Putting our Money Where Our Customers Will Be: Investing In Digital Collections Today to Ensure a Customer Base Tomorrow

Authors

  • Catherine Jasper Collection Development Librarian, Deschutes Public Library

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7710/1093-7374.1854

Keywords:

Oregon, Oregon libraries, academic library, libraries, librarians, northwest, information science, information literacy, social media, writing, library trends, books, donors, library funding, Oregon library association, quarterly, Oregon library association quarterly, American library association, ala, ola, reading, library success, success, evolving roles, new discipline, changes in libraries, career, careers, library careers, library career, new department, student workers, spring, 2016, access services, professional journal, scholarly, academic, circulation, public, Portland, access, aspen institute, report, Oregon libraries answer the challenge, re-envisioning, beer, EveryLibrary, library campaign, vote, voting, ballot measures, non-partisan, PAC, political action committee, digital resources, e-book, ebook, digital collections, Bend, Collection Development, Deschutes Public Library, Putting our Money Where Our Customers Will Be: Investing In Digital Collections Today to Ensure a Customer Base Tomorrow, digital downloads, ereader, e-reader, ipad, kobo, kindle, nook, Library Journal Materials Survey, increase, attract, invest, future, statistics, audiobooks, downloadable, technology, assistance, pew, DPL, staff training, troubleshooting, outreach, promotion, experience, ux, user, customer, satisfied, Catherine, Jasper

Abstract

The Aspen Institute’s report Rising to the Challenge: Re-Envisioning Public Libraries identifies four key strategies for success for public libraries in the digital age. The second of these is “Provide Access to Content in All Formats,” and asserts that an immediate and major challenge is “being able to procure and share e-books and other digital content on the same basis as physical versions” (Garner, 2014, p. 36). Deschutes Public Library has given digital collections high priority over the years – through training, marketing and aggressively funding this collection. These efforts have resulted in higher than typical circulation and a strong customer base for digital collections. As libraries continue in an evolving information ecosystem, building excellent digital collections today is an essential component to being an attractive information resource for tomorrow’s communities.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Catherine Jasper, Collection Development Librarian, Deschutes Public Library

Catherine Jasper

Catherine moved from sunny Florida to sunny Bend in 2001 and has worked at Deschutes Public Library for 11 years. For the last eight of them, she has ridden the digital download rollercoaster in her role as the Adult Services Collection Development Librarian.

Downloads

Published

2016-10-10

How to Cite

Jasper, C. (2016). Putting our Money Where Our Customers Will Be: Investing In Digital Collections Today to Ensure a Customer Base Tomorrow. OLA Quarterly, 22(2), 13–16. https://doi.org/10.7710/1093-7374.1854