[Publib] Collection development and Athenry

[Mimi Morris]

Hello Pat,

 

I think your collection has to be a balance between the "good books" and
the "what's new".  While many library staffers who are strongly book
people love the idea of a classic good books collection, it's not
completely practical in this day and age.  As public libraries, we have
to respond to the needs and interests of our patrons.  Even if we don't
agree with their choices.  If we don't, they will "vote with their feet"
and ignore us for the bookshops of the world.  Also, if we balance the
good stuff with bestsellers, we can use the popular stuff to get them in
and promote the real literature through display, merchandising and
programming.  If we can't demonstrate that our libraries are being used,
having the best collections in the world won't sustain our funding and
we will become museums, filled with dinosaur classic books.

 

In Dayton, we have been doing a ton of analysis on what people are
reading at what branch, and adjusting our purchasing accordingly.  Since
we also have a very large system and a large collection, we have the
luxury of getting almost anything around the system in a few days.  We
are calling it "just in time, instead of just in case".  We cannot
afford to allocate our collection resources to classic literature that
will be used only sporadically.  We've also been buying more classic
novels in paperback.  And just a thought, sometimes popular literature
becomes classic!

 

If you look at the PLA Planning for Results books, you will see how
community input determines the services and collections used in
successful libraries.  Also, the results of the libraries doing "extreme
makeovers" to better merchandise their collections are showing dramatic
increases in usage-in all material categories!

 

Mimi Morris

Assistant Director for Branch and Extension Services

Dayton Metro Library

215 E. Third Street

Dayton, Ohio  45402

937-496-8505

mmorris at daytonmetrolibrary.org 

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