How does a book get from a publisher into the hands of a Canton Public Library patron? To celebrate National Library Week, we’d like to take you on that journey behind the scenes to see how it’s done. The process involves a high volume of materials and constant workflow.
It all starts with a librarian. Did you know that we have 22 librarians overseeing our collections? Each one oversees a portion of the library’s collections.
Our librarians use various resources to choose and order books for their collections. For popular titles, the library purchases multiple copies in various formats (print, large print, audio, e-book) to cater to different preferences. They also consider an author's current popularity when purchasing, like when and how many to order.
“One popular genre here in Canton is 'cozy mysteries,'” says Lisa Craig, our Collection Development Specialist. “They come out with a lot of frequency. You don’t want to miss a volume of a popular series. So, the librarian in charge looks at more specialized blogs or websites to keep up with specific areas and ensure they don’t miss a publication. For the librarian who orders manga, those are a constant. She’s very scrupulous at making sure that she’s catching and ordering each volume, making sure the sets are complete, and she’s getting the newest stuff.”
Once the librarians order books for their collections from various sources, they arrive at the library. Our technical processing team then checks the products and enters them into our circulation system.
Some books from specific vendors come “preprocessed,” while others need to be processed in-house. This involves cataloging them using the Dewey Decimal system and Library of Congress subject headings, creating records, adding barcodes and RFID tags and applying spine labels. The preprocessed books are inspected to ensure they meet the library’s standards. After they are processed, the books are taken to the Sorter Room.
“We have a mechanized sorter in the Sorter Room,” says Gale Forster, our Circulation Services Supervisor in charge of Technical Processing. “When a book is placed on the conveyor belt, the computer system reads the barcode or RFID tag. This brings up the call number and location for the book. The conveyor belt then puts it in the proper bin for that area of the library. Our pages unload the bin onto a cart, take the books out and put them on the shelves.”
The library receives between 500 and 1,000 new items each month, including books, children's materials and media. To make room, librarians regularly review their collections to remove damaged or underused books. If the books are in good shape, they are often passed on to the Friends of the Library Secondhand Prose Bookstore for resale.
When ordering popular books before the release date, Gale explains, “We have an agreement with vendors. We can get them a week before the release date, but those books cannot be available for patrons until the publication’s release date. So, we may get them five days ahead of the release date in the back, but they cannot go on the shelf until the publication day. That gives us time to process them and get them ready.”
“For those super-hot books,” adds Lisa, “we’re going to buy multiple copies in print, and we’re going to buy what we call Lucky Day copies, which cannot have holds placed on them. If you’re lucky, you come to the shelf and grab a copy, and that’s exciting. They can be checked out for shorter times than our other stuff. I’m also going to buy general circulating copies because some people just want to place a hold on something and know it will come to them eventually.”
Thousands of books arrive each year, and nearly 100 people work to ensure our patrons have access to whatever they are searching for, whether it’s enlightenment, entertainment or information. You may not see what goes on behind the scenes, but there is a lot that goes into getting a book from order to bookshelf.
We do it all for you—our community—and we hope you find the CPL experience fulfilling and rewarding.
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