800-245-9540
mackin@mackin.com
Help Guide
We’ve built thousands of custom library collections as unique as your students’ interests.
Year in, year out, Mackin is the premiere choice for new school openings in the nation.
Opening a new media center takes an enormous amount of time and energy and procuring the most appropriate collection your budget will allow is the most critical component. For over 37 years, Mackin has been a reliable and integral partner, successfully compiling printed and digital materials for opening day collections. Assessing budgets and needs and custom crafting a collection based on those requirements is what has made us the recognized experts in this field.
Mackin is all about customization. We want your library to be a reflection of who you are and what is important to your community. We work with your plans and timelines. We find out how your books are processed and cataloged. We connect you with an experienced coordinator at Mackin who will help you throughout the process and assist you until every book is placed on the shelf.
We work with over 18,000 publishers to find the best print books, eBooks, read-alongs, databases, audiobooks, videos, and classroom sets that are best for your school. We review your school or state curriculum. We read reviews, we meet with publishers, and we figure out how best to meet your needs.
We collaborate with you to make sure your collection suits your curriculum and your budget. We give you time to review and make changes as needed. We want you to rest easy knowing that you have our “worry-free” collection development guarantee. We’ll also give you a suggested timeline and make recommendations on shelving space and other details so you know precisely how to plan.
Your collection is going to arrive in complete Dewey order, shelf-ready, cataloged and processed to your requirements. Most processing is free including MARC records, barcode labels, spine labels, mylar covers, and even pockets, property labels, reading labels, or custom labels. As a policy, we send a full crew to make sure every book is on the shelf in a single day. By the time we leave, you are ready for checkout!
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Austin, TX
“The Mackin staff of librarians who helped me with our Opening Day Collection were friendly, helpful, and asked me all the right questions to ensure that our books were cataloged and barcoded exactly as I envisioned them. They offered pre-made lists full of relevant, award-winning books, and their selection of Spanish materials was excellent. Choosing Mackin as the Opening Day Collection vendor for our school was the best decision I made for our new library.”
We Offer a Host of FREE Services!
We’ll Set Up Your New Library in These 7 Easy Steps
Mackin will:
- We will communicate and collaborate with you on your collection list.
- We will create customized lists that are closely aligned with your curriculum, student demographics, and budget.
- We will post your lists to your Mackin.com web account for you to review.
- We stand behind our recommendations with our “full confidence” guarantee. If you purchase a book that we recommended, and you find it unsuitable for your library, we’ll credit your account.
You can:
- View your list on your Mackin.com account (if you wish, you can also have a hard copy sent to you)
- Easily add and subtract from your lists or build additional lists
- Read reviews on the titles and see cover photos
- Get an overview of your collection through our unique summary feature
- Work on specific parts of the collection through our advanced filtering feature
- Use our TitleMatch feature to avoid duplications
- Contact your coordinator anytime you need help
Mackin will:
- Talk to your district about any district specific requirements including barcode prefixes and starting barcode numbers.
- Your Project Manager will talk with you by phone to discuss your specifications in detail.
- Mackin will prepare and email you photos of a processed sample book and MARC record for your approval. We cannot begin processing books without your signed approval form on file.
- Your Project Manager will help you identify target delivery and shelving dates.
You can:
- Once you have your lists finalized, let your Project Manager know which lists you plan to order. Ideally, your lists should be ready to order at least 12 weeks prior to the date of desired delivery.
- Request any needed quotes from Mackin for your business office or send your requisition through for a purchase order with a blanket. Do not exceed amount as your budget dictates.
- Plan to send your purchase order to us at least 12 weeks prior to the date of desired delivery. We cannot begin working on your order until a valid purchase order has been received. We’ll contact you periodically to discuss “need by” dates.
- Plan for a tentative delivery and shelving date (knowing that Mackin will confirm everything prior to delivery).
You can:
- Please make sure you have provided Mackin your summer contact information. Please inform us of any dates you will be unreachable in case we have questions and an alternate contact person.
- We will stay in touch to confirm delivery and shelving dates, but please communicate any date changes to Mackin as soon as you are made aware of them.
Mackin will:
- We will manage the ordering, cataloging and processing, and preparation of your collection.
- We will create your virtual library here at Mackin in perfect shelf order.
- We will pack and ship the collection in order in color-coded boxes.
- We will set up your MackinVIA account and load it with your digital content.
Our staff will:
- Your Project Manager will schedule delivery and shelving dates with you based on your school’s schedule. If construction causes a delay, that’s no problem. We will store the collection until it is needed on site.
- Our freight partners will deliver your books on time and directly into the library when possible.
- Your Project Manager will help you plan for shelving day and determine the best layout for your collection.
- Your sales consultant will be on hand for shelving day to help manage the shelving process and ensure it all goes smoothly.
- Your sales consultant or Project Manager will help you download your records.
- Our e-services team will help you upload student data into MackinVIA if needed.
- Your sales consultant will schedule any needed MackinVIA training sessions with you.
