The Series Keeper Project

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I am very pleased to be launching Series Keeper, a new voluntary project for NHAIS ILL System participating libraries! Several NH librarians helped Mindy Atwood and I put this project together and their help and advice is greatly appreciated.

It is evident that it is impossible for one library to be self-sufficient. Sharing of library resources is essential for adequate and effective library service. The purpose of the Series Keeper Program is to help alleviate space concerns in member libraries while keeping some older and complete series available to library patrons via the NHAIS interlibrary loan system.

In the same way that our ILL agreement attempts to ensure that not only the larger libraries are burdened with the majority of ILL requests, the Series Keeper program will attempt to recruit a variety of sizes of libraries to participate. Each library has their own unique collections and readers, so the program should capitalize on and promote that uniqueness.

A Series Keeper member library is a library that elects to keep a complete series of a particular author and publicize that fact to other member libraries, so these materials may be loaned via the NHAIS ILL system.

A book series, for the purposes of this project, is more than two books with the same main character/s, set in approximately the same venue, with a chronology and all published under the name of the same author or authors.

Initially this project will include only adult and young adult fiction series (any genre). Holdings may be in regular print, large print, or any combination.  Audio cd versions are also encouraged if the keeper library maintains a physical audio-book collection.   In the future the project may be expanded to include additional reading levels and series types (nonfiction, graphic novels, etc.) if everything goes smoothly with the initial launch and there is interest from libraries in these additional series types.

Each library that participates in the NHAIS ILL system may choose to be a Series Keeper library. The director of a Series Keeper library will be asked to sign an agreement committing their library to the project and containing the specific terms (listed below). A renewal agreement will be sent out periodically by the NHSL (not more than annually or, when there is a change of library director), asking the library to recommit to keeping their chosen series.

Responsibility for management of the Series Keeper Program will be part of the NHAIS ILL System and as such will be coordinated by the NH State Library.  The NHSL will maintain a webpage, based on the signed agreements received, that provides information about which libraries commit to which author’s series/materials with current contact information, a wish list of series in need of a home, and information on how to be a Series Keeper. The success of this program will rely on continued upkeep of these lists which will depend upon both NHSL and Series Keeper libraries.

Keeping a Series:

•  At the launch of the project (that's now!) NH libraries will be asked to complete an online survey to generate a list of series to be kept. This list of series will be published on the project webpage listing the libraries that have volunteered (as part of the survey) to host specific series and listing those that were suggested and need keepers. After the initial launch, libraries will be able to join the project by contacting the NHAIS Help Desk. Libraries that have the capacity to do so are welcome to host more than one series.
  
  
• For very popular and prolific authors, several libraries may be hosts. This will ensure that one library is not exclusively providing all of the author’s materials.
  
  
• Participating libraries agree to maintain the series by purchasing replacements in the event an item is lost or damaged. Libraries are encouraged to solicit donated copies first from other libraries in the state through the Yard sale NHAIS listserv.
  
  
• If a participating library no longer wishes to be the keeper of a particular series they are expected to notify NHAIS Services of this decision BEFORE discarding any of the books in the kept series. NHAIS will work with the library to find a new home, hopefully a new Series Keeper, for the volumes they are discarding from the kept series.

NH libraries are invited to complete the Series Keeper Start-Up Survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SeriesKeeper2024 The survey will remain open until Sunday August 18, 2024. After that we will close sign-ups while we set up the initial group of responding libraries. Once things are up and running we will be able to add new libraries to the project.