Hello everyone and welcome to
today's webcast radically rethinking
technical services brought to you
by Library Journal, an Ingram.
My name is Rebecca Joswick
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And what a treat we have for you.
Today I'm pleased to introduce
Technical Services M.
LS degreed librarian at Ingram Library
Services and 2012 library Journal
mover and Shaker Trisha bangle.
Ann today, she will be presenting 10.
Factors to consider as you move
your library through the 21st
century and with that.
Trisha I'll let you take it away.
Thanks Rebecca and welcome everybody.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Hopefully none of you have technical
Services Department's that look like the
screen that we're looking at right now,
but probably some of you learned
like me how to catalog in rooms
that look just like this,
I learned how to catalog in 1996
from the estimable lowest Chan.
She Doctor Chan wrote.
The book on cataloging that
most of us use back in the day.
And and she drilled it into our head
that the catalog record was the most
important thing is that we could do in
the library and so I actually learned
how to do catalog cards 1st and then
convert them to mark and you know,
not a whole lot has changed
in the cataloging world.
Since then with a few exceptions,
like we talk about Ferber.
Now we do.
RDA cataloging but you know,
we're still basically doing Mark Records,
the way.
I learned to do them 20 years ago,
but we actually live in a Google World now,
so the way our patrons.
Find information an expect to search for
information has changed dramatically.
We also have really highly sophisticated.
Discovery layers now that search the catalog.
The Mark Records completely
differently than when we were taught
to first create mark so if you are.
Cataloging the way you did,
20 years ago, or uhm.
We we,
we need to spend some time
rethinking that so that's what
we're going to talk about today.
We're going to do this all.
Top 10 countdown so follow with me,
I'm gonna put my David Letterman
hat on now and we're gonna start
with number 10 of today's countdown.
So do you know how your patrons?
Find materials for check out this
is a really basic question but
it's a lot more complicated in the
implications that it has so I know
that at some libraries that I've
worked out 75% of the checkouts were
as a result of people walking in
the door and browsing the shelves.
I've also worked in libraries
were 75% of the checkouts were
as a result of patrons.
Placing holds on books,
and walking in and getting their books off
the hold shelf and walking out the door.
There are also a lot of us.
These days,
who use the library collection very,
very heavily and never even
walk in the door were reading.
Everything as an ebook or any audio book.
So how you display your books
how you organize your books?
How you take time and curating.
Your collection online really will
depend on how your patrons use your
collection so in that can vary
dramatically within the same library system.
If you have a library where there's
lots of walkers and it's a community
and mom's are bringing their kids
and they are coming every day
because it's just around the corner.
There are probably not placing as
many holes as suburban libraries,
where people are going on line.
Placing their holes coming driving by letting
the car run out front running in grabbing
their books and walking out the door.
So I think it's important that all of
us really understand statistically
just how our patrons are.
Checking out, so um for those libraries,
where browsing is still predominant.
You want to have really,
really good displays and browsing
collections where patrons are predominantly
placing things on hold and picking them up.
Then you want. Your holds placement
at the front of the building,
so that I think knowing how your patrons.
You're getting your books is one of
the first keys to really rethinking
how you do technical services.
Which is just a little bit counter
intuitive when you download the
slides after the presentation.
I really encourage you to read
the article that I've listed here.
It'll be in the resources section,
but it is all about how patrons.
Find materials for checkout at libraries.
I think this is also key for those of
us who still do floating collections
because floating collections.
If you remember or if you think about
it are all driven on people placing
holes and having books sent to other
places or dropping off books at places
other than where they pick them up.
And so it can create a lot of
disparities of your collection
based on simple things like driving
patterns and who has the best,
most convenient.
Book drop I know that in a library
where I worked at Nashville public.
We found that the overflow branches were
the ones that had the most convenient
book drops so we weren't really
allocate reallocating books equitably.
We were doing it based where it
was really convenient to drive.
The Next One is I and I I'm surprised
that more people don't do this regularly
have you actually run a report or
do you run off and or report on?
What types of searches you or
patrons or doing in your discovery
layer in your catalog.
I highly highly encourage you to do this,
if you've not done it before because
you are going to be shocked.
A no one, not even your librarians are
doing complicated boolean searches.
Nobody's thinking about Venn diagram.
