This is a Blog and Web site on a mission — to bring together the best thinking on the art of selecting books for public libraries. By giving readers what they want, when they want it, we believe libraries can increase their circulation and their support.

This approach to collection development is often called “buying for demand.” In fact, to meet demand, a library has to anticipate demand, not just wait for it to show up. This takes skill, knowledge of authors and publishers, and a certain gambler’s delight.

The focus of the blog, “Give ‘em What They Want” is titles that are on the rise, media attention that will bring customers in looking for specific titles and vendor issues that affect libraries. When the new seasonal publisher catalogs come out, we will look at them to identify books that will have particular appeal to library users.

We are also working to forge a more direct connection between publishers and librarians. Libraries represent approximately 10% of the overall book market, but, since libraries buy through wholesalers, no sales force calls on them. As a result, libraries miss valuable information on how publishers position titles and publishers do not get a sense of what libraries want.

Early Word is co-founded by Nora Rawlinson and Fred Ciporen.

Nora Rawlinson, Co-Founder and Editor

Nora Rawlinson was editor of Library Journal and editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly for 12 years. Before that, she was head of Materials Selection for Baltimore County Public Library, a system renowned for its innovations under the legendary director, Charles Robinson. Baltimore County was the first major public library to centralize selection. It was also known for buying for popular demand. Nora wrote a piece explaining this then-radical collection development philosophy, called “ Give ‘Em What They Want,” which is still assigned reading in many Library Schools. At Library Journal, she introduced many new columns, which are still part of the magazine – PrePub Alert, the Collection Development series, Classic Returns, and Readers Shelf. She was hired in 2005 by Time Warner Book Group (later Hachette Book Group) to set up library marketing for their imprints. Early Word is an outgrowth of her belief that the more libraries understand about publishing, the better they can be as selectors and readers advisors. To contact Nora, click here.

Fred Ciporen, Co-Founder and Publisher

Fred Ciporen was publisher of Library Journal and School Library journal. Under his leadership, Library Journal’s revenue grew from $2 million to $10 million within four years. School Library Journal’s revenue grew from $3 million to $8 million in the same amount of time. As a result of this success, Fred was also made publisher of Publishers Weekly. He grew the combined revenue of all three magazines to $32 million, returning $14.25 million in profit.