[Publib] Book buying policy

[Jesse Ephraim]

>all of this talk about the OJ simspon book has me wondering 
>what other libraries' policy on buying books that patrons request.

We pay close attention to the requests, but generally only buy the ones
that fit in with our overall collection development guidelines.  The
main thing we look at is the probable popularity of the item and how
often we expect it to circulate.  We can bring in McNaughton books if we
need to cover a title that is likely to be highly popular, but only for
a short amount of time.

It can be useful to look at the history of a library's patron requests
(and the interlibrary loans) to look for trends.  The individual titles
that are suggested may not be appropriate, but they can show areas of
interest among the populace.  We were using paper-based requests until
fairly recently.  A few months ago I moved them to an online form that
writes to a database so that we can track trends easier.  In addition,
the users are asked during each request to indicate the general type of
the item (adult nonfiction, for example).  This makes it possible for
the script to forward the email to the appropriate staff member.  If the
user doesn't know how to classify the item, the request goes straight to
me, and I send it to the appropriate person.

Jesse Ephraim

Adult Services Librarian
Southlake Public Library
1400 Main Street, Suite 130
Southlake, TX  76092
(817) 748-8247
jephraim at ci.southlake.tx.us