On average, a new book costs somewhere between $20 – $35 dollars, depending on the length of the book, whether it is fiction or nonfiction, paperback or hardcover. Add to that the cost of preparing it for checkout, which involves cataloging it, adding a barcode, a book label, a spine label, an RFID tag for tracking, and some sort of protective cover.
If it is a book the Carpinteria Community Library thinks will be in demand, our staff may also purchase a large print edition — and, if available, an eBook, a digital audiobook and possibly a book on CD. Depending on the publisher and type of book, an eBook costs between $30 and $160, and an audiobook between $50 and $180.
If we were to provide one copy of each format for one title, the cost runs the library, on average, about $200.
The library checks out books for a period of three weeks, offers 10 days for patrons to pick up their hold requests, and we need to figure in the time it takes to get a book from one library to another, so let’s say three days for that. That means that for each book, the time allotted for each checkout could be five weeks.
But you need that book for your book club meeting in three weeks. And you aren’t the only one!
Let’s take a specific example of a very popular book, and what our process was to get you that book you want without you having to wait a year to get it.
Kristin Hannah’s “The Women”was published in February of 2024. We initially purchased two print copies, two eBooks, and an audiobook. We quickly added more print copies and eBooks, and we currently have eight print copies (two of which were donated), five eBooks, four audiobooks, and two large print copies.
We are part of the Black Gold Library System, sharing materials between six member libraries. In the library system, there are currently 43 print copies of “The Women” available for checkout, and even though it has been nine months since the book came out, there are still 21 holds on the book. Carpinteria’s copies of the books have been checked out to Carpinteria patrons 43 times and are now out to patrons from other libraries.
Each of the member libraries in Black Gold uses a system that prefers our local patrons. In other words, if you have a Carpinteria library card, you will go to the top of the list for whatever books we own. There could be 100 people on the list for a title, but if we own a copy, and you are the next person on the list with a Carpinteria Community Library card, you will be next in line for that book. The total checkouts for the 43 copies of the book in the Black Gold System have been checked out 288 times and — again — there are still 21 holds pending on the title.
One of the tricky things about running a small library that serves a community of readers is having enough copies of a book such that the wait time is not six months — preferably not even three months. So, the library tries to add several copies of the “hot” titles, so the wait time is shortened.
What will happen with “The Women” — which is what happens to all very popular books — is that in some period of time, and I predict it will be January, all the holds will be filled and there will no longer be the demand that we have seen for most of this year.
At that time, all eight copies of “The Women” will return to our library. Have you been into the library? Then you know we do not have shelf space for eight copies of anything. In this particular case, we will create a “book club in a box” with those books and they will continue to be available for book groups.
But, in many cases, we will just have too many copies of a book, and they will be sold at the Friends of the Carpinteria Library Bookstore, right next door to the library, where our wonderful volunteer Friends will turn the books into money that will buy the next hot title.
This post was originally published on here
