Which policy guides decisions about which resources to purchase and retain in a library’s collection?

• A. Collection Development Policy
• B. MUSTIE Method
• C. ISBN (International Standard Book Number)
• D. Dewey Decimal System

Answer: (A)

Collection development policy guides what the library chooses to acquire and keep, outlining the library’s goals, user needs, selection criteria, budgeting, and plans for reviewing and deselecting materials. It helps ensure decisions align with the library’s mission and community interests, balancing factors like relevance, quality, demand, format, and cost, and it sets procedures for ongoing collection maintenance. The MUSTIE Method is a framework used for deciding which materials to weed from a collection, not for initial purchasing decisions. ISBN identifies a specific edition of a book and is used for cataloging, while the Dewey Decimal System is a classification scheme that organizes books by subject, not a policy for acquiring or retaining materials.