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.
I love that you shared practical, real life steps that you take at your job for selecting! That's so crucial for your classmates to see because no two libraries are the same! I think your criteria for selection is pretty spot on. Also, feel free to include a personal note at the end of your annotations to tell us how you really feel. It's not required, but I will never lower your grade for loving or hating a book and sharing your opinion. Great job on this response. Full points!
ReplyDelete