Our brilliant library team is celebrating a great achievement after recently being named winners of the of the Library Board Awards for Innovation and Collaboration (Metropolitan and Large Regional Libraries) for our ‘Book Challenge System.’
The award was collected by Collection Development Librarians, Jo-Anne Monaghan and Christy Oldham, recognising their contribution to the library sector nationally by addressing a critical need for a framework that responds to Freedom to Read challenges.
Increasingly our libraries are receiving challenges to remove materials from collections therefore restricting access to those titles by other members of the community.
Weeding – removing outdated or unused material is a separate process. A ‘challenge’ is commonly around the content of the book or other resource.
Libraries have to balance the challenge against their core principals of protecting intellectual freedom and that means representing a variety of viewpoints.
Melville’s Book Challenge System process is a methodical approach to address customer concerns about collection content and provides a mechanism to help staff diffuse stressful situations.
This model has been so successful, it’s been adopted by several libraries across the state.
Chairman of the Library Board of Western Australia John Day says it is inspiring to see the ingenuity and diverse range of ideas and projects being shared throughout the state through the annual awards.
“Western Australian libraries make an outstanding contribution to communities — from education and early childhood learning to cultural connection and literacy in all its forms”
The awards are part of Library and Information Week and an annual celebration of excellence in Western Australian libraries promoting innovation and collaboration in the library sector.
Image shows. From left: Hon John Day AM (Chairman of the Library Board of WA), Christy Oldham (Collection Development Librarian), Jo-Anne Monaghan (Collection Development Librarian Young People), Catherine Clark (CEO State Library of WA) at the gala award night.