Prompt Response 15

What do you think are the best ways to market your library's fiction collection? Name and describe three ways you do or would like to market your library or your future library's fiction. These can be tools, programs, services, displays - anything that you see as getting the word out.

1. Catalog Displays: A few months ago, my library updated our catalog overlay to Vega Discover. Our ILS, Polaris, didn’t change, but as I understand it, Vega is Innovative’s new interface. The switch hasn’t been without its bugs, but one of my favorite new features is the ability to create Showcases. These are virtual displays that appear on the home screen of the catalog. 

     We always have four Showcases displayed, with Discover New Releases and Musser Staff 

Favorites as permanent ones. I am responsible for creating and updating these showcases 

and I have a lot of fun with it! They each start with the word Discover to play on the new overlay being called Vega Discover and also to set our Showcases apart from the other libraries in our consortium. 

Each month I create two new showcases. Because it is Poetry Month, I made Discover New Verses which includes poetry anthologies, fiction books written in verse, and plays. I made Discover Your Superpowers to help promote an event at our library this month -- Superhero Trivia Night! I already know that next month I am going to make one called Discover Science Fiction because National Twilight Zone Day is May 11, but I haven’t decided on the other showcase yet, so if anyone has some ideas, I would love to hear them!

2. New Book Tuesdays: I was recently given access to my library’s social media accounts! I’ve started posting photos of the newly released books on Tuesdays to try and bring attention both to the highly anticipated releases like James Patterson and Danielle Steel, and some that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. I also try to feature new picture books as well and usually post two or three photos of books!

3. Unpack a Box of Books: This is an idea of mine that I haven’t officially done yet. I like the idea of filming short videos that convey how much fun it is to open a Baker & Taylor box when you aren’t entirely certain what books came in! I think it would be a fun way to introduce people to new books and genres they may not normally look for. In a similar vein, two of the Children’s Librarians have approached me with the idea of doing videos where we either read a new picture right out of the box or have to explain what we think a book is going to be about by just looking at its cover which would sort of play with the idea of ‘not judging a book by its cover.’ 

Prompt Response 14

 Consider yourself part of the collection management committee of your local library, or a library at which you would like to work. You must decide whether or not to separate LGBTQ fiction and Urban Fiction from the general collection to its own special place. Some patrons have requested this, yet many staff are uncomfortable with the idea - saying it promotes segregation and disrupts serendipitous discovery of an author who might be different from the reader. Do you separate them? Do you separate one and not the other? Why or why not? You must provide at least 3 reasons for or against your decision. Feel free to use outside sources - this is a weighty question that is answered differently in a lot of different libraries.

I am not in favor of separating LGBTQ+ fiction and Urban Fiction from the general collection. I agree completely with the points stated in the prompt as it does promote segregation and stifle new discoveries. 

My first reason is that classifying LGBTQ+ and Urban Fiction as genres the same as we would Romance or Western Fiction, diminishes those identities and lived-experiences. Reducing an identity to a genre only serves to other those communities even more than they already have. It asserts that being LGBTQ+ or a POC is the only defining characteristic of these novels which then carries the implication that such is true of the people in those communities. 

My second reason follows my first very closely in that, how would you determine what is shelved in these sections? If a mystery novel features a transgender character is it a mystery or LGBTQ+ fiction? Are authors who belong to these communities only shelved in their respective sections regardless of the content in their books? And these questions wouldn’t be unique to these works as any novel with multiple appeals would struggle to fit in one singular genre. My library doesn’t shelve any books based on genre beyond saying a book is fiction, nonfiction, young adult, or juvenile, and I think that’s how it should be. Some patrons have expressed their frustration at not having a Romance or Mystery section available to browse, so we’ve discussed the potential for creating themed displays, but organizing our shelving layout as though it was a bookstore isn’t necessary for the success of a library. 

My third reason is concerned with safety. For one, separating all those books and authors out makes it that much easier for them to be defaced or vandalized. But more importantly, if on the spine labels of these books we’re saying LGBTQ+ or URBAN, or using specific stickers, it puts readers and their privacy at risk. Imagine a young teen who isn’t out to their parents yet, the spine label of their library book would risk outting them. Or maybe someone is out and reading one of their books in public and someone approaches them with hate. I know people who would scoff if I said separating books along these parameters is dangerous, but it truly is. And it is dangerous in a way that goes beyond the library building itself. 

Book Club Experience

My book club experience did not quite go as planned. I was meant to attend the program as just a regular patron to gauge discussion in that frame. Only about a week before book club night, my colleague who was going to be working at the Reference Desk that evening realized that she had a schedule conflict, and I was the only one available to cover. At this point, the plan was for me to work the desk and zoom into the book club meeting happening two floors down.

…And then Monday afternoon--five hours before the start of the book club--my colleague who hosts book club called in sick, so it fell to me to somehow run book club via zoom from the upstairs desk. So, I set everything up for our book club around 6:30 while trying to make sure that everything else in the building was running smoothly because the Reference Librarian is Person-In-Charge at night. Needless to say, it was a stressful night!