And they're usually searching your catalog
just like they would search Google
which makes sense because we all use Google.
We all search.
Google every day and so it would
make sense that people equate
searching your catalog this same
way that they would search Google.
So I used to do this?
When I worked in library all the
time I would run regular reports on.
Well, how patrons were searching the
catalog and then I would go search.
The catalog using those same terms
and I can't tell you how often
I was really disappointed,
in the results so go to your
catalog when we get of- this web
and R and search for cookbooks.
I guarantee you,
you're not going to like the result
at the library that I just did.
This at recently.
I came up with a book from 1994.
That was on collecting cookbooks
because it had the word cookbook
in this very extremely complicated.
Mark record so many times that it came
up highest in the relevancy ranking.
I can guarantee you more people
want books on you know gluten free
in the latest trends in cookbooks.
Rather than cookbook collecting 101.
The same with Minecraft fortnight
knew movies if new movies does not.
Bring up the newest movies in
your collection.
It's it, which it probably won't,
it probably is going to bring up a book
on movie reviews or something like that,
then your patrons are going
to be disappointed.
They're going to go back to Google.
They're going to go to Amazon.
They're going to do those same searches and
Amazon and they're going to look at titles.
They like there and then they're
just going to come over to the
library and check your inventory.
So.
Spend some time.
Searching running reports of what people are
searching in your catalog and then go run.
Those reports and make sure that
you like those results and if
you don't like those results.
Then you need to sit down with
your iOS administrator.
The person who administrated administers
your discovery layer an you need
to work on making sure that your
discovery layer is optimized for the
types of searching you're seeing.
Which brings us to the number 8 point?
Do you know how your discovery layer
relevancy ranking works so figuring out
relevancy ranking in your discovery layer
is not usually the most simple thing.
There is to do and it took me a long
time to figure this out and you may
want different types of relevancy
ranking based on different types.
Searching you may also want to change
your facets that are typically on the
left hand side of your screen to be
optimized based on the different types
of searching that happened and again.
This is this is actually the example
that I pointed out about cookbooks.
If I just search for cookbooks.
These 2 books that came up right here
or probably not what I want to see so
newest 1st is probably my favorite for
the default for my display results
because if I type in an author.
I usually want to see the author's
newest book.
If I want to search for new movies
or cookbooks.
I usually want to see what the newest
cookbooks are so I highly recommend
that most of the time your default
search results ends up being newest 1st.
OK.
So. #7 saying I want you to think
about how you're doing currently in
your technical Services Department
and this is something that a lot
of libraries want to save money on,
but is it worth the cost of the elaborate
processing of materials that many of us.
Do Capco bibliographic labels
complex covering rules, etc.
So many of us don't have room.
To just keep adding books to our
libraries forever infinitely.
Most of us have to usually most
of us have to we'd often enough
to simply for space constraints.
So we can't keep books on the shelf forever.
So a book has to earn its keep an I
talked to a lot of libraries that tell
me that if they book has not checked out.
Or.
6 months is out the door,
so because we're turning over books.
So often,
and because most of us are trying
to adhere to very tight hold to
copy ratios where we're buying
so many copies of a book to meet
initial demand that those books.
Just don't have long shelf life.
So one of the things that I keep seeing
in libraries is all this beautiful
beautiful extensive processing.
That libraries are paying for on their
books and then you know that book is
going to be weeded within 6 months.
And so is it really worth the while to
pay all of that money on processing
when you're only going to keep the
book for 6 months if you're lucky
day collection is going to be mostly
face out on special shelving that is
intended to only be browsed anyway.
Do you really need to put its
fine label on it?
Do your trade paperbacks
need to really be cap code?
I would hazard a guess that those
trade paperbacks. If you did not.
Capco them when you we did them,
they would still be in fine shape or
they're going to get grubby anyway.
And they're going to get Dog Eared.
So I would encourage you to really
think about the level of processing
that you do on your books and and
really figure out if it's worth it
because if you unless you have a budget,
unlike any library. I've ever worked.
Uh you could probably spend
more money on books,
and less money on processing.
I also am going when I retire I'm
going to start a club for those
of us who have spent way too much
time talking about genre stickers,
so if you would like to join
my club just let us know.
And I'll put you on the mailing list.
