Thing #22

I love READS! I usually use it for e-books, but that's another post (as I learned the first time I tried to write about this Thing!:-)

READS does two things. It allows our patrons to use us when we're closed, when they're on the go, or when they can't come to us. Anecdotally, READS has been a big hit with several Smyrna patrons. I have a stay-at-home mom who actually jumped up and down and squealed when I told her about the service (to the chagrin of the elderly lady standing behind her). And every time she and her children come in, she tells me how much she enjoys it. One of my audio patrons, who was notorious for extreme late fines and forgetting to return discs and cassettes with cases, now almost exclusively uses READS. It's made his life a lot more convenient. Not many of our truck drivers have made the switch yet. Most of them still have cassette players in their big rigs. But I have a feeling that'll change when they become comfortable with MP3 technology and personal FM radio transmitters. I'm working on it!

READS also fleshes out our audiobook collection quite nicely. Audiobooks can cost anywhere between $20.00-$140.00. Working within a budget means I'm not always able to order everything our patrons will want. So I take care of the certain-to-be high demand items and the essential items first, and after that, I can pick and choose what to fill our collection with. If READS or another branch already owns a title I'm considering, I feel pretty confident to choose something else on my list, knowing that I can refer our patrons to READS.

I tell patrons that, once you have overdrive installed, browsing READS and checking out books is as easy as shopping on Amazon. Only instead of your credit card information, you enter your library card number. And READS has an amazing selection! Just browsing the new additions list I saw I Am America and So Can You, The 47th Samurai, A Lick of Frost, and Eat, Pray, Love (which I've been recommending to patrons after I heard the author do a reading on NPR, months before Oprah! But I'm not bitter.)