As for what set up looks like, we brew a pot of coffee, provide water, and typically have snacks of some sort--this month it was cookies. I got a zoom meeting going between a staff laptop and the Reference PC. I also printed out multiple copies of the discussion questions that the actual host had prepared. 

Now onto the book club meeting itself:

We had five patrons come to this month’s meeting. There has been a steady decline in attendance which is a little concerning. A lot of our regular patrons skipped this month which seemed strange because the book was Killers of the Flower Moon. I do know that at least one patron had said last month that we’d get a lot more participation if we selected “fluffier” books. Seeing as the book is All the Light We Cannot See, I don’t know if that’s advice we’re planning on taking.

Right away the patrons dominated the conversation with the opening discussion focused on the differences between the book and the movie. As I had not watched the movie, I was content to listen to their thoughts and offer commentary when I could. They felt that without the movie, the book would not have been as popular. I found this interesting because I feel like with fiction novels and their media adaptations, the book usually already has a pretty strong fanbase and following, but it makes sense that nonfiction would need an additional incentive to ‘go viral’ so to speak. Their biggest criticism of the film was that it did not accurately capture the full scope of this story’s tragedy and the mistreatment of the Osage people. I think that’s because the narrative writing in the book does a phenomenal job of setting William Hale and Ernest Burkhart as trustworthy and honorable men, so it is that much more devastating when the case is cracked. Films pull off betrayal very well, but they lose a lot of the nuance and subtlety found in written works.

The other particularly interesting--and almost explosive--discussion was when some of the book club started debating whether or not the crimes and murders were racially motivated. One lady was adamant in arguing that it had nothing to do with race and was entirely concerned with finances and greed. Very quickly another patron disagreed, saying that even if that were true, it would have been much easier for these men to target a marginalized group like the Osage. Thankfully, everyone kept their behaviors in check and the discussion moved on. Still, it was a bit bemusing to me that someone could read about these horrific events and claim that it had nothing to do with race. 

When I eventually went back downstairs to help them wrap up, one of the patrons hung around while I cleaned up. He was disappointed a bit in the group conversation and wanted to hear more about what I thought about the book. We discussed the other tragedy of the story, overshadowed by the true crime, in regards to the calculated efforts of the United States to eradicate indigenous cultures and the loss of language. It is possible that if I had been able to sit in the room and moderate book club, that we would have made it to this conversation in the large group setting, but I am glad at least that this patron was still able to have a meaningful discussion over a topic from the book that he felt was especially important. 

Generally I think book clubs are valuable because each member brings different reading experiences to the conversation and it allows for community building, but there is also an element of frustration for some members who want to have in-depth analytical conversations and intellectual debates. I hosted our book club discussion over Slaughterhouse-Five a few months ago and had to bite my tongue every time they complained about the fact that the plot wasn’t linear and how unenjoyable the book was to read as a result. It was just a tad bit infuriating for me to listen to as someone who has written many many essays about Vonnegut. 

I can’t say I’m in a hurry to host the book club again any time soon, but I’m always willing to help out with it. I’m not sure what books are picked out for the year, but hopefully we can get attendance back up with better promotion of the program and more variety in the books selected!

Special Topics Paper

 New Adult Fiction is a developing genre in the literary and publishing worlds. St. Martin’s Press is credited with the term’s introduction when they sponsored a contest for new fiction featuring “protagonists who are slightly older than YA and can appeal to an adult audience” in November 2009.

Since then, New Adult Fiction has grown as a genre and publishing field, but is still not widely recognized by many booksellers, libraries, and other sources of literature. Consequently, without clear distinctions between Young Adult (YA), New Adult (NA), and Adult Fictions, the blending of these audiences is damaging their literary forms.

There are two obvious sources of this blending. One is the authors themselves as they experiment with their writing and attempt to reach new audiences. The other source is the marketing of these materials. Publishers are aiming their marketing campaigns towards the individuals with greater buying power--adults--which is exacerbating the issue of more adult readers consuming YA material than the original intended teenage audience.

Ultimately this blending of audience and genre is especially problematic when examining the presence of adult sexual content in a literary space designed for young adult readers. As platforms like BookTok have increased their viewership of book recommendations, content creators have noted a very clear trend concerning adult women readers entering this young adult space and desiring this mature content as opposed to reading erotica novels or other adult genres.

It is unclear as to why adults are not seeking out the literature that is intended for them, but it could be a consequence of nation-wide changes to educational core standards which saw a massive decrease in the attention paid to skills associated with the liberal arts, one of which is reading comprehension.

This essay intends to examine the rise of New Adult Fiction and the blending occurring across the field due to the actions of authors, publishers, and marketing professionals. From there it will delve into the risks and dangers of such merging and the potential causes for why this merge has and continues to occur. 

Prompt Response Three

Our online catalog allows us to build digital displays called Showcases where we can go in and select which books we want to be on the homepage of the catalog. For February, I’ve been curating one called ‘Discover New Romance’ and have been adding exclusively newly released romance titles. 

