July 27, 2015 / Modified jul 27, 2015 2:29 p.m.

New Books, Movies Return to Pima County Libraries

Pima County Public Library's collection development manager talks spending priorities and need for diversity in acquisitions.

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The administrative freeze on the acquisition of books and other media at the Pima County Public Library has been lifted. The freeze was part of a county-wide moratorium on non-essential spending that went into effect at the end of the 2014-2015 fiscal year.

Collection Development Manager Richard DiRusso said his department resumed ordering books and taking requests on July 1, with an acquisition budget of $5 million for the current fiscal year. DiRusso is quick to add that the money must be spread across many departments.

"Little kids, especially, don't get to request so much stuff, so we try to be aware of what their needs are. We order everything from board books to readers to picture books to non-fiction," DiRusso said. "And, we buy best-sellers, we buy large-type materials for people who need them. We also buy popular DVDs, and also not-so-popular non-fiction DVDS, and documentaries."

"That's one thing we keep in mind, that we are serving the entire community," DiRusso said. "So, we can't really favor one group over another. If one area needs a little building up, then we look at that, but we can't say one year we are only going to buy children's materials and neglect adults, or vice versa."

Any Pima County Public Library card holder can file a request for the library to purchase new materials. DiRusso said the Collection Development Department researches an average of 2,000 special requests every month.

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