[Web4lib] Testing 1stReads

[steve-coffman at comcast.net]

Friends and colleagues,  

A word of warning. This is a pretty lengthy description of an experimental
new web-based library donation program that takes advantage of the
capabilities of the Internet to match library needs with donor interests and
to offer some powerful financial incentives in the bargain.  I know that
most of you here have little to do with library acquisitions ... at least
when it comes to books ... or fund raising, for that matter ... but I'm
hoping you'll be interested in the program from a technical point of view,
if nothing else, and because I think it is a nice demonstration of the sort
of thing that the Web now makes possible.  Plus I know many of you and I'd
like reactions from as broad a spectrum as possible.  So, those of you who
are not interested should take this opportunity to delete the message ... no
hard feelings.   

Now, for the rest of you, find yourself a comfortable place to read for a
few minutes and I'll try to be as brief as I can.

This July, the Riverside County Library will be the first in a series of
libraries to begin testing a brand new, experimental library donation
program called 1stReads. We've been working hard developing the program for
the past year or so, but before we opened it up to the general public for
the first time, we would like invite as many of you as possible ...
librarians, library directors, and library workers of all types ... to have
look at the program before it actually goes live.   We have been working on
this thing so long we're sure we've developed a little bias ... so we hope
you'll come in and slam the doors, kick the tires, and take it for a test
drive,  and tell us what you think.  We are interested both in your general
reactions, as well as specific suggestions for improvements, things we may
not have seen, potential problem areas we may not have anticipated, and
anything you think might be improved or enhanced  

Here's the demo web site for the Riverside County Library
http://www.booksite.com/texis/scripts/community?sid=5906 which will be
linked off the Riverside County Library Web site at
http://www.rivlib.co.riverside.ca.us when the program goes live.  But before
you go running over there, let me take a minute or two to tell you a little
about how 1stReads works (or at least, how we are hoping it will work).  

First off, the whole purpose of the program is to try to rationalize and
improve upon the way people give books to libraries.  Anybody who's been
around libraries knows that people love to give us books.  The problem is
that by the time we get those books they are usually too old, too passe or
too tattered and too worn to be added to the library collection ... and the
vast majority of them just end up in the book sale. Even those few we do
take for the collection often require special handling and processing and
may be costing us more than they are worth.  Now there is nothing wrong with
book sales ... many libraries make quite a good deal of money off them ..
and we would certainly encourage people to continue to clean out their
garages and bring their old books by the library, but we wanted to see if we
couldn't find a way to encourage people to donate books libraries really
need, when we need them, and in a way that fits in easily with our normal
acquisitions and cataloging processes without creating a lot of extra work
for the staff.  

That's how we came up with 1stReads ... now, here's a short overview of how
the program works:

The 1stReads program allows libraries to create online 'wish lists' (for
lack of a better term at the moment) specifying the exact titles and
quantities of the books they would like to have donated.   As you can see,
Riverside has created wish lists for Forthcoming Fiction and Non-Fiction
titles, Children's books, Christian Fiction, Management, and Home Schooling
and, of course, Harry Potter. An academic library might create lists that
would appeal to the reading interests of particular faculty, particular
departments, or the alumni of particular schools, etc.   The program is
completely flexible, libraries can make whatever kinds of lists might appeal
to communities they are trying to serve -- and changing them and updating
them is easy.  All you do is send us a list of ISBNs and quantities of the
books you want to include on your lists and the discount you want to offer
(more on that in minute), and the software does the rest.   1stReads wish
lists work very much like the Amazon Wish Lists that many libraries are
already using --i.e. you pick the titles you want, you pick the number of
each title you want, and Amazon keeps track of how many have been ordered --
etc  BUT there are two very BIG and very important differences:

