Have you ever wondered how a title gets on the "In Constant Demand" list?
The "In Constant Demand list" is comprised of titles from a variety of sources, including suggestions from our staff, best seller lists in newspapers and journals, or DVD new release lists. The list is updated approximately once a month. A request for an item that appears on the list will not referred by our staff to other libraries in our region; instead the borrowing library is immediately notified that we are unable to fill it due to high demand. On your end of the request process, you will most likely see a report of "1- in use," or “31 – in constant demand in all library systems.”
Sometimes, it isn’t always clear why a particular title is so popular in our libraries when it doesn’t show up on any national best seller lists. However, it’s probably due to a regional connection of some sort, such as a hometown author, or a mention in a local newspaper, radio, or television program. Occasionally a title shows up on the list just because so few libraries in our region own it, yet the demand is constant enough that it is never available via interlibrary loan.
When I compile a list of “In Constant Demand” titles (or as we call them, the “31’s”) each month, I search them in multiple library catalogs in our region to determine if there are circulating copies available. When the title has very few holds, or if it is finally back on the shelf at one or more libraries again, it is removed from the list. A title can remain on our list for as little as 1 month, or rarely, as long as several years, depending on demand at the libraries in our region. The lingering titles tend to be “Oprah” books, or extraordinarily popular titles like “The Da Vinci Code.”
MINITEX staff see a slightly different “31” list than we provide to you; I alert our staff to titles that might become available before the next list is published. That includes titles with a low number of holds showing up at local libraries, as well as items where it appears there may be a copy or two available on the shelf. In those cases, I ask staff to exhaust possible referral sources before sending a negative reply back to your office. However, if you are sure that a title is available and circulating, but still receive a report of “31”, please don’t hesitate to contact our staff (Raquel Franklin or Kevin Kelley) to ask that it be referred to the appropriate library.
I really enjoy putting the “In Constant Demand” list together, and I frequently add these titles to my own reading list. (With apologies to my public library for creating the extra work and lengthening their “hold” lists!) I am delighted when I find a new author that I might not have otherwise read. Occasionally, I find myself puzzled by all of the fuss. When I become annoyed that a book I really detested loiters on the list month after month, it’s a good sign that I need to take some vacation!
I hope you are finding the list useful. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments about the "In Constant Demand" list, by contacting me at: c-nels@umn.edu
The most recent "In Constant Demand List"
October 2006
These titles are unlikely to be available in any format, including spoken audiocassette and CD
• The Afghan/ Forsyth, Frederick
• After This / Alice McDermott
• Angels Fall / Nora Roberts
• Armageddon's Children / Terry Brooks
• At Risk / Patricia Cornwell
• Beach Road / James Patterson
• The Book of the Dead / Douglas Preston
• The Book of Fate / Brad Meltzer
• Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven / Fannie Flagg
• Cesar’s Way / Cesar Millan
• Cold Moon / Jeffrey Deaver
• Coming Out / Danielle Steel
• The Confident Woman / Joyce Meyer
• Conservatives Without Conscience / John W. Dean
• Copper River / William Kent Krueger
• Copper Scroll / Joel Rosenberg
• Dark Celebration / Christine Feehan
• Dead Watch / John Sandford
• Digging to America / Anne Tyler
• Dispatches from the Edge / Anderson Cooper
• The Emperor's Children / Claire Messud
• Fiasco / Thomas E. Ricks
• Godless / Ann Coulter
• Gone / Lisa Gardner
• The Guy Not Taken / Jennifer Weiner
• Hard Way / Lee Child
• Husband / Dean Koontz
• I Feel Bad About My Neck / Nora Ephron
• Inside My Heart / Robin McGraw
• Judge and Jury / James Patterson
• Killer Dreams / Iris Johansen
• Lies at the Altar / Robin L. Smith
• The Looming Tower / Lawrence Wright
• Marley and Me / John Grogan
• Mayflower / Nathaniel Philbrick
• The Mephisto Club / Tess Gerritsen
• The Messenger / Daniel Silva
• My Sister’s Keeper / Jodi Picoult
• One Per Cent Doctrine / Ron Suskind
• Pegasus Descending / James Lee Burke
• Phantom / Terry Goodkind
• Ricochet / Sandra Brown
• Rise and Shine / Anna Quindlen
• The Ruins / Scott Smith
• Snow Blind / P.J. Tracy
• A Spot of Bother / Mark Haddon
• State of Emergency/ Patrick J. Buchanan
• Talking Right: the Politics of Language / Geoffrey Nunberg
• Tenth Circle / Jodi Picoult
• The Thirteenth Tale / Diane Setterfield
• Twelve Sharp / Janet Evanovich
• Ultra-Metabolism / Mark Hyman
• Water for Elephants / Sara Gruen
• The Way We Were: Remembering Diana / Paul Burrell
• Whistling Season / Ivan Doig
• World is Flat / Thomas L. Friedman
• World War Z / Max Brooks
IN CONSTANT DEMAND – AV Titles
October 2006
• 16 Blocks
• Akeelah and the Bee
• Benchwarmers
• Brokeback Mountain
• Date Movie
• Failure to Launch
• The Family Stone
• Fantastic 4
• Final Destination 3
• Firewall
• Fun with Dick and Jane
• Good Night and Good Luck
• Hostel
• Inside Man
• Just My Luck
• Last Holiday
• Libertine
• Matador
• Munich
• Pink Panther (2006)
• Poseidon
• Prairie Home Companion
• Pride and Prejudice
• RV
• Scary Movie 4
• She’s the Man
• Silent Hill
• Syriana
• Tsotsi
• Wedding Crashers
• When a Stranger Calls (2006)
• X-Men – the Last Stand
Series Television
• 24
• Alias
• Arrested Development
• CSI Miami
• Deadwood
• Desperate Housewives
• Entourage
• Family Guy
• Grey’s Anatomy
• House, M.D.
• Lost
• Simpsons
• Six Feet Under
• The Sopranos
• Weeds