Because I can't tell you how many
arguments fights different thinking
happen in every single library.
I visit about genre stickers and
when I go in a library and I see 4
genre stickers on a single book.
I just want to do a face plant
because that doesn't mean anything,
it looks cluttery.
I highly highly encourage you
to use signage for.
Genres rather than stickers.
We did just have a person who asked
if we would explain what Capco is
an I should not use that term.
It's Capco is kind of like
the equivalent of Kleenex.
It's a brand name.
That's become so ubiquitous that
we use it as the generic name
but Capco is laminate so if you
have paperbacks or you have trade
paperbacks in there covered in
a laminate film that is Capco.
They have the the.
Capital is the maker of that
laminate film that most of us use.
Also had another great question about um.
Relevancy ranking and someone Meadow
asked about if newest would be pub
date or date added to the collection
and that's a good question uhm.
Probably I think that you should play
with that based on your system some
systems do a better job with date added,
then pub date.
And vice versa,
so I would like some other
people's opinion on that,
so if you want to go to the group
chat anybody and say if you would
do your relevancy ranking for newest
on pub date or date added to the
collection and if you have an opinion
I'd love to hear what that is.
OK and we've come to our first poll
question so our first poll question
is have you considered auditing your
material processing practices for
any of the following reasons and
choose all of those that will apply?
And while you answered that
you're answering that we got
some more questions coming in,
so I'm just going to take a gander
at this and see which ones.
We need to answer now and which ones.
We need to hold to the end.
And don't hesitate to use that group chat.
I really would like to to know
what y'all are thinking too.
OK. Looks like most people
have answered the polls.
Have you considered auditing your
material processing looks like
lots of people think that they are
doing just enough and not too much.
That's awesome.
I'm glad that so many of you
feel like you're doing the
minimum and not too much and I I
always felt like every library.
I've ever worked at we're doing,
too much so good for you,
it seems like we are always.
Adding. Um.
Materials were always wanting to add
stickers were always wanting to add labels
every time a patron does something bad.
We want to put a sticker telling every
other patron not to do that something bad.
So I am impressed with these poll results.
OK, a couple of other questions
have come in that I think would
be pertinent to everybody.
One is how will pages know where to shelve
the different genres without stickers.
That is a good question and I think
that you would be amazed at how
trainable pages are and if you rather
than putting a sticker on you may
choose to have your spine label.
Just say mystery.
So if Trisha Bangle wrote the next great
mystery novel my spine label may say.
Mister EBEN rather than 6 BN and you could
put it in the mystery section or you can.
Train your pages to curate collections
in late put things on shelves and things
don't have to have static shelving I
know that that seems really anathema.
But if you have highly
browsing fiction collections.
Just like bookstores.
They put things where it makes sense to
put them and they move things around all
the time they're meant to be browsed.
And your staff,
hopefully is always keeping an eye
out for those patrons who looked
confused and they can help they
know where all the Janet Ivana.
Vitch is in the heck.
You can train your pages that if
I think this might be a mystery.
and I go over and there's nothing else.
By this author on that shelf I might
have chosen the wrong thing and they
can look and see where everything
else is by that author or they
can check the opaq I think that.
You'd be surprised at how easily trainable,
they are.
Uh what about libraries,
they don't separate genre collections.
That's the question who came in that
is something that a lot of libraries
do because of space constraints.
They choose not to separate genre
collection so they interfile
everything and again.
I think you know as many patrons
who say they like your stickers
are as many patrons don't tell
you that they don't need or pay
attention to the genre stickers.
I think it's one of those things
that we can debate different
directions for the rest of our
lives and you're gonna get your
gonna ask as many people as will
get and get as many answers so.
You know it's it's sort of my pet peeve,
but again if you don't want to join my club
when I retire you won't hurt my feelings.
Um we gotta question on how do you
run reports to see what type of
searching is used in the catalog
and analytics that would depend on?
What's cataloging service,
you use so if you use biblio Commons
you should call the biblio comments
people and they would be able to tell
you how to find that information.
If you use on core from innovative there
is a report that you can run but you
can just call your discovery layer or
your iOS vendor and they can tell you.
OK, #6 in our David Letterman style
countdown is are you using Analytics.
And I think analytics are more
important than ever because so many
of our patrons are becoming invisible
and let me give you an example.
