New Books and the Lack Thereof: A Quick Word from Your Director
A peek behind the shelves
I have been getting the same piece of feedback consistently, which tells me there is a serious problem.
There are not enough new books. At the start of my tenure, I was on the ball, ordering books monthly. When our budget squeezed, I missed one month, then the habit unraveled.
Our "New Shelf" has been scarce, consistently, for the last three months. That is unacceptable, and as the director, it is entirely my responsibility to correct this mistake. That being said, I order the books and determine where they go within the library, but I lean on others to complete the cycle.
First, we look at how much is earned through the Wishing Jar. Then, we add that to our allotted budget for materials purchases. Materials include books, but they also include all of the magazines we're subscribed to as well as the movies we have to offer. The funds for supplies to cover and catalog the books is derived from city allocation funds, or the general funds paid to us by the city from Eureka taxpayers.
Second, we look for gaps in our collection to fill and popular new releases. From here, it's pretty easy to fill a card up with 30-40 items. Generally, I try to focus on a different shelving location with each order. So one order might be predominately mysteries for adults with only a handful of new picture books, or vice versa. Once the order is finalized, the distributors fill the order (some of the distributors are even kind enough to put the plastic covering on our books for us for a menial fee). Usually it takes about two weeks for the entire order to be filled and arrived. This is why it's so important to continuously order more books! The state requires that we purchase at least 80% new titles that have been released in the last 24 months. So, we can't just grab a box from a garage sale and slap stickers on it to meet the goal, we have to be meticulous, which is another reason it's a little more complicated than ordering a book for oneself.
Lastly, the book arrives! I stamp the pages reccomendded by the ALA, which is to help remind patrons the book they're reading will have to be returned at some point. On a sticky note, I write the call number, shelving location, and distributor for each title. Then, Ariel, our technical services assistant, adds labels, barcodes, and places them on the New Titles display -- the "wedding cake"
All that is to say, I am aware that I need to get better about ordering new books, and I am fine-tuning a system to keep our collection up to date and on budget.
Please don't ever hesitate to reach out and let me know if there's something you think I could be doing better, especially if you have specific suggestions for how I can improve. And if I ask for explanations, please know that I am only trying to understand your observation from all angles, and my asking questions is not meant to undermine your complaint, but to better understand it.
Thank you all so much for the support. I aim to make you all proud.
Eureka Public Library 606 N. Main, Eureka, Kansas 67045 620-583-6222 eurekapubliclibrary.org
