[Moderator: Nora Rawlinson - Founder, EarlyWord.com, the Publisher/Librarian Connection]
Librarians need to recognize the goals of selection like patron satisfaction. The library system should be able to generate shelf list report to allow close examination of the collection. Staff can then use weeding to fine tune the collection accordingly. Likewise reader recommendations should be reflected in circulation statistics.
SF public libraries (28 branches) & Phoenix City public libraries (16 branches) use the following standards to generate purchase orders; 3 holds for books, 6 holds for media and 10 holds for all other materials.
Circulation. Fiction and audio books continue to attract the highest circulation especially among the commuting adults and seniors. Newspaper databases, however, are not as popular due to their online presence. Online resources like electronic databases remain the best in the provision of 24/7 services and to support an otherwise small print reference collection.
Selection Aids. The panel agrees that a wide array is needed to build any collection, namely,
- International book fairs which showcase different kinds of materials;
- Promote vendor rapport with publishers to establish comprehensiveness so as to allow anticipatory selection before media review. This will further allow selectors to focus on finding independent and new publishers. Librarians must realize that small authors are challenged by distributorship structure and thus need to prove themselves with both circulation and media coverage.
- Tender. Even though awarded, the tender serves as a first stop service point. If the title is not available then selectors should go elsewhere to source for it. Bestsellers only account for 5% of total sales in America. Hence other material can and do matter.
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