Week Fifteen Prompt

What do you think are the best ways to market your library's fiction collection? Name and describe three ways you do or would like to market your library or your future library's fiction. These can be tools, programs, services, displays - anything that you see as getting the word out.



One of the best ways to market the library’s fiction collection is through the use of eye-catching displays. We do a new display every month at my library, and it usually is tied into something happening that month (i.e. horror books for Halloween, romance in February, beach reads one of the summer months, etc.). We usually decorate and design these displays to stand out, so patrons want to come by to view it and see what is going on.  So many compliments have come from these displays, and I find myself constantly adding new books because books are always being taken from them.

Another way to market the library’s collection is through the library’s website. Having a marquee showing the new books the library has to offer on the main page, so that it’s the first thing a user will see when accessing the library’s website. I find it helps to have the marquee show a description of the book when the mouse is hovered over it - that way the user won’t have to leave the main page if they’re in a hurry to find something but spot a cover that catches their eye.  A Facebook page could also promote materials in a similar way, by choosing a new book a week to post about.

Finally, I think having a monthly book club at the library and choosing a different book and genre each month is a good way to market the library’s collection. By choosing a different genre each month, it allows people with different interests to come as they please when a genre they love is chosen. During the discussion, there could be a small display of read-a-likes for patrons who enjoyed the book club pick and want to read something similar. Not only would this be fun programming for patrons, it’s also an easy way to market the different materials the library has to offer.

Week Sixteen Prompt

How have reading and books changed since you were a child, for you specifically? Second, talk a little about what you see in the future for reading, books, or publishing - say 20 years from now. Will we read more or less, will our reading become more interactive? What will happen to traditional publishing? 

Aside from the obvious changes (i.e. going from picture books to novels), I enjoy reading more as an adult than I did as a child. Don't get me wrong, I loved reading as a child/young adult loved getting caught up in book series and collecting them and devouring them in days... however, now I find myself reading to relax and unwind.  It's nice to have some time to myself without any interruptions, questions, problems - just me, a book, and a glass of wine (when I'm not pregnant).

I feel that with the increase in technology, the future of reading will increase.  Reading has become easier for some people with the additions of audiobooks and e-books and books are way more accessible now.  You could easily download and start a book you want to read with just a few clicks of the mouse.  With that said, I don’t see physical books dying out anytime soon, because there are so many people like me who enjoy have “real” books on hand.  I find a lot of millennials are using the library these days, choosing to rent a book rather than purchase them, which could affect publishing, but I’m not quite sure how...

I can see reading becoming more and more interactive in the future, with the addition of celebrity book clubs and social media.  People love to connect and discuss books with other likeminded people.  People love to post about what they’re reading, what they’ve read, what they liked and what they didn’t.  I think celebrities posting their favorite books inspire their fans to read more, because their fans idolize them and want to feel as close to them as possible.  

Week Fourteen Prompt Response

Consider yourself part of the collection management committee of your local library, or a library at which you would like to work. You must decide whether or not to separate GBLTQ fiction and Urban Fiction from the general collection to its own special place. Some patrons have requested this, yet many staff are uncomfortable with the idea - saying it promotes segregation and disrupts serendipitous discovery of an author who might be different from the reader. Do you separate them? Do you separate one and not the other? Why or why not?

I would not separate the GBLTQ fiction and Urban Fiction from the general collection to its own special place.  I would agree with the staff who believe that it promotes segregation and disrupts serendipitous discovery of an author who might be different from the reader.  I read one of the articles posted on Erin’s blog (the other link didn’t work for me) and I also looked up the topic on my own, and I can see that some libraries have caved into separating the genres.  I believe it’s important to keep them entwined with other fiction books.  My library doesn’t even separate its collection into different genre categories; all the fiction is mixed together and organized by the author’s last name.  You can find books by Stephen King (horror) and Sophie Kinsella (rom-com) right in the same section!  I love the idea of keeping all the books together because it makes it so easy to stumble upon books you wouldn’t normally be on the lookout for.  A patron could come into the library looking for Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, and spot the cover for The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North and decide to check it out.  Separating GBLTQ and Urban Fiction books from other fiction could result in patrons missing out on books they never knew they wanted to read.

Week Thirteen Prompt

Though this week's group of "genres" all seem very different, they all have in common the fact that many people don't feel that they are legitimate literary choices and libraries shouldn't be spending money on them or promoting them to adults. The common belief is that adults still don't or shouldn't read that stuff. How can we as librarians, work to ensure that we are able to serve adults who enjoy YA literature or graphic novels? Or should we?

I completely disagree with the idea that we shouldn’t spend money on or promote young and new adult materials and graphic novels.  I know plenty of adults who prefer to read young adult books over adult fiction for the main reason that they are quick and easy reads and completely entertaining.  I myself recently found myself completely consumed by the Hunger Games trilogy and then the Divergent trilogy (prior to this I was a huge Twilight fan).  These books may be written for a younger audience, but why should that mean that an older audience can’t enjoy them too?  

Another reason I feel that these young/new adult genres can apply to an older audience is for parents who want to have something in common with their younger teenagers.  I can’t wait until my daughter is old enough where we can read these young adult books (together or separately) and have discussions about this issues that arise in them and how we would handle the situations in the book.  

I haven’t personally read a lot of graphic novels, however, I did just absorb My Friend Dahmer and absolutely enjoyed it.  Why should there be an age limit on any genre? I don’t believe there should. I believe adults should be able to read the books they want, regardless of the age group they were written for.  I think that libraries should keep the Young/New Adult sections at the library near the Adult section, and allow patrons to read whatever they want to read.

Week Thirteen Annotations: "Everything, Everything" by Nicola Yoon

Everything, Everything

By: Nicola Yoon

Synopsis:

Madeline is a seventeen year old girl who has never been outside of her house.  She suffers from a rare disorder called SCID, which is also known as Bubble Baby Disease.  If she leaves her house, she is very likely to get sick and die. So she doesn't. She lives alone with her mother, and the only other in-person socialization she takes part of is with her caretaker, Carla.  Madeline is content in her life, and makes the most of her depressing situation, until one day an attractive teenage boy, Olly, moves in next door and changes her outlook on life.  Communicating strictly, at first, through instant messaging and emails, Madeline quickly develops feelings that she has never felt before: love.  Madeline soon begins to wonder if simply being alive is more important than actually having a chance to really live.

Appeals and Characteristics of Young Adult:

• Pace: This book starts off a little slow (the main character is homebound and the first half of the book is learning about her day-to-day routines inside her home), but then changes suddenly, drawing the reader in and leaving them wanting more.
• Characterization: The book is centered around teenage Madeline and her love interest, Olly.  Both characters are well-developed and likable, which is common in young adult books.  Madeline’s mother is also a main character, as she and Madeline’s caretaker are pretty much the only two people who Madeline is able to be around due to her extreme illness.   Without spoiling anything, some of the characters take a turn for the worst, and a big twist leaves readers heartbroken and confused.
• Theme: The theme of this book is teenage romance, which is a common theme of young adult books.  As with most teenage romances, it’s not an easy love story.  The two main characters fall in love without ever thinking they’d be able to touch or be in the same room as one another.  
• Tone: I thought the tone of the book was depressing, as it centered around a teenager who spent her entire life (seventeen years) cooped inside her house for fear that if she left she’d have an allergic reaction and die.  There are obviously more upbeat and happy parts to this book, but most of the tone is a bit somber.

Read-A-Likes:
If you enjoyed Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon, you might want to try the following titles:

• Zac and Mia by A.J. Betts
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Greene
• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
• Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornell