Collection Reflection

Hello and Happy Friday.  Here's what's going on in the world of letters. The 2014 Kirkus prize winners were announced . Congrats! 13 classic scenes that explain how horror movies work . Chick lit is in its death throes . uhhhh, hello 2009? The unconventional family that gave birth to Wonder Woman San Antonio installs kiosks in the airport where travelers can download digital content. Infographic: YA historical fiction Why the Jane Austen derivatives can't stop, won't stop. Just for fun: A few trailers: Suite Franҫais   The Red Tent

Rising to the challenge: re-envisioning public libraries Can books change the world?   (yes!) Do you know your literary villains? The Telegraph talks to some romance novelist Ex-Pats. Afghanistan fledgling publishing industry takes first steps . (nice!) Have you marked your calendars for Harry Potter book night? Clare's The Mortal Instruments  to be rebooted as a tv show Grave found which suggests victim was killed by vampire hysteria .  In the 13th century. Earlyword handicaps the fall book to tv adaptations. Have a great Tuesday!

Good Morning, and Happy Monday!  Have some links: Today's must read article on diversity in publishing. The 50 best diverse children's books Is E-reading to your toddler story time or screen time?   Aren't they hearing a story either way? Book Ban rumors boost authors in China What to look for in: Horror First look at Netflix's interpretation of Daredevil (I'm very excited about this) 14 things you probably don't know about Margaret Atwood Adobe gathering ebook data . Of course. Flavorwire talks plague based novels. 3M cloud library launches hardware lending program with the Nook glowlight Booklist mag's Core Collection series starring: Gay and Lesbian romance novels Just for fun: Thug notes takes on Dracula

National Book Foundation names its 5 under 35 . (I miss the list on technical AND merit grounds) The Harry Potter collection record goes to.... Gilmore Girls reading inspired challenge. The finalists for the Kirkus Prize are in . Guardian books talks music memoirs . The David Bowie book trysts Fall/Winter First books. Annoyed Librarian takes on guns in libraries . Just for fun: Get your Batman stamps! Infographic: A guide to Star Trek uniforms

Are you ready for the 31 horror films in 31 days challenge? Band books and Banned books! Authors to ask for DOJ probe of Amazon. The Top 10 walks in books. AZ booksellers and libraries sue over new "revenge porn" law.

Good Morning and Happy Monday!  Let's see what's been going on around the internet. New Harry Potter covers in the UK are creating a stir . (I kinda like them!) The PEW report on younger Americans and libraries. Infographic: Reading is good for you. New Dr. Seuss stories found. Infographic: How long does it take to read popular books? 5 Juv and YA books that transcend the age label 50 Romantic novels for people who hate romance novels . (not the same thing, but a list is a list!)

Read about what was happening in the Ferguson library , and where they're going from here. Wolverine is going to die (and stay dead for at least a year!) The Lazy Buggers Guide to the Man Booker longlist Penguin Random House consolidates the adult imprints Syfy "greenlights" Clarke's Childhood's End " for a miniseries. Gaiman's " Hansel & Gretel " tapped for film. Looking to recommend and/or read some historical fantasy? The Guardian publishes unreleased chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . Happy Thursday!

Good morning and Happy September!  If you're like me, you'll use this as a little reminder to flip your paper calendars. Samsung is for real (right now) about books. First, announcing it was going into the reading device business with B&N and now, sponsoring the Frankfurt book fair. R.L. Stein to re-boot Fear Street . How dark is "too dark" in children's books? Who doesn't love this year's "Geek of the year"?   10 of the worst jobs in literature Florida Polytechnic University opens a "bookless" library . (with ebooks. which are still books....) The Tim Howard book is coming. (hooray!) Somehow, I missed that Bruce Springsteen wrote a children's book. Just for fun: Firefly funko toys! How NYC would respond to an actual Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man attack . You know how much I love the good people at Thug Notes, right?  Here is their take on something more recent: The Hunger Games. Have a good Tuesda...

At my library, there are nonfiction sections under my purview that are, to put it kindly, overly well-stocked. Unfortunately, many of the books in these sections are at least twenty years old and are not being checked out by patrons. I don't have any good "before" pictures, but will say that unfortunately the shelves were full to the point where bookends were rendered unnecessary. Way, way worse than the "before" pictures in my denewing post . A little while ago, I got fed up with the condition of the martial arts books (wildly out of order as well as overflowing) and decided to take action. I knew that the books in the sections adjacent to martial arts in the 790s were full of weeding candidates, so rather than generate a list and pull specific titles, I just started pulling off a shelf of books at a time to analyze them, put them in the correct order, and weed weed WEED. Advantages: Being able to see a selection of the library's holdings for a part...