So my mom goes to the library every 2
weeks and she has for the last 50 years.
She checks out 10 books every 2 weeks.
She is never put a book on hold.
She's also never had it late book.
If you can believe that she goes
to the library every 2 weeks.
She browses until she finds $10 she walks up,
she bypasses the self check.
She chit chats with whomever is behind
the Circ desk and asks about their
family because she knows the mall.
And she takes her 10 books home and
she actually keeps track of every book.
She's ever read in a series of
notebooks and she rates every book.
She's ever read and that's how she
keeps track so my mother's not on line.
Um she asked me a couple of years ago,
if there was a way to place a
hold on a book to my chagrin.
The library where she visits have Polaris.
I used to work for Polaris for many years
and I taught her how to use the catalog.
She used it exactly once and said
she liked her old system better,
so if you ask the library.
They would know all about my mom and
they know all about her reading habits.
My life me as a patron I place
everything on hold I.
Always have all my books because I
wanna be 1st in line for the newest
whatever an I run into the library.
I grab my books from the hold shelf
and I if I have time of study,
the the best sellers.
I'll study the Lucky Day collection
because I want to be able to take
my name off my holds because I I
have a limit on how many holes,
I can have and so,
if there's something on the the.
Best sellers shelf that I also have on hold.
I want to grab that so I can cancel
my hold so the and then I used
to self check so I usually never.
Talk to a librarian.
My husband on the other hand,
reads voraciously,
he probably reads more than my mom
and I but he has not been inside
a library probably for 10 years
if the book is not available on
hoopla recorded books or overdrive.
It does not exist for him.
I told him about Macmillan last
week and he is distraught,
so but he will not read a print book.
So we these are we are 3 very
different users and my husband is
completely invisible to the staff
so they don't even have a sense
of what he's checking out what
he's doing or that he is a library
patron so they can't use visual or
anecdotal information on him at all.
They can use very little on
me because I've run
in and out and try to avoid
eye contact with everybody.
And they know a lot about my mom
because she walks in and Chit chats
with everybody so if you're not
using analytics in you're relying
on what your staff is seeing by
what's happening in the library.
They're only going to be able
to service my mom really well.
They're not going to be able to service me,
They're not going to be able to
service my husband well so I think
analytics are more important than ever.
We need to make sure we're getting.
Dead books off the shelves.
So if a book has not been checked out in
6 months for a year it needs to be gone.
We need to make sure that.
The books that are on our shelves
are the ones that are patrons want
and that we have enough of them.
So I know that here in Nashville.
The demographics of our neighborhoods
are changing dramatically neighborhoods
that I would have never bought
a house in 25 years ago,
or the trendiest places to live now
and so branches that used to be very,
very different are now hosting.
Uh you know wine and cheese parties
and story times have become you
know extremely popular because
of all the families moving in,
and the neighborhoods that nobody
can afford to live in now.
Besides you know,
retired people or very wealthy
people are changing how their
patrons use them as well.
So I buy the combination of an
increasingly invisible population.
A population that uses a lot of E content.
I think using your Analytics.
Tools are more important than ever.
And so there are some great products
on the marketplace and I would highly
encourage you if you've not used
them before if you especially if
you have multiple branches that you
consider moving to an analytics tool.
I think that you may be doing
yourself a disservice by not and
I think you may be surprised.
And at what you find if you
start using an analytics tool.
I also think that if you start
using an analytics tool,
an you float you might find that
floating is not as beneficial
because it will tell you where to
reallocate materials based on need
but you may have been able using
the analytics tool to place those
books in the right location faster.
OK, we're halfway through our countdown now,
so we're at the halfway mark of the
web and are just want to see a few
more questions to make sure that.
We are at the right place.
OK. This is a fun one have you changed
your shelving in the last 20 years.
Shelving is probably one of the most
expensive things that all of us have in
our libraries and we often times never
are able to afford to change our shelving.
Because it is a monstrous undertaking,
but there are ways to modify current shelving
all of us have probably looked at getting
rid of shelving because I know personally.
Most libraries that I've worked with that
have either built new buildings or done
replacement buildings have reopened with
less shelving then they closed with so.
Reference department's in reference
collections are smaller than they've
ever been an will not ever grow again.
