Your opinion, please…
Last week, I received a great new book, Who’s Looking at You? by Stéphane Frattini. (Sterling, 2012). It’s a collection of 18 stunningly photographed eyeballs on lift-the-flap pages for the reader to guess. I couldn’t wait to share it with my co-workers and local kids.
“Check this out!” I said, as I showed a colleague. “I’m putting this one in my story time collection. I love it!” (I often do this with pop-ups, pull-tabs, and lift-the-flap books that damage easily, or other favorite books that I like to have readily available for last-minute or unexpected needs.)
We had a great time trying to guess the owner of each beautiful eyeball. Snail? No problem. Blue-spotted grouper? Chameleon? Not so easy.
However, after the fun was over, my colleague was troubled by my decision to put the book in the storytime collection (i.e., closet). She argued that it’s best placed in the hands of children who will enjoy it. I argued that if I put it in circulation, it may circulate only 1 or 2 times before it is destroyed by over-eager hands. In the end, I felt guilty and put it into circulation, sparing it a long, though relatively boring, “shelf-life” in the “story time collection.” 
Some final stats:
My library system purchased 10 copies of Who’s Looking at You? for 10 different branches, each branch having discretion over the book’s placement.
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4 are currently checked out
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1 branch hasn’t processed theirs yet (it’s been a busy summer!)
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3 are sitting on shelves
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2 branches chose to make their books non-circulating (my original plan)
I infer from these statistics that other librarians also find this situation a quandry.
So, here’s my question:
What do you do with these types of books? Where does the greater good lie in this situation? Keep the book in good condition and share it selectively with (hopefully) appreciative audiences, or make it available to those children and parents who will seek it out purposefully, ensuring that it is enjoyed, if only for a short while?
(For the record, my copy was checked out the same day and hasn’t come back yet.)
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We have a separate “Novelty Book Shelf” where we put non-circulating copies of popup books and the like. They still tend to fall apart within a year, but that way lots of kids get the chance to play with them first, and they last a little longer when they stay in the building. We also often have duplicate copies available for checkout, but not always.
I rarely circulate pop-up or other fragile books for little kids because I know they’ll last 1-3 checkouts, tops. Often the first child is the only one who gets to enjoy it undamaged. Usually we only order this kind of book specifically *for* the storytime shelf. We do have some cool pop-ups for older kids and teens (the pop-up book of phobias is very popular) and while they still tend to last less than a year, they at least make it to enough kids to make the inevitable destruction and loss more worthwhile.
When I get a pop-up or fragile-looking book that arrives cataloged for circulation, this is usually how I decide what to do with it:
-Will it survive less than 5 checkouts in the collection area where it’s headed, AND if I move it to my storytime collection will I actually use it for storytimes? Then to the storytime shelf it goes.
-If it will last a least long enough for several families to enjoy, it goes on the circulating shelves.
-If it won’t last, but it isn’t suitable for storytime, I circulate it anyway because putting it on the storytime shelf but never using it is just like throwing it away.
Nice sturdy lift-the-flap books on cardstock pages are great, though. We have as many of those in our toddler collection as we can get, and can’t keep ‘em on the shelf!
It depends on the type of book for me. To begin with, I only purchase pop-up books if I really, really believe in it. For example “600 Black Spots” by David Carter. And then I make a point of using the book as many times as possible in programming, to justify (in my mind) keeping it out of circulation. If there is a board book that includes interactive elements (I have a playtime bath one, for instance), I keep those in my storytime collection because board books get beat up so quickly. But with picture books with lift-the-flaps, gatefolds, etc., more often than not, I will circulate those because kids and families get soooo excited about them. I also purchased “Who’s Looking at You” and happily put it out to circulate. I might have to put more tape than I’d like on it to get a couple more circs before retiring it to the book sale or recycle bin, but for the enjoyment some families will get out of it, it’s served it purpose in my mind. (For what it’s worth, we affiliate with a 9-branch county system and share materials among all locations. We are the only that own that dinosaurs book by Frances Barry in your photo, which has circulated 19 times since June of 2011 (we have 3 week checkouts, with up to 2 renewals).
I took a look at my Let’s Look at Dinosaurs book. It is fairly popular in the branches that chose to circulate it. It’s a tough call sometimes, trying to balance the need to be fiscally responsible with the need to please the patrons. It’s hard to put a price tag on the “Ooh! Ooh! Look at this!” factor. I appreciate your input.
I work in the central Children’s Services department of a six-location system. We order for the whole system and only order pop-up books specifically to be used as non-circulating program materials (storyshelf). We have a few lift-the-flap or gatefold books in circulation, and eventually they are withdrawn when they are beyond repair. For titles that we know we will use in programming, we order one non-circulating copy, and others to circulate. The non-circing copy is available for any location to use for programming. This system has worked well for us – we have a copy in good shape to use for programs anywhere in the system, and others that circulate as long as they can.
We do an enormous amount of inhouse and outreach programming and the Children’s librarians are arguably the most-recognized staff members in the community. Our clerk was troubled by the fact that we have non-circulating books for programming, but she didn’t do programs. Mechanical books are treated just like puppets or any other programming prop. It’s a tool to do your job, deliver your services, spread your message, and have your system involved in and valued by your community. And our tools need to be in good condition to present the most inviting and professional image.
Honestly, I don’t tend to purchase pop-up books or lift-the-flap books because they do tend to get torn up so easily. I might add something like that to the programming collection if I thought it was something my staff and I would use a great deal. When I started at my library, our programming collection had many pop-up books that were never being used for programs, so I asked my staff to go through them and we only kept the books they really felt they wanted to use in programs. The rest of them, we put into circulation because I figured a few check-outs was worth way more than the book sitting unused on our programming shelf. Families ask for pop-up books sometimes, but they understand why we don’t purchase many when I explain how difficult it is to keep them in good condition.
Lisa you’re not alone in this sticky situation. The middle road we take at my library is allowing the books to be part of our reference collection, but this special Pop-up book collection shelf sits behind our reference desk where curious eyes can easily request and borrow while visiting the library. This compromise works for both the librarians who want to prolong the use of the book and it allows the children to use them while visiting the library. Win Win situation. Thanks for posting.
I did pretty much the same thing as Abby. I’ve never had anyone ask for pop-ups. I will get board book lift the flaps if they’re really sturdy, or the seek and slide titles, those are very wearing. Fold-out pages or gatefolds get extra reinforcing and I’ve never had any problems with those (other than our staff being very unhappy at the additional work to process them).
Thanks for the great input, everyone. I like the idea of a making them available for “in-library” use only. I have a spot where that will work for me.
We always get 2 and I put one away and one on the shelf.