Leabharlann an Oileáin Úir: Collections Policy

Access to the Collections
Access to the Lending Collection and lending privileges are restricted to membership holders with Cumann na Gaeltachta. Access is not further limited except for the express purpose of protecting an item from damage or theft.

Reference Collection access and use is limited to persons aged 14 years and older, with priority access and special short-term lending permissions for non-lending teaching resources extended to those engaged in teaching Irish with Gaeltacht an Oileáin Úir while on the Gaeltacht site. Reference material is not to be removed from the Gaeltacht site, except for special storage by the Curator to prevent damage.

Item Selection
Items are selected:

  • to meet the recreational needs and interests of the Gaeltacht community

  • to represent a broad range of topics of interest illustrating the diversity of Gaelic culture

  • to educate and support lifelong learning in the Irish language

  • to recognize and accommodate a range of abilities in the Irish language

  • to collect and preserve materials that illustrate and celebrate the history and heritage of the Irish language in Canada specifically and North America more broadly

Suggestions For Purchase, Donations or Gifts
Suggestions
We encourage participation in the shaping of our collections. Suggestions are referred and considered according to the Library's selection criteria.

Material Donations
Offers to donate items to the Lending and Reference Collections are appreciated. The library cannot accept imposed conditions relating to any item after its acceptance (e.g. consignment, return). Items that are not added to the collection are not returned, but rather discarded or sold. Items are considered for inclusion according to the Library's selection criteria.

Gifts
Gifts in this case are defined as original works or works of significant historical value being offered to the Library at no charge. We have a mandate to collect and preserve valuable items that pertain to the Irish language in Canada. The Reference will accept historical material of any medium, including: textual records; photographs and other visual records; maps, plans and architectural records; and sound recordings and oral history recordings. Valuable items concerning the Irish language in Canada are evaluated by staff before being accepted.

Criteria for Selection of Materials
These are the criteria used to select materials:

  • Library collections should have the Irish language as the primary language of the material, or bilingually to support learning

  • Suitability of physical and/or digital form for library use

  • Interests and composition of the community

  • Popular and/or anticipated demand and current trends

  • Attention of critics, reviewers, and the public

  • Quality, clarity, comprehensiveness and accuracy of the work

  • Reputation, skill, competence and purpose of the originator of the work

  • Availability of funds and space

Reference Collection
Books in the Gaelic type (seanchló), teaching resources, or items historic value (typically more than 100 years old) will be entered into the non-lending Reference collection. The Reference Collection may include material in a non-Irish language provided it relates to the Irish or Gaelic experience locally, regionally, nationally and in North America. Upon request, special lending privileges may be extended for material in the non-lending Reference Collection to those engaged in teaching Irish with Gaeltacht an Oileáin Úir.

An item need not meet all of the above criteria in order to be acceptable. Cumann na Gaeltachta will only accept material on a permanent basis. Library collections may be deselected following established protocols.

Deselection and Collection Maintenance
Material added to the Lending and Reference Collections shall be held until such time as it is deemed no longer relevant and is deaccessioned. All information pertaining to the deaccessioning and disposition of material will be retained in the Reference records.

The Library continually identifies items from its collections for discard based upon the following criteria:

  • Item’s subject is outdated

  • Item is no longer of interest or in demand

  • Overabundance of an item or subject as interest wanes

  • Worn or damaged copies

Once an item has been identified for possible deselection based on the criteria above, the process of determining if an item still deserves a place in the library’s collection begins. Retention is based on the following criteria:

  • Does the work relate to the Irish language and culture in Canada?

  • Is the work easily accessible to Gaeltacht members in other library/archival collections?

  • Is the work of specific historic value?

Cumann na Gaeltachta complies with any law enacted at the federal, provincial or municipal level, and therefore does not collect or maintain items which have been judged obscene or pornographic, or have been banned by the courts. The relevant sections of the Criminal Code of Canada are: sedition, hate propaganda and obscenity.

The presence of an item in the collection does not indicate an endorsement of its contents by Cumann na Gaeltachta, but rather is an affirmation of the principle of intellectual freedom as embodied in the Canadian Federation of Library Associations’ Position Statement on Intellectual Freedom and Libraries.