Workshop presented October 29, 2013 in Waterloo, Iowa. Strategic public library selection, with a focus on refreshing the existing collection, streaming mainstream titles, and making careful decisions to concentrate the collection toward reader needs and demand. Fifth session in the Designing Collection Experiences series: http://bitly.com/18g71kR.

1. Designing Collection Experiences:
5. Selection
Roy Kenagy
rjkenagy@netins.net
www.whatwouldranganathando.org
October 29, 2013
Waterloo Public Library

2. What will selectors do?
Other than read reviews?

3. Traditional Selection | Criteria
What selectors do
How selectors decide

4. Cedar Rapids Public Library, a long time ago.

5. “In the hard-hitting
works of Harold
Robbins, even the
sacred isn't sacred.”
Sony Reader Store

6. Free Library of Philadelphia, home of
the original Greenaway Plan (1958).

7. Define Your
Objective
In war, then, let your
great object be
victory, not lengthy
campaigns.
Sun Tzu, Chapter 2

8. The Mission of Librarians is to Improve Society through
Facilitating Knowledge Creation in their Communities.
R. David Lankes

9. “The Dude abides. I don't
know about you but I take
comfort in that. It's good
knowin' he's out there.
The Dude. Takin' 'er easy
for all us sinners.”
The Stranger (Sam Elliott)
in The Big Lebowski

10. Conversation abides.
The mission of librarians is to help
readers create transformative meaning
in their lives and in the lives of others.

11. Transformative meaning…
is pretty much by definition narrative.

12. Narrative transformation matrix
Narration
True crime
The Pentateuch
Martha Stewart cookbooks?
Celebrity diets
Mode
Exemplar
Pregnancy & childbirth manuals
Deck-building manuals
Travel guides
Exposition
Theory
Practice
Affordance
Praxis

13. Anticipation
Thus it is that in war the
victorious strategist only
seeks battle after the
victory has been won,
whereas he who is
destined to defeat first
fights and afterwards
looks for victory.
Sun Tzu, Chapter 4

14. The half-life of texts
Publishing | Publicity | Reviewing
Word of Mouth

15. Pre-order
Academic approval plans
Automatically yours

16. Pre-duplicate
The Harold Robbins syndrome: Why you
should avoid relying on the volume of
holds when you add duplicates.

17. Selection / Acquisition /
Cataloging turn-around
Measure: Release time to shelf.

18. Reader requests
Purchase requests | Holds

20. The Selection Target
Format
Genre
Topic
Author
Series
Title

21. Placing a Bet
Popularity | Quality

22. Heterogeneous Granularity
We need all the clues we can get.

23. What is the best indicator of
future use of a library text?

24. Where can we find the best
evidence for the quality of a text?

25. Place your first bets on the titles
that have a track record.
Renewals

26. Renewal
Replacement | New editions |
Duplication

27. Exploiting the
Terrain
We may distinguish six kinds
of terrain, to wit: (1)
Accessible ground;
(2) entangling ground;
(3) temporizing ground;
(4) narrow passes; (5)
precipitous heights; (6)
positions at a great
distance from the enemy.
Sun Tzu, Chapter 10

28. Professional Resources
Reviews | Databases | Bibliographies

29. Booklist Online
Pregnancy and
Childbirth titles
11 total
2010 – 6
2011 – 3
2012 – 2

30. Jobbers
Ingram | Baker and Taylor | Brodart
Etc.

31. Retailers
Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Half-Price Books | etc.

33. Benchmark Libraries
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hennepin County (Minneapolis suburbs)
Allen County (Fort Wayne)
Skokie (Chicago suburb)
Multnomah County (Portland)
County of Los Angeles
Queens
Iowa City

34. Benchmark library holdings:
Pregnancy and Childbirth
Benchmark Library
Hennepin County
IUPLA [WorldCat]
Allen County
Skokie
Multnomah County
County of Los Angeles
Queens
Iowa City
Mean
2012
35
27
24
29
18
16
17
17
23
Publication Date
2011
2010
29
26
24
16
25
15
21
11
24
17
26
16
18
13
13
3
23
15
Mean
30
22
21
20
20
19
16
11

35. Increase in Number of Titles by Collection Scope
15
Title Increase multiple
High
12
Average
9
Low
6
3
0
Discontent,
Sadness, etc…
Happiness
Serenity
Eternal Joy
The Cat's
Pajamas
Collection Level
Collection Scope
Title increase multiple
Low
Average
High
Happiness
1
1
1
Serenity
2
2.5
3
Eternal Joy
4
5
6
The Cat’s Pajamas
8
10
12

36. 42 copies; 2008
31 copies; 2009
38 copies; 2009
27 copies; 2011
34 copies; 2009
26 copies; 2013

38. How many titles will you add annually?

40. Renewal
Weeding | Replacement | Duplication

41. Streaming
Eliminating foregone conclusions.

42. Collecting Artifacts
The resource sets
librarians traditionally
have “selected” from
Not to scale

43. Concentration
Keeping your balance on
the cutting edge.