Collection Reflection

In catching up on patron requests this week, I realized how often some of the same questions come up over and over again. The process of filling out a request is pretty easy, but you do have to log in with your card number, fill out a form, etc, so it isn't without some effort. I wish there was a way to tell a wide range of people that some requests are unable to be filled before they go through the trouble of making the request. That said, here are some things I am frequently asked by patrons: Why do you have some of a series but not all? Probably the question I am asked most often. The library collection is a not a static thing. Things go missing, get damaged, and get stolen all the time. So, the odds are good that we used to have book 2 of the series, but we don't anymore. I try to discourage people from discarding a series book if the other books in the series are circulating well, or if the author is still writing the series. Yes, most J.R. Ward fans agree that Lover...

One of the things I would like us to feature here is accounts of how librarians actually do the work of collection development, which is why I wrote last week about how to tackle new-to-you nonfiction areas . Please contact me if you'd like to share a story about how you order materials for your library, and we will post it here. I order books for a large public library in western Massachusetts, and one of my favorite collection areas is adult (mass-market) paperbacks. Pending our looming budget cuts, I get to spend about $175 a month, which means we have quite a large collection for western MA--even though I only purchase 30-40 books per order. My tight budget means that I try to be very careful about what I order; a book that won't circulate is a waste of my time and the library's money. I am licensed to buy anything with a list price under $10, and I use Ingram to do my ordering. I order for the central library and another selector orders paperbacks for our nine bran...

Ahhh, patron requests. Or, perhaps you call them "suggestion for purchase" or "purchase recommendations" or something else entirely. Whether you specifically solicit them or not, suggestions appear so there is something to be said for having a "process" for handling them. However, once a library has a process for something, changing it seems to require three signatures, a vial of blood, an act of God, six meetings, two "meetings" after the meetings, and a 1989 quarter. And that is before you even get to the assumption that, once rules are in place, people will follow them: patrons OR staff. I think most librarians agree (don't we?) that customer/patron input into the collection is essential. But are there limits? Should there be? In a misplaced sense of "service" do we overstep our boundaries? Our patron request mechanism is online and form based . Please put in your library card number, please fill out this info, thank you very mu...