As we enter the summer season, many of us are looking for good books to read whether it’s on the beach, in the backyard, or while escaping the heat in air-conditioning.
KLCC’s Rachael McDonald checked in with Roseburg Public Library director Kris Wiley to find out how she makes sure patrons can find the books they’re looking for.
McDonald: What are the most popular books and types of books at the library?
Kris Wiley: Here at Roseburg, if I put a mystery label on a book, it's gonna go. I could put a mystery label on anything and they see that and it is gonna go. They like anything from cozies to super hardcore detective noir. They like books in translation. Books from the Nordic region are super popular as well. And then of course it's summer time, so our children's books are checking out fast and furious
McDonald: Summer also means summer reading programs. What kinds of reading programs are you offering?
Wiley: The summer reading program is the biggest project that most public libraries do all year. And we are no exception. We have programs for every single patron. The littlest ones have a log that they can be read to by grown ups or siblings or family members, friends and people can listen to audio books. And, they can turn those in. We have three different logs. Each time they get a free book, they get treasures. And then after three times they get into our grand prize drawing. Teenagers have the same sort of set up so they can have the opportunity to be in that grand prize drawing. They have the opportunity to do book reviews and each time they read a book or listen to a book, they can tell us a little bit about it, draw a picture. And we put all of their reviews in a drawing and we give out all those prizes at the end of this summer. We are expecting to receive over 2,000 book reviews this summer. It's amazing.
So we couldn't let the kids have all the fun, right? So adults have the opportunity to participate in a book review contest for gift cards.
McDonald: Now, I'm sure it's also challenging to make sure that you do have the books that people want to read, like the new books or the mysteries that are popular. How do you make sure there's enough books and ebooks available for everyone?
Wiley: You know, it's a challenge, right? For all libraries, to make sure that we are meeting the demand of patrons. I'm the one who manages the adult book selection and we have a youth services librarian who manages the youth services selection.
And together, I think we have an approach that's very similar. We do a lot of reading about books more than we actually read books themselves. So we're not only going online to see what's trending, we're reading the professional reviews, we're taking suggestions from patrons, we're seeing what's checking out here and what books are also coming out in that genre that have been popular. So we can introduce new books.
We take just a scattered approach trying to get all kinds of sources in to make the best decisions possible.
And we really think of our digital collections as extensions of our print collection. So you may find something that's available only on our ebooks platform because we have only so many financial resources to purchase these materials.
McDonald: Is there anything that the library offers that might surprise people?
Wiley: In the last year, we had a conversation with our local Audubon Society and they were interested in having binoculars and birding guides available because it had gone over well up at the Eugene Group. And we said yes. We don't have a library of things here, which is very popular. We have a space issue and we have a staffing issue, but they gave us three kits. It has binoculars, it has local birding guides and they get checked out quite regularly.
