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Who You’re Reading

Written on: September 2nd, 2009 by: in News

In an attempt to get away (statistically, at least) from Patterson/Grisham/Evanovich/Roberts- the velvet mafia of library circulation- it’s always nice to look at the weekly records of books checked out from individual libraries in the Delaware Library Catalog. It’s a refreshing reminder that Delaware’s libraries are as different as the communities they serve, and while national trends and preferences are reflected in the library media that we make available, our libraries respond to their customers and always try to ensure that everyone has a home at the library.

It’s partly because of this structure that we can see lists like this one, last week’s most popular authors at the Greenwood Library. Not a “top-ten” name among them, and you might not find them on the front table at a big-box bookstore, but local libraries make sure that every book has its reader:

• Karen Kingsbury
• Robin Jones Gunn
• Wanda Brunstetter

There’s no chain-bookstore mentality in the Delaware Library Catalog- each library manages its own purchases through its own processes, and with its own funds- with some policy guidance from a collaborative collection development team comprised of library directors and Division of Libraries staff- and retains ownership of the books it purchases while those books are made available through any of the Kent, Sussex, or Del Tech and other libraries that make up the catalog consortium. A small collection of “floating” items is purchased by the team through funds managed by the Division, and circulates between all of the libraries and their customers- mostly books that have been selected to fill gaps in the non-fiction collection of the library catalog as a whole, or update the books and other media available in critical fields such as health and medical reference.