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St. Louis Community College Libraries’ Policy in Protection of Minors: A Response to Missouri CRS 30-200.015

Collection Development: The St. Louis Community College Libraries collect resources in support of the needs of our students, faculty, staff, and the learning community. The primary goal of the libraries’ collections is to foster student success by providing resources and materials to support the curriculum and instructional programs of St. Louis Community College. We seek to inspire creativity, discovery, and lifelong learning in alignment with the St. Louis Community College Mission, Values, and Goals. Resources are not purchased with the intent of checkout to minors, except those enrolled in college-level coursework. College-level material is a core component necessary for curriculum requirements of such courses, and, as such, the libraries accept parental approval for student involvement in such classes as approval for access to library content. Such enrollment approvals will be handled through the admissions and enrollment functions managed through the Student Affairs division. No additional consideration for minors will be added to the Collection Development process.
State Library Grants Fund Use: Grants funding will not be used to purchase physical materials that would be seen as “pornographic” or “obscene” as defined by section 573.010, RSMo. Individually purchased electronic resources, such as electronic eBooks or eJournals external to platform subscriptions containing “pornographic” or “obscene” material, will also not be purchased with grant funding. Database collections are all-or-nothing purchases of such a significant size as to make item level evaluation of content by STLCC librarians impossible. Exclusion of any part of the whole of such collections is currently impossible. STLCC Libraries may request purchase of such databases with grants funding and leaves the provision of such funding up to the discretion of the State Library at the direction of the Secretary of State. Access to any materials purchased through grants funding will be limited to the provisions set out by section A of this document.
A copy of this policy will be linked on the St. Louis Community College Libraries website, on the STLCC Library Collection Development Statement page under “Guidelines for selection of materials.”
Parental approval to access STLCC Libraries material by minor students, including the library space that houses them, will be handled as a function of enrollment through Student Affairs’ normal processes that address adult content inherent to the higher education environment and courses enrolled in by such student. All other minors are prohibited from accessing STLCC libraries or their contents without a parent present. Parents should be aware that displays in any part of the libraries are designed to support college and community clients, which do not include non-student minors. Parents bear responsibility for all non-student minors they bring into the libraries and should understand St. Louis Community College Libraries are not designed or intended for non-student minors.
All events and presentations conducted by STLCC Libraries will be designed to serve students (including enrolled minor students), faculty, staff, and adult community members. All promotional materials for events, presentations, and programs at St. Louis Community College Libraries will include age-appropriate designations reflecting this information, specifically a footer reading, “Parental approval for minors required.”
Material or event challenges should be reported to the Dean of Libraries at ssmith1189@stlcc.edu. Any such challenges will be forwarded to the STLCC Libraries' Collection Management Committee, which will include faculty and staff representation. The committee will decide on the material's continued inclusion and report that finding to the Dean of Libraries. The Dean of Libraries will then notify the challenging community member of the findings. The community member may appeal the decision of STLCC Libraries’ Collection Management Committee to the Dean of Libraries. All challenges, committee decisions, and challenge decisions will be displayed on the STLCC Libraries website.