KitKeeper is a library staff interface for managing book club kits and reserving them. SWAN introduced the service in 2020 as a way to schedule and track book club kits with the goal of sharing them between libraries.
KitKeeper appeared to be an ideal solution for libraries with significant book discussion groups and with circulating kit collections. The intent, based on the feedback of the SWAN Book Club Users Group was to help library staff (and in turn patrons) by allowing kits to be scheduled months in advance and providing kits with book titles already assembled for sharing. The solution of KitKeeper (made by the company Plymouth Rocket) was to have SWAN support the instance, and allow libraries to participate, whether or not they owned a kit collection of their own.
However, patrons have demonstrated a preference for a less “planned” approach to their book clubs, which likely reflects the strong resource sharing SWAN has built. The consortial holdings are, evidently, more than sufficient to meet the needs of SWAN members. Rather than continue KitKeeper, we have decided to end the subscription with Plymouth Rocket (the company providing KitKeeper). The cost of the service would have been $1,450 upon its renewal in November 2023.