When patrons enter the library they find a world of information and entertainment waiting for them in the form of books, DVDs, Blu-rays, magazines, digital materials, and more. But how do these materials make their way to Westlake Porter Public Library’s shelves? The answer is the library’s Technical Services Department. The department’s seven staff members select, order, receive and process the materials while maintaining the library catalog.
It all starts with the four selectors, who identify materials to purchase. They read reviews in authoritative journals, such as “Library Journal” and “School Library Journal.” They also follow blogs and newsletters to stay current with popular movies and TV shows. This helps them decide which books, DVDs and Blu-rays to order, how many copies to purchase, and when order additional copies of books or book series that may see renewed interest due to being adapted for film or television.
Materials are ordered months ahead of their release dates, especially popular fiction and nonfiction, DVDs and Blu-rays. “We’re ordering them as soon as we hear about them, so they are in our library catalog and available for patrons to place holds” said Technical Services Manager Jane Kirkland. “We put materials out on the shelves the morning the official release date if we have them, or as soon as possible after receiving them.”
The process is a little different for digital media, such as e-books and audiobooks. Westlake Porter Public Library belongs to the Ohio Digital Library consortium. Individual libraries in the consortium purchase their own copies for Libby, and these are shared among the libraries. When a title is popular or has a large number of holds the selectors purchase additional copies and WPPL patrons have priority on them. Once the copies WPPL owns have been checked out by all WPPL patrons on the holds list, copies are then available to patrons of other libraries in the consortium. Materials available through the Hoopla and Kanopy apps are provided by the vendor.
Once selections are made, a Technical Services team member places orders with library vendors. When the items arrive, one of the library’s catalogers adds them to the catalog. They are then processed to add Dewey Decimal call number labels, genre stickers, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and other identifiers to help patrons find them.
Selectors also monitor holds reports, which are generated at least once a week, to ensure enough copies to meet patron demand. When necessary, staff order additional copies using a specific formula.
Although demand for digital materials continues to grow, the library still prioritizes print materials and expects to do so for the foreseeable future, according to Kirkland. “However, we’re aware that some of our patrons want digital materials, and we’ll continue to provide those as well,” she said.
Kirkland also expects non-traditional materials to remain a priority because they are so popular with patrons. In fact, the library continues to expand that collection.