A Modern Classic: Building the Public Library Partnership for What Comes Next

Last month, Emily Henry announced the title of her next novel: Modern Classic, due out in April 2027. As a reader, I can already imagine the holds lists! But the title caught my attention for another reason: it’s a fitting description of what we’re building at Follett Content.

A modern classic isn’t something brand new, and it isn’t something stuck in the past. It takes what has always worked and makes it relevant for the people it serves today.

That’s how we’re approaching our work with public libraries.

The child who discovers a love of reading in a school library grows up to get a library card, check out books with their own kids, and attend story time at the branch down the street. Public libraries carry that reader through a lifetime. And serving them well is the fullest version of who we are.

Our roots run deep in libraries: getting the right books into the right hands, providing shelf-ready service libraries can trust, and building relationships that last. We’re bringing those strengths forward while evolving how we serve the unique needs of today’s public libraries.

It starts with listening.

We know public librarians don’t need another vendor telling them how they should work. They need partners willing to understand how they actually work.

That’s why this summer we convened our first Public Library Advisory Board, bringing together directors, catalogers and collection development librarians to tell us what they need from a library partner and where suppliers can do better. And the conversation hasn’t stopped. We continue to meet regularly, listening, learning and gathering feedback that helps shape how we serve public librarians, just as our K-12 Advisory Board does for the schools we serve.

They were generous with their time and candid with their feedback. We heard several themes clearly.

Public libraries need solutions designed around their workflows. Ordering across branches, managing multiple fund codes and navigating approval processes create complexities that require flexibility, not a one-size-fits-all approach.

Cataloging and processing needs vary widely. Some libraries outsource nearly everything. Others handle much of the work themselves. Many fall somewhere in between. The right partner should be able to meet a library where it is.

Reliability matters more than ever. Changes across the library supply landscape have reinforced something libraries already knew: having strong, dependable partners matters. Libraries need options, consistency and confidence that the books their communities want will arrive when they need them.

We’re taking that feedback seriously, and we’re using it to shape how Follett Content serves public libraries.

Turning what we heard into action.

Listening only matters if it changes what you do. The feedback we’ve heard from public librarians is shaping the tools, services and workflows we’re building specifically for the way they operate.

Today, that includes:

Ordering that works with your systems. With integrations for Polaris, Sierra, SirsiDynix, Koha, Evergreen, and more ILS partners coming soon, Follett Content lets libraries skip line-by-line purchase orders and order with a single click.

More flexibility across branches and collections. Grids make it easy to apply branch, quantity and collection settings consistently across orders, particularly important for multi-branch systems managing complex purchasing needs.

Titles and collections on time for every reader you serve. Our Follett Street Date Program, which offers adult titles and youth collections, keeps your holds list short for every audience.

Earlier visibility into incoming materials. Brief MARC records can be loaded before materials arrive, giving staff earlier access for discovery and fund tracking, then seamlessly updating to full records.

Cataloging and processing built around your library. Customized MARC records and call number processing are configured to your specs and validated with a sample order before production begins.

And, of course, selection and speed matter. Follett Content currently has more than 3.7 million books in stock, ready to ship within five business days.

These capabilities are our starting point, not our finish line. We’ll continue listening to public libraries and evolving our services around what makes their work easier and helps them better serve their communities.

Because the goal isn’t to ask public libraries to adapt to the way we do business. It’s to build a partnership that works the way public libraries do. And much of that work will also benefit our long standing school librarian customers, too!

When the next big book arrives, will your shelves be ready?

Few things put a library supplier to the test quite like a blockbuster release.

Long before publication day, patrons are placing holds. Collection teams are watching demand. Library staff are planning quantities across branches. And when release day arrives, readers expect that book to be there.

That’s why we created the Follett Street Date Program, designed to help public libraries receive high-demand titles ahead of publication date so staff have time to process them and have them ready for readers on release day.

At Mahwah Free Public Library in New Jersey, that meant receiving anticipated titles a full week and a half before publication.

Learn more about Mahwah’s experience in this Follett Street Date Program case study.

Because getting a big book right isn’t just about shipping it quickly. It’s about giving library staff the time they need to get it shelf-ready so the reader who has been waiting for release day doesn’t have to keep waiting.

Built for libraries, and what comes next.

At Follett Content, we've spent more than 150 years serving libraries and readers. Our commitment to school librarians remains central to who we are, even as we continue to grow and evolve how we support public librarians. We value that history, but history alone doesn't earn anyone the right to be your partner tomorrow.

That has to be earned through how well we serve you today.

We’re listening to our customers. We’re learning from them. And we’re continually evolving our tools, services and approach around what they tell us they need. 

One of the newest examples is our Follett List Notification Program, designed to take some of the searching out of collection development by delivering curated, ready-to-order title lists directly to librarians in Titlewave. From new Street Date titles and starred reviews to fundamental titles and new author releases across adult, YA and children’s collections, the free program will help librarians discover and order sought-after titles as part of the workflow they already use.

While the way libraries work continues to change, the heart of the work hasn’t: connecting people with books, ideas and stories that matter to them.

That’s a mission we know well. And we’re ready to help public libraries carry it forward.

-- Britten