The purpose of this form is to give you an opportunity to express concern about library materials that the patron may find objectionable. The library staff has placed this mechanism at your disposal so you may specifically state your objections. Below is the Policy for the Review of Questioned or Challenged Materials. Please read it carefully before completing this form. When a library staff member receives this form the Director of Library Services and the Vice President for Academic Affairs will review portions. Depending on the results of the review, in which faculty members may also be consulted, the materials will either remain in circulation or be withdrawn from the library. Your identity will not be revealed to anyone other than the Director and Vice President. Copies of the report on the disposition of the materials will be sent to you and everyone who may have been part of the decision process. If you wish a personal visit with the Library Director or Vice President for Academic Affairs before a decision is made, please indicate that on this form.
Policy for the Review of Questioned or Challenged Materials
In order to fulfill the objectives of Heritage Christian University, the Overton Memorial Library has a responsibility to provide the Heritage Christian University community with materials that present divergent views on political, moral, and religious questions within the curriculum. The content of the collection will reflect the Christian worldview of the university as well as divergent philosophies and points of view so that the student may have available a body of materials representing the range of human experience and opinion. The Director of Library Services (Director) commits to accomplishing this task in good taste. However, possession of any materials should not be interpreted as endorsement but rather as a fulfillment of the responsibility stated above.
Because Heritage Christian University is a private university governed by its own board of directors, criticisms of library-owned materials or attempts at removal that originate from other than governing members, employees, and students of the University will not be considered. The governing policies for the Overton Memorial Library Committee are the Collection Development Policy and the Intellectual Freedom Policy, which are available at the circulation desk.
In order to evaluate the criticism and challenges of persons within the university who might wish to request the removal or special disposition of materials of a potentially controversial nature, the following plan will govern the decision process of the removal of materials:
1. Criticism by patrons must be registered on the form, "Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials," and be signed by the party challenging any given materials. The Director will direct a review of the materials in question and will be responsible for providing all replies to the complainant in written form. The Director will confer with the Vice President of Academic Affairs (Vice President) on the questions involving the challenged materials. If, following consultation with the Vice President, questions persist about the disposition of the materials, the Director and Vice President may choose to confer with the faculty member(s) in whose field(s) the materials have relevance and ask that (those) academic department(s) review the questions. Agreement on the disposition of the materials between the Director and Vice President will constitute a final decision.
2. The patron who issues the challenge should be aware of the following elaboration of the library's Intellectual Freedom Policy. The Director and Vice President will consider these principles in reaching their decision.
a. Selection of materials for the library collection will be based substantially on the criteria stated in the library's Collection Development Policy. Even though the Director and library staff will be sensitive to the matter of la