The Shenandoah Room’s Collection Development Policy*:

• Defines nature & scope of collection.
• Set standards for inclusion and exclusion.
• Establishes collecting priorities. 
• MAGS Collection is exempt from the policy.

Outline of Collection Development Policy

• Collect definitively both primary and secondary source materials that pertain to people, places and events in Shenandoah County.
  • Desirable primary sources include Church records, copies of pertinent pages of family Bibles, yearbooks, directories, census records, & other data.
  • Photographs that are identified or in other ways contribute to the historical record of the area.
  • Desirable secondary sources include family histories, biographies, and monographs relating to the County.
  • Restrict flora, fauna & geology materials to rare books.
• Collect comprehensively materials relating to history of residents of Shenandoah Valley and surrounding counties so far as materials are useful for historical research relating to Shenandoah County.
• Genealogical materials relating to all current & former residents of Shenandoah County:
  • Collect definitively for VA, PA, DE, MD, & WV.
  • Collect comprehensively for TN, KY, NC, IL, IN, & OH.
  • Collect selectively for families of residents that moved elsewhere.
  • Collect at a basic level for NY, NJ, New England & the South as space permits.
  • House a basic collection of current how-to genealogy books for various age groups.
• Materials relating to organizations & businesses based in Shenandoah County. The emphasis should be on businesses that no longer exist.
  • Primary ~ Retain only selective samples of items from businesses or organizations based in the County. This could include flyers, receipts and publications of organizations.
  • Secondary ~ Retain printed material that is useful for historical research about organizations, businesses, institutions based in Shenandoah County. 
• Shenandoah County Documents:
  • Shenandoah Room is not the County Archive and does not collect tax records, deeds or court records with the following exception:
    • Retains original copies of County Land and Tax Record for 1887-1890 and 1933-1970.
  • Collect comprehensively printed census and building records, and abstracts of wills, deeds and indices of birth, marriage, indentures and guardianships.
  • Collect comprehensively microfilm copies of wills, deeds, marriages, newspapers & other official records not available in user-friendlier format.
• Other Materials:
  • Electronic access to all genealogical databases that funding supports.
  • Virginiana ~ basic collection.
  • Civil War ~ basic collection with following exceptions:
    • Eastern theater ~ comprehensive.
    • Focus on Valley campaigns ~ definitive.
    • Action in Virginia, Md., PA & WV ~ exhaustive.
    • Biographies of Virginians & participants in the Valley campaigns ~ comprehensive.
  • American History ~ exclude titles except as follows:
    • Titles related to American Revolution in Virginia with definitive collection of local Patriots or Tories ~ comprehensive.
    • Titles related to Civilian Conservation Core - comprehensive.
  • Autobiographies & biographies:
    • Individuals with connections to Shenandoah County - comprehensive
    • Individuals with connections to the Valley - basic
  • Fiction:
    • Local authors if donated ~ preferably 1st edition & signed.
    • Historical fiction with both setting in county or region and literary merit.
• Rare Books & Ephemera about Shenandoah County:
  • Collect first editions of monographs about Virginiana that are relevant to the county and or surrounding area.
  • Collect replacement or reprint copies (as they become available) for use by patrons and place first edition copies in the Rare Book section.
  • Collect samples of titles owned by early settlers.
  • Collect ephemera either of historical significance or with display potential as space permits. Ephemera must be in good condition or restored before accessioned.
• Retention of extra copies of hard-to-find titles of historical & genealogical materials:
  • Collect extra copies of heavily used materials.
  • Collect extra copies of out-of-print materials.
• Periodicals with relevance to Shenandoah County:
  • Retain selected permanently bound periodicals. (Listing available).
  • Subscribe to periodicals and retain selected issues as space permits.
  • Retain samples of early issues of local newspaper and issues covering significant events.
  • Microfilm and discard copies of all early county newspapers with exception of the above archived materials.
  • Retain historical society & family publications as space permits
• De-accessioning:
  • Ongoing process driven by this policy and space restraints.
  • Weeded items considered for addition to library’s general collection.
  • Effort will be made to acquire replacement for any damaged or deteriorating items.
• Special Considerations:
  • To avoid duplication of Special Collections that our patrons have access to elsewhere, the Shenandoah Room does not try to collect materials that are the specialty of the following institutions:
    • Handley Library Archives collects materials related to places, people and events of the Lower Shenandoah Valley, with a special emphasis on Winchester, Frederick County and those counties that were formed from Frederick.
    • Massanutten Regional Library’s Special Collections - (Page & Rockingham Counties and Harrisonburg).
• Gift Policy:
  • The Shenandoah Room accepts gifts of materials that fall within the scope of this collection development policy. The only exception would be rare books, etc, that are given with the specific agreement that they are to be sold to benefit the Shenandoah Room. All other gifts of materials should go to the County Library.

  *The Library Board of trustees amended the above policy on March 9, 2005 to include the following:

• Virginia Biographies: The Shenandoah Room will develop an extensive collection of famous and infamous  Virginians.  The intent is to have selected or definitive biographies on individual Virginians and not a comprehensive collections of biographies of individuals.
• Civil War: The Shenandoah Room will broaden its collection of Civil War monographs to include first editions   and out-of-print titles in order to make the collection as extensive as the Archivist and Director deem feasible.
• rare Books:  The Shenandoah Room will develop a collection of "rare books" that are donated and are examples of literature or publications from earlier periods that may prove of educational benefit to later generations.