“They send it directly to the patron’s house. The patron will get a package that says, ‘this is a Zip Book from Butte County Library. Please return it when you're done.’”- Misty Wright, Butte County Library director
Readers of Butte County are making their literary habits known to their local libraries.
ZipBooks is a state-funded service that allows library-users to get their hands on the books they want while also potentially stocking the library shelves with them.
Butte County Library Director Misty Wright explained Zip Books is simple to use. A patron makes a request for a book, she said, if it’s eligible the library buys it online.
“They send it directly to the patron’s house,” Wright said. “The patron will get a package that says, ‘this is a Zip Book from Butte County Library. Please return it when you're done.’”
This year, Wright estimates around 500 residents have used the service – ordering more than 600 books through the program.
Across all branches, Wright said, people have requested books covering a wide variety of genres and topics.
“Just everything,” she said. “There's stuff for mental health, there's history, there's politics, there's any kind of fiction that you can imagine.”
Some of the titles they’re requesting include: “How To Hatch a Reader” by Kari Ann Gonzalez, “Promise That You’ll Sing About Me: The Power and Poetry of Kendrick Lamar” by Miles Marshall Lewis, “He Who Drowned The World” by Shelley Parker-Chan, “The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen” by Sean Sherman and “Visual Thinking” by Temple Grandin.
It's a way to get stuff that perhaps we wouldn't think about ordering. It also shows us another dimension of what patrons are wanting.”- Misty Wright, Butte County Library director
Wright says the goal is to keep at least 85% of the books ordered. Once the books are returned to the library, staff decides which titles to include in their selection.
“It's a really fun program. It's a way to get stuff that perhaps we wouldn't think about ordering,” Wright said. “It also shows us another dimension of what patrons are wanting.”
Butte County’s Zip Books program is funded by the state.
The library has spent nearly all of the grant’s funding. It’s currently preparing to apply for next year’s program to continue the service.
