Anderson & Ants with Megaphones

Briefly: I think libraries have been doing what Anderson is talking about for a while now. Most libraries have been looking at both pre- and post- filter data when they consider what books to purchase. Librarians may look at Booklist, or any reputable pre-filter, to see what might interest patrons before the book hits the market; they may look at the New York Times Book Review, or the Review of Books, or Amazon lists, to see what's popular afterward. Some libraries work with companies that purchase books for them; all libraries need to have a sense of what their community might be about. Libraries need to function as predictors of what might move --

-- But always - always - library staff are responsive to the needs of their community. So if someone asks for a book the library doesn't have, the job is to get the book (film/audio/electronic journal) if at all possible. That might mean ordering a single copy, or it might mean using interlibrary loan. It might mean considering that electronic journal in the next bundled consortium purchase. It may mean tallying how many requests there are for any given item.

See, I'd argue that, at this point, most libraries are innately long tail, because the 'ants with megaphones' are their patrons. "What do our library users want?" is an eternal question. We're not in the position of saying, 'these are the resources we have - if you don't like it, take a hike!' Because at this point, people can and will do just that.