Many thanks to those who responded to my request for this information -
summary of responses attached below. Seems to be most successful / less
problematic in unitaries / metropolitans though.
Kim Herring
Reader Development Librarian
Customer Services, Libraries and Archives
Community and Environmental Services Directorate
Northumberland County Council
Tel: 01670 534522
email: [log in to unmask]
I started a Top Twenty collection in March 2008
The collection is available in 6 libraries and is due for review again in
September.It is a one week loan period with no renewal and no requests
allowed on the titles...there are 2 copies of each top twenty title per library. I
also intended it being one book one week loan but forgot the one book bit
when launched and was then too late to introduce.
It is working well and customers like it but the downside is being left with
multiple copies of the titles - with some it isn't a problem as they will also
issue and I am thinking of using them maybe for Reader Group collections. Holt
Jackson automatically supply titles as appear on Bookseller list.
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We have been doing fast back collections (we call them Q Busters) in 2 of our
libraries in Swansea for the past 4 years. Books are issued for 1 week and are
non-reservable and non renewable. The collections are made up of the top 10
fiction and non fiction titles in both hardback and paperback.
The collections are very popular and issue 3 times more than the same titles
purchased for normal issuing. I think it probably works best In a community
library where you get people coming in a few times a week to change their
books. Regular customers in particular like this service as they can pick up a
bestselling title without having to reserve and wait for the book.
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We have done one week loans of popular AF/ANF since 2002. We have used
various targets over the years. We started with stock issue rates of 24+ p.a.
per title and many libraries exceeded this. For the last couple of years
however demand has decreased and we have removed collections from any
library where the issues were under 800 p.a.for the collection as a whole. This
means we now have 16 collections down from 22.
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Rochdale has a 2 week loan period for Bestsellers. Loans are non reservable
and non renewable. Seems to work quite well.
Freda Fletcher [[log in to unmask]]
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We introduced a one week loan collection in 6 of our libraries in July and so far
it's proving very popular.
We are using a mixture of fiction and non-fiction paperbacks Top 10
Bestsellers, 70%fiction, for one week loan. They are not reservable but they
can be renewed once. We considered making them not renewable at all but
the public seem happy to try them with the option to renew them once for one
week should they need to. I think many of our readers may have been a bit
reluctant to try borrowing one if they did'nt have the option at all.
I designed a FAQ form with a comments form on the reverse and have
received about 40 responses so far, 38 of which were postitive, some
overwhelming so. Two comments were negative regarding the one week time
span as too short even with the renew option which in effect gives them two
weeks if they need it.
We've shelved them on Book Pods with as much face on display as possible in
a prominent location in each library. I'm hoping to increase issues and visits
and also to hightlight the fact that libraries do have new books and that we
can supply them to our readers in a timely fashion.
We're also pushing them as a good choice for people in a hurry who want to
grab the lastest good read quickly and easily.
I would say they are well worth a try based on the evidence we have so far,
they are issuing well and a popular concept with both readers and staff. Staff
have been very positive about the collection which I think has helped
encourage readers to try the service enormously. I spoke to colleagues in
Leicestershire (John Martin) and Staffordshire (Valerie
Lovatt) before planning our collection in Derby and they were both very
helpful.
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Here in West Sussex we have Top 10 Bestsellers collections in many of our
libraries with the top 10 paperback fiction and non-fiction on a 7 day loan with
no renewal.
We get the titles in sets of 36 (we have 36 libraries) when they reach the top
10 direct from our supplier, HoltJackson, so if we've bought a lot initially after
6 months or so we can end up with a lot of copies of the popular paperbacks
sitting on the shelves.
The top 10 collections are not in our smaller libraries, but do well in the larger
ones and it does mean that we have the same paperback titles as you find in
the bookshops often immediately available. People do complain that a week is
too short though!
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We have introduced ' Rapid Reads' along the lines that you indicate. has
proved very popular and successful - multiple copies of well known titles plus
some things people might not otherwise come across. One week loan - non-
renewable and exempt from reservations. ( obviously important to have other
copies in the system for reservation). No real problems once the category is
placed on the library management system. A couple of customer complaints
that a week isn't long enough ( hence the longer loan copies).
I would certainly recommend the approach.
here's our web link - hope it works
http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?
CONTENT_ITEM_ID=98271&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=5247
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