ThemaKiezer: a collaborative tool helping librarians to create selections, share insights and compare collections

Abstract

The high turnover in public library collections makes it challenging for librarians to stay on top of their book inventory. At the same time, customer demands are constantly changing as new themes gain public attention and views on existing themes and topics evolve. To assist librarians in tuning their collection to the public's needs as well as to enable them to provide patrons with adequate service, NBD Biblion has collaborated with public libraries in the Netherlands to develop a tool called ThemaKiezer ("Theme Chooser"). ThemaKiezer creates thematic sub-collections for libraries and library branches, which can for instance be used to create book selections, populate displays, and (by comparing the library's selection to the complete collection of available books) identify which titles relevant to a certain theme are missing from a library's collection. ThemaKiezer comes with thousands of themes instantly available, ranging from specific topical selections such as "Dark stories set in the wilderness" to more abstract themes like "Spring is in the air". Librarians can additionally combine and refine these themes to better suit a specific target audience or locality. The resulting sub-collections can be shared with colleagues and update automatically when the library acquires new books that match the customised theme. With these functionalities, ThemaKiezer seeks to assist librarians in managing and unlocking their collections while at the same time serving as a tool for the sharing and consolidation of knowledge between librarians. By combining librarians' expertise in selecting books for patrons with quick access to comprehensive information about the library's collection, the library can better serve a diverse and demanding public in a sustainable manner. Following a successful pilot phase in 2022, ThemaKiezer is now available to all Dutch public libraries. It is continuously and carefully being refined based on feedback from librarians in order to better serve their needs.