget,” 2013), $870,040 has been allocated to the library – an 11.38% decrease from last year, half of what it was four years ago, but double the emergency allocation in 2011. Out of the current budget, approximately $50,000 is earmarked for materials, supplies, and programs like storytime. In comparison, the Los Angeles County Budget has approved an allocation of $147 million for the library, not including funds for refurbishment and renovation of several branch physical plants the library allocation can be found on page 415 of the approved county budget). Of this, $3,000,000 has been allocated for the purchase of books and other materials.

What all this discussion of population and budgets leads up to is that the collection policies of both are essentially the same. Both policies start out with mission statements that are similar:

LA County: “To provide a dynamic collection that meets the informational, cultural, and entertainment needs of the large and diverse population of Los Angeles County. “

Pomona:  “The mission of the Pomona Public Library is to develop and facilitate equal access to collections, resources, and services which meet the cultural, informational, recreational, and educational needs of a diverse community. “ 

Both libraries specifically state their support of the principles documented in the ALA Library Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read Statement. Where they differ is in the scope of their respective collections. Both libraries state their mission is to serve the diverse needs of an equally diverse population, however Pomona Library specifies that its “main purpose is to serve Pomona residents and the business community.” Hence, the “comprehensive collection of materials related to the City of Pomona, (that) builds upon existing strengths in genealogy, California history, and historic preservation” (“Collection Policy,” 2010). Pomona’s collection development is the responsibility (ultimately) of the Library Director. The County employs librarians who specialize in collection development and send out yearly surveys to Community Library Managers to maintain the relevancy of the individual branches’ collection to the community in which it resides, so responsibility for the County’s collection development and management is collective. The criteria for material selection is almost identical between the two policies as are the policies on suggesting a purchase for the library and the policy on gifts and donated materials.

The Pomona Public library includes in its Collection Policy a description of its Collection Maintenance procedures, including its criteria for weeding/discarding materials and a detailed description of the materials in its collections, both general/core collections and special collections. Because I work for the County Library system, I have access to our Collection Maintenance procedures, although they are not published on the website and the criteria for weeding and replacements is essentially identical to Pomona Public Library’s program.

The primary differences in these policies are based on size and the scope of their respective constituents and the communities they serve. The Los Angeles County Library has over 90 branches which serve people in an area of over 4,000 square miles. The Pomona Public Library is, of course, much smaller in scale, however, they boast some of the most loyal patrons. In  2012 when the library was in danger of being closed, the people of Pomona rallied, signing petitions and showing up at city council meetings to make their support for their library heard. Two years later, the library remains open, although at half the budget for half the time, but it survived because its patrons wanted it to do so. The details they give in their collection policy that are left out of the County’s may not necessarily be included just because they are small enough in scope to do (if the County were detail the entire collection in all 92 branches and the Urban Outreach Bookmobile, it would a document hundreds of pages long); it may simply be the Library telling its patrons just what they saved.

References

2014-2015 Fiscal Proposed Budget. (2013). City of Pomona. Retrieved May 13, 2014, from http://ci.pomona.ca.us/index.php/finance/2014-2015-proposed-budget.

2014-2015 Fiscal Approved Budget (2013). County of Los Angeles - Chief Executive Office. County of Los Angeles - Chief Executive Office. Retrieved May 13, 2014, from http://ceo.lacounty.gov/budget.htm

Collection Policy. (2012). County of Los Angeles Public Library. Retrieved May 13, 2014, from http://www.colapublib.org/aboutus/collection.html

Collection Policy. (2010.). Pomona Public Library About. Retrieved May 13, 2014, from http://www1.youseemore.com/pomona/about.asp?p=53

Loertscher, D. V., & Wimberley, L. H. (2009). Collection development using the collection mapping technique: a guide for librarians. San Jose: Hi Willow Research & Publishing.