With nearly $9 million in funding cuts in 2009, Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML) decided to take a focused approach to improving their service and efficiency. The CML team chose to take a new approach to readers’ advisory, utilizing products from NoveList, including NextReads, NoveList Select, and NoveList Plus. This complete NoveList solution dramatically improved the Library’s readers’ advisory offering, one of many factors which contributed to their winning of the Gale/LJ Library of the Year Award in 2010.

Problems Faced by Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML)

The CML team often referred to their online catalogue as their ‘24/7 branch.’ “We know not everybody walks up to a desk anymore and asks what they should read,” shares Robin Nesbitt, Director of Technical Services, “but 95,000 cards in our system are used more than once per month.” Serving these ‘power users,’ as well as CML’s growing virtual user audience, was a growing challenge.

Effective readers’ advisory was one way to demonstrate value, but CML was missing the mark in this arena. In recent years, CML had created library newsletters to share readers’ advisory tips, but the effort had become very labor-intensive, keeping 12-15 staff members busy at a time. And newsletter content was often an issue, since many staff members were not well-read in certain genres. They needed a multi-faceted solution to help push the library’s content to patrons.

How NoveList Provided Solutions

“NoveList cares about public libraries; they GET this market and understand our challenges and needs,” concludes Nesbitt. “There’s a greater good here.”

They began by using NextReads for their e-newsletters. Staff members were immediately impressed with the NextReads tool’s ease-of-use. “The NextReads newsletters have really good content. Clearly someone has taken time to put this together,” mentions Nesbitt. “There are other products out there, but they’re just not as easy to use.” CML’s directors were amazed at how quickly the staff picked up use of NextReads.

NoveList Select fit in with the library’s readers’ advisory mission. “Readers’ advisory is critical as we continue to move into a digital future, especially if we want to keep reading alive in this country,” says Nesbitt. CML’s catalogue usage was significant, so utilizing NoveList Select to incorporate readers’ advisory into catalogue records made sense.

It has been a year since Columbia Metropolitan Library implemented the full NoveList solution, and they couldn’t be happier. Since implementing NextReads for their readers’ advisory newsletters, CML has saved tremendous time and staff efficiency. What once took 12 to 15 people over a month to create, now takes just 4 or 5 people within a few days. Available staff members have now been reassigned to more strategic roles and responsibilities.

Learn more about how you can benefit from NoveList Complete in your library.

NoveList Select allows librarians to place valuable reading recommendations from NoveList in the library catalog, where readers and library staff are able to easily discover new books that meet their needs.

"Overwhelmingly, the response has been positive and staff are finding that they are using the resources from Novelist much more frequently now that the content is available within our OPAC."

After launching NoveList Select at their library, Sharron Smith, Manager of Readers' Advisory Services at the Kitchener Public Library, reports that their staff and the public are very pleased with the service:

A branch manager at Kitchener expands on the positive impact NoveList Select is having at their library:

"Novelist Select has been an absolute boon to branch staff. Time limitations due to multitasking at the desk (circ, ref, phone, clerical duties) have frequently curtailed customer interaction. But now we have been able to quickly make author or title recommendations, point out series information, all of which has provided a terrific dialogue with customers. They feel it's a wonderful product. Customers have quickly grasped the potential and expressed pleasure in being able to find "something similar" quickly."

As the busy librarians at the Kitchener Public Library found out, NoveList Select provides a great way to place reading recommendations where your readers are most likely to find them--in the OPAC--thereby increasing visibility and circulation of your entire collection!

Learn more about how you can benefit from NoveList Select in your library.

In addition to offering the 25 e-newsletters provided by NextReads to their patrons, the Baltimore County Public Library uses NextReads to create a library newsletter called Highlights at BCPL. They send this monthly online newsletter to all of their patrons, over 160,000 people.

Highlights at BCPL has proven to be an extremely successful marketing and outreach tool for the library, allowing them to easily share information about library news, resources, programs, fundraising, and reading suggestions with patrons. Heidi H. Gillis, Marketing and Development Manager for the Library, describes the benefits that the library has seen from this newsletter:

To view the current issue of Highlights at BCPL, visit the library's NextReads page on their website at http://www.bcpl.info/centers/library/library_nextreads.html.

Learn more about how you can benefit from NextReads in your library.