Week 16 Prompt - The Future of Books

When I was a child, I loved to read and be read to. I used to crave a rainy day where I wasn’t forced to go outside and play so I could sit inside all day and snuggle up with a book. I would have to say that hasn’t really changed much for me as an adult. However, what I read and how I read it has. Now I don’t just read print books, I read ebooks and emagazines and I listen to audio books. I also read blogs and files on my tablet that could be constituted as novellas due to their length. This is how reading has changed for me. I still love a print book but I am not opposed to reading on a device and do.

Technology has also given the world so much more access to communication that reading has become more group related with websites such as GoodReads where you can read books together online, archive your books, find more good books to read by reading other people’s book lists and reviews and just talking with others about reading. When I was young (and even now) when I read a book that I loved, I really didn’t have anyone to talk about it with, now I can just hop on the internet and find tons of people who share a love of reading. I think this may be the most important change for me since childhood.

I think because so much has changed so quickly over the last decade or two, it is hard to imagine what may happen in the future. There are so many people in the world that still don’t have the internet or devices, not to mention people who do have devices but are either struggling to get up to date or don’t know how to use the device to check out a book or read online. I think it will take the world awhile to catch up. But who knows, who saw the internet coming and knew it would change the world as we know it? Honestly, I believe one of two things will happen; either we will have something crazy like chips mounted in our brains to receive the internet directly to our brain so devices will be obsolete or we will finally decide that all this information and devices and distraction overload  is causing us more harm than good and there will be a movement to move away from online books, games, movies, etc, etc, etc and get back to a simpler way of enjoying ourselves and get back to the print book because there aren’t any distractions. I do think we will strive to have even more “things” to play with until we finally can’t take it anymore and get burnt out but I also see the movement to move away from these things already starting; people are realizing their time on their devices is overtaking their time with their families, etc. I also believe we have too much at our fingertips with books, you can get them anywhere, anytime and it’s too much. People can’t make decisions about what book to read anymore because there are too many choices and devices to get them on and access to retrieve them 24/7. I definitely have book ADD, I feel like when I’m reading a book, there are so many others out there I want to read that I get anxious because I’m not reading those other books, too. But this is our world now and we’ll see what happens .

I think I just wildly extrapolated!

Week 15 Prompt - Marketing Fiction

One of the ways my library markets our fiction collection is that new fiction books are showcased on our website. Every time the homepage is reloaded, four more new fiction books appear on our homepage. I love that the books that are showcased are different each time the page is accessed. If the patron sees a book they are interested in, they simply click the book cover and it takes the patron to our catalog to see more details about the book or to see if the book is in or checked out. There is also a link for New Materials and if you go to that page, each genre in new fiction is listed and the patron can see a list of the newest titles that have arrived at the library for their favorite genre. They can also get to the more details page from this list as well.

I think an interesting way to market fiction is to market ebooks. If the library is focusing their marketing on Overdrive, for example, it is really easy to slip in all the fiction books that are available in ebook form through Overdrive. Ebook readers and fiction go hand in hand. You really can’t show how the applications work without highlighting the books that are offered. It’s a really good way to sneak in some fiction marketing.

 

And I think a great old standby is the display. I love doing displays when there is something going on in the world that our fiction collection can reflect. For example, there are plenty of political thrillers out there for the current presidential campaigns going on. A great display of these will not only entice patrons with the titles in the display but will also pull them into the fiction section to search out some more titles either having to do with politics or they may find something else they like. Of course when movies come out that were popular books, this is another chance to display that book and surround it in the display with other books with the same theme. There are so many things you can do with displays. A lot of libraries are displaying the Dr. Who full size characters to get patrons interested in the DVDs, books and graphic novels.

Week 14 Prompt

While I can see both sides of this issue, I can answer both as a librarian and a lesbian that I would be for giving the LGBT fiction and African-American fiction their own sections. First of all, I look at giving these genres their own section as a way to show the library supports minority groups (reason #1). I don’t know why a negative connotation has to be attached to moving these genres; why can’t we celebrate the fact that there are African-American and LGBT authors out there? Let’s put them in the spotlight since they have not been for so long. Also this is a way for the library to show they celebrate these groups of people. I think most minority groups, whoever they are, would like to see a section that reflects them positively.

The second reason I think they should be separated is because their titles will be easier to find. If the patron knows the title they are looking for and want to just come in and not use the PAC, they can go right to that section. This is also a good chance for them to look through the section and possibly find another author or book they are interested in. With the choices of these authors being nil, it is beneficial for patrons to have the selection all together so they can discover new reading options.

