Reviewing Reviews

Reviews… I love reading reviews before buying materials because it gives me some opinions (both good and bad!) about something I might purchase for the library, but haven't read.  It’s handy when patrons want a recommendation because I can’t physically read everything, but I can give them some general idea of what readers thought and they can form their own opinions.  I might be booed for sharing that I rarely read Kirkus.  It arrives and I let it sit on my desk for a couple days (or hours) before tossing it.  Shhhhhhh… Here’s the thing, my book budget was around 6k last year.  I spend 1.4k on a youth subscription.  Kirkus will review so many books that I can’t even consider buying, so it gets overwhelming and feels pointless.  Does that make sense?  Same is true for ebooks.  I read the reviews for myself, personally, but I’m not involved in the purchasing of those titles so there hasn’t been much point, professionally.  Additionally, I’ve wondered if ebooks have to go through the same publishing hoops that the titles I get in print do.  A lot of what I have seen or downloaded are shorter, smuttier, and not as well written, making the reviews seem cheaper as well (just my opinion).

Where I go for reviews varies substantially.  I get reviews from strangers on trips.  I’m always looking at what book they’re carrying around and don’t hesitate to ask personal opinions.  I also note which titles I see repeatedly being carried and make a mental note (particularly of new authors).  We have authors on our “Always Buy” list that will always grace our shelves, no review necessary.  Reviewing what book club books are hot for the year and then following up to see how those are rated and reviewed on Amazon is common.  I’m a big fan of the star system.  I like how Amazon will let me see how the stars were distributed.  If it’s a bunch of 5s and a bunch of 1s, I assume that the author has a following that will vote high no matter what and I give the reviews less credit.  If the majority of reviews are 4s and 5s and then a smattering of 3s and below, I take that to mean that the title has some quality to it.  If the title only has a handful of reviews, I barely give it a glance. I also get reviews from patrons themselves as they check titles back in.  I definitely look at Amazon reviews and Goodreads reviews, but much prefer the personal recommendations.

To get to the questions at hand, honestly, if negative reviews aren’t allowed, I’m not sure how much credence we can give to the positive ones.  While I subscribe to the Thumper belief (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”), reviews, by definition, should tell us the good and the bad.  I struggled with this on my annotation this week.  I didn’t like the book I read, BUT an annotation doesn’t have to share my opinion, just lock it into the genre.  The discrepancy between books that we can find a review on and those that we won’t can impact collection development because the title might not get the press that it needs to actually get recognition.  While I haven’t seen a surge in ebook popularity at my branch (even I prefer the paper), the divide between big name authors and those that are using the ebook publishing platform will undoubtedly have an effect on the exposure that the titles get. To be perfectly honest, the titles that are selected for my library are done through a couple steps:        

®     They are part of a subscription we hold with a junior title provider or our large print hot titles subscription.

®     They are selected based on author popularity.

®     The write up summary is something that I find appealing or know of a reader that will enjoy.

®     It’s a new author and the pitch is attractive or the book has buzz.

®     A user requests it and I believe (after looking at amazon reviews) that others would like it as well.

®     It has historical or nonfiction merit.