Week 16 prompt

When I was younger I remember being excited to go to the school book sale to get a new book for myself. I still own that book that I bought in like 3^rd grade. The other was getting to go the school library to pick out what I wanted to read or getting to go to the bookmobile when it came near my house. Now I still go to the library to get books and also enjoy a good book sale whenever I can but now I also get a lot of ebooks and eaudiobooks as well. I sometimes look at the children books that have been made into digital read-along books that include animations. Books have come a long way since I was a kid when they weren’t any ebooks.

I feel in the next 20 year it will keep going the way it has been going with adding more ebook. I don’t believe we will ever get rid of all print book because they are nothing like holding a book in your hand. Most of the teens and younger adults that I work with don’t really like ebooks and if they are reading would prefer a print book. In the article ‘Stay awake’ talks about how it more about people not reading digital that is really hurting books (Le Guin). I also saw an article from Wired that talks about how even though people say they are not reading publisher are still selling lots of books. Some of what is hurting publishers are the ability of the writers to publish their own materials and cut out the middleman (Hughes). For example, Hugh Howey the writer of the sci-fi book ‘Wool’ choose not to sign with a publisher because he was making around $12,000 a month on the ebook and some self-published print book. He was offered several different book contract after his book started selling but choose not to sign with any of them till on offered to do just the print book but let him keep control over his own ebook (Hughes). If it continues to be easier for a writer to self-publish I see this being the way of the future. I again don’t believe print books are going to go away the real thing we have to worry about is if people just stop reading. With the way, people work nowadays they just don’t have time to read for pleasure and if work keeps going the way it is this might hurt the book industry. 

Hughes, Evan. “Book Publishers Scramble to Rewrite Their Future.” Wired, 19 March 2013. https://www.wired.com/2013/03/publishing-industry-next-chapter/

Le Guin, U. K. “Staying awake: notes on the alleged decline of reading.” Harper's Magazine, 2008, 316(1893).

Week 15 Prompt

              The three ways I would like to market my library fiction collection is through book displays, book discussion groups, and book talks. I do help with 2 out of 3 at this time. I put together different book displays on different topics. One display that we started doing last year and did again this year that I loved was a March Madness display where we found a writer from all 68 schools in the tournament. I did most of this display this year and it not the easiest to do but I had fun trying to find a writer from each school. I did fudge a few because the school had no authors that went to the school or we didn’t have them in our library. This year display went better than last years and people actually took some of the books. Other displays that I have helped put together are smaller displays usually dealing with something that we are doing in the meeting room and we want to help promote it and show what books we might have on the subject. We usually try to put a small display in the meeting room on the day of different events that deal with the topic or movie being shown. Displays are a very passive way to promote different books in the system. One more display that we have up all the time is the staff pick section. This display has different books that staff have read and would like to recommend to another reader at a glance. Any staff member in the library can put something on display on this shelf and at one time we use to put bookmarks in the books so patrons know who read the book. This help patrons have an idea of who might like the same books as them and know who they want to ask for a recommendation.

                I like using discussion groups to help patrons get out of their comfort zones. I start going to a book club to get myself out of the rut of just reading the same type of books over and over again. About a year and a half ago I was asked to run one of the library book clubs and I have loved the experience it has given me. I enjoy hearing what people feel about books and what they did or didn’t like about them. I at one point made read-alike bookmarks for all the books we read to give the member other books they might like if they enjoyed the book we were reading. I stop this because no one seems interested in these bookmarks or the books on them. I like being able to talk to people about different books and find books that I really enjoyed that I wouldn’t have read if it wasn’t for the book club. It is fun spending an hour once a month talking about a specific book with others who have read the same book, it is one of the funniest things I get to do.

                The last thing that I wish I got to do is book talks. My library doesn’t really formal book talks as a program.  I don’t know how comfortable I would be getting in front of a group of people to talk about books but I think I would like to try at some point. In the chapter about “Promoting and Marketing Collections and Services” by Saricks, she talks about how you don’t have to read all the books that talk about you can use other people experience the book (156). These talks are short 5 minute talks about each book you pick so depending on the time given will decide how many books you choose. Book talks are done a lot more for children and teens in a school setting but would work with adults as well. This is something I would like to at some point bring to my library. These are all ways to help promote the different books that the library has in their collection.

