Task Intensive Virtual Circulation Management to Meet Rising Patron Demand: Analyzing eBook and eAudiobook Acquisition Workflows in Fulton County Libraries

Managing eBook hold times while adhering to budget constraints is a critical challenge for public libraries. In a budgetary landscape where models of licensing and cost are in constant flux, this article offers a snapshot in time of strategies employed by the Fulton County Library System (FCLS) in Atlanta, Georgia, during Spring and Summer 2024. Librarians deployed a multi-pronged approach of daily carts in OverDrive, daily monitoring and response to patron holds and recommendations, daily updates of OverDrive records and bi-weekly updates of Hoopla records to meet patron demand. Documenting strategies like these is crucial for collection management professionals adapting to increasing circulation of electronic resources. The body of the article outlines collection management strategies, while an appendix of daily tasks may prove useful to those writing new job descriptions. A second appendix of statistical tables shows the exponential growth of electronic resources since 2020, necessitating labor intensive collection management strategies like the one outlined in this article.