Happy Friday!  Are you looking for the floating library?    As profiled by the Star-Tribune . Charles Dickens heard voices . (don't all writers hear character voices?) Jennifer Lopez to write a book about love, stardom and motherhood. Cate Blanchett & Christian Bale will open  The Jungle Book. Prisoners in England and Wales will have to earn the right to read books . Minority Report tv series in development . (I barely remember the movie....) That's the news for now!

Your abbreviated links for the day.  Happy Thursday! Radical Librarians in Ferguson and beyond. Bestsellers stolen from Pittsburgh area libraries. (I wonder what scale we're talking about here.) Hear A.A. Milne read from Winnie-the-Pooh Margaret Atwood talks about HBO adaptations,  MaddAddam, and other things. Universal, Imagine acquire the rights to Anne Rice's entire Vampire Chronicles  series . The "real" Alex from OINTB is getting her own book.  HA! Which celebs have the most autobiographies. 

Happy Wednesday!  Have some links I'm probably the last person to see this video, but I'm sharing it anyway:   Why Libraries Matter A place beyond words: the language of Alzheimer's. Samsung and Nook had a baby. Literary experimentation gains popularity  The Book Nerd glossary . (I love this!) Hey Travelers! Here is another book fair. First ever "Horizon Report" for libraries Library Linguistics (interesting!)

Good morning! Yes, it has been awhile, but I think the ship is steady again. Time to get back to blogging on the (semi) regular. New from Pew! Public Library Engagement in the US. The 2014 Hugo winners! The poet known as the "Lioness of Iran" dies.  What do Amazon editors think will be the big fall books?  So you want to be a book cover artist.... (even if you don't, still very interesting!) Time judges its editors on how beneficial they are to advertisers. Not surprising, really. Let's hear it for Chicago! (my kinda town?)  The Chesley award winners (best SF/F art) At 91, Stan Lee is unstoppable! Are you watching "The Knick"?  Have a little history with your Clive Owen.  Why diversity in YA fantasy matters . 25 authors who wrote great books before age 25.  A reddit AMA featuring: Brent Weeks. Just for fun: Steampunk playing cards!  Infographic: Global second languages.  Have a great Tuesday!

Can we talk, for a minute, about things that aren't books? Don't get me wrong, I love books. I do. I always have. And, honestly, I can't even imagine that a day will come when I will disavow them. Not even for a million dollars. Not even for ten mill.....well, let's not go quite THAT far. But, the point remains, I love books so this is not even close to an anti-book screed. And, I understand that books and literacy are, and have been, the cornerstone of libraries. That's wonderful. Encouraging literacy, and a love of reading, is a fantastic thing to be associated with your organization/profession. I can't think of many people who would argue against these things, and it makes for wonderful, heart warming stories to share with people who hold the purse strings. But, libraries have been circulating things OTHER than books for a long time. In fact, I don't know that I can remember a time when libraries only had books. Even the tiny library in my hometown...

What are THE 8 books you need to read this June? 10 Irresistible books about juicy scandals . The Earth and the moon have been lying about their age. HathiTrust! The Importance of the Horror genre and why we love it.  13 movies that explore the future of technology Infographic:   Game of Thrones, how the books stack up. Lovereading wants to help choose your next book . Infographic: The Habits of British book readers Ghosts in the stacks: finding the forgotten books  How do you stop kids from reading a book? Telling them they can't is probably NOT the right answer... From Lisa Rabey: Graphic Novel Collections in Academia

I covered some of this ground in Getting Started with Graphic Novels , but I wanted to revisit the topic for a more in-depth look at how I choose what adult graphic novels to purchase. As I mentioned, I use a variety of review sources and websites, including: Library Journal , Booklist , Publishers Weekly The A.V. Club, Graphic Novel Reporter, Paste, NPR, i09, Diamond Eisner nominees and other lists curated by organizations like YALSA New York Times  bestseller lists (and occasionally reviews from NYT or LA Times ) Since I only order graphic novels one or two times a year, I needed a method to keep track of the items that are reviewed or listed over the course of the year. To do this--surprising to no one, I'm sure--I use a spreadsheet. When I encounter a potential purchase, I record the publication year, author, and title, as well as the review source.  The Spreadsheet Approach in Action On the far left, I assign stars based on how much weight I'm giving a ce...

