New Year, New Items

With my 2010 collections budgets worn thin by late November last year, I had forgotten how much I enjoy collections development!  With the New Year (and a fresh budget) dawning at last, a load of fresh books and movies are on the move, bound for my inbox.  My desk will soon be (more) cluttered with barcodes and processing materials, stickers, tape, stamp pads, contact paper, and all the rest.

There’s something remarkably satisfying (although also mildly pesky) about putting the protective plastic coverings on new books.  It’s a strange point of pride for me, seeing all those shiny spines on the new book shelf by my desk, transformed from standard-issue hardcovers – TA DA! – to sparkly-crackly library books.

My patrons are for the most part unabashed lovers of murder and mayhem (in their reading materials anyway).  I’m primarily a reader of nonfiction, with a dash of intellectual sci fi and well-written (sadly few and far between) fantasy novels tossed in.  Learning to purchase for my audience here has been fun, but challenging.  I have seen some of my favorites languish sadly along on the shelves, but then the Pattersons, Baldaccis, and Grishams of the world will be snapped up with excitement, devoured, returned, and snapped up again.  I may not be a big fan of this kind of fiction myself, but my patrons are happy, my circ numbers are on the ups, and that’s a good thing!