Sarick, J. “Prompting and Marketing Readers’ Advisory Collections and Services.” Readers’ Advisory Services in the Public Library. Chicago, ALA, 2005, pp. 136-160.

Week 14 Prompt

The library I work at use to have these section separated until we moved some sections around and we integrated them into the fictions section. I talked with my building manager and asked why we had them separated and why we put them back together. She said we had separated them at one point when the collection was smaller to show people that we had the section. The African American section we had longer than the LGBT section which was started about 2 years ago and then put in with fiction last May. We recently did a survey and she said we had some patrons that asked us to put the African American section back. At my library we have different genre separated out like mysteries, romance, inspirational, and western as well as having a general fiction collection so it didn’t seem a far stretch to have an African American or an LGBT section but when looking for other sources for this discussion it changed my mind. I wouldn’t separate these section because it constricted, it makes it harder for people to just stumble across these titles, and separating them by sub-genres doesn’t make sense.

First I found a blog from N.K. Jemisin author of “The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms called “Don’t Put My Book in the African American Section.” In this blog, she talks about how she hates the African American section and wished it didn’t exist. She is a black author but feels that her book doesn’t belong in that section as she says her book doesn’t have any black character and relates more to the science fiction section then the African American section. Jemisin goes on to talk about how when these books are separated out it hurt there exposer and constricts the amount the item is looked at. She talks about how most of these books are put in the back of the store with a label saying African American Interest “which might as well have read, ‘Everybody But Black People, Nothin’ to See Here. Move Along’” (Jemisin). We think when making these new section that the people who read these section want this but they don’t really, they want to be included with all the rest of the titles and not segregated just because the book is written by a black author.

Jemisin talks about how the reader who sent her the letter asking about being put in the African American section said that she was able to check out another section in the library because it was separated but had it not been for her looking for this specific book she wouldn’t have looked in that section. Wendy from the blog called “The Misadventures of Super Librarian” talked about how she hates genre sticker because it allows a patron to get stuck in a rut and only read the genre that they always read. If all the section on together you have a better chance as a patron to stumble upon something you may not have read because it is a different genre then you like to read (Wendy). I know I can sometimes fall into this habit of only reading books in a specific genre but I know when I read YA books I tend to venture out more into another style of book that I wouldn’t have chosen if they had specific genre stickers on them.

Wendy also talks about how separating into sub-genres doesn’t make sense because if the book is a historical romance it doesn’t matter if it has a white heroine or one of color it is still a historical fiction book. When you separate out the LGBT and the African American books you are taking them away from other books written in that same style just because they may have some scene in them that are gay or lesbian or that the book is written by an African American. Urban Lit is not the same as Jemisin science fiction book so why would you put them together. Wendy talks about how these sections have made some librarian lazy because they can just point to where the section is and not help them find the item or something else the patron might like in another section.

We should make sure that patrons find what they are looking for but not segregating book because we feel it will make it easier. Just because the book is written by a black author doesn’t mean that it is just like all the rest of the books by black authors and should be put with that one. We need to be more mindful of how we are separating different styles of books to make sure that if we do separate them that we are doing it in a meaningful way.

Bradford, Robin. “The Black Shelves are Over There….” Collection Reflection, 28 July 2011, https://cdstacked.blogspot.com/2011/07/black-shelves-are-over-there.html. Accessed 10 April 2018.

Jemisin, N.K. “Don’t Put My Book in the African American Section.” N.K. Jemisin, 26 May 2010, http://nkjemisin.com/2010/05/dont-put-my-book-in-the-african-american-section/. Accessed 10 April 2018.

Wendy @ TGTBTU. “The One Where Wendy Talks About Diversity.” The Misadventures of …. Super Librarian, 28 Jan. 2016, http://wendythesuperlibrarian.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-one-where-wendy-talks-about.html. Accessed 10 April 2018.

