2019 Charleston Library Conference

Should an academic library offer popular reading material for its students, staff, faculty and sometimes even the public? This is a question often debated in higher education. Join our team as we explore the challenges and surprising benefits to offering a popular reading collection at your library. We will explore different approaches to managing such a collection and highlight three experiences from Florida Gulf Coast University, Georgia Highlands College, and Georgia State University.

Come discover how a leased collection of New York Times Bestsellers came to average over thirty percent checked out on any given day. We will share how popular materials encourage "reluctant readers", and how transferring from a purchased collection to a leased collection increased circulation and saved money. We will discuss challenges too, from administrative hurdles to managing collections across multiple sites. Finally, find out more about the various options available to tailor your popular reading collection exactly the way you want it.

Each of the panelists will give an eight to ten minute presentation, with time for questions.