Assignment #1: Anything that assists customers with book selection always draws attention and interest, and this flowchart is a great example of just that! I like that it includes the book cover images, it makes it much more visually appealing to customers.
Assignment #2: I read the NYT and the CSMonitor articles. I don't think the information included in these outdated articles, primarily that YA Fiction is popular with a large population of adult readers, is news to any of us, and that the literary and commercial success of the big three series books, "Harry Potter", "Twilight" and "Hunger Games" influenced this trend.
I wholly and strongly disagree with the opinion of the critic Ruth Graham, whose article was cited in the NYT piece, with the subheading: "Read whatever you want. But you should feel embarrassed when what you're reading was written for children". My immediate reaction to this statement was, "How dare you! What gives you the right to judge what other people find enjoyable?" Individuals choose books for a variety of reasons and a variety of appeal factors and its not for anyone else to cast opinion on whether a particular selection is "appropriate" for the reader. I don't read a lot of YA titles, but when I do, I'm drawn to pick up that book for all of the same reasons I pick up any book: curiosity about all of the buzz surrounding the book, good writing, strong character and plot development and a compelling storyline. A good book is a good book, it shouldn't matter what category or genre it falls into.
Monday, June 27, 2016
Monday, June 20, 2016
Week 6: Building Base Knowledge (Genres)
Assignment 1: I chose the Mystery site "Stop You're Killing Me" to follow. The site is simply laid out and provides quick links to indexes of location, job, historical, diversity and genres. There are quick links to NEW releases in hardback, paperback, audio and large print. I like that you can quickly search for an author or character using the alphabet as well. The read alikes information is sparse. I knew of the "Agatha", "Dagger" and "Edgar" mystery awards but I now know that there are so many more awards lists honoring various sub-genres.
Assignment 2: Wow, this is impressive! This is a lot of information packed into a real cool flowchart! I wish that it was available to print out.
Assignment 3: Three sub-genres that I am unfamiliar with are:
Cyberpunk Science Fiction. Cyberpunk is been described as "all about dystopian, networked, future earth type societies with a focus on information technologies: networks, computers, being able to plug oneself directly into virtual environments by whatever means." Cyberpunk novels will appeal to fans of the 'Tron' movies as well as the 'Matrix' series of movies. Authors who write in this subgenre are William Gibson, Neal Stephenson and Bruce Sterling.
Hip Hop Urban Fiction: I was not aware that this was a specