Truthfully, I have never watched a book trailer before this training. I know that they are out there, but I have not felt the need to seek them out or use them in a personal or professional way as a means to decide what to read or recommend.
For me, the book trailers that feature the author providing insight into their work and the inspiration behind their story are the most interesting. Of course, it helps if the author is comfortable, engaging and has a heartfelt message that is enlightening to the story. I thought Jeanette Walls was successful in this in her trailer for The Glass Castle and Half Broken Horses. I felt Mary Karr was less successful in the book trailer for Lit, which she admits was "humiliating". I think book trailers should be short, anything longer than 60 seconds is too long, create a buzz for the title and include a dose of humor.
I would say that book trailers have potential merit as a tool for piquing interest in books for children, appealing especially to those who are visual learners. I don't foresee book trailers playing a significant role in reader's advisory for customers in the library. They seem to be something that one stumbles upon.
Assignment 3
Overall I enjoyed this training very much and felt that it was worthwhile and beneficial in improving my readers advisory skills and I am now more educated in all of the different genres and sub-genres. As a new librarian, with limited experience in readers advisory, I am now familiar and comfortable with appeal factors and how to use them to help customers find something that they will enjoy. Following Early Word is helping me to keep up-to-date on new and interesting reads and upcoming trends.
I did find it challenging to keep up with the weekly assignments though. I fell behind partly due to vacation time, and trying to balance other work responsibilities, but I also underestimated the amount of time that each assignment would take to complete. I thought an hour a week would be sufficient, but it was not. Some weeks required 2 or more hours a week to complete and that didn't allow for additional time to read and comment on other participants blog posts. Maybe spreading it out more would help, or maybe it was just me!
I would like to see this training be somehow a little more interactive. The comment feature seemed to be underutilized, and I am completely guilty of not contributing! As others have commented, the content of the training should be updated so that it is current.
Thank you Patrick Fromm for a great job touching base each week and to all of the bloggers, I enjoyed reading the posts. Happy reading everyone!
For me, the book trailers that feature the author providing insight into their work and the inspiration behind their story are the most interesting. Of course, it helps if the author is comfortable, engaging and has a heartfelt message that is enlightening to the story. I thought Jeanette Walls was successful in this in her trailer for The Glass Castle and Half Broken Horses. I felt Mary Karr was less successful in the book trailer for Lit, which she admits was "humiliating". I think book trailers should be short, anything longer than 60 seconds is too long, create a buzz for the title and include a dose of humor.
I would say that book trailers have potential merit as a tool for piquing interest in books for children, appealing especially to those who are visual learners. I don't foresee book trailers playing a significant role in reader's advisory for customers in the library. They seem to be something that one stumbles upon.
Assignment 3
Overall I enjoyed this training very much and felt that it was worthwhile and beneficial in improving my readers advisory skills and I am now more educated in all of the different genres and sub-genres. As a new librarian, with limited experience in readers advisory, I am now familiar and comfortable with appeal factors and how to use them to help customers find something that they will enjoy. Following Early Word is helping me to keep up-to-date on new and interesting reads and upcoming trends.
I did find it challenging to keep up with the weekly assignments though. I fell behind partly due to vacation time, and trying to balance other work responsibilities, but I also underestimated the amount of time that each assignment would take to complete. I thought an hour a week would be sufficient, but it was not. Some weeks required 2 or more hours a week to complete and that didn't allow for additional time to read and comment on other participants blog posts. Maybe spreading it out more would help, or maybe it was just me!
I would like to see this training be somehow a little more interactive. The comment feature seemed to be underutilized, and I am completely guilty of not contributing! As others have commented, the content of the training should be updated so that it is current.
Thank you Patrick Fromm for a great job touching base each week and to all of the bloggers, I enjoyed reading the posts. Happy reading everyone!
