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Unconventional Collection Development

Unconventional Collection Development. KLA 2010 Mickey Coalwell Northeast Kansas Library System April 7, 2010. What’s wrong with “conventional” CD?. It’s haphazard It’s subject to librarian bias It’s based on outmoded assumptions It’s not patron-centered It’s not cost-effective.

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Unconventional Collection Development

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  1. Unconventional Collection Development KLA 2010 Mickey Coalwell Northeast Kansas Library System April 7, 2010

  2. What’s wrong with “conventional” CD? • It’s haphazard • It’s subject to librarian bias • It’s based on outmoded assumptions • It’s not patron-centered • It’s not cost-effective

  3. 1. Let ILL be your beacon • Buying instead of borrowing aka On Demand Collection Development • The goals with a “buy, don’t borrow” CD policy are • (1) filling a patron’s need for high-demand material quickly • (2) adding a potentially high-use title to the collection

  4. 2. Supercharge donations • Put up a specific “want list” on your library web site • Put up WANTED posters in our library describing your specific CD need, e.g., WANTED: CHILDREN’S BOARD BOOKS IN GREAT CONDITION • Give regular donors a “shopping list” of desirable materials

  5. 3. Buy multiple copies • Funnel your collection budget dollars into things your patrons want • Instead of one copy of a bestseller, DVD or other high-demand item, buy 2 or 3 copies, even if it means foregoing a new poetry collection, a new cookbook, or a dictionary

  6. 3. Buy multiple copies • Baker & Taylor’s Booking Ahead • Library Journal reviews • BWI TitleTales • Midwest Tape

  7. 4. Eliminate non-fiction and reference • It’s NOT better to have “something” on a topic than it is to have nothing. • For reference and many non-fiction topics, online resources are almost always more current, accessible and appropriate than printed text materials

  8. 5. Go digital • Digital content doesn’t take up space, it doesn’t get damaged or ruined by use, and it is often cost-effective. • Overdrive is a model for digital content access that all Kansas libraries are familiar with. Computers are the best way to employ digital content, but e-readers, MP3 players and iphones are fast-growing interfaces for digital content.

  9. 5. Go digital • E-books are available from library vendors like Ingram

  10. 6. Streamline processing • All library vendors like Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and Brodart offer a processing option that saves you staff time and money. It speeds up access to your most popular items, and it frees up time for you to do other things

  11. 7. Invite Suggestions • CD by purchase suggestion is the most democratic and fair way to allocate your dollars. If you are doing nothing but filling your patrons’ purchase suggestions, you are improving your collection immensely by targeting items of interest to at least one user, and finding holes in your current collection. Whether you use a paper form, or let your library catalog or web site keep track of purchase suggestions, this is one of the very best ways to improve your Collection Development practices because it leads to immediate and highly personalized customer satisfaction.

  12. 7. Invite Suggestions • Managing suggestions in the Koha ILS

  13. Start small, think BIG • Implement one or two of these techniques right away • Set some goals for improved circulation, higher turnover, lower cost, more patron satisfaction • Track and measure results • Try a few more “unconventional” approaches

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