Reply #16: I'm not sure how your acquisitions process is set up...

[KansDem]

You say you confronted the acquisitions person and she claimed to go by the NY Times "Best Seller" lists. Does she not use professional journals like:
BookList
Publishers' Weekly
Book Review Digest
Gale
Choice
Library Journal
Lambda Book Report
Kirkus Reviews
School Library Journal
...and the like

In my library we have "selectors," librarians with MLS degrees who take on a subject specialty (usually their major for their bachelors), and who use professional review sources for purchases. Each of these sources contain reviews by learned critics, including assessment of what kind of audience the titles would appeal to: academic (lower and upper-division or graduate), public, youth/children, etc. Selectors will carefully review new titles to determine their worth in the collection and intended audience; even those titles that run contrary to their politics. Consequently, we have a collection that spans the political gamut.

Making purchases based on the NY Times "Best Seller" list is a lame strategy.