[Web4lib] Libraries: Standing at the Wrong Platform, Waiting for the Wrong Train?

[Richard Wiggins]

This thread came up at Internet Librarian last night.  Stephen Abram
quoted a stat that books suggested for acquisition by patrons tend to
circulate at 7 times the rate of books selected by librarians.

Of course that begs the old "popularity does not equal quality"
concern, but Google became a $100 billion company based on a PageRank
algorithm weighted heavily towards popularity.

I'm curious if public library collections policies differ from
research library policies in this regard.  Even if subject matter
experts denounce a book as crackpot, it seems a public library might
still add it to its collection to meet patron demand.  And a research
library might add it so that experts can read what they are up
against.

Hmmm... If you buy "the" best book on a subject and it never
circulates, did you do the right thing?

/rich

On 10/26/05, Louise Alcorn <Louise.Alcorn at wdm-ia.com> wrote:
>
>
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> Louise E. Alcorn     --    Reference Technology Librarian
> West Des Moines Public Library
> 4000 Mills Civic Pkwy
> West Des Moines IA 50265
> (515) 222-3573      louise.alcorn at wdm-ia.com
> http://www.wdm.lib.ia.us
>
> >>> K.G. Schneider 10/26/05 11:55AM >>>
>
> >It would probably be cheaper than most ILL!
>
> I think the idea has merits, but I want to throw this comment out there, in
> light of a patron interaction I had less than 15 minutes ago:
>
> What if they 'buy' through Amazon a title you'd -never- add to your
> collection?  The patron in question wanted another 'tell all' book on Princess
> Diana (copyright 2005, so not eligible for ILL) which was -soundly- panned by
> LJ, Booklist, etc.  We'd never spend our budget on it, unless it was *the* hot
> book of the year and had to be bought (it's not).  Luckily, the book in
> question happens to be a reissue of a 1998 title, not a new edition (just a
> new, flashy cover), so I was able to ILL the '98.  If we had a policy to let
> them buy new titles 'for us' through Amazon, we might have gotten stuck with
> this book.
>
> My question/comment is:  I'm fine with 'giving them what they want' up to a
> point in the budget, but how would we avoid budget abuses and retain some
> selection control with such a system as has been suggested?
>
> I'm not asking this to be snarky, I'm genuinely curious how this would be
> handled.  Or if it is already being handled by any libraries?
>
> Best,
> Louise
>
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