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WEEK 15 PROMPT RESPONSE (Reading Past and Future)

As I child I loved books and read them as indiscriminately as I do today. The books I read came from the library, almost exclusively. New books were usually Christmas gifts, bookstores were a fun place to browse and find books to then go check out from the library, unless it was the used bookstore with paperbacks for a dollar or two. This is pretty much the same for me today, I could not name the last time I bought a new book.  As a teenager I had somehow absorbed old notions about the “better” type of books- a hierarchy of literature with some books (and the people who read them) at the top and a lot of genre literature at the bottom deemed formulaic and practically stupid. I wanted to read the classics! I wanted to be smart! I found a lot that I enjoyed in much of the so-called classic literature that I gravitated toward then, but the sense that reading should somehow be for personal betterment, at the expense of enjoyment, has, thankfully, left me. I don’t see books on a hierar...
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WEEK 14 PROMPT RESPONSE (Marketing the Library's Fiction Collection)

     I think the best way to market the library’s fiction collection is to attack on all fronts; that means online, in the library with passive formats, and with active formats that build community discussion and engagement.        First, there are several ways libraries can use the OPAC or their website to promote pleasure reading but one particular avenue that I think the library should take advantage of is the ability to curate collections on any number of subjects, sub-genres, or formats on Overdrive. This could work for fiction or non-fiction, but evidence suggests e-book users are voracious fiction readers, making Overdrive a good arena to promote book suggestions. Librarians can check out Overdrive’s continually updated suggested lists to adapt for their own use. Of course, patrons cannot browse e-books the way they can the library’s shelves, much of our e-book collections can easily remain hidden. Curated lists can function much the sam...
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WEEK 13 PROMPT RESPONSE (Separating LGBTQ and Street Lit Fiction)

I am a big, big fan of browsing, it is one of life’s purest pleasures. Personally, I am not a fan of libraries separating genres and when I hear arguments that this arrangement makes it “easier for genre readers to browse” (Novak, 2006) I think, but what about those of us who don’t look to genre first to determine a book’s appeal?  Measuring beyond my own tastes, there are strong reasons not to divide libraries into ever smaller sections determined by genre. This applies across the board, but LGBTQ and street lit specifically should not be separated into their own sections of the library.    Separate Shelves Enforce Stigma  Both LGBTQ and street lit classifications carry the weight of stigma; separation into their own sections of the library both creates and enforces that stigma. Best-selling street lit author K’Wan told the Financial Times (2015) that he prefers to think of himself as a crime writer and noted he worries the street lit genre classification limits hi...
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WEEK 12 PROMPT RESPONSE (Young Adult/ New Adult Literature)

  Understanding the Appeal of Young Adult Literature for Adults  In order for librarians to serve adults looking for their next YA read it’s important to understand what appeal these books have for adults. This is difficult because YA is not a genre, but a category of books, and a category that is, by definition, first and foremost for 12–18-year-olds. With the rise (or acknowledgement) of YA books’ popularity among adults this distinction blurred. According to Kelly Jensen for BookRiot (2019): “YA, especially over the last decade, has been called a genre over and over...YA books as a genre are fast-paced, intended for quick consumption, often come as a series or come with some kind of media tie-in (in recent years, adaptations are a big part of this), and most importantly, feature a person who is “a young person” as a main character.”  However, the age of a protagonist is not an established appeal factor. Saricks (2009) identified the “chief factors that affect our...
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WEEK 11 PROMPT RESPONSE (Non-Fiction Matrix)

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1        Where is the book on the narrative continuum? 2          þ     Highly narrative (reads like fiction)   2          What is the subject of the book?              Getting sober- the transition from a life of late-night partying to one of self-respect and conscious decision making   3          What type of book is it?               Personal Memoir; also falls under the sub-genre “Quit-Lit”   4         Articulate appeal   What is the pacing of the book?   Fast-paced; this book reads quickly   Describe the characters of the book.   This book is character-driven; it focuses on the author herself, Sarah Hepola , a magazine writer from Texas who moves to New York City; he...
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ANNOTATION #5: Literary Fiction

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  Last Night at the Lobster Stewart O'Nan 2007 146 pages Viking Press   Synopsis : The snow starts to fall as soon as Manny DeLeon arrives to open the Red Lobster one last time. For ten years the rhythms of managing this restaurant have ordered Manny’s thoughts and fueled his pride. Now, a few days before Christmas, Manny looks unhappily toward the future dictated by his corporate overlords when he will be transferred and demoted to assistant manager at the Olive Garden, separated forever from Jacqui, the waitress he still loves regardless of their doomed affair. In spite of the mounting blizzard outside and an indifferent staff who have already been fired, Manny is determined to squeeze meaning and satisfaction out of the lobster’s last night. O’Nan nails the culture of low-wage restaurant work, the interplay of hostess, server, chef, dishwasher, boss and customer, with realism, heart, and melancholy.   Literary Fiction Appeal: Last Night at the Lobster offe...
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Week 10 Prompt Response (E-Book and Audiobook Appeals)

 E-Books   How Format Effects Book Choice   Quarantine pushed me to start reading e-books. I had always meant to, in order to be a well-rounded librarian, but the format never appealed to me as a reader, and I find there are drawbacks (as well as pros) to the experience.  Fewer clues exist to recommend an e-book to the online browser. Artwork is limited to a front cover image and many e-books open to the first page of chapter text, skipping cover pages and table of contents that give aesthetic clues to the book’s tone and subject. E-readers also present every title in the same font, further reducing the stylistic clues and individual feel of books.  Length, especially, effects a book’s appeal at least to anyone with schedules and obligations. Overdrive lists file size but readers must determine book length by checking the page count after they have downloaded a book or by doing a web search first via Google or Amazon or Goodreads. Length is also a conven...
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