I personally think if there isn’t a big deal made about a genre, most people will just accept it. LGBT and AA books are merely just another genre. This is my number three reason, they are just another genre. Mystery, Inspirational Fiction, Horror, etc are separated out, I don’t see why these genres can’t be as well. I understand general genres like Mystery and Horror don’t have the social history that AA or LGBT does. I do think there may be some patrons who don’t want to look at those sections and who are not happy about it but (reason #4) now they don’t have to accidentally get stuck with a book they don’t want. If they are browsing a section and the LGBT and AA are still mixed in, they could pick a book with gay characters that they don’t realize is gay themed; separating them out would fix that problem.

Annotation #5 - African-American Literature

NATIVE SON

By Richard Wright

Genre: African-American Literature

Publication Date: 1940

Number of Pages: 430

Summary

Native Son is the story of Bigger Thomas, an African-American man living in 1930’s Chicago. Bigger is trying to leave his life of petty crime behind and finds a good job working for a white family with a daughter about his age. Mary and her boyfriend are activists against racism and take Bigger under their wing. When Mary shows a romantic interest in Bigger, Bigger accidentally kills her in an unfortunate panic while trying to save himself from any more trouble. What follows is the account of Bigger’s escape, his capture and his trial and the racism and unfairness he receives throughout the book. This story is about a lost young man who is inherently good but is consistently thrown into bad situations and, because of his color, is never given the benefit of the doubt but instead is convicted of everything he is accused of without a question. It is a sad look into the lives of how African Americans are treated even today – especially young males.

Subject Headings:
African American Men

Murderers

Chicago

Racism

Trials

Three terms that describe this book: 

Story is based on real life and family with an historical relevance
Bigger Thomas is based on the average African-American male and how society viewed them at the time. Racism is at the heart of this story and reflects how blacks were treated in the 1930’s. Richard Wright was writing from what he experienced as an African-American man. This story is still relevant today.

Story is told from the perspective of African Americans
Even though Native Son is told from the third person perspective, it is told from the point of view of Bigger Thomas. First of all, as mentioned above, Richard Wright was a black man so he is the actual narrator. But the focus of this story is on Bigger Thomas and the tone of the story is that it supports Bigger and his plight.

Repeated clashes between the protagonist’s needs and an unfeeling society
Bigger has all the cards stacked against him. He is black, he is poor and he is known to have committed petty crimes in the past. No matter what Bigger does to improve his situation, he is knocked back down again and again and forced to do the wrong thing fearing if he did the right he would be punished even more severely. Even the white people who seem as though they are helping have their own internalized racism which works against Bigger. He can’t win no matter what he does.

Read-A-likes

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines

Billy by Albert French

The Outsider by Richard Wright

Week 13 Prompt - YA and Graphic Novels

This is an interesting subject. I, for one, am all about reading even if it’s the back of a cereal box. Reading is knowledge and it doesn’t matter what you read as long as you are enjoying what you are reading and/or learning from it. I feel like we as a society are actually giving these genres a better chance than in the past. Many adults are reading YA and Graphic Novels – many. Look at the success of the Harry Potter series. I realize this is more Children’s Literature but that makes it even more of an example. I also loved Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ranson Riggs. I think because this book is illustrated, it may make it less attractive to adults but that is one of the reasons I loved it. The photos were creepy and they enhanced the reading experience for me.

I’m not really sure anyone is really promoting these books to adults. Adults started reading these books because they have grown to possess higher quality writing with authors who are well-respected. Also, I think children and teens are being educated earlier and are smarter than they were years ago – for their age. Kids are more educated today which make them on a more even level with people of older generations which put their books at a more even level. I think adults were reading these books before any promotion; promotion came out of that realization. There weren’t YA books of this caliber when I was a teen.

And let’s not forget Graphic Novels. Graphic Novels have always sort of been viewed as the adult’s comic book; for those who loved comics as kids but now are expected to grow up and read something else. But there are so many subjects covered by Graphic Novels, I’m not sure children and teens should be reading them. The last Graphic Novel I read was My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf, a true recollection of a high school friendship with Jeffery Dahmer. This title covers some of the disgusting actions of Dahmer leading up to his serial killing days; something I don’t think is appropriate for young teens. But I loved it and that is why I love Graphic Novels; there are so many topics people don’t realize.

I think as librarians we do as we are instructed to do in school; treat everyone the same and don’t discriminate against what a person wants to read. It’s pretty simple to me. If an adult wants to read a book by a YA author or a Graphic Novel, so be it. Why should I care?