Week 13 prompt

As an avid reader of young adult books, I feel that they can be read by teen and adult alike. Now I am not that into graphic novels but that is just because I tend to read what is written and forget to look at the picture as I go. I still feel that they are a good choice for adults to read and if it gets them reading I think we should be encouraging them not discouraging. One thing I like about the young adult books is that you can choose a fantasy book and not have to worry about there being an explicit sex scene in the book. I fill like most adult books that I pick up that are fantasy tend to have very explicit sex scenes and that is not something that I care to read all the time so it is nice when I can pick up a good fantasy book that is a young adult and not has to worry about this.  Some of the books that have broken through to all different ages have been The Hunger Games series, Twilight, and Divergent series to name a few. These are some of the books that I see adults and teens both reading. In the article “What Girl Want” Caitlin talks about how “Twilight” was one of the books that got her back to reading. Like I said as long as people are reading does it really matter what they are reading if they enjoy it. We shouldn’t judge someone who comes to the library as an adult and asks for either a young adult book or a graphic novel, we should be helping them find what they are looking for. Just because I am not the biggest fan of graphic novels doesn’t mean I don’t feel that it is a worth form of reading for others.

Flanagan, Caitlin. “What Girls Want.” The Atlantic, Dec. 2008, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/12/what-girls-want/307161/. Accessed 3 April 2018.

Young Adult Annotation: Now is Everything

Title: Now Is Everything

Author: Amy Giles

Genre: YA Realistic fiction

Publication Date: 2017

Number of Pages: 357

Geographical Setting: New York State

Time Period: Present day

Plot Summary: Hadley family looks perfect from the outside but they are hiding a deep secret. She is the sole survivor of a plane crash that she does not think she should have survived. At 17 Hadley is forbidden to date but meet Charlie and starts a secret relationship. Hadley’s father, referred to by her friend as the drill sergeant, is very strict with her mom, her younger sister Lila but most of all on Hadley. She has to get up at 4:30 am every morning to go running with her father who constantly tells her she is not good enough. If she steps out of line at all her father beats her and does the same to her mother. The only one who is spared the beating is Lila because Hadley covers for her. Hadley best friend’s Meaghan and Noah don’t know that it is as bad for Hadley at home as it is. She tries to keep anyone from knowing and does a good job of this until one day Charlie see her bruises on her hip. He tries to get her to tell someone but she doesn’t believe anyone can help. Will Hadley be able to help get her family out from under her father rule before it is too late for her sister?

Subject Headings:

·         Abusive men

·         Child abuse

·         Family secrets

·         Seventeen-year-old girls

·         Survival (after airplane accidents, shipwrecks, etc.)

·         Teenage abuse victims

·         Teenage boy/girl relations

·         Teenage romance

Appeal:

·         Character: Authentic; Well-developed

·         Writing Style: Thoughtful

Elements of YA Fiction:

Audience: Geared toward teens between 13-19 years old. Reflects situations that teens can relate to.

Realistic fiction deals with events that could happen in a teen’s life. Situations usually deal with relations with boys/girls, family, and teachers. Talks about things that teen will do once leaving high school.

Elements are the same as the adult book in the same genre with the exception that the main character in the book is between the ages of 13-19.

Similar Authors and Works:

Nonfiction Works:

Never Broken: Songs Are Only Half the Story by Jewel: This book is about Jewel struggles with abuse at the hands of unconventional and highly creative family members before rising fame and becoming a parent. This book shares the subject heading of child abuse.*

The Truth Book: Escaping a Childhood of Abuse Among Jehovah’s Witnesses: a Memoir by Joy Castro: This book shares the account of a woman who was psychologically and sexually abused along with her mother and younger brother by her revered Jehovah’s Witness stepfather, whose behavior was unquestioned by their congregation. This book shares the subject heading of child abuse.

A Child Called “It”: One Child’s Courage to Survive by David Pelzer: This is a book about David as a young boy being abused by his alcoholic mother. This book shares the subject heading child abuse victim.

Fiction Works:

If I Stay by Gayle Forman: is about a girl who is in a coma after her family has been in a car wreck. The rest of her family has died in the wreck and she is trying to decide if she wants to live without her mother and father. This book is similar because it talks about how 17-year-old Mia has to live without her parents after a horrible crash.

You Don’t Know Me by David Klass: This book is about a 14-year-old who creates an alternate reality in his mind to try and deal with his mother’s abusive boyfriend. This book is a realistic fiction and has the subject teenage abuse victims. 

A List of Cages by Robin Roe: This book is about a student who struggles with ADHD and has to track down a troubled freshman he discovers is the foster brother he has not seen in five years. This book is a realistic fiction and has the subject teenage abuse victims.