Collection Reflection

There have recently been some big changes at my city library system. As of this week, seven of our branches will be open almost twice as many hours, and two branches will be closed. One, a one-room branch, is currently being  re-purposed by the city  as a Senior Center. The other will reopen in 2014, with much of its collection gone, as an " Express Library ." This Friday, all hands available will head up to the latter branch to pack away the items that our collection development head determined will stay, making room for the renovation process. In the case of a branch closing, thousands of library items have to go somewhere! Last year, we closed branches because of budget shortfalls and then reopened them months later. In the hope that funding would eventually be found, their collections were left mostly intact, although we did some weeding before they reopened. The ideal conditions under which to weed an entire library's collection quickly, in my opinion, include a cl...

NY Yankee star Derek Jeter is launching a publishing imprint . Random House integrates website with Pinterest. RIP Doris Lessing RIP Barbara Park The 8 best SF Steampunk novels of all time . (of ALL time?) Seems fitting that Star Trek would be he vehicle that introduces the Navigraphic AMC making a pilot of the Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon classic Preacher . (I pray this is awesome!) BuzzFeed has ranked every Buffy  ep from worst to first . (worth a look if you're a fan) Happy Tuesday!

I think I'm convinced now that the thing that will finally kill libraries is ancient thinking. There is an entrenched unwillingness to hear new ideas or shift thinking. It's kind of like when my dad goes on and on about how gas prices should be $1. That's great, but it isn't  $1. That's a wish, not reality. If you are stuck in the habit of looking at your current measurements (we'll just call them circ, program, or door count stats) in the hopes that they'll increase, that's a wish. After all, those are the people ALREADY using the library. Where are your new initiatives to bring in the part of the community that has forgotten about you? People will parse those usage stats to the nth degree, trying to find some sort of meaning, yet spend very little time looking to the outside for guidance. Sometimes, it isn't all about a failure of marketing. Sometimes, what you're marketing is failing. Why someone isn't coming in (either in person or electr...

8 Apps to "make you a better reader". Not sure if I agree that these apps do that, but who doesn't want to hear about new apps? Omnivoracious picks the best YA books of 2013 What are your favorite SF/F/H reading memories?  (I love this discussion) Science Fictions that became science facts in 2012 Random House and Politico team up for The Bookshelf Blog . The number of self published titles up 59% between 2011 and 2012 . New USPS Harry Potter stamps!  (one of them had better be an owl....) 300 Sandwiches for your lover: the book! Shelf Awareness breaks down the Book Tv schedule for this weekend .

Disney to produce The Princess Bride  musical If you haven't read Frankenstein , just read Frankenhooker  (I'm not sure I endorse this advice....)  The periodic table of storytelling is awesome!   And you can get the full version at TV Tropes . A book with no ink? It's kinda cool, actually... . The year in ebooks....and libraries . The Fox becoming a juvenile book. 12 vintage advertisements featuring famous authors . Have a great Wednesday!

Happy Tuesday! 20 BIG differences between The Walking Dead  comics and the tv series . 20 great fantasy novels you may have missed. AudioBookaneers has a great rundown of 2013 greats . Digital First Sale doctrine?  Tell me more..... Oklahoma to install the library vending machines in underserved areas. Our favorite pop culture librarians   (really? Conan the Librarian made the list?) Book snobbery. My pet peeve . 12 literary hoaxes from A Reader's Book of Days

Quick question about "out of print" books:  Do you buy them for your collections?  If you do not, why not?  If you do, do you only buy one copy?  What's the lowest condition you're willing to get?  What's the most you're willing to pay?  Do you only buy under certain conditions?  (part of a series, classic, local interest, etc?)  And, what do you do if it suddenly gets 60 holds on the single copy? Thanks!

Abbreviated links this morning.  Have a good Tuesday! 50 incredibly tough books for extreme readers . (I think these terms will need to be defined...)  10 crime writers turned detective .  (interesting!)  Goodreads opens voting for Goodreads choice awards .  America's Star Libraries for 2013  

The winners of the 2013 World Fantasy Awards The winners of the 2013 British Fantasy Awards Mary Shelley's handwritten manuscripts for Frankenstein  now online for the first time. Also, last week there was a discussion of Frankenstein  on the Diane Rehm show . PW lists the top SF/F/H books of 2013 " Basically it’s just a soap opera with a zombie occasionally."  Snap!   Neil Gaiman talks the new Sandman  comic on NPR 10 monster memoirs Book Riot is waiting to read . Literature's haunted houses And that's the Monday news!