We know that Facebook face out
books fly off the shelf.
We don't want shelves that
are 90 inches anymore.
We want lower shells so that they're
more browsable more accessible.
We are not universities.
We don't need.
To have some rooms and rooms and
rooms full of 90 at shelving with
all of our books spine out so if
you've not done a shelving audit.
I would highly encourage you to do that.
If you have not gotten rid of
most of your you know reference
collection and either move them to
circulating or really pared it down.
I would encourage you if there's
any shelving you can change.
I would highly highly encourage you
to change your picture book shelving.
And move to face out shelving every library.
I've ever been out that has their picture
books face out has found that circulation
has dramatically increased if you can
at least not use your Top shelves.
If you can't get rid of your 90 inch
shelving at least move the books down.
And remember to put books at the
end of the each shelf face out
train your pages to do this.
You can do that,
your pages will like to spend time
doing that train them at every hour.
They walk through the librarian.
Their sections and make the shelves
look nice with face out books at the end
if your end caps are wasted space by.
Some rather than putting posters
or things by some end cap shelving
that can be converted onto any end
cap and put face out books on your
end caps people really like to see
the covers of books.
This is how most of us buy cereal this
is how most of us by many of us by wine.
We do it based on the packaging
so books are the same way.
An book jackets have become so
incredibly beautiful that you're
really doing a disservice to your
browsing public if you're not making
it really attractive for browsing so
I highly encourage that get rid of.
As much shelving as you can to have
more open space and be able to
do more face out books.
We did get a question about the
previous slide. What analytics tools.
Are you Speaking of probably the there
are a couple of commercial products on
the market that many of us are familiar
with one is Edelweiss Analytics.
It started out being a tool that
bookstores used and is now has a library.
Analytics portion,
we had Ingram do work with the above the
tree line people who sell that product.
There's also collection HQ from the
Baker and Taylor folks it's a very
robust analytics tool that you might
want to check out as well there are
also some services I know LSNS the
library company is doing a human based
analytics project which is really awesome
as well so I would encourage you to
check out those different products.
OK.
Let's go on to #4.
OK so this is gonna be this soap box for
me is even bigger than genre stickers,
so you guys think you've already figured
out that genre stickers are not my
favorite thing in the whole world.
But I think not weeding enough
is the 2nd my second,
so box that I stand upon and.
If you if you are weeding aggressively then
your books are going to circulate better.
And there are multiple criteria that
you should be using for weeding and it.
It should be just a plain science.
You don't have to Ponder,
a book for a long time.
You don't have to spend an inordinate
amount of time thinking about it books
are not sacrosanct as much as I love them.
And if iBooks.
Not earning it's keep it needs to come off,
it shut off the shelf so if you are.
These are what I recommend is standard.
Weeding criteria.
And in some areas,
I would even be more strict so in DV
DS if it hasn't search for 6 months.
I say get rid of it and less it's
a Christmas DVD that you know
might only get checked out once.
Different coupled several times a year
but if you own a book for 2 years
and it is not search for one year.
I think it should be off your shelf.
Anything grubby.
No gradebooks so get rid of them.
This is why I'm also not a huge fan of.
Of reinforced bindings because even
if you have a reinforced binding
on that doctor Seuss Book.
Some little kids chewed on it.
Some little kids colored in it.
Some little kid.
His you know spit on it,
and so it's still gross it's
still grubby it still needs to go.
Um anything that's not meeting your
cost per use metric and this is
something that the Edelweiss Analytics.
Tool can help you with you can set
up a cost per use metric and it will
tell you if it's earning it's keep or not.
And we'd be not just pee so we need
your electronic if you're not doing a
cost per use analysis on your databases.
If you're spending $15 a search on a
database. I say get rid of the database.
It's not earning it's keep either
in this day and age,
with ever tightening budgets.
Most of us don't have the luxury
of keeping tools,
keeping books that aren't earning
their keep so I would highly highly
highly encourage you to redo your
weeding Paula see if you've not.
Looked at it for a long time I
would highly encourage you in your
technical Services Department to
take over the weeding Analytics.
For your branches if your centralized
or even if you're not centralized
and send on a monthly basis reports
to your branches and tell them
what to weed so you can break up
the entire collection off the off.
