Week 15: Marketing of Readers’ Advisory Services

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.

With the most recent update of my library’s ILS, we have the ability to create special “carousels” for items. While this may be seen as a glorified booklist, library staff members have the ability to change the items listed on the carousel daily with relative ease. Along with highlighting popular genres (i.e. mystery, science fiction, romance) and genres that may need more exposure (i.e. GLBTQ, westerns), we can also display books that have been ordered but have not been released. By placing upcoming titles front and center on our catalog, patrons who don’t read Bookpages or keep up on Goodreads will be excited to place holds on books before they come out.

Printed annotated booklists are great ways to suggest new and old fiction titles. They can follow certain genres, books from specific time periods, or be recommendations from library staff. While they can take time to produce, and can be costly if printed in color, the work load can be shared by several staff members. Booklists can also be a good way for Friends of the Library to get involved in finding new membership and increasing the number of active readers in the library.

In my community, I believe that more book discussion groups would help increase visibility of the library’s fiction collection. Saricks (2005) states that “no public library can afford not to offer an opportunity for patrons to gather to discuss books, both fiction and nonfiction” (p. 157). Specialized genre book groups, and groups catering to the reading habits of “new adults” can help provide visibility on different parts of the fiction collection. When book clubs choose to read certain books, even non-members place those books on their “to read” lists.

These three marketing methods spread exposure to the library’s fiction collection electronically, through print, and through word-of-mouth. Diversification of marketing methodologies is of utmost importance for the continued success of the library’s traditional literacy goals.

References

Saricks, J. (2005) Promoting and marketing readers’ advisory collections and services. In Readers’

Advisory Service in the Public Library. Chicago: ALA. 136-160.

Week 14 Prompt: Urban Fiction and GBLTQ Fiction

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 African American 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? You must provide at least 3 reasons for or against your decision. Feel free to use outside sources - this is a weighty question that is answered differently in a lot of different libraries.

The Pendleton Community Public Library will always strive to provide diverse materials, including GBLTQ fiction and African American fiction. However, the collection management committee feels that these diverse collections should be integrated into the adult fiction collection, along with all genre and literary fiction written for a general audience. Among the reasons why are:

1. Thomas (2007) notes that “A separate section for gay and lesbian fiction might pose problems, making some readers feel exposed when browsing and other ghettoized” (p. 40). In our small suburban, yet liberal, community, having GBLTQ fiction available in the public library will most likely not be challenged. However, while having a separate place for GBLTQ fiction would provide increased visibility for the titles, it will also increase visibility of the patrons who may not feel completely comfortable with publicizing their sexuality amongst their neighbors.
2.  Providing a separate section for African American fiction could be equated to segregation of “black” fiction and “white” fiction. By having African American fiction separate, it may cause some patrons to believe that African American fiction is not of the same quality as general literary fiction or that it is not for patrons of other ethnicities.
3. From a staffing perspective, our children’s area is inundated with split collections which creates numerous shelving mistakes and increases the number of location assist questions for circulation and reference desk staff. Splitting up the adult fiction collection, beginning with GBLTQ and African American fiction, could cause an increase in an already burdensome assistance load.
4. Finding aids, bookmarks, short term displays, and a social media campaign would go far to increase visibility for urban fiction and GBLTQ fiction. Without shifting the entire fiction collection to make space for specialized sections, finding aids, if regularly updated, will be of immense assistance in allowing patrons to easily find titles to their liking.

REFERENCES

Thomas, D. (2007). A Place On the Shelf. Library Journal (1976), 132(8), 40-3. Retrieved from Library Lit & Inf Full Text database.

Annotation (Young Adult Fiction): Winger by Andrew Smith

Bibliographical Information

Title: Winger

Author: Andrew Smith

Genre: Young adult

Publication Date: May 2013

Number of Pages: 440

Synopsis

Ryan Dean West is a “winger” for his school’s rugby team. He is also a 14-year-old junior who is younger than his teammates, his friends, and his crush, who thinks of him as just a friend. The book covers his immature junior year in its ups and downs through the recollections of Ryan Dean at a unspecified later date. Like many 14-year-olds, Ryan Dean is pervy when it comes to the opposite sex, but has excellent insight when it comes to his friend’s homosexuality and the hostility between his teammates off the field. While the book starts off much more lighthearted than Dead Poets Society, the book takes a dramatic turn in its last 50 pages. With its amazing pacing and wonderful drawings throughout, Winger feels like a diary of a college aged man looking back at his youth. And that’s a great thing.

Characteristics of Young Adult Fiction

Winger features numerous several characteristics of young adult fiction.

·         Winger reflects the words and thoughts of teenaged boys, which makes it approachable to that group of readers.

·         It deals with contemporary issues that teens face on a daily basis, including peer pressure, bullying, sex, sexual identity, the loss of old friends, and the beginnings of new friendships.

·         It displays a range of emotions that teens experience, partially due to puberty.

·         Rather than being watered down, Winger has fully realized characters who seem real with their problems and personal histories.

·         Like most histories, Howe’s book features incredible maps and illustrations.

Read-a-likes

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Spud by John Van de Ruit

Lucky Fools by Coert Voorhees

The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Noggin by John Corey Whaley

Week 13 Prompt: Graphic Novels and YA Appeal in the Library

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. Obviously, graphic novels are becoming more acceptable, but I still had to fight to get my progressive library in a liberal college town to purchase a book club kit containing graphic novels. 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 believe that it is important for all librarians to understand that we need to feature diverse formats and genres within the library. Audiobooks, large print, and ebooks are relatively new “formats” (in comparison to normal print) that allow readers of all ages to enjoy books on the go and/or after our eyesight declines. For people who want more artistic flair with their reading, graphic novels are perfect. With regards to genre, for those who enjoy the “bildungsroman” classics like The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, or The Outsiders, young adult literature will fulfill their needs.