1.  1stReads Offers Donors a Real Bargain.  
With Amazon wish lists (and others like them) libraries are basically
relying on the patron's sense of generosity and goodwill to motivate them to
buy you the book. 1stReads relies on that sense of generosity and goodwill
as well ... but we have also sweetened the pot considerably by adding some
very strong financial incentives into the mix.  First off, patrons who
donate a book to the library through 1stReads get to be the first to check
out and read that book when it arrives at the library ... that's why we call
it 1stReads.   Second, the patron gets a charitable income tax deduction for
the full amount of their donation ... and 1stReads keeps track of their
donations throughout the year and sends them a complete report just in time
to do their taxes.  Third, patrons pay no sales tax, because their payment
is considered a donation to the library.  Fourth, patrons pay no shipping
costs because their donations are shipped to the library and 1stReads donors
simply come in and check them out.  And, finally, and perhaps most
importantly, patrons who donate to the library through 1stReads get a big
discount off the retail price.  In practice each library sets its own
discounts (and they can vary from title to title), but they can be
substantial.  For example, Riverside is offering its selections at anywhere
from 50%-70% off retail.  Those deep discounts are possible because 1stReads
orders are placed through the library's own accounts and the
library can pass along the trade discounts it receives to the donors ... and
occasionally even help foot a little of the bill itself ... as is the case
with the new Harry Potter that Riverside is offering for 70% off to
encourage people to donate a title that has already been heavily discounted
almost everywhere else.  For more on how this works, see the Information
About 1stReads for Librarians pages at
(http://www.booksite.com/texis/scripts/oop/click_ord/showlist.html?sid=5906&
list=Information+About+1stReads+For+Librarians).

Add that all up, and we hope that 1stReads will make a pretty attractive
package to potential donors ... they get to read the book first, probably at
about the same time as it is out in bookstores; they get a big discount off
the retail price ... generally bigger than they could find at any retail
location. They pay no sales tax nor shipping costs. They get a tax deduction
for the whole amount of their donation, and we send them a report at the end
of the year, so they can keep track of all their donations -- because we
hope there will be many.  And, of course, they also get to feel good about
their contribution to the library and to their community, as well they
should.  The only downside for the donor is that they can only donate the
books the library wants to buy and they have to come in and check out their
donations at the library.  But those seem like pretty minor inconveniences
in comparison to the benefits they'll receive -- or at least, that's the way
we hope they'll see it. 


2.  1stReadsâ?¢ Works with the Library's Normal Acquisitions and
Cataloging Processes.

When a donor orders a book through an Amazon 'wish list' or similar donation
program -- the library ends up with a single copy of an unprocessed book.
These 'one-offs' are not always easy to incorporate into a library's
acquisitions and cataloging flow -- and that often means special handling
and additional costs -- particularly for libraries that are getting much of
their material pre-processed.  

Now, when that same patron orders through 1stReads -- 1stReads
electronically forwards that order to the library along with the money we've
collected from the donor.  The library is then free to place that order with
any vendor it wants ... which means it can choose to get the book processed
or unprocessed or anything in between and the library can use all its
existing accounts, processing profiles, etc, without creating a lot of
special handing for the staff.  In fact, the only thing the library has to
do is order the book, and create a hold for the donor in the on-order record
in the library's ILS.  That way, when the book comes in, the library will
notify the donor their book has arrived, using its standard methods,
whatever those happen to be  ... e.g. phone, email, postcard, or whatever. 

As for how much all of this is going to cost, the answer is we don't know
yet.  One of the purposes of these initial beta tests is to get a better
handle on what the actual costs of the program are.  However, once the
program gets going, we expect to recover those costs by charging libraries
some kind of a minimal setup fee or annual subscription, plus a small
percentage of each donation.  Since donors will actually be paying that
percentage, the actual costs to the library should be negligible ... and we
are hoping the benefits will be great.  

Finally, speaking of beta tests, the first round of beta testing is already
full ... but, if everything goes well, we are planning to expand the program
to additional libraries later this summer.  So if you think your library
might be interested in participating, drop me an email at stevec at lssi.com --
or if you really want to be first in line, drop by the LSSI booth at ALA
(#2604) and we will have the sign-up sheet there.  Also, feel free to drop
by the booth if you'd just like additional information on the program.
We'll be demonstrating 1stReads and answering any questions you might have
at the LSSI booth throughout most of Saturday and Sunday ... and we look
forward to seeing you there.  Meanwhile, if you get a chance, stop by the
Riverside 1stReads site
http://www.booksite.com/texis/scripts/community?sid=5906 and play around as
much as you'd like until July 1st ... after that it's for real.

Thanks in advance for your help with this .... 




Steve Coffman and the whole 1stReads Development Team