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To grow comprehensive reach with our collections, we must avoid ‘safe’ selections that potentially only appeal to those who already engage with us.
INSIGHT
Building Collections
Discovery and serendipity F
OR obvious reasons, “comprehensive” is a much debated and tested term in relation to public libraries. It is, of course,
enshrined in the legislation. In terms of our living library collections, I suggest we probably need to reframe “comprehensive”. Perhaps we need to be shaping and building our content around comprehensiveness of representation and appeal, rather than chasing an unobtainable idea of “true” comprehensiveness of collection. Perhaps we focus more on need, on making smart selections and working hard to improve their visibility and discoverability.
This is partly about how we promote our collections in libraries and online. It is partly about library layout and physical presentation, and in online spaces shaped for discoverability. However, it is also about how we step out of our own spaces and make our collections visible to those people who are not already engaged with us. And how, once reached, we draw those people further into our collections.
Here’s an example. Last year, Suffolk Libraries hosted a stall at the Suffolk Pride celebration, an event attended by hundreds. Visitors were pleasantly surprised to find we carry such a strong collection of LGBTQIA+ interest titles, but the overriding feedback was that this needs to be more visible.
Working with our staff LGBTQIA+ network, we explored how we can achieve this. Of course, part of the response is about how we present stock in our physical and digital library environments, but another answer lies in our catalogue record metadata. How we tag and catalogue our content makes a huge difference to if and how people discover it. The relevant subject tagging in our off-the-shelf bibliographic records
June 2023
is patchy, and where present at all tags are often highly specific. This has use, as it shows we have material relating to those specific areas of LGBTQIA+ interest and experience. However, having no higher-level tagging makes it difficult for the casual browser to search and discover our wider LGBTQIA+ content. We’re now starting a manual process of tagging relevant stock with the missing, more generalist subject heading, making this area of our collection more searchable. So, there are things we can do to facilitate discovery. However, underneath this we do need to have the right things in our collections to begin with; to recognise and understand what stock will inspire discovery and encourage impulse borrowing. There is a place here for the big-hitting, instantly recognisable bestsellers, but it goes well beyond that. Libraries are unique environments where serendipity can be created. They help people discover new, richer reading experiences, seemingly by good fortune, but actually by the good planning and expertise of the professionals behind the scenes. To achieve this, stock buyers need to look outwards and anticipate both shorter-term changes in demand and longer-term trends. We need to know the audiences we are reaching for. Who are they and what might entice and draw them into our collections. We need to understand the communities around our libraries – how they are changing, growing and evolving – using data relating to both existing audiences and wider communities to inform our strategic selections. For example, large new housing developments may bring more young families into a library’s catchment community. We can also coordinate with other engagement work, both in and outside of libraries. What are our
Paul Howarth (
paul.howarth@
suffolklibraries.co.uk) is Head of Content and Resource Development, Suffolk Libraries.
www.suffolklibraries.co.uk
libraries and partners doing to support communities affected by the cost of living, or around financial wellbeing, for example, and how can our collections fit with this.
It may mean literally taking our collections to new audiences. In doing this we need to know our aims and intended audience and provide selections of stock to excite and attract them. Our presence at Suffolk Pride only worked because it was supported with quality, curated stock. To grow comprehensive reach with our collections, we must avoid ‘safe’ selections that potentially only appeal to those who already engage with us. The art is to build collections that challenge perceptions and speak to people where they are – collections that present libraries as places that know you and understand what you want, perhaps even more so than you do yourself. From the customer’s point of view, this will appear serendipitous, but in reality, it is our well-engineered collection building and product placement that helps people find their new favourite read. IP
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