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Pools
SOLS coordinates buying pools for specialized materials such as talking books, large print, DVDs and multilingual books and videos. Materials are rotated among participating libraries providing their users with fresh collections every few months.
The Southern Ontario Library Service provides administrative support to pools by ordering pool materials, invoicing pool members, providing an annual financial statement, processing and distributing materials, maintaining Pool files and convening the annual general meeting. Membership in a pool enables an individual library to offer a greater variety and quantity of materials at a minimal cost. Collections are rotated three to six times a year, thus providing a steady supply of fresh, popular materials. Pools provide the opportunity of trying a new type of resource to see if it will become a viable service. Economies of scale are achieved by using the purchasing power of many libraries together. Typically, pool membership is open to public libraries willing to contribute an annual membership fee. Pools are generally governed by an executive committee elected by the membership. The size of blocks and number of rotations vary from pool to pool, however the Southern Ontario Library Service provides three deliveries annually and additional rotations are arranged by the member libraries. Selection committees comprised of representatives from the member libraries choose new materials for the blocks annually. Individual pools have developed their own policies regarding circulation, weeding, lost and damaged items.