Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Magazine Subscriptions - for Patrons/Users

First, a big thank you to everyone who read and/or responded to the first post. This rookie blogger really appreciates it.

And thank you especially to Jenny Levine for mentioning the first post on her blog theshiftedlibrarian.com (see link at right). If you aren't already subscribed to theshiftedlibrarian be sure to do so, it's one of the best information science/library blogs out there.


A question for you - is anyone aware of any libraries providing subscription services to patrons on individual magazine titles? In other words, the patrons tell us they want to subscribe to a title, and then when a circulating copy is ready, it's automatically on hold for them.

Anyone aware of any ILS systems (maybe open-source systems like Koha or Evergreen) or other software solutions that could support this kind of activity?

If the logistical hurdles could be surmounted (and having enough copies of desired titles to stave off patron frustration could be one of them), offering this kind of service has always struck me as a win-win.

Patrons would love it, especially if it could be paired with some sort of home delivery (I wonder if libraries could mail at the discounted bulk rate for magazines....), and libraries would love it because it cements an ongoing usage relationship with patrons - the kind of thing businesses would kill for.

PHM3, MLIS

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Anyone aware of any ILS systems that could support this kind of activity?"

If I'm understanding you correctly, your idea would work like journal routing. Any ILS with a serials module should support routing. I know that Aleph does, as I've used the feature extensively.

Patrick said...

Thanks for passing along the info anonymous. I've got to remember I sometimes have on public library blinders....