How Should Libraries Select Books?

Many, many books are published every year and libraries have limited money and shelf space. This forces difficult questions about which books should be purchased and put on shelves. The answers to those questions require us to think about what the purpose of a library is and who should determine its policies.

Discussion Questions:
1. Should libraries select books based on what people check out or based on what the library thinks would be good for people to read? How do you balance maintaining a diverse body of works against popular trends for specific genres?

2. Should libraries separate the author from the work? Do they have an obligation to not support writers like Neil Gaiman who have done horrible things? What about the author's political views, like J.K. Rowling?

3. What role should the public or library users have in choosing what books are stocked? Should parents have control over what children's books a library has?

4. Should library funders have a say in book selection? What about grants for purchasing specific kinds of books (such as books by black authors) regardless of other priorities/user demand?

5. How does this change for different kinds of libraries? Do academic libraries have different obligations than public ones? What about children's libraries?