As librarians, we need to understand the literary merit of graphic novels. Watchmen tells a story that couldn’t be told in any other way (as the movie adaptation did not come close to the emotional depth that the original work reaches). Blankets is heartfelt autobiographical portrait of romance found and lost. Persepolis explores a world completely foreign to most Americans. Readers can make the leap from genre fiction to graphic novels, and vice versa. Science fiction, fantasy, horror, and biography readers can find the same genre easily represented in graphic novel format. Knowing this, graphic novels readers’ advisory should be a little simpler. Recommending a graphic novel to a housewife wanting a romance novel would be a little like shooting yourself in the foot…a disaster.

That housewife would be more inclined to read a young adult novel, a genre where young romance and personal coming-of-age problems are the norm rather than the exception. The young adult genre has become a genre with “crossover appeal” for adults and teens, probably due to the proliferation of ereaders. Young adult books are usually wonderfully written without the need for a dictionary and thesaurus to read.

Finally, just as graphic novels and young adult literature are not for some adults, “literary fiction” is not for some as well. Just because someone does not enjoy or understand science fiction, there is no discussion as to whether the public library should offer the genre’s numerous high-quality books to its patrons. The same should apply to young adult and graphic novels. We purchase books that patrons want to read and we do not judge a reader for their own personal choices.

Annotation (Nonfiction): What Hath God Wrought by Daniel Walker Howe

Bibliographical Information

Title: What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848

Author: Daniel Walker Howe

Genre: Nonfiction

Subgenre: History

Historical Period: Antebellum period

Publication Date: October 2007

Number of Pages: 928

Synopsis

The fifth volume of the Oxford History of the United States, Daniel Walker Howe has written the great synthesis history of this period ever. Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for History and the American History Book Prize, What Hath God Wrought covers a period of history that gets overshadowed by its bookends: the First Generations of the Americans that fought for and won independence, and the Third Generation that fought in the Civil War. Howe argues that American democracy was revolutionized by the growth of the market economy, the awakening of Protestant churches and the creation of political parties. Along with the development of new communications technologies and transportation methods, America found its “manifest destiny” in expanding west beyond the Mississippi River. However, with all the great things America created, the ills of the past inflated with the expansion of slavery and the removal of Native Americans from the Southeast and Midwest.

Characteristics of History

• What Hath God Wrought features numerous several characteristics of non-fiction for non-task based reading.
• The book may not read exactly like a novel, but has an incredible narrative that acts like a story’s part one culminating eventually with the Civil War.
• For patrons who are interested in the Civil War may find the subject of the antebellum period that features numerous political and military leaders from that period to be of great interest.
• Despite it being a history book, it is not hindered by a ridiculous number of citations and side stories. Each chapter covers a fragment of the story that are narratives in their own right.
• The author explores incredible characters like James K. Polk, Samuel Morse, Andrew Jackson, and Henry Clay. The author uses actual historical events to frame the microcosm the plot explores.
• Like most histories, Howe’s book features incredible maps and illustrations.
• As it is meant to teach, What Hath God Wrought has an ominous tone, as the nation moved closer toward fracturing with the development of political parties, and horrible human atrocities were propagated by the American federal and state governments on minorities.

Read-a-likes

The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 by Robert Middlekauff

Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 by Gordon S. Wood

Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James M. McPherson

Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 by David M. Kennedy

Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974 by James T. Patterson

Week 12 Prompt: Readers' Advisory Matrix

The Readers’ Advisory Matrix for

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,

by Doris Kearns Goodwin

1. Where is the book on the narrative continuum?

·         A mix (combines highly narrative moments with periods of fact-based prose)

2. What is the subject of the book?

·         The ideological reconciliation of former political rivals and conflicting personalities who united to face the greatest struggle in American history.

3. What type of book is it?

·         A historical / biographical portrait of Lincoln and his cabinet.

4. Articulate appeal

·         What is the pacing of the book?

o   It is lengthy but manageable due to approachable language.

·         Describe the characters of the book.

o   The book explores the strong personalities that comprised Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet, including the very men who ran against him in the 1860 election, including abolitionist William Seward, radical Salmon P. Chase, and conservative Edward Bates.

·         How does the story feel?

o   It feels like a time machine that places you in the backrooms and offices that history was made.

·         What is the intent of the author?

o   To educate Americans about leadership and compromise during national crises.

·         What is the focus of the story?

o   The Lincoln presidency and the lives of men who sacrificed their own ambitions for the greater good.

·         Does the language matter?

o   Yes.

·         Is the setting important and well described?

o   Goodwin does an amazing job describing Washington culture during the Civil War, and the setting is important in the stress and confusion that occurred with warfare taking place just a few miles in any direction.

·         Are there details and, if so, of what?

o   There are lots of historical and biographical details regarding the vast majority of the people chronicled.

·         Are there sufficient charts and other graphic materials? Are they useful and clear?

o   The book includes numerous photographs as well as a few political cartoons and maps.

·         Does the book stress moments of learning, understanding, or experience?

o   The book does stress all three; learning about how to lead, understanding your rivals and their motivations, and experiencing the important events in Civil War history.

5. Why would a reader enjoy this book (rank appeal)?

            1. Leadership

            2. Learning

            3. Ease of read