With a busy couple of weeks behind me, and a busy couple of days ahead of me, let's have some links! New species of Croc named after a Tolkien beastie . Ebooks to outsell print by 2018?  Let's just wait and see, shall we? How would YOU rank the Stephen King books? Archie comics introduces the first character with a disability. Kirkus talks the best speculative fiction reads for June . Some big names in publishing celebrate the life and works of Octavia Butler (video) Penguin releases previously unpublished Dorothy Parker stories SF/F authors share their first SF/F reads with USA Today 9 ways book tech changes the future of books and how we read  Dispatches from IDPF Digital Book conference re: Public Libraries Oprah will narrate her next audiobook, based on the "What I know for sure" column from O magazine .  Just for fun: Game of Thrones: By the numbers

Topless Pulp Fiction appreciation society?  Swearing in Literature Another lawsuit between prisoner and prison about book banning . Literary drinking spots you can actually visit. NYPL switches gears on the renovation plan South Carolina seeks to punish colleges for exposing adults to books containing gay people? Close reading Jennifer Weiner Vampire fiction: where to now? Read them now, watch them later!   SF/F edition! Mattoon library says goodbye to Overdrive 

Happy Tuesday! I still love the new look of the blog. Drop us a comment and let us know what YOU think. Kirkus lists the most overlooked books (so far) of 2014 Secret libraries of New York City Topless reading parties (book club just got a lot more interesting!) Vailey Oehlke elected president of PLA Putin signs ban on foul language in movies, performances, and books . (well, shit. oops.) Today book club picks The Fault in our Stars . Superheroes conquer the literary novel . 10 great authors who disowned their own books. Famous authors' most dramatic breakups 10 of literature's greatest "comeback" books . What the HC acquisition of Harlequin may mean for readers.

I've been thinking about the end of my Library Journal post  and reaching out to people in a variety of places. Everything about the library is shifting right now, of course, but outreach isn't a new idea. Marketing isn't a new idea either. I can't speak for every library (or librarian), but a lot of us tend to neglect the people who aren't right in front of us. It's easy enough to do. We get caught up in the day-to-day activities that ARE in front of us, and we tend to forget about everything else. I know, as a person who orders materials for the library, that we have some pretty incredible things. I know, as a shopper, that people are often looking for some way to narrow down a world of too many choices. I see it in grocery stores, when people stand and contemplate an item they've never purchased before, and then they put it back and say "I have no idea what to do with that." It's the same thing with clothing stores. It's the same thing...

Saturday, May 3, is Free Comic Book Day. Here is a guide to what's available, and who might like it . NEW stories coming from Octavia Butler ! If you're wondering "What's up with Facebook?", Mark Zuckerberg would like to get up up to speed. The Telegraph weighs in on the Best romantic novels of all time. Erotica is NOT a new phenomenon . (The need to say this continues.) How well do you know your May Day literature? F. Scott Fitzgerald stories published, uncensored, for the first time . Haven't you always wanted your own personal librarian?   (This is VERY COOL!) SFSignal does a great retrospective of Joe R. Lansdale.  Lev Grossman's The Magicians  coming to a small screen near you! Kirkus  lays out the best SF/F reads for May . Have a great Thursday!

Scribd to offer "For Dummies" books and will pay reference publishers when users browse the books . I didn't know Tess Gerritsen wrote Gravity . Diversity is not enough: on diversity in books and in publishing . The Top 10 novels inspired by Shakespeare.  Is YOUR library hosting Coldplay lyrics? More trouble for Queens library  Flavorwire has a list of "dark and twisty" books for fans of Flynn's Gone Girl Toronto library patron challenges Dr. Seuss' Hop on Pop . The Colorado ebook project enters beta testing , as per The Digital Reader How the Audies turned into the Oscars of the audiobook world. And that's the news!

E-book Publisher Power Rankings -- Very interesting. USA Today interviews Amanda Quick. In honor of Shakespeare's 450 Birthday, a host of posts about The Bard today.  10 Things you didn't know about Henry IV Cakespeare, in pictures.  (these are fantastic!) Shakespeare's five best insults The Shakespeare quiz: Do you know your Bottom from your Elbow?        If you don't do well on the quiz, you can get The Bluffer's Guide to Shakespeare to get sorted . 50 "everyday" phrases that came from The Bard. How The Telegraph marked Shakespeare's birthday 50 years ago . Shakespeare a 'cultural icon' abroad Is this REALLY Shakespeare's annotated dictionary from 1850? 10 things you didn't know about Shakespeare. James Patterson on how to write an "unputdownable" story . Literary fiction is just clever marketing . Brits and the book list extravaganza! 10 SF/F stories that editors are tired of seeing . (I'm deb...

How Salman Rushdie survived the Satanic Verses  fatwa. The 15 best North American novels of all time! (according to The Telegraph) ALA says that publishers and librarians are now playing nice(r) Veronica Roth talks Divergent  from the LA Times Festival of Books The LA Times Book Prizes People of color DO survive the Apocalypse. (but do we want to?) How to make someone hate reading. Book to tv adaptations: how much time spent per page. The real Alex from Orange is the new black  speaks to Vanity Fair . Literature's most famous meals Who shot JR killed Joffrey? Just for fun What Dewey Decimal number are you? The States most likely to survive a zombie apocalypse . Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan play The Newlywed Game  (and we all win!)

