1. You don't have to be an expert
Just as you aren't expected to have read every book in your collection for Readers' Advisory purposes, so too can you select books without being a subject or genre expert. In fact, if your tastes aren't deep and narrow, you will probably be a better selector, because you'll have an open mind and more of a curiosity about what your customers are — or might be interested in — reading. After all, customer needs and wants should be shaping the collection, not your own tastes. This is not to say you shouldn't try to learn as much about genres as possible, but it is generally better to be a generalist than a specialist.
2. Go where your reader customers go to find out about books
The days of marking selection journals and checking standard lists are over. The good news is that librarians have a wealth of other print and electronic resources for proactive selection. The bad news is that our customers often have access to the same sources, and sometimes find them before we do. Let's face it — our customers aren't perusing LIBRARY JOURNAL for good reads. Where do they find out about the books they are requesting? Ask them! If it's not a trusted recommendation from a friend or family member, it's often something mainstream like the local Sunday paper, PEOPLE and other pop culture magazines, the displays at B&N or the local Target or supermarket.
Make it a point to regularly browse these sources — you will be surprised at how many connections you'll start making. The proliferation of online content makes this even easier. When someone says to me, "I heard it on NPR", I can usually find it in article or podcast archives. Magazines have online editions, as do TV shows. Target and Costco are acknowledged tastemakers these days, and their suggestions are varied and interesting. Check out the monthly "Costco Connection" suggestions at www.costcoconnection.com.
Along the same lines, if your donations tend to come with store-specific stickers, pay attention - it's tangible proof of where your customers are finding books. Peruse genre Websites and blogs like "All About Romance" (www.likesbooks.com) or www.thrillerwriters.org. TV shows like "The Colbert Report" often feature authors of new and worthwhile books and archive interview clips.
See if you can get these print and online resources to multitask — can you start a blog to inform staff and patrons about what titles and trends are on their way? Can you pass on title-change notices to Web people so that they can edit online records? Maybe you can link to "Best of …" or other helpful lists for staff and customers alike. If a book title changes pre-publication, can you pass this change on to the cataloging department so that customers can more easily request it?
Trying to be a bookstore has its limits…
Unlike bookstores, libraries can only buy so many copies of the popular books, and your responsibility goes beyond that of a bookstore. Your job is to identify, "push", and acquire other books to fill the needs of readers. Have you just come across a break-out author? Do you have copies of the author's earlier titles? Put them on display. When you find announcements of forthcoming hot titles, check to see if you need to replace the author's earlier titles; put them all on display in the library or on your web page. Remember, book displays don't need to be elaborate, but they do need to be attractive and constantly-filled.
3. Anticipate when readers will want suggestions (and for what)
You probably already know that you need to monitor "outside influences" such as local and national media; but there are other, less tangible indicators of customer demand as well, and some of these indicators can be found in your own library.
If it's 4 pm on Friday, you may notice that the "thwup thwup thwup" over by the DVD shelves where customers are flipping through what's left is practically deafening. That's an indication that your patrons are looking for some weekend materials.
Be prepared for these weekend readers with books that will appeal to them. Fill your displays with attractive, popular titles for "downtime" relaxing or escapist reading. Make sure they are placed in a prominent place so that someone coming in for a quick after-work trip can't miss them. Pull some recent titles for last-minute customers looking for a "good book". Check that newly-received books are shelved in preparation for this activity. You might be surprised at how quickly the shelves empty during the last open hour.
Pay attention to seasonal differences. Anything with flowers on the cover will fly off display shelves come March (at least in the Snowbelt), so start weeding fiction and ordering replacements and new titles early in the year. Memorial Day and July 4th holidays are big "laydown" times for beach reads, so order them in advance to ensure you get them on the shelves as close to publication date as possible. Autumn often means more involving "reads", including nonfiction. And, perhaps not coincidentally, the last four months of the year are the biggest "adult" publishing season. If necessary, adjust your purchasing schedules and allocations to meet these cycles.
Indicators of a community, or even national, mood follow much less regular patterns, but you'll find them if you look Now, more than ever, reading is becoming a means of escape, if only for a short while, as well as a source of both recreation and information. Thrillers and historical fiction offer catharsis and escape, and well-written histories and biographies provide an opportunity to investigate how others have dealt with turning points and difficult times. Review your holdings for subjects such as presidential biographies and U.S. history, and for reissues of time-tested historical fiction authors such as Anya Seton and Jean Plaidy (who are finding new fans these days).
4. It's as much maintenance (replacements and weeding) and marketing as it is development
You will seldom get as big a budget as you would like to build the "ideal" collection, whatever that is. Often you'll be lucky to purchase more than the titles requested from week to week. Collections for new/expanded buildings, or for special projects, are treats; so when you're offered the opportunity to build a collection from ground up, grab it. In the meantime, try to make the collection you have the best it can be. Make sure that you have tools (spreadsheets, written lists, databases) for public service staff to record title and subject needs, and pay attention to them. Work with technical services to provide timely order records (reduce that paper trail!) and user-friendly catalog access points. Weed and replace fiction and paperbacks before the beach-read season, and make sure that staff across departments can work together on this process. As much as the budget permits, reorder copies of popular titles so that clean and attractive books are available for display and checkout.
5. It is NOT about you
Just as Readers' Advisory starts with what the customer wants to read (and not what you read), collection development focuses on what are the best selections for your library community. The collection doesn't exist to reflect your personal tastes, but those of the readers in your community. You have the right to have access to materials you would like to read, just as any other patron would, through either acquisition or ILL; conversely, you don't have the right to exclude materials you personally don't find appealing or appropriate. And when it comes to weeding, just let go. If a book isn't circulating, there isn't much reason to keep it on the shelves.
6. It all comes back to the reader
We're here to suggest and supply books to people who want them. All of your selection and maintenance activities culminate in an attractive, appealing collection that supports public service staff in RA transactions and provides customers with easy browsing access of titles they want to take home to read. If your circulation has increased as a result of these improvements, make sure that your administration knows, and that next year's collection budget reflects the high priority of these activities.
One last word of encouragement — it's OK to read — and purchase — what you want to on your own time
Feel free to read what you wish on your own time. It's probably impossible to avoid work-related reading entirely, but you are a customer too, and need to take care of your own reading needs, whatever they may be.
We all know that some days all you can handle is "eye candy," but even that can be helpful - you'll glean some ideas for updating your interior design section!
SARAH NAGLE is a librarian at the Chanhassen branch of Carver County Library in Minnesota. She selects general print materials for the system, provides Readers Advisory and reference services, and is active in the Readers Advisory Round Table (RART) of the Minnesota Library Association.