Davenport Public Library to join Bridges consortium; director outlines collections, programs and staffing updates

Davenport Public Library Director Jeff Collins told the board on April 15 that the library will join the Bridges consortium, a State Library–subsidized OverDrive platform, on July 1 to expand its ebook and audiobook collection.

Collins said joining Bridges will give Davenport access to nearly 100,000 additional digital titles and that the consortium model will be more cost-effective than buying the same number of titles outright. "We're gonna gain access to nearly a hundred thousand more items for the collection, for our patrons at a cost of about $25,000 a year," Collins said, adding that buying that many titles independently would yield only about 800 additional items on average.

The director said the $25,000 annual cost will require reallocating funds from other collection or operating line items and may mean fewer physical purchases at some branches. He flagged possible shifts in physical collection placement as staff work through the budget and the library's concurrent transition of its Library of Things offerings.

Collins also reviewed a range of operational updates in his director's report. He…