8/20/2025 KLAS Users' Roundtable: Managing Local Collections

As a panelist, I had to behave and mind the clock. Here are some random comments and questions that I wasn't able to get to...
COMMENTS:
• My #1 wish would be that NLS help us get setup legally so network libraries could purchase commercial audio on our own. Less NLS Collection Requests. We could use our gift funds to serve our patrons significantly faster, and with better quality recordings.

• I also wish NLS would get (indirectly) involved in large print books in the form of ebooks and Kindles. I wish they’d pave the way for the network to purchase locked down Kindles that we can lend to our large print readers. We could place padded cases on the Kindles that are designed for kids to allow for a better grip and protect them when they’re dropped. I would like them locked down so our patrons could only open a menu of books and then increase or decrease the font size. By default, they could be set to a 16-point font.
In this environment we could buy only what patrons want. Instead of the guesswork we do with printed books. There’d be no more series gaps or concerns about the short runs that make collection development for large print books miserable. (Admittedly, damaged through the mail would be the biggest conundrum. That and most people still prefer physical print books.)

Also, (maybe more importantly) access to ebooks would allow network libraries with limited studio power to use text-to-speech (TTS) to convert ebooks into DBCs quickly. As TTS gets better we could easily re-do books over time. I think of how our state’s historical society often has their publications as ebooks but not audio.

• I wish we'd have a Chafee Amendment for DVDs w/ DVS! I’ve been wanting this for years. I would love it if we could rip the DVDs so they ONLY have the DVS audio track and then save that manifestation as an ISO file from which we could burn infinite copies of that disc. We could also digitize VHS tapes with DVS, and presumably fill that hole that the DVD market is missing by not revisiting older titles, or only revisiting when they’re releasing titles in Blu-ray and 4K.

• I would like to see a tool in KLAS that can add LOC subjects via ISBN for LPs.

• To add newly purchased Large Print books and DVDs to KLAS, I use Load External Titles File from Cataloging Maintenance’s Tools menu. Have a conversation with Keystone staff so you can import a spreadsheet full of metadata you wish to import, automatically creating a big batch of records. It’s a lovely tool!

QUESTIONS:
• Are others collecting Blu-rays or 4ks?

• Do you think some patrons would be satisfied with *just* the DVS audio from a DVD if we mailed it on a cartridge?

• Does everyone else place braille overlays on DVD cases? This is a major hold-up in processing titles since we cannot produce the overlays in-house.

• Is anyone else circ-ing other libraries’ local audio productions – books or magazines – via duplication on demand (either Scribe or Gutenberg)? With Gutenberg, you need to modify the UIDs. I don’t think Scribe requires that misery.

• Is anyone curious if we could circ Bibles from, say, Braille Bibles International via DoD?
-Dan

I forgot to mention... This might not fall into the realm of collection development. More of a customized, one-off service. I'd also love to employ text-to-speech for people who want audio records of specific things like a recipe, a prayer, medical information, or a local sports team's schedule. Things of that nature. I think this could be a fantastic game changer in our service. Some of those things could inadvertently turn into a local collection if the interests may exceed one patron.