IfIOnly Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 That's what I've been doing today. They're pretty good about honoring my requests. Looking forward to new but borrowed books. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirstenhill Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 That's cool! I've requested my library buy books a couple of times, but as far as I can tell, they never bought them...which didn't encourage me to keep trying. It's a large system and they specifically say they won't tell you if they decide to buy it or not after you make the request/suggestion. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melbotoast Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 I've tried requesting a few books, but they haven't bought any of them. They did buy Prince Caspian dvd at my request. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IfIOnly Posted August 8, 2015 Author Share Posted August 8, 2015 That's cool! I've requested my library buy books a couple of times, but as far as I can tell, they never bought them...which didn't encourage me to keep trying. It's a large system and they specifically say they won't tell you if they decide to buy it or not after you make the request/suggestion. Oh, bummer! That's not a great system. They send me an email if they don't order them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IfIOnly Posted August 8, 2015 Author Share Posted August 8, 2015 I've tried requesting a few books, but they haven't bought any of them. They did buy Prince Caspian dvd at my request. Total bummer. The ones I suggest are usually rated really well on Amazon and I include links in my request. I've wondered if that has something to do with getting my request so often, but I don't know. They turned down some historical comic books I asked for though. They didn't have the greatest ratings because the historical accuracy wasn't the greatest, mostly by omission. My kids love all thing comic books though, so it was worth a try. :p 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaraby Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 I've never had the library not buy an item I had requested so I don't know what our library does in that case. With each of the one's I've requested, they send a letter to oet me know it will be purchased, and then a hold is placed on my card so that I get to be the first person to check it out when it's available. I've never requested a book I needed for our lessons, though. Usually if the library doesn't have it I either try to find it used, go without, or find an alternate book the library does have. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 I finally started sending purchasing requests to the library near the end of the winter or so, and it's been great. They've bought almost everything I asked for. That said, the first time I asked for something from circa 2007 or so they sent me an email saying that they only want purchase requests for books published within the last 2 years, so that seriously cuts down on books I can request. They've also turned down the occasional book saying their supplier doesn't carry it, which can be kind of frustrating, but I talked to our children's librarian and she's frustrated with it too at times, so it's not like they're just using it as a phrase to say no. I've also mostly been requesting books from series they already have other parts of, so that probably increases the odds of them buying the items. I've never attempted to get them to buy anything textbook-like, and I doubt that they'd go for that, but I'm not sure if that's what the OP meant anyway. They email me regardless of what they decide to do. If they do purchase the item they place a hold on it for me and charge me $0.25. ETA: they only allow 2 purchase requests per 7 days, so it takes some planning ahead if I want to request a bunch of books. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmstranger Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 I've only requested once and the library did order it, but it took FOREVER! I may try for another book in the future, but it would depend on how badly I wanted it! This year, I ended up buying the ones they didn't have. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadah Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 I did this recently and they ordered three of our science books. I put in all our history read-alouds. I hope they get those too. I wish I knew their criteria for purchasing. Our other library has been good about inter-library loans. They don't charge for these. I save those for out-of-print books. We've had books from all over the country. Mostly from University libraries. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 It hasn't been worth the stress for me, for school/tutoring. I have learned which type of books they are most likely to buy. If they buy the book it usually shows up in my holds about 2 weeks later. I try and keep a list of my requests, so I don't waste my time asking for the same book twice. I can ask for ebooks, too. My library is huge and very disorganized. Maybe I should ask more than once for a book I really want. I don't do interlibrary loan. Never mind not getting the book, they don't check them back in correctly, and the mess that leads to is epic. When it comes to libraries, bigger is not always better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmseB Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 I did, and they approved one of my requests (and they will automatically hold it for me so I'm the first person who checks it out), but now I'm wondering if it will get here in time to fit in to our lesson plans. My library won't purchase OOP books, even if I link to them on Amazon in my purchase request. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IfIOnly Posted August 9, 2015 Author Share Posted August 9, 2015 I did, and they approved one of my requests (and they will automatically hold it for me so I'm the first person who checks it out), but now I'm wondering if it will get here in time to fit in to our lesson plans. My library won't purchase OOP books, even if I link to them on Amazon in my purchase request. What does OOP stand for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 OOP means out of print. My library would never buy an OOP book either. Never. The book I have in transit now is the Idiot's guide to Zendoodling. They like to buy newly published art instruction books from major publishers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 I have found my library surprisingly accomadating about buying Waldorf method books. Also pagan festival and wheel of the year books. I'm not sure what is up with that. They will even buy from small publishers. And I haven't asked, but we have a HUGE collection of LGBT romance ebooks, so I'm assuming requests for those beyond a large publisher are granted. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 I have found my library surprisingly accomadating about buying Waldorf method books. Also pagan festival and wheel of the year books. I'm not sure what is up with that. They will even buy from small publishers. And I haven't asked, but we have a HUGE collection of LGBT romance ebooks, so I'm assuming requests for those beyond a large publisher are granted. Having been in library school myself, one of the things we learned is that collection development should be done with the patrons' needs in mind. That said, of course librarians will have individual biases. And we also had some sort of discussions about whether the library should buy 'quality' books (e.g. literature) when patrons prefer Harlequin type romances (obviously, they should buy some of both... but the question is whether you should spend a disproportionate amount of your budget on more 'worthwhile' books when most patrons clearly don't care about that... should librarians patronize patrons in their purchasing decisions, etc etc). So, either many library patrons care about those kinds of topics (those books circulate more than others, are requested more often than others, etc) or the librarian is biased/views those topics as more worthwhile to have, or wrt buying Waldort method books, they may have realized that that was a gap in their collection and have been willing to fill that gap (assuming they actually had a gap - if they already had a bunch of Waldorf method books then it must be one of the other options). LGBT books (of any kind) actually did come up in library school discussions specifically, and were generally deemed as being worthwhile to add to your collection even if there didn't 'appear' to be a demand for them, since many LGBT youth might not have much support in person and might find that kind of support in library books (which they might or might not actually check out vs read them in the library). The fact that I went to the University of North Texas might be related to that too, since, bible belt and whatnot. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Oh yes, for sure! I request at least 20 books a year for library purchase and they get more than half of them. Sometimes I have to get a book through ILL or just buy it, but I a, pleased at how often my library system will buy books I am interested it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 I find it really interesting to see which requests are honored, and like to try to figure out the trends. But have to also temper my conclusions with knowledge that some requests just get lost. Sometimes when I don't have anything I want, I try and take the time to request some books that I know are common on curriculum lists, so that they will just be there waiting for moms when they need them. I really should print out the book lists for Wayfarers and start systematically trying to get some of those books into the collection. Books by Christian small publishers seem to just be ignored, but I can at least maybe get some of the secular big publisher books. Every little bit helps. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitterpatter Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Ours bought me d'Aulaire's entire biography set last year. I noticed they ordered multiple copies and they have been getting checked out frequently. :coolgleamA: I don't make suggestions often, but most have gotten approved. I have to suggest them way in advance, as it can take a couple of months for them to come through. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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