Training summary

I have to admit to being biased. As one of the creators of this training, I think it was thorough, informative, and useful in a variety of ways. I hope that future librarians will also find it useful. I will say that had the training been held during the slower months of February and March, more staff may have been able to take time and enjoy the learning process.

I do hope that the new RS committee can take what we have done and move forward with Readers' Services for BCPL. The next logical step? Be More Bookish Part 2--Children's RS.

Week 9--Book trailers

I think that the intended audience for book trailers are people who "live" online and may not set foot in a bookstore or library very often. These people are information collectors, and it takes something visual and interactive to get and hold their attention. For this audience, I feel that trailers serve their intended purpose. They may never be useful for mainstream use, but that's okay. They don't need to be. They also serve as discussion fodder and creativity for fans. I viewed trailers for Crossedby Ally Condie and Ruby Red by Kristin Gier. Both were created by teen fans, and I was quite impressed.

Week 8

Read the articles and watched the video.

Assignment 3&4:

Science--in general, the 500s

The Violinist's Thumb by Sam Kean--a very readable exploration into the curious world of DNA and just how some people are genetically predisposed to certain interests and skills. 572.8 K

History--920-940s

The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson and Martin Dugard--written in typical Patterson style, the death of the boy king is presented as a thrilling murder mystery. 932.014 P

Travel--910s

A Long Way Down by Ewan McGregor--Obi-Wan Kenobi takes a motorcyle trip from Scotland to South Africa, meeting both welcoming and not-so-welcoming people along the way. 910.4 M

 Adventure--harder to pin down, but outdoor-type would be in the 790s

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakaur--a literal step-by-step story of the quest to climb Mount Everest. 796.522 K 

Week 7 Assignment 4

Tor Teen is well laid out and easy to follow, if slightly boring. Being Tor, it is clearly a sci-fi/fantasy leaning imprint. Lots of focus on Ender's Game, what with the movie coming soon. I expect to see quite a bit of movie tie-ins with this imprint, since the genre lends itself to visuals.

Teens @ Random is a fun, interactive imprint site. Tabs for newsletters, community, and "fun" make for easy navigation. Fantasy is in high focus here as well, with lots of dragons and teen girls "draping" all over the book covers. There is even a ticker, for those who need even more visual stimulation to keep interested.

Week 7 Assignment 3

John Green was included in this assignment because he is the undisputed literary king of social media. He uses many avenues to communicate with the public, including twitter, facebook, tumblr, and youtube. He uses them to share ideas, events, rantings, whatever is on his mind with his fans, the "nerdfighters". He is often held up as an example of what is possible in today's social media-saturated world. He knows where his fans go, and he wants to be there with them. He is very successful in his methods, and his vlogs often appear on "authentic" news sites.

Cassandra Clare also uses tumblr to communicate with her fans, and right now it is heavily promoting the movie adaptations of her books. Tumblr seems to be much less interactive than fb or twitter, but very useful for sharing images (which she is obviously very excited about!) I feel that this will excite existing fans (especially teens) but will probably not draw in any new ones.    

Week 7 Assignment 2

New Adult: Needless Marketing-Speak Or Valued Subgenre? Publisher’s Weekly, Dec 14, 2012

"New Adult" was a buzz-word at last year's Book Expo America, and this year it was a topic of more than one session there. I feel that it is useful for the publishing industry, but libraries need not necessarily rush to create new spaces for these books as a collection. We have known for a while that readers read what they like and do not need to be pigeonholed by labels. I am attending ALA in a few weeks, and I am interested to compare the uses of "New Adult" within the library world with that of publishing.

Who is Buying Teen Books? Christian Science Monitor Sep 14, 2012

This article draws very insightful parallels between movie adaptations and book buyers. I think that the idea can trend both ways--movie-goers will seek out the books and readers will eagerly anticipate movie versions of their favorite stories. Teens today are consumers in their own right, and I often have parents coming in to the library asking for books that their teens have read and told them about. An interesting anectode: This morning I had a father and son looking for books for the boy's summer reading list. After they found a few, the dad asked me for The Mark of Athena. The boy said "I've already read that Dad," to which the dad replied "I know...it is for ME!"

I have commented on Doris Somers' and Maureen Roberts' blogs.

 

Week 6 Assignment 3

Cyberpunk: High-tech and low life, features conflicts involving computer hackers and big corporations, usually set in the near future. Popular authors include William Gibson, John Shirley, and Neal Stephenson. I found info and authors on Goodreads. Trends being discussed among fans mostly involve gaming as well as self-publishing their own work.

Borough Warfare: a subgenre of urban fiction. I could find nothing upon searching. I changed my search to "gang warfare" fiction and did find a few sites, but most were actually true stories. Finally, "gang" fiction yielded results both old and new, like S. E. Hinton, Reymundo Sanchez, and Cupcake Brown (gotta love some of these names!) Memoirs seem to be more popular than fiction in this subgenre.

Native American Western: Historial or current, focuisng on the plight of Native Americans in the West. No real fan sites, but lots of links to Native American information. I did find a website for Western Writers or America. Did you know they give out annual "Spur Awards" for Western writing? It covers everything from movie scripts to poetry! A few of this year's winners were Amanda Coplin, Johnny D. Boggs and James Reasoner. 

Mash-ups:
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Graham-Smith combines historical fiction with horror
Cinder by Marissa Meyer combines a fairy tale with science fiction