Cost, appeal affect library purchases
The Hamilton Library may be known as a quiet study space for students, but it has more to offer, including the latest popular novels, documentaries and scholarly resources.
Instruction Librarian Daria Carson-Dussan said cost, popularity and department needs are considered when buying books. The library has money available for purchasing popular books.
"We have all the Twilight and Harry Potter books. We always try and get books like that that lots of students are reading. We follow authors too, such as Dan Brown, and try stock their newest books," Carson-Dussan said. "If an author is coming to speak on campus, then we stock their books too."
Freshman Kylee Woodrum said the library offers a good selection of books and newspapers.
"I’ve never been disappointed," she said.
Choice cards offer reviews of different books that help professors decide which books to buy.
"We have book collections for every department on campus and every department has a budget. In the fall, we send out choice cards which give them book reviews," Carson-Dussan said.
Each department has their own budget and the library has money set aside to take care of other collections, such as fiction or the Franklin collection, which carries books written by faculty or alumni.
When purchasing books, the library looks online to find the best price.
"We buy from different publishers, but we tend to use Amazon.com because they’re cheaper, and we get free shipping with our account," said Susan Leach-Murray, the technology technical services librarian.
If students need a book the library doesn’t have, librarians can use Inter-Library Loan to find it.
"If a student comes in needing a book or article we don’t carry, then we would borrow it from another library. We typically borrow from the closest library or the one we know will serve the fastest," Carson-Dussan said.
She said the library does not censor books that it stocks.
"It’s a library’s mission to provide two viewpoints. Also, if someone wants a book like that through Inter-Library Loan, we wouldn’t censor that either," Carson-Dussan said.
Carson-Dussan said they stock both the Michael Moore documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" and the counter documentary "Farenhype 9/11." The library also has copies of the Bible, Koran, Torah and Talmud.
