Books on Demand Update

Contributed by Mary Ramos, Assistant Director

CUSTOMIZED CARTRIDGES ARE COMING SOON!

So what are customized cartridges? A customized cartridge is a digital book cartridge containing multiple books made especially for a specific patron. Imagine not having to wait until a copy of a book you wish to read becomes available at the Library. And wouldn’t it be lovely to read a series of books … in order! Each customized cartridge is downloaded based on a patron’s individual book requests and preferences.

Over the next year and a half, the Maryland State Library for the Blind and Print Disabled (LBPD) will gradually be moving all patrons to a new circulation system called Books on Demand (BOD). With Books on Demand, all of our patrons will receive customized, multi-book cartridges. We are very excited about this upcoming change as it means that we will be better able to serve our patrons with the books they want to read.

As the National Library Service (NLS) continues to look for new and improved ways of providing library service, all network libraries across the country will be converting to this new circulation system. The Maryland LBPD is currently conducting a patron pilot with close to 50 patrons to test and fine-tune our processes for downloading and circulating books through Books on Demand. The good news is that our patrons seem to be delighted with their customized cartridges. We think you will be, too!

If you wish to be among the first of our patrons to change to Books on Demand after our pilot project has concluded, please send an email to reference.desk@maryland.gov.