Materials are withdrawn from the collection in order to maintain usefulness, currency, and relevance. The Library strives to meet the collection goals described in the current edition of Standards for Minnesota Public Libraries . The Library recognizes and respects intellectual property rights and adheres to relevant legislation to copyright use and restrictions. To build a collection of merit, materials are evaluated according to one or more of the following standards. An item need not meet all of these criteria in order to be acceptable.
Collections provide general coverage of subjects and reflect the characteristics of the community.
Collections are current and popular. Systemwide and individual library roles and services further define collections. The collections contained in the Area Libraries supplement those found in the Community Libraries and serve as systemwide resources. Fulltext content is sought whenever possible. The library catalog and some indexing and abstracting databases guide eLibrary users to portions of the Library's collection that is housed in physical locations.