Libraries Websites Key to Book Discovery

Overdrive recently had their annual Digipalooza conference and they polled close to 60,000 librarians on book discovery. The majority of readers are tending not to visit their local branch anymore and instead are visiting the online website. Many librarians in the US and Canada are finding the websites are woefully out of date. Making it more current is key to being more accessible and building a strong gateway to loaning out digital eBooks. Overdrive is chiefly responsibly for being the number one provider of eBooks via their online distribution platform. Libraries that do business with them often have their website automatically populated with the audiobooks, videos and eBooks they have purchased into their collections. This data is sent automatically and the libraries websites are updated whenever new titles are added or titles are loaned out. This type of data is fairly current but there are quite a number of elements that allow in obscurity. Library blogs tend to be one of the things that go neglected and remain consistently out of date. The blogs are normally established by the younger staff and interns hoping to make their mark and stay current. When young librarians are starting their career they often float around to different branches, depending on their placements or series of starter jobs. Once they leave the library the blogs often have no one effectively managing them. It is quite important that if a library decides to pull the trigger and make a blog, keep it current or kill it. Sometimes libraries curate their own special reading lists or editor’s picks. This type of data is not automatic and must be manually adjusted. These lists often go neglected in the long-term as day to day library life gets in the way. There is no denying that older people can’t visit the library like they used to and rely on borrowing books digitally to satiate their literary thirst. Younger folk tend to roll around with their smartphones, tablets and e-Readers and are more digitally savvy. Libraries need to focus on these demographics and make sure their website is current on a day to day and weekly basis. They should not bother with blogs or editor’s picks lists unless it can be mandated to be apart of someones specific job description. The worst thing libraries can do is appear out of date and out of touch with their audience. Libraries Websites Key to Book Discovery is a post from: E-Reader News

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