Week Five Prompt

1. How does the discrepancy in what is and what is covered (and how it is covered) affect collection development?

I don’t envy the job of collection development librarians!

The discrepancy in what books are reviewed and how books are reviewed is incredibly frustrating. And with the increase in self-published titles, pop-up publishing houses, and e-book only titles, it’s become increasingly difficult for collection development librarians to make sure they are covering all their bases. Not only that, but they have to decide the number of copies of each item. It’s a no-win job!

2. Are the reviews reliable? How likely would you to buy this book for your library?

I think this is a tough question. On the surface, no – the reviews of The Billionaire’s First Christmas are not reliable. I don’t know this reviewer or this blog. But that’s not to say that I couldn’t. Over time I think it’s absolutely possible to learn to trust blogs but it depends on the blog. I adore baseball books and there are a couple of blogs that I unequivocally trust. If they say a book is worth reading than I will read it. As for reviewers on a website, I am always, always cautious. In fact, I rarely ever look at customer reviews for anything. I’ll look for professional reviews or personal reviews from voices I trust. That’s it. As for buying this book for my library – I would not rule it out because this type of book tends to circulate well. This is where knowing your patrons and knowing your collection would play a huge role in what you select to purchase. Before buying it, though, I would find out a bit more about the book first.

3. How do the professional reviews of Angela’s Ashes make you feel about the possibility of adding Angela’s Ashes to your collection?

Let’s pretend I don’t have a well-worn copy of Angela’s Ashes on my bookshelf (as well as ‘Tis)! I lean very heavily on professional reviews as a reader and I would assume that I would do the same as a collection development librarian. If I read reviews like these I would absolutely order copies of the book for my library.

4. 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?

Easy answer: No, it’s not fair. But there are so many books! And so little time! I’m not sure how to change that. Odds are definitely stacked against the smaller books from the smaller publishing houses. And that means that books from the big publishing houses are much more likely to get picked. It’s why our libraries are filled with James Patterson and Fern Michaels and Stuart Woods books when there are arguably – arguably! – better books available elsewhere.

I think the issue of review sources who won’t print negative content is very interesting. I don’t have a problem with it as long as the review source is open about what they do. (And while some of these positive review sources don’t print negative reviews, you can absolutely read in between the lines of some of their less gushy reviews!) As mentioned above, I lean very heavily on professional reviews. I like to look through Library Journal, School Library Journal, Booklist, The New York Times Book Review, Publisher’s Weekly, and several blogs.