Buying Books for the Library with Kathy Leonard

Kathy Leonard sits at her desk facing a wall lined with new books staff is prepping to put out on Des Moines Public Library shelves. New books waiting to be read, loved, and enjoyed sit on carts in the aisle near her cubicle.

Leonard is one of two librarians who buy all the books, movies, music, magazines, and digital materials for the Des Moines Public Library system, and has what many book lovers would consider a dream job. We asked her to pull back the curtain to show how a book gets from publishers to the library shelves to you.

Every month, Leonard and the library’s other collection development librarian Carrie order an average of 1,800 titles, and there could be anywhere from one to several dozens of copies of the book depending on the demand for the title. 

"My favorite part of my job getting to read reviews and look at the different lists to see what might be coming out," said Leonard. "It's also kind of fun when you pick out a title that is a little under the radar, and it takes off, and everyone wants to read it."

How does Leonard even figure what books are coming out? She has several go-to sources:

• Looking at book reviews in Kirkus, The New York Times Book Review, and other sites.
• Industry journals like Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal.
• Lists (carts) from publishers and vendors 3-6 months before titles come out in different genres or topics. A vendor might send Leonard a cookbook cart or a political science cart or a mystery cart, and she will look through those for titles to order for the library.
• Websites and blogs like Book Riot, or a kids’ book site that lists all of the diverse titles coming out.
• Keeping an eye on authors that have been popular with patrons when they have a new book coming out.

"People are really good about finding stuff too,” said Leonard. “We will get patron suggestions for something that is seven or eight months out! Some of our avid readers keep an eye on tracking sites and let us know if there is a book they want to read or that they heard about on the news, NPR, Goodreads, or their favorite author's Instagram." 

Leonard's job at the library isn't all about ordering books, she needs to predict the demand that there will be for a title. First, she looks at how many times the author’s previous books were checked out. If there is a new book from Louise Penny, Leonard will order 15-20 copies because of her popularity and the demand for her books. For a new author, without much of a following, she might only order a couple of copies. The more demand there is for a book the more copies the library buys.

"If the author is someone we have had before we can look back in our catalog to check circulation statistics, how many times their books were checked out, then we can make an educated guess about how many of their new titles we will need."

When figuring out the number of copies for the library to buy Leonard will also look at the marketing plan from the publisher through a service the library uses called Edelweiss. If the publisher is printing 50,000 copies of the book, she knows that it might be more popular and if they are only printing a few thousand copies she knows that the library might only need 1-3 copies of the book.

Choosing what to read next

Leonard, a voracious reader herself, sees titles of books and descriptions all day every day and it could be easy to get overwhelmed with trying to choose a book to read next. 

"I read a lot of mysteries and thrillers, so I am probably going to be looking in those genres for my next book. Part of picking a book, also is chatting with people and finding out what they are reading, and getting recommendations from them," Leonard said. Everyone has those days or weeks where they can't seem to find anything to read. When Leonard finds herself in a reading slump, she goes back to the familiar stories by Agatha Christie that she grew up reading.

"[Agatha Christie books] are short, and like a comfort food even though they are a murder mystery, so I think sometimes returning to something you find comfortable…gets me through stuff or gives me a jolt," said Leonard.

Books are books, no matter how you experience them whether it's in print or on audio. "I listen to books a lot, and I do it when I'm running or riding my bike or walking," she said. "I do about 90 percent of my reading is through audiobooks because it's something I can do while I'm exercising or doing something else." 

Leonard loves to curl up with a good mystery or thriller. "In our department, we are huge fans of the Louise Penny series. They are a comfort food type book, and if you fall in love, there are 17 books to occupy your time."

She also recommends checking out Anthony Horowitz, Elly Griffiths, and if you are in the mood for something darker, Tana French could be right up your alley. The fun thing with mystery and thriller writers, is that if you find an author that you like they probably have multiple books to dive into and keep you reading.

New and Upcoming Titles

Leonard has the inside scoop on everything new and upcoming. Here are a few of the books that have been recently released or are coming out soon that she recommends putting on hold.

• Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune, the author of the bestselling novel The House in the Cerulean Sea (Pub. September 14, 2021)
• The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles who is the bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow (Pub. October 5, 2021)
• All Her Little Secrets by Wanda Morris is a thriller by a black attorney that explores the role of race in the legal system (Pub. November 2, 2021)
• The Sentence by Louise Erdrich the prolific Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author of The Night Watchman and The Round House (Pub. November 9, 2022)
• The Maid by Nita Prose is a mystery with a neurodiverse main character (Pub. January 22, 2022)
• The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley the bestselling author of The Guest List (Pub. February 22, 2022)