I think a great physical display would be one that matches books to movies and tv shows; the ‘If you liked this…you should try this…’ kind of thing. I think another really interesting type of integrated advisory is when music is included. Some authors will post to their social media the playlists they were listening to as they wrote parts of their books. I think it would be a really cool display to match romance books to various music albums or songs. Soft sweet romance novels would fit with “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” the fun, fast-paced romances could be “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” and the teenage angst romance would fit the album Sour.

I think it broadens the availability of novels to choose from because it is less about plot points and more about aesthetics. Saying that a book reminds you of a song is far more subjective and may lead to some creative interaction. It could be a passive program of sorts where we build the display to say ‘What Song Does this Romance Novel Remind Me Of’ and as the books get checked out, patrons can add their song to the board.

Kirkus Style Review

    Billy Pilgrim was a completely ordinary American, until he became unstuck in time. 

In a novel sweeping decades, Billy Pilgrim’s experience in World War II dominates the narrative, as it is in 1944 that he first becomes unstuck in time. Stationed to be a chaplain’s assistant, Billy never met the chaplain he was assigned to, and instead was left wandering behind German lines with three others. Eventually they are taken as prisoners of war, and this takes them to Dresden. It is this plot point that establishes Slaughterhouse-Five as the testimony of Kurt Vonnegut and his attempt to make sense of human atrocity. The existence of the Tralfamadorians and their relationship with Billy Pilgrim also runs through the entirety of the novel. They introduce Billy to a new ideology that conflicts with the traditional concepts of time and meaning and free will, an ideology that Billy wrestles with in his attempt to embrace it. 

An astounding homage to the human experience and celebration of humanity.

Prompt Response Two

The perception of eBooks and eBook exclusive content is very interesting. In some ways, it has been super helpful for up-and-coming authors--they release a free version of their debut book and then subsequent ones cost money so if they win over their readers, they’ll have dedicated customers as well. In other ways, for traditional physical book readers, it’s frustrating because there may be books they want to read that just can't be accessed, like the Amazon Kindle exclusive releases. The debate surrounding artificial scarcity in relation to eBooks and eMaterial is also very interesting and impacts a library’s ability to provide eContent. Many patrons express their displeasure with the long hold times on Libby, but without buying multiple copies of the same eBook, there isn’t really a way for us to improve the system. 

I actually have very little insight into how we purchase eBooks or even what eBooks we purchase for the collection. I actually just requested the report for titles we own from our selection team earlier this week, so I should be getting that information soon, and I’m curious to see if it will be primarily eBook and eAudiobook versions of the popular bestsellers which is my prediction. 

The romance novel The Billionaire's First Christmas sounds like a Hallmark Christmas movie as a book. This doesn’t surprise me as a lot of the Hallmark Christmas movies are actually books first. These movies circulate fairly well at my library, so I could see similar books circulating too. That being said, I’m not sure how well this particular eBook would do against Debbie Macomber’s work or the other big name authors. As far as the reviews go, I do think they are reliable. That being said, I also think they both come from readers who are already inclined to read books of this genre which colors opinions as well. 

In regards to Angela’s Ashes, the fact that it has been reviewed by so many of the major review sources makes me inclined to think that it would do well in my library (I actually did pull up its item record and it has a lifetime circulation count of 73, with 2 of those being in the previous year). One of my tasks is to examine our Dead On Arrival rate at my library, and I’ve noticed that nothing seems to circulate as well as the best-selling titles. A telling indicator of a best-seller, is the number of professional reviews it has. However, if we hadn’t already owned this book, I would not have advocated for putting it on a purchase order. Seeing as it was published in 1996, I don’t think I could justify ordering it now. The same would be true if it ends up on our weeding list (we are in the midst of an intensive adult nonfiction weed), I would not recommend ordering a replacement copy. 

I’ve actually never cared much for book reviews. It’s a little funny because I’ll read a book, not enjoy it, and then go look for book reviews to see if other readers had the same opinion I did. I always have that hindsight thought of ‘oh, if I had looked for reviews before reading this book, I could’ve saved myself the time of reading it,’ but despite that reflection, I don’t do anything differently the next time. With that being my main purpose in reading reviews, I definitely feel like negative reviews are important! For instance, I am seriously offended by Erin Young’s thriller The Fields which has so many reviews but is a horrible portrayal of Iowa and Iowans. I combed through reviews looking for other people who recognized those issues (AND I just found out she wrote a sequel because it arrived in a brand new Baker & Taylor box on Friday … seven pages in and she had already written something problematic about Iowa). 

I think part of the distaste I have for reviews is that the field is oversaturated with a very specific type of book just as the prompt says. It’s so obvious that I feel like I can unpack a box of new releases at the library and point out which ones probably have professional reviews. The selection in our library has been outsourced via our contract with the company LibraryIQ which means I am not privy to the exact methods the team uses to select titles. I have noticed that we receive the majority of the books that are featured in BookPage Magazine, so I’m assuming that our selector is looking at reviews to some extent. But, our Dead On Arrival rate has increased this year, so as we move into budget season, we’re trying to identify where we need to make changes in our selection.