One of the busiest areas in any core collection is fiction and in the O library in particular, thrillers are most of the patrons’ favorite books to enjoy. John Grisham, Lee Child and James Patterson are some of the authors whose almost entire works we carry. The quantity of the thriller area can be labeled about a 4 out of 5, with a 5 being excellent. The quality can vary as there are always books being weeded due to the fiction area being so impacted. It seems that many of the thrillers are checked out by our older patrons which is a big demographic in the community. Because the community is in San Diego and so close to the Mexico- US border, there is a big Spanish core collection that tries to cater to those who do not feel entirely confident in English. The Spanish picture books are a specialized collection that is always advertised and always asked about to/by patrons. Many of them want their children to continue speaking their native language or some are trying to teach their children that language. The overall rating of the collection is a 3 out of 5 because even though the collection is big and extensive, the quality could be improved. Many of the books are old (some more than 20 years old) and many are damaged (drawn on, tears, etc.). This is an important collection because it is so popular and it is one that I think needs to be updated and evaluated. Lastly, cookbooks are an area that patrons gravitate towards because there are many different types of cookbooks available for everyone. Mexican food is one of the areas that is most requested and where many “looky-looks” usually take a look around. Because this area is so specialized there is such a big variety of ethnic foods and even though there are many books, the books are old and out of date. The collection is ranked a 2 because of the quality of the book. The new book area has many cookbooks but because the area is separate from the core collection then I do not believe it counts as a certain specialized area. There is a separate area for Spanish dvds and cds. The cds are very popular and many of our patrons take advantage of the many option we have. The dvds unfortunately are floating, meaning that they wherever they get returned is their new home, so they are never in a specific library for too long. Because of this we cannot really take inventory on which titles are most popular where. Thanks to our ever changing databases available through the San Diego public library web site, Rosetta Stone is now available to for our patrons to use and learn with if and only if they have a library card. Ranging from Japanese to Russian to Spanish and Portuguese, patrons have access to many languages to learn at their own home. Only downside? It is only level one but nothing beats learning the basics of a new language. The core and special collection at the Otay Mesa Library needs to be evaluated again I believe, there is a lot of potential and many other needs that need to be accessed to the community. Now that the city has open up their budget and given the library more money we have gotten the extended hours many have asked and hopefully that will funnel down to the collection each library houses.