Week 5 Prompt

Readers’ Advisory Week 5 Prompt

How do these reviews make you feel about the possibility of adding Angela's Ashes to your collection?

            The review from Kirkus was so descriptive, that it almost sounded like an English paper. To me, I felt like the review rehashed the whole book and was too long. The review from School Library Journal, however, had the exact opposite effect, and put a spin on Angela’s Ashes in a more positive light, which felt inappropriate, given the context of the story. I felt like the most-neutral review was Library Journal; it was short and to the point, and did not evoke an emotion from the reader at all; it stated what needed to be stated. The only issue I had with Library Journal was that the reviewer put their personal opinion in, “A wonderful book” (1). That should be for the reader to decide. Other than that, I think Library Journal was the best review out of the three. If a library that I would work at was lacking in Irish history, I would definitely purchase it. It is not a common theme in history; mostly historians write about the Civil War or World War II.

Do you think it's fair that one type of book is reviewed to death and other types of books get little to no coverage? How does this affect a library's collection? 

            It is not fair that one type of book is reviewed to death and other types of books get little to no coverage. For example, the political book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff, was definitely a scandal when it was released, but because the President tried to get the book taken off the shelves, that made it all the more valuable to readers. On the Publisher’s Weekly website https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/nielsen/index.html alone (2018), it is #1 in their Overall, History, and Hardcover Nonfiction categories (1). I got annoyed quickly, because I was hoping Publisher’s Weekly was made of better stuff, and would allow other books to have a chance of being in their top 10 lists. That was not the case. As librarians try to purchase political books, the hard part is trying to predict if this book will still be popular after Trump finishes his presidency, or if it will just collect dust on the shelf. A lot of the time, the political books will automatically be outdated once the person mentioned or featured in the book is out of office. A solution to this would be to make the Political Science books weeded out in a shorter time frame than the rest of the genres.

In Collections Development, it is hard to gauge whether or not to purchase these types of books. A librarian must know the needs of their community before purchasing- while still remaining unbiased in purchasing- for their collection. Librarians may be more apt to purchase big-name authors like Michael Wolff, Erik Larson, Laura Hillenbrand, or Bill O'Reilly, or books that are bestsellers, which makes it tough for the beginning author to gain an audience when they have to compete with them. They barely stand a chance. The librarian cannot have a filter or favor one type of book over another. If a librarian is a Democrat, they must realize they need to also purchase books about the Republican party, and vice versa. There needs to be an abundant selection of all types of books in a library’s collection.

And how do you feel about review sources that won't print negative content? Do you think that's appropriate?

            Like any review, a person may absolutely love the book and want to sing it from the mountaintops, but it can be said the same for a book that they thought may have been terrible. Librarians need to read both stellar and negative reviews to get an unbiased idea of what the book will be like, how the patrons will react to it, and whether or not the book would be worth purchasing. Collections Development should be as unbiased as possible, but there is a philosophical element that keeps the librarian going in circles. In the end, all books purchased by a librarian have had his or her influence and say in the matter. If the librarian decides whether or not to buy the book, that is their decision, which ultimately plays a role in purchasing a book that was supposed to be unbiased to start, but decisions are biased. On the one hand, the book may have contributed to their collection, but because of the librarian’s decision, patrons may be missing out on a great book. Thankfully, though, since the invention of the Inter-Library Loan System, it is not as big of a deal as it used to be, because patrons can always borrow from other libraries. However, it is still a vicious cycle.

If you buy for your library, how often do you use reviews to make your decisions? If not, how do you feel about reviews for personal reading, and what are some of your favorite review sources?

            I do not have any experience in purchasing books for a library’s collection, but I wish I did! Rarely do I look at reviews for books when reading on my own time. When I was working at a library, I was able to pick up books from the carts that were about to be put back if I wanted to check them out (staff never owed fines on their accounts as one of the perks). I read the dust jacket summary, and if I liked it, then it would be checked out before it got put back on the shelf. If I read it and did not like it part way through, I would return it in a couple of days. As far as review sources, I liked the Library Journal catalog my library subscribed to; it was a catalog that featured all of the new releases. Publisher’s Weekly is in second place. If I want to review a children’s book, I will go to School Library Journal. For regular perusing, I go straight to Goodreads. Goodreads is probably my most-favorite Readers’ Advisory website.

            Since I have moved, I may not be able to get a library job right away, so it will feel weird to be a patron again, not knowing “what’s new” on the shelves all the time. I have a feeling I will end up using reviews a lot more as a patron instead of checking things out on a whim like I used to!

Works Cited

Angela’s Ashes Reviews. (2018). Retrieved from https://iu.instructure.com/courses/1702577/files/folder/Week%205?preview=75529651

Publishers Weekly. (2018). Bestsellers. Retrieved from https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/nielsen/index.html.