Week 5 Prompt

Ebook only books, which are increasingly popular (especially in the romance genre) see little to no reviews in professional publications unless they have a big name author, and then still it's usually only RT Reviews (formally Romantic Times) or other genre heavy publications. How does this affect collection development?

This affects collection development because if the selector is only looking at professional review sources, they’re going to miss out on most of the ebook only materials. On the other hand, libraries may already have in place collection development policies that restrict them from buying too many self-published books, as many ebooks are. This can have both a negative and positive impact on collections. Positively, the patron at the library will know that books within the collection will be at least legible and comprehensible, even if the book is not to their taste. Negatively, patrons may not be able to access books they wish, because they are ebook only and the library has chosen not to collect them, therefore keeping the reader from what they want to read. A way to mitigate this would be to take book recommendations seriously, even if it’s an ebook only publication.

I have posted two more documents in the week five files. One is two reviews of an ebook only romantic suspense novel, one from a blog and one from amazon. Look over the reviews - do you feel they are both reliable? How likely would you be to buy this book for your library?

Both reviews concern me, honestly. The first part of the blog review, with the short summary of the story is good, but I feel as if that was pulled from the publisher, not the author of the blog. Both the Amazon and blog review kind of touch on the plot line, but at the same time they don’t - the only way I know how Robyn and Aaron meet is from the summary on the blog review. At the same time, it seems as if there’s been little to no proof reading done to either post for grammatical or spelling errors, which abound and make the reviews more difficult to read and trust. 

In the end, I’d buy it for my library if the library had a lot of romance readers who also used electronic devices. Otherwise it would just languish wherever they store their ebooks, as the story appears to only appeal to those that enjoy the romance genre. I’d also likely dig for other reviews of the title.

The other document contains some reviews of Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt, an incredibly popular memoir. These reviews are all from professional publications, feel free to find more on your own I just nabbed a few from the Book Review Digest database for you. How do these reviews make you feel about the possibility of adding Angela's Ashes to your collection?

Overall, all four reviews are positive and if I was not already aware that the book was a popular one, I would likely add it to the collection. I do also like how some of the reviews discuss their potential popularity level. Booklist uses it in this example but others do too, like School Library Journal and Library Journal. While the publication’s urgings may not always be accurate, they can still be utilized by selectors who aren’t as familiar, say, with memoirs, and can research reviews from elsewhere to confirm whether or not they wish to add the book to the collection.

Do you think it's fair that one type of book is reviewed to death and other types of books get little to no coverage? How does this affect a library's collection? And how do you feel about review sources that won't print negative content? Do you think that's appropriate? If you buy for your library, how often do you use reviews to make your decisions? If not, how do you feel about reviews for personal reading, and what are some of your favorite review sources?

No, I don’t think it’s fair, that some types of books (and authors) get much more coverage than others. As Saricks (2009) notes, some genres receive less reviews than others, like romance and horror, which can definitely impact a library’s collection, especially if selectors in those areas aren’t looking outside of professional publications. 

I’m all for negative content if it’s warranted - not every book is going to be the greatest thing written, and people shouldn’t have to read the books to come to the conclusion that the writing isn’t good, or isn’t something they’d enjoy. There are going to be bad books, and I think it’s good for review sources to articulate what isn’t good about them so others know what to watch out for, and maybe the author can understand why some don’t like their work. Constructive criticism is better than just ignoring that the book was published, or putting out a review that only places it in the best light. Especially when selectors are using those reviews to make collection development decisions. 

I don’t buy for my library, but I do use reviews for my personal reading. Finding and utilizing reviews to make reading selections was a requirement for a previous class. I’ve picked up on that and try to stick with it when I can. I do still use sites like goodreads, especially for genres that are not readily covered by the major publications.