Preparing Your Digital Collection for An Influx of Users

Originally published at The-Digital-Librarian.com

With many libraries now either closed to the public or facing reduced hours, patrons are being directed to our virtual branches. Knowing this, is your digital collection ready?

Can Patrons Access Your Collection?

A valid library card is a pretty standard prerequisite for using the library's digital collection. Knowing this, what options are available to patrons with expired or blocked cards, or those with no card at all? Depending on your library's situation, it may be impossible (or at least inadvisable) to have people come to your physical location for cardholder services. Instead, consider the following:

• Perform a mass renewal/extension of library cards: Such extensions will prevent patrons from losing digital access to your services and reinforce social distancing.
• Ensure staff have mobile/remote access to your ILS: Remote access will ensure staff can deal with any cardholder issues that may arise going forward, lest patrons be cut off from your digital branch without recourse.
• Enable patron-driven temporary cards:  In Suffolk County, we are allowing patrons to sign up for a temporary card, good for 90 days. This card can be used to use databases, digital media, and other online services. Such an option can provide critical access to new users, as well as serve as a stand-in for lost or expired cards.

This is also the time to check your help/how to section regarding your digital collection. Is it up to date? A patron with a valid card who cannot understand how to borrow content is as cut off from your digital branch as a tech savvy patron with an expired card.

Is There Anything for Users to Borrow?

If you're going to engage in active promotion of your collection of eBooks, audiobooks, streaming movies, and other digital content, you need to be prepared to meet user demand. Failure to do so will leave patrons engaged in a futile search for an eBook akin to the quest for toilet paper at Target. As it now stands, our print and analog collection is going to be underutilized for the next 12 to 18 months, due to both social distancing, and a general avoidance by our public of heavily touched surfaces. Knowing this, you should be reallocating these funds to further invest in digital media. While spending more on content is a good first step, there are several other approaches you can take to make your expenditures go further:

• Draw attention to collections with favorable borrowing rules: Collections like Hoopla, Kanopy, and others employ a cost-per-checkout model ensuring items will always be available, which can reduce user frustration. Additionally, some vendors are making a shift from one-copy, one-checkout to simultaneous use.
• Curate free digital collections: Project Gutenberg has a massive collection of public domain eBooks. For audiobooks, try sites like LibriVox. In both cases, you can provide unlimited access to a fairly expansive collection of classics.
• Rationing: This is probably the least attractive option. Simply put, rationing would involve tightening lending rules, such as limiting the loan period of materials or reducing the number simultaneous loans by an individual user. This can effectively allow more people to borrow less material. Consider this a last resort.

As you expand your digital collection, be sure to keep a close watch on your holds list. Ideally, you will want to be as responsive as possible as patron use shifts to this format.

Keep Abreast of Recent Vendor/Publisher Changes

In the face of a pandemic, there have been a number of changes taking place with vendors and publishers. Recently, Macmillan dropped its library eBook embargo, increasing the potential depth of your collection. Streaming movie service Kanopy is offering a credit-free collection for viewing. Overdrive has curated a collection of free and low-cost eBook & audiobook titles, and is currently providing a simultaneous access model for some content.

Don't Forget the Kids!

Children and young adult titles are often an underutilized portion of our collection. With many schools now closed, prepare this collection for increased attention. Many vendors offer public library/public school eBook partnerships. Consider exploring these! Presently, the Sora Reading App is extending no-cost eBooks and audiobooks to remote learners. Tumblebooks is a collection that is easily accessed by computer or mobile device, and its content allows for unlimited simultaneous access. Don't have a subscription, Tumblebooks has begun giving libraries free access to some of their collection until August 31, 2020!

In Conclusion

Patrons are headed for our digital collections--with our encouragement. When they arrive at our digital branch, let's do all we can to ensure the experience is a positive one!