Collection Development, Event, & Exhibit Policy - Duchesne County Library System

Demographics

Duchesne County Library System endeavors to serve a county population of approximately 20,000 residents as of 2021. The county has an area of 3,256 sq. mi. Approximately 33.4% of the population is under 18 years of age (6,600 youth) and 12.4% is over 65 years of age (2,450 adults). 90.9% identify as white (18,000), 8.3% as Hispanic or Latino (1,650), 4.9% as American Indian or Alaskan native (1,000), and 2.8% as other races (550). 89.2% graduated high school and 13.7% completed a bachelor’s degree or higher. 10.6% live in poverty (2,100) and the median income is $61,655.¹ Unemployment during 2020 was 7.7%.² The principal industries in 2019 were mining, government, and real estate/rentals.³

Roosevelt Branch also serves some residents of western Uintah County due to proximity in comparison with the distance to Uintah County Library. Duchesne Branch facilitates weekly pop-up libraries in Tabiona and Altamont. The Duchesne County Library System is in a consortium with Uintah County Library and shares physical resources and the library catalog with them. Interlibrary Loans and Utah Online Library resources through Utah State Library are also available. Duchesne County Library System provides digital collections exclusively for Duchesne County residents by acquiring eBooks and eAudiobooks for inclusion in the Beehive Library Consortium Overdrive/Libby collection and by providing access to hoopla eBook and eAudiobook collections.

Duchesne Branch also houses the Duchesne County History Center. The History Center curates and preserves items of local historical value including photos, historical cemetery records, newspapers, local group scrapbooks, locally published works, and more. These items are available for patron use in the history center only. Projects are underway to digitize these items.

Purpose of the Collection, Events, Exhibits, Etc.

The physical and digital collection, events, exhibits, etc. of the branches of the Duchesne County Library System (hereafter known as “the library”) are developed and maintained under the purpose of providing equitable access to information and to provide opportunities for recreation and growth to all patrons of the library. The library supports the Constitutional First Amendment rights of all its citizens. This includes providing varying viewpoints and formats. The library neither approves or disapproves of