Game of Thrones  renewed for two more seasons . Do you want to watch the full 2.5 hours of Empire of Dreams , the documentary on the making of the original Star Wars  trilogy? A trailer for The Leftovers  the adaptation of Tom Perrotta's book for HBO. Early Stephen King novels to be re-released in special editions . In more SK news, How Carrie changed his life. When it comes to library websites, are we giving them what they want? There WILL be another Star Wars Reads  day in 2014 .  October 11. Anthony Horowitz opens the London book fair with words of wisdom What will Don Draper read in 1969? The Flavorwire guesses. You can't kill Archie! Jo Nesbo re-imagines Macbeth   (yes, please!) The Absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian  removed from an Idaho curriculum . In 2014. Just for fun: Dune re-created with giant gummy worms. Book inspired purses . Because, of course. A literary map of San Francisco

I'm in charge of ordering the adult graphic novels for my location and some of our eight branches. I took on this part of the collection several years ago, as well as responsibility for ordering nonfiction that falls in the 741.5 call number, which is where our catalogers put all the books on how to draw manga, comics, and graphic novels, as well as things like Peanuts and  Calvin and Hobbes . I "only" have $750 to spend a year at this location (and $100 per branch), so I only place orders twice a year. Your mileage may vary--I realize this is a bigger budget than many libraries probably have. Because we also have a young adult graphic novel collection and a separate collection down in the children's department, I can focus on titles that will be of primary interest to adults. The YA librarian orders many of the most popular superhero titles-- Batman , the infinite varieties of  X-Men , and so on--leaving me blissfully free of that budget drain. What if I'm S...

Step 1: Know your audience . This is the first step because it's the most important, and the one that you'll do constantly. This is an evolving step, and you never finish it. From the day you start until your final day in the job, you will be trying to know your audience. I have seen lots of people in this job get tripped up by this step. They think, because it's so basic, that it can slip down to a lower spot on the list. It cannot. If you remember nothing else from this blog, remember this: you can never stop getting to know your audience. It isn't static. Even if they are homogeneous in age, race, gender (which they aren't), that doesn't mean they are uniform in thought or taste. Humans have a natural curiosity about things, many things. They may approve or disapprove of those things, once they've experienced it, but that doesn't mean they don't want to know. Step 2 : Know your surroundings . There might be a library out there that can aff...

Two years ago, I wrote a post on taking over collection development for the Young Adult video game collection at my library. A few things have changed since then, and some questions emerged which I thought it might be helpful to answer here. In the last year, I've been able to grow the video game collection at this location (kept behind the desk for security reasons) to a modest number of games. This means that when people come in looking for games I at least have something  to show them to confirm that we do order games. Sometimes managing a collection that's almost always circulating--and therefore intangible--is hard to market to patrons. I periodically remind my co-workers that we do have video games in the collection, and I keep my ears open when patrons are at the circulation desk. There's been more than one occasion that I've sprinted over there to let patrons know what we have and guide them through the process of putting games at other locations on hold. T...

I got this email from a staff member today. It may have made my Monday. It isn't about being a digital-only evangelist, it's about helping people (patrons AND staff) see things differently than before. It's about print, about digital. About audio. About Fiction. About Non-fiction. About librarians. About. Everything. That's why I come to work. "Cool! Thanks for sharing. And, btw, I think we’ve had a discussion or two about how much I hate e-books, got to have my hardcover books. Well… My husband got me a Kindle for Christmas and I thought, oh shoot, this is going to be wasted money. But I’ve got to at least give it a good-faith effort. So I picked a book— The Game by Tom (Hinshel) Wood, who is one of my favorite authors—and gave it a go. Tough sledding at first, but about halfway through I was sold. So much easier reading in bed at night; also easier reading when I go out to eat, takes up so much less space. There are only a couple of drawbacks I’...

Good Morning! Still thinking about what it means to be inclusive as a public librarian. I can't tell you how irritated I get when I see librarians talking down to the public they're supposed to be welcoming. That goes both ways, too. There is no reason to make people feel bad for liking esoteric or obscure things either. There is no reason to make people feel bad about anything they like, really. But, honestly, enjoying highbrow items doesn't carry the same stigma as liking "popular" materials. Some day soon, I hope we all just get tired of trying to prop up our own tastes by putting down everyone else. Huh. I'm too cold to reflect on anything else just now.