So it covers a month a section every month.
And you can so January for instance,
could be a through.
The D in fiction February could
be the zeros in the one hundreds
in nonfiction March could be
the children's picture books.
So on, and so forth and run reports
send Excel spreadsheets with what
the branches should pull off the
shelves and anything that they can't
find they should run twice at.
Run over a couple months to see if
they come back in and then they should
market last if they can't find it,
but anything else should be pulled
an you should be weeding it.
I know a lot of locations.
Even tie staff performance
evaluations to how well they
follow the weeding criteria again.
Lots of us,
want to be sentimental about
books were in the book business.
We shouldn't be sentimental about books.
If they're not earning their
keep they need to go.
So we do have a question about how
do you calculate a cost per use
there are some formulas that we can
share with you an I will follow up
with that with an email after the?
After the web and R it is to everybody.
It is a little bit different based on.
What up What collection you're talking
about and if it's a database services
tangible collection so I'll send
feedback on that follow up on that
and then somebody asked about is the
crew weeding that manual still being used.
I do hear people still talking about a crew.
I was at a state trade show not
too long ago when people did
somebody did a a session on crew
if you're not familiar with crew.
It is an acronym that I can't remember what
it stands for but it comes out of Texas.
And it was a weeding methodology personally,
I think crew is good.
I think it's a little more
complicated than it needs to be.
I prefer to use straight you stats
and replacement based on out-of-date
materials as they are replaced with newer
editions so if you're only keeping the
most current edition of most books then.
You're taking care of most of
the issues that come with crew.
But yeah,
obviously you should get rid of
things that are out of date.
And then Oh somebody asked about repairs.
I'm so glad you asked about repairs should
we just purchased a new copy is available.
Yes, short answer.
Yes, don't spend time repairing books and
less you have a very dedicated volunteer
who's not spending hardly anything on
supplies is not causing you any trouble.
She comes in regularly and sits
in the back and likes to repair
books and does a good job.
I wouldn't bother I would just replace
it because again if this Brian is broken?
It probably is also got yellowing
pages or it's got dog eared pages and
wouldn't you rather have the newest
copy with a new pretty face on it.
Especially. If it is an older, you know,
especially in older classic that you
always want to have on your shelf.
You know the graphics on the front
have just become so much better
than they used to that.
I highly encourage you to do
just purchased a new copy.
What if we eating makes your collection
look bear that's another question
that came in put more books face out?
I'd much rather you have 10
good books than 25 bad books on
the shelf do more marketing.
Get rid of shelves use that space for
programming put more books spaced out,
but all your books face out.
I would rather see that then lots of.
Grubby book.
#3 in our countdown, obviously this one
only applies to multi branch facility,
so if you are a single location.
Just go to your happy place for a second,
but if you are a library
system with branches.
If you do not have centralized
collection development.
You should at least have centralized
planning and budgeting so I
obviously and probably more of a fan.
Centralized collection development
but if you can't do that,
then at least have centralized
planning and budgeting so that your
branch stat have in your collection
development staff have very
specific rules that they can follow
they have very specific budgets.
They have an idea of what's to
be focused on they know how to
meet their hold the copy ratios,
they know how to weed.
They know how to think about the
collection as a whole and this
is probably one of the reasons
why I like centralized collection
development when you have decentralized
collection development.
You have people thinking about the
the collection as what's in their
branches rather than the system as a whole.
So if you float or you do a lot of
intra library loan or your budget
does not stretch to having every book.
That popular at every branch,
then I highly encourage you to move to
centralized not every branch needs every.
Call the card Newberry Booker
Prize Pulitzer Prize,
but they would all feel obligated
to buy it if they are in charge of
the collection in their branches.
So I think you can spend money much
more judiciously by buying fewer copies
of books and spreading them around
the system if you have centralized.
Planning and budgeting if not,
centralized collection development.
OK number 2 and this one is a lot
of fun to think about and more
and more libraries are doing it.
If you've not thought about patron
driven acquisitions before I think
you should think about it and I think
that there's lots of ways to tip
your dip your toe in the water of PDA
without just turning it on completely
for everything so for those of you
who have never thought about PDA.
There's there's lots of different
ways that it can be fulfilled.
So one of the neatest things I've
worked with is a library in Colorado.
