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

Week 6 Assignment 1

I chose to follow Urban Reviews, but quickly discovered that the site was not very current and too disorganized for me to make much sense of. The librarian in me screamed for some order! I switched to Street Fiction, which is much easier to use, although it is also not all that current. I like the genre breakdown, especially the Christian fiction section. Urban Fiction is not all drugs and pimps, and it is sometimes difficult to find urban christian fiction to recommend within the larger urban genre. I also appreciate the teen section, which can also serve as "urban fiction light" for readers who want to sample the genre without getting into the hardcore stuff.

Week 5 Assignment 3

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

This is the sequel to the highly successful children's book Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and will be published in January 2014. It also uses vintage photographs as the jumping-off point for the action, as the children flee to London. Unfortunately, more danger awaits them. Chilling and creepy, the haunting images in the photos make these books great for fans of scary stories with thrilling adventures.

Week 5 Assignment 2

In addition to the usual suspects such as New Releases, James Patterson and Gone Girl,  Parkville customers love them some bonnet fiction! A display featuring ladies wearing bonnets (think Amish, Mennonite, and even colonial) was in constant need of refilling. Ironically, they also love erotic fiction (another display that was highly successful).

Week 5 Assignment 1

EarlyWord is an amazing resource. I try to check it a few times a week, but the weekly newsletter is my favorite way to keep up with the week's news. It does lean more towards media tie-ins and books being made into movies, but that is what many customers come in asking about anyway. There are more useful resources on EarlyWord than I could ever have time to use (left and right sidebars are full of links) and I am trying to explore a few each week. One of my favorites so far is the link to the Pinterest pages from the Galleychats. These give you a cover shot of the upcoming books that librarians are excited about.

Week 4--Goodreads Hate and Love

One of the major complaints about Goodreads as an RS tool is the deadly slow loading of the site. It is not handy or quick, and many of our customers want quick recommendations. What to do?

Voila! The Goodreads app!  It is SO MUCH FASTER and easier. At Parkville, we put the app on our branch ipads, and now we have another RS tool at our fingertips to use with our customers. You can use many of the features of the app without logging in to an account. I love the barcode scanner--simply scan a book and it is easy to jump to similar books. You can explore Listopia, check friends updates, find literary events in your area and even download ebooks with the app.

I recommended Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys to Eileen Kuhl:

Eileen, since you like historical children's and teen fiction, I am recommending this book to you. While the subject matter is heavy, the author has created a lighter tone (especially through the supporting characters) which makes it very readable.

Week 3 Conversations

Conversation 1 Recommendations: Bella Tuscany by Frances Mayes (travel memoir with heavy emphasis on setting and tone), Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott (spiritual journey), or Wild by Cheryl Strayed (strong woman dealing with loss in an unconventional way)

Conversation 2 Recommendations: The Hunt by Andrew Fukada (BTC blog review) or Bite Me by Christopher Moore. The first is teen "old school" vampire turned on it's head and the second is a humerous take on the life of a vampire.

Conversation 3 Recommendations: The Mapmaker's Wife by Robert Whitaker (action-packed true account of murder on the Amazon) or Into Africa by Martin Dugard (adventures of Stanley and Livingston exploring the Zambezi River region in Africa) 

Appeal Factors: Annotation #2

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

When time slows down and the future is uncertain, what will you choose to do with your life? Eleven-year-old Julia still has to grow up in a world of seemingly endless days without much guidance from adults, who are as frightened and confused as she is.


I made suggestions for Carmen Dearing and Julie Pressley on their blogs.

Appeal Factors-Annotation #1

The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door by Karen Finneyfrock

Celia Door is neither good nor bad. Celia Door is both good and bad. Celia Door is dark, from her black hoodie pulled up over her head to the black combat boots protecting her feet. Some would say she is moody and brooding. Others would call her quiet and introspective. Both would be right. Celia is a poetry-writing, parent-avoiding, secret-keeping teenager, and she is seeking revenge on the mean girls who made her this way.

Cool, athletic, hot. These all describe Drake, the new kid from New York City, who has been plopped in Hershey, Pa with his grandmother. He can have his pick of crowds, friends, or girls. Why would he ever pick Celia? Well-drawn, realistic characters in this debut novel.

1 Easy and 1 Hard

I decided to give myself a break when choosing my resources to follow for the remainder of this training. I will follow Early Word for my book source, which I already as often as I can. This is my "easy" pick. To challenge myself a bit, I wanted to choose between the two urban fiction resources. The first one, Street Fiction, is much better organized and easier to understand initially; however, the books seem a bit more dated. Urban Reviews is a much "messier" resource, full of links to purchase and sexy graphics. While offputting at first, it does seem to fit this genre well, and it offers up-to-date reviews. I am choosing Urban Reviews as my resource to follow...though I may regret it later!!

P.S.--while searching for this graphic, I found a few others that just beg to be shared:

Happy Co-workers

Vulcan Salute

(After a bad day-metaphoric of course!)

Fighting with Blogger

After nearly 25 minutes of trying to access my blog on Blogger, I can finally post! I am proud to say that I identified 23 out of 24 book covers and 19 out of 20. Go me!