Through the Morton Grove Public Library's personalized MatchBook service, patrons are alerted to new Library materials through monthly lists of new books, videos, CDs and audiobooks. The service, which was launched in June 1997, combines three areas of Library strength: Reader's Service, Technical and Automated Services and Public Relations.

These departments sought a different way to bring new Library materials to patrons' attention each month. Prior to MatchBook, the Reader's Service and Public Relations staff conducted New Books Showcase for patrons, book-talking 40-50 new titles each month. Although the same dozen friendly faces enjoyed these monthly reviews, staff wished to bring their hard work to a larger audience.

In preparation for New Books Showcase, lists of all new materials in the adult department (200-300 items per month) would be manually compiled. The Library's Head of Technical Services sought a way to automate this time-consuming process while Reader's Service and Public Relations staff wondered if such an automated list could be combined with brief annotations for many of the books to bring the "personalized" nature of the New Books Showcase to a larger audience by letting patrons choose the subjects of interest to them. From these questions and observations, MatchBook was created.

MatchBook's development began with the assignment of call number ranges to more than 40 subjects from Art and Antiques to Women's Issues, and the division of fiction into nearly two dozen genre headings. Meanwhile, in-house programming was written to capture bibliographic information as records were linked in Dynix, the Library's integrated circulation/cataloging system. From Dynix, the data is transferred into an in-house designed MatchBook database, where annotations are added for most fiction and a selection of nonfiction titles. The database also contains each patron's list of fiction, nonfiction and AV categories of interest (patrons can select a total of fifteen). At the end of each month, the MatchBook database automatically matches materials to patrons based on the materials' assigned subjects and the subjects chosen by patrons. A customized list is then printed for each patron. The entire process, from Dynix linking to list printing, is done on Macintosh computers.

From the patron's perspective, this program provides information on new titles of interest and brief annotations of many books along with videos, CDs and audiobooks. A Showcase Review of books, written by Reader's Service and Public Relations staff, highlights a dozen authors or titles deserving special attention and is included in the mailing. A Bestseller Preview bookmark listing forthcoming hot titles is included in the mailing as well.

From the Library's perspective, MatchBook aids in collection development, increases circulation, provides data useful for other Library functions and offers another means to promote Library programs and services. To date, there are 298 Matchbook subscribers. Monthly lists are mailed to Morton Grove residents at no charge, and nonresidents may pick up their lists at the Library or pay for postage to receive them via mail; as of August 2001, subscribers can request that their Matchbook lists be sent to them by e-mail.

The Library received a $1,000 Innovative Projects grant from the North Suburban Library System, which was used to pay for the design of the MatchBook logo and printing of stationary, envelopes and other promotional materials. Ongoing printing and postage costs are absorbed into the Library budget. MatchBook continues to grow weekly and as one patron stated, "It [MatchBook] makes me really feel like someone cares about what I like to read."

In 1997, MatchBook won the Library Public Relations Council's L. PeRCy Award, Division One, for library public relations materials.

In 2005, MatchBook was expanded to meet new technologies and broader patrons needs. The original MatchBook has now become MatchBook Classic, retaining all of the features of the original. In June 2005, the Morton Grove Public Library joined with BookLetters, a service offered by BookPage and BookSite.com, to create MatchBook Select. Using the database of new materials being added to the current month's MatchBook Classic, Morton Grove Public Library's librarians identify and spotlight titles of interest and send newsletters out to subscribers. The newsletters are designed to arrive at various times during the month to let subscribers know what has been added to the MGPL collection prior to the monthly mailing of MatchBook Classic. There are 25 newsletters available, and each spotlights up to fifteen titles each. In August 2005, MatchBook for Kids debuted providing the features of the original MatchBook but aimed for kids and their parents.

Additional information on Matchbook can be found at About MatchBook. Web site visitors can also create their own MatchBook lists online by selecting up to three nonfiction subjects, fiction genres and/or AV formats and then generating a list of all matching items purchased within the last twelve months.

The Technical Side

Other libraries often ask how we produce MatchBook; what follows is a brief explanation of the technical aspects.

MatchBook is produced entirely on Macintosh computers, though the actual bibliographic data originates in our Sirsi Unicorn system (circulation, cataloging, OPAC, etc.). Each time a batch of items is added to the system, a Unicorn report is run to export selected bib data on those new items to a text file. The text file is then loaded into the MatchBook Database, which was created using Hypercard, a no-longer-available Macintosh database program. There are undoubtedly comparable programs for both Mac and Windows that could be used instead; you need a database program that can import data (assuming you don't want to type it all in by hand) and that is programmable or scriptable.

The Hypercard programming that does the data importing includes a list of call number ranges corresponding to each MatchBook subject area, and automatically assigns subject headings as the records are imported into the database. The larger fiction genres (mystery, science fiction) that correspond to our Unicorn location codes are also assigned automatically, but the others (e.g. ethnic, inspirational, psychological suspense, etc.) have to be added manually.

Another part of the database contains MatchBook subscriber data (names; addresses; and the nonfiction subjects, fiction genres, and AV types each person selected on his/her profile). At the end of each month, programming in the database matches patrons with items and generates personalized lists for each subscriber (actually it generates a text file with formatting codes that's loaded into a word processor template file). The entire process, from Unicorn to printed lists, is automatic except for assigning fiction genres, writing annotations, and stuffing the envelopes.

At the end of every month the bib data is cleared from the MatchBook database in preparation for the next month's data. Prior to deleting, however, the data is copied to a second, cumulative MatchBook database which includes all items added since we started the service. This database is copied to our web server, where it handles the MatchBook requests from our web site. Programming in the primary MatchBook database generates our New Materials List web pages at the end of each month.

Sample item record

Sample patron record

For more information on MatchbookPlus, please contact Kevin Justie, Assistant Director and Head of Automated Services and Technology, at (847) 929-5110.

www.webrary.org/RS/matchbookhist.html
First published on the Web: 6/18/1998
Last updated: 3/21/2006