Who has a very sophisticated
population very high tech centered
population lots of really smart
people who want very technical books.
But as you know buying Technical Books
is one of the hardest things to buy
because even if you know what subject area.
Your patrons want so if you
have patrons for instance,
to want programming in PHP.
Uh that's one thing,
but what level of PHP development books did.
They want do. They want beginner?
Do they want advance.
And nobody's budget can stretch
to buying all.
The different technical books out there and
all the different levels of technical books,
so this library,
oftentimes takes a large
collection in I page.
And they download the bibliographic records
for all of the books that they think.
Patrons might want it their library
and they go ahead and load that
in their catalog and then when
a patron places a book on hold.
Then they Buy the book from us, we get it.
To them in you know three days and they
check the book out to their patrons.
So they're only buying those books
that their patrons are placing on
hold so they limit this to about
20,000 titles every so often,
and um because they're doing,
it for just this one collection
and because this is a population
that's very comfortable using
their catalog and they're more of
the type of patron like me,
where they place things on hold
running to get them off the shelf.
This works really well this is not
something you would ever want to
do with picture books because your
little ones want to get the books by
browsing the physical collection.
But something like computer books.
This is something that could work
really well so I highly encourage you
to think about doing PDA if you've
not before at least doing maybe a
small collection or you know uh.
Dip your toe in the water.
OK, we've got another poll question
coming up. Hold on a second.
Have you considered a PDA project
or program at your library
would love to know what you
think if y'all can just answer.
This poll and I'm going to check
to see if any other questions
come in that we need to.
Answer real quickly.
OK, that's good. Let's see our poll results.
Oh very balanced OK.
We have a great system for
patrons to make special requests.
That's awesome.
If for those of you.
The libraries are using biblio comments.
I must say I really love the new biblia.
Common feature that makes it really
easy for me to make requests to my patrons.
And thank you for answering we had a
couple of questions come in and somebody
noticed on the examples that I was
showing of the OPEC earlier series
numbering have you always done this?
The The Discovery Layer I was showing
you actually uses the Usesom novelist
select integration with the data.
So all of those series numbering
is coming from novelist select.
It's actually not coming from
the mark record.
It's an integrated service from novelist.
So another reason why The Mark
record is is not as important
as it used to be because.
Of all of the ad in tools that
were all using?
And how do you dress items that may not
Cirque so well but are valuable to keep for
their contribution to a balance collection?
I think with interlibrary loan being
such a robust service in most libraries
and the ability to repurchase something
and get it to my library very quickly.
I wouldn't keep something just for the
sake of keeping something classics.
If they're not earning their
keep they should go as well.
And so I I just don't think we need to
worry as much about a balance collection,
as we do about give people what they want.
And rebuy it if you make a mistake,
you know, I've always told staff
that books are not sacrosanct.
We we'd something and then we need
it 2 months from now will rebuy it.
It's not the worst thing in the whole world.
OK number one and this is actually
the most important issue.
We want to talk about in this session in
this web and R are you and your staff
searching in your discovery layer so I
want each of you to commit to something.
If I could make you raise your arms
and swear I would do it right now,
so for the next week do not use Goodreads.
Do not use Amazon.
Do not use your staff client to
look for books used your discovery
layer use your catalog and do all of
your searching do not use overdrive
do not use hoopla to all of your
searching for the books.
You want to read in your catalog
and make sure you are the number
one expert in your catalog.
And then you will quickly notice and
quickly build up your frustrations
your likes your dislikes and then
you can start building your wish
lists on what needs to be fixed?
What you need to sit down with
your discovery layer developer or
vendor and talk about changing.
Um and so please please please.
I would like you all to commit to that.
OK, we have had a few more questions
come in and that I want to answer
real quickly and then we'll move
to the rest of the Q&A session.
And one is I'm concerned that our
patron request program is sometimes
giving our collection a lopsided
results frequent Flyers often want
esoteric items or entire series.
Yep, that can happen and I think that
one of the things that I've seen more
and more libraries doing recently
is they've been integrating their
interlibrary loan division with their
collection development division,
so if people are asking for esoteric things.
If you have people who are really
heavy users those power users in there,
asking for things that you don't
think anybody else would want
I would interlibrary loan them.
Um and entire series.
