FAQs: Purchase Suggestions

Please let us know! You can tell a librarian or fill out a purchase suggestion form. This form can be found on the left-hand side of your account summary page each time you log in to our catalog. It is our goal to purchase items that people in our communities want us to have, we appreciate the suggestions, and there is no charge to you.

A purchase suggestion is a form you fill out to let us know there is an item you want that we do not currently have. It is our goal to have items that people in our communities want, and your suggestions help make that happen! You can make a suggestion through your online account. Once you make a suggestion, staff will email you when a decision has been made. Every 30 days, you will have up to 20 purchase suggestions available to you. We will do our best to acquire any item you have suggested, and will let you know when we do. This is a free service.

If the Collection Department is unable to purchase a suggested item or if a suggestion does not meet acquisition criteria, the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service can be used to borrow the requested materials. ILL provides access to materials that are not in the NCW Libraries collection by borrowing items from library systems across the state and the country. Books, audiobooks, CDs, DVDs, music scores, some microfilm, and articles (copies or scans) can all be ordered through Interlibrary Loan.  For more information, see Interlibrary Loan.

No, both of these services are free for anyone with a library card. Learn how to make a purchase suggestion.

Purchase suggestions generally take between 2-4 weeks to receive a response from the library. Need help making a purchase suggestion? Follow our step-by-step instructions.

We love hearing what our community wants to read! Your suggestions help shape the NCW Libraries collection. We welcome requests for recently published books and other materials. We review every suggestion using our selection criteria and Collection Development Policy (pdf) so we can build a collection that serves readers across all five of our counties. You can learn more in our Collection Development Policy (pdf).

If we aren’t able to purchase a title you’ve requested, we may still be able to get it into your hands through Interlibrary Loan. Just ask at your local branch or learn more here. 

For Authors and Publishers

Congratulations on your book! We know how much work and courage it takes to bring a book into the world. We’re always glad to hear from authors, especially those in our own community.

Our small collections team purchases thousands of titles each year for 30 branches, a bookmobile, and our Mail Order Library. Our collection is funded by local taxpayers, and we take that trust seriously. To make fair, consistent decisions and be good stewards of public funds, we use the same guidelines for every book we consider.

For independently published titles, one of those guidelines is a review in a major professional trade or literary publication such as Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, School Library Journal, and The New York Times Book Review. These reviews give our selectors a shared reference point, the same one we use for titles from traditional publishers.

How to Submit Your Book

Please email collections@ncwlibraries.orgcreate new email with:

• The title, author, ISBN, publisher, and publication date.
• A link to your book’s website, plus links to any reviews or coverage.
• A short description of your book and its intended audience.

If your book hasn’t been reviewed yet, you are welcome to submit it as a purchase suggestion once it has been reviewed. If it hasn’t been reviewed yet but you’d like to have it added to our library collection, you are welcome to donate a copy to our collections team to be added. Email collections@ncwlibraries.orgcreate new email for more information on coordinating a donation.

Donated materials are evaluated with the same selection criteria as materials purchased for the collection. Please see our Gift Acceptance and Naming Policy (pdf) for more information.

Here are a few other ways to share your work with our community beyond our collection:

• Connect with your local branch to talk about a possible local author showcase or program. Several of our branches have regular programming for writers.
• Get involved with Write on the River. They’re a wonderful organization for author events and networking. We’ve partnered with them on several programs, including our Teen Writer’s Competition each spring.

Thank you for thinking of NCW Libraries and for contributing to the literary life of our region!