ebook “subscription boxes” for libraries

Using at least one title per suggestion box from the new subscription to ebscohost would be good because of the availability there. I know that the collection is mostly non-fiction, but the availability can't be beaten. Also, the <a href="http://metrolibrary.lib.overdrive.com/A8A63546-93D7-439A-B58E-6716B1E2B9D3/10/50/en/ZRPublicDomainCollection.htm">Gutenberg books on OverDrive</a> are always available. Again, the selection may not meet the desires of the majority of the Suggestion Box's readership. Or whole selections of these presented as always available or just something to keep in the back of the mind when selecting the Suggestion Boxes. I would suggest bypassing the Public Access Catalog altogether for Members to review the selection. It doesn't work well with OverDrive, and not at all with Ebscohost. It may be better to direct them to the information thru Novelist or another database since Fiction doesn't have subject entries and descriptions for items are culled via The Library Corporation - <a href="http://catalog.metrolibrary.org/#section=resource&resourceid=5868811">not all items have summaries</a> and <a href="http://catalog.metrolibrary.org/#section=resource&resourceid=1203550">some may be too curt</a>. Maybe directing Members to an interface which requires L.C.# login would not be the best face to the suggested program. If we are just trying to get digital circulations, then maybe including Zinio and Freegal and any other database that creates circulation statistics could be included via the introductory selection. It could be a restriction by format or just lumped into the choices where items meet the Member's selection requirements. This last paragraph may be a bad idea for this because I don't imagine any auto-check-out situation for these databases.

I do have one suggestion. "Once a title is either checked out or rejected by a customer, it is marked as complete and not proposed to the customer again." Would it be very difficult to create a dialog box for this? The customer might not be in the mood to read the book that day, but might still want to read it later on. If it were me, I'd like the option to choose either "Show me this again later" or "Never show me this again".

I really like this idea because I am a subscription box addict. This got me thinking of why I even like the subscription box idea. I realized a love of the surprise, the “unveiling” of what is contained in my box and most importantly the anticipation of receiving my box. Subscription guru Birchbox always releases a preview of what is included in this month’s box. After receiving a box fans upload YouTube videos of opening the box and first impressions and Instagram the contents. I’ve also noticed everyone who subscribes gets the same samples; it is really not a selection based on user preferences but one for the whole subscriber community based on a centralized theme. This builds excitement in the reviews, discussions online, and prompts a sales conversion to a full-sized product. Product samples are a tease and the ultimate hook. If building the system on-top of the ILS is not feasible, I would suggest us trying to replicate the anticipation of receiving a box through email. While having different genres could be appealing, one trend we have noticed through OverDrive is the popularity of our Featured Titles section and participating in the Big Read. This month’s big read title was downloaded over 1000 times and was probably not downloaded solely by those who only read Jane Austen, time-travel romantic mysteries. Both the Featured Title and Big Read participation gave us the ability to highlight something members may not typically select for themselves as a teaser and a safe option to step out of their reading comfort zone. This is very similar to the experiences through a subscription service, the risk is low. If you don’t like it you can throw it away, comment about it, or give it away. If you like it, you can buy a full-sized product. In a reader’s case, they may discover they really like Jane Austen, time-travel romantic mysteries, which could prompt a conversion for us to fill out a Tailored Titles Personalized Reading List survey, subscribe to a Tailored Titles newsletter, or simply explore other titles by the same author. This could even become a new social media campaign where we have an unveiling video, set up a discussion board, and create a hashtag like #libraryhaul or #tailoredtitlesselect reinforcing the anticipation of the arrival of the subscription email. We could utilize our Tailored Titles content specialists to select an eBook title (we would work with MSL to secure a simultaneous access title), throw in a playlist to accompany the book from Freegal, and maybe a magazine (like Gatlin has suggested) around a centralized theme (i.e., themes provided by OUT in relation to programming). I love this idea and I think the most important part is trying to replicate the anticipation of receiving the box.

I was thinking of this idea over the weekend and wondering if it were feasible to have folks complete profiles as (single, partnered, familied) and their interests, etc. They could actually PICK UP a library 'box' (a book bag) before 6pm on Friday that contained books, a DVD, recipe cards, board games, a discussion sheet... that was customized to their family/interest. For example, my husband and I could fill out a profile and end up with a recipe for a gourmet breakfast, a copy of green eggs and ham, a kids' board game, two or three other kids books and a humor book about parenting (we have a five year old). Or, my friend Emilie could pick up a documentary about bicycles and a couple of books about Tour De France... we may have to limit it to prepared 'to go' packages before we got into profiles... but... I know this is not the original intent of digital curation - but it also speaks to the delight of the surprises in a box. Maybe it's a separate idea but related...