High-demand, bestselling titles meet the immediate needs of a large group of patrons. They’re the sparkly gold dust that attracts attention and draws in readers. But beneath that top layer of new titles are the “midlist” titles – the majority of all published works. In this group is where emerging authors, alternative and esoteric titles, and a much broader selection of works live. These are the titles chosen by libraries focused on providing a rich collection that encourages readers to look beyond the “shiny” titles.
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Top Library Leaders Share Their Thoughts: Turning the Page
By Misty Jones
For libraries to remain relevant and effective, we need to define ourselves and set a direction and identity. At the heart of setting this direction is remembering our core services, while adapting to our evolving internal and external environment. It means remaining open to new opportunities not yet envisioned, but still remaining true to ourselves and what we represent. By establishing a brand, libraries can identify themselves and their importance and relevance to their community.
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Product Update: Gale’s In Context
Posted on June 1, 2015
Take a look at the latest content recently added to some of your favorite In Context databases:
Biography in Context launched 11 new people portals including:
- Trevor Noah, the successor to Jon Stewart as host of “The Daily Show”
- Juliette Gordon Low (1860-1927), founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA
- Tony Robbins, self-help guru and motivational speaker
Help Rose’s Gardening Knowledge Bloom with Mobile Friendly eBooks
By Kim Martin
Meet Rose, the avid gardener She loves getting outdoors, working in the soil, and seeing her efforts take root, grow and bloom. Well, to be honest, she’s fairly new to gardening… and has lots of questions. She seeks information to inspire her, as well as inform. Her friends are gardeners too. Some are serious master gardeners even and they are stumped from time-to-time and need reliable resources to turn to.
Do you have patrons like Rose and her friends who are looking for practical and authoritative guidance on gardening, landscape, and horticulture?
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Historical Fiction Recommendations from Joyce Saricks: New and Popular in Large Print
Forget the “Columbus sailed the ocean blue” mnemonic devices and dusty history books. If you want to experience history with dimension and humanity, turn to historical fiction.
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Help Patrons Get Ahead of Movie Releases by Stocking Up on Large Print
Before they were stars…soon-to-be movie blockbuster titles available in large print!
Ahem…and cue the announcer! “IN A WORLD dominated by video and movies, a plucky group of librarians dares to put large-print books into the hands of readers starved for stories in the most readable format available.”
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Librarians Overcome Distance and Tradition with GVRL eBooks
Terry Beck, the Information Services Manager for Sno-Isle Libraries north of Seattle, knows firsthand how to deal with logistical nightmares. Beck is responsible for serving approximately 697,000 people in two counties across 21 community libraries. To complicate matters further, Beck lacks a central or main library location from which to work and was quickly running out of room for reference materials.
“We don’t have one great big place,” Beck bemoaned. “We knew we needed to grow our reference collection but we had no room for additional print materials.”
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Fiction, Schmiction. How About Some Reality?
Some readers crave fiction. But a growing number of readers are hungry for nonfiction. In fact, a recent analysis of circulation data from libraries around the country revealed phenomenal growth of circulating nonfiction over the last 20 years. Why? Well, here are two possible reasons:
Wanderlust Lives! Where in the World Will Your Patrons Go?
By Tina Creguer
Okay, so maybe the Wizard of Oz’s Dorothy has a point: there’s no place like home. But, for many people, there’s nothing more invigorating than being on the open road and exploring new places.
According to the U.S. Travel Association, Americans took 2.1 billion person-trips* in 2013 for both leisure and business. That’s a whole lot of travel! 78% of those trips were for leisure purposes; 22% for business. The association also reports that trip planning sources have shifted over the last several years, with social media and mobile devices being used more often.
With members of your community looking to electronic resources to support their travel planning, what resources do you provide to support their need for adventure and exploration?
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Public Libraries Get a Boost with Targeted Marketing and Data Analysis
By Kristina Massari
New Analytics On Demand Apps Improve Outreach and Provide Insights to Multi-Branch Systems
Public libraries face challenges demonstrating their value to the communities and stakeholders they serve – just 22% of Americans say they know most or all of the services provided by their public library. To help libraries overcome these barriers, Gale, part of Cengage Learning, has added three new applications to Analytics On Demand, the first affordable big data analytics solution for public libraries. The new apps, Marketing Action (for Patrons and Non-Patrons) and Branch Insights, help libraries deploy targeted direct marketing programs to current and prospective library users, as well as better understand how existing patrons are interacting with individual branches across a system.
Read morePublic Libraries Get a Boost with Targeted Marketing and Data Analysis