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Designing Collection Experiences:
5. Selection
Roy Kenagy
rjkenagy@netins.net
www.whatwouldranganathando.org
October 29, 2013
Waterloo Public Library
What will selectors do?
Other than read reviews?
Traditional Selection | Criteria
What selectors do

How selectors decide
Cedar Rapids Public Library, a long time ago.
“In the hard-hitting
works of Harold
Robbins, even the
sacred isn't sacred.”
Sony Reader Store
Free Library of Philadelphia, home of
the original Greenaway Plan (1958).
Define Your
Objective
In war, then, let your
great object be
victory, not lengthy
campaigns.
Sun Tzu, Chapter 2
The Mission of Librarians is to Improve Society through
Facilitating Knowledge Creation in their Communities.
R. David Lankes
“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
Conversation abides.
The mission of librarians is to help
readers create transformative meaning
in their lives and in the lives of others.
Transformative meaning…
is pretty much by definition narrative.
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
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
The half-life of texts
Publishing | Publicity | Reviewing

Word of Mouth
Pre-order
Academic approval plans
Automatically yours
Pre-duplicate
The Harold Robbins syndrome: Why you
should avoid relying on the volume of
holds when you add duplicates.
Selection / Acquisition /
Cataloging turn-around
Measure: Release time to shelf.
Reader requests
Purchase requests | Holds
Designing Collection Experiences: Selection
The Selection Target
Format
Genre

Topic
Author
Series

Title
Placing a Bet
Popularity | Quality
Heterogeneous Granularity
We need all the clues we can get.
What is the best indicator of
future use of a library text?
Where can we find the best
evidence for the quality of a text?
Place your first bets on the titles
that have a track record.
Renewals
Renewal
Replacement | New editions |
Duplication
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
Professional Resources
Reviews | Databases | Bibliographies
Booklist Online
Pregnancy and
Childbirth titles
11 total
2010 – 6
2011 – 3
2012 – 2
Jobbers
Ingram | Baker and Taylor | Brodart
Etc.
Retailers
Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Half-Price Books | etc.
Designing Collection Experiences: Selection
Benchmark Libraries
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Hennepin County (Minneapolis suburbs)
Allen County (Fort Wayne)
Skokie (Chicago suburb)
Multnomah County (Portland)
County of Los Angeles
Queens
Iowa City
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
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
42 copies; 2008

31 copies; 2009

38 copies; 2009

27 copies; 2011

34 copies; 2009

26 copies; 2013
Designing Collection Experiences: Selection
How many titles will you add annually?
Designing Collection Experiences: Selection
Renewal
Weeding | Replacement | Duplication
Streaming
Eliminating foregone conclusions.
Collecting Artifacts

The resource sets
librarians traditionally
have “selected” from

Not to scale
Concentration
Keeping your balance on
the cutting edge.
Designing Collection Experiences: Selection
Designing Collection Experiences: Selection
Designing Collection Experiences: Selection

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Designing Collection Experiences: Selection

Editor's Notes

  • #5: Harold Robbins
  • #6: $300 signed first edition
  • #7: Emerson Greenaway, director at the time.
  • #11: Strategic objective
  • #13: Pent uh tuhk
  • #37: Hennepin County Library has 41 branchesWhat to expect when you’re expecting – 42 copies; 2008The Midwife – 38 copies; 2009You having a baby - 34 copies; 2009What to expect before you’re expecting – 31 copies; 2009Your pregnancy week by week – 27 copies; 2011Healthy Pregnancy Book - 26 copies; 2013