Yes,
that can happen and as someone who's married
to someone who reads like really weird.
Fantasy series that can number into the 50s.
Sometimes we do,
find most of those he's now reading on
overdrive because you can buy the ebook.
Still,
pretty cheaply and they're not
taking up valuable real estate on
your shelves so you may want to
consider buying some of those as.
He rather than P.
Um.
Rebecca we have a few more questions
here do you have questions in
your queue as well.
I do have a few um.
Let me go ahead and just throw a couple
of those out and then if there are any.
I think you still wanna dress that might have
come through the group chat or elsewhere.
We should have a few minutes to do that.
I do have one from Andrea that
I believe you already addressed.
I just wanted to make sure Andrea
new talking about parameters,
especially for classics that
don't circulate particularly well,
but patrons expect that we have and I
think you mentioned the interlibrary loan
as well to kind of solve that problem.
Yeah, and then I have another question
from James Dino Ingram did a web cast
his 2 years ago on floating collections
and you mentioned that several times.
James is asking are floating collections
of failed experiment or a great idea.
That is a great question,
I think that we used too many of us.
Just assume that floating
collections were a good thing.
And there was no real way to analyze
if they were really a good thing and
then when you start really diving
into a lot of locations that float
you find that they are spending
more time reallocating collections.
Then they are gaining from the floating.
I think if you have a suburban library
system with perfectly spaced libraries
geographically with all the same
demographics that floating is a good
thing in floating is great for your system.
I think if you are a large urban
library with a huge mix of library types
that range from suburban libraries,
too small inner city.
Libraries I don't think floating
works for you,
especially if you live someplace
where you know,
some of your book drops are in
places that are impossible to get
to and it's easy to drive by another
branch and drop off things or you
have people who work at a downtown
location and drop off in the suburbs.
What some libraries.
I know National Public actually did
a study on this several years ago and
now well Rutherford published it.
Paper in library Journal about it,
they found that the inner city
libraries were being decimated their
collections were being really hurt
and those are the branches where
people walk in and browse and take
things off the shelves and their
suburban branches were overflowing
so it was really hurting their
circulation and they were spending
so much time reallocating.
That,
it didn't make a lot of sense and
they actually turned it off what they
found was by using their analytics tools,
and placing the books in the right
locations to begin with their
collection development.
Librarian's did a better job than
the whimsy of their patrons so
floating collections.
I think it it totally depends on
the type of library.
You are,
and it can be a really good thing
or it can be a really bad thing
guidelines for inventory.
I'm actually not a fan of a
whole system inventory.
I think if you are using a method
of aggressively weeding every area
of your collection over the course
of a year and you are barking
those things lost or missing.
You can't find on that are
slated to be we did so,
if they book is lost or missing.
It's not going to have any
circus associated with it.
So it's eventually going to show
up on your on your reading list.
So if used in market lost or
missing and 6 months later,
you declare it.
You know permanently gone and you
delete it from your system you're
actually at least once a year,
going through your entire inventory.
So I don't think you have to
do a whole system inventory.
In addition to that,
so I think rather than trying
to do a whole system inventory.
You just systematically weed your
entire collection every year.
So we have several more
questions that have come in.
But lots of them are either specific
questions for specific libraries,
so since we are right at the 3:00 o'clock.
Mark I'm going to say that we wrap up here.
We will be following up and
making sure we answer all of the
questions that have come in and.
We look forward to
continuing the conversation.
Thank you for participating in the
group chat and it's been a lot of
fun and if you have not subscribed
to 2 librarians in a microphone.
I please encourage you to do that.
I am librarian,
one on 2 librarians in a microphone
and we just dropped season
7 and so please subscribe.
Thank you all thanks
so much Trisha and thanks again
to everyone who attended and holy
liveliness in that group chat.
It's been great to see everybody's ideas
and ideas sharing and I'm just finding
out what other libraries and librarians
are doing this webcast will of course,
be archived and will send you an
email to let you know when it's
available sometime tomorrow.
You can find this webcast and all other
archived an upcoming web casts and the
events NPD section at Library Journal.
Dot com Thanks again.
Trisha this is fantastic.
I like I really like your
account down more than I like.
Most of David Letterman's so
well done to you thanks again.
Everyone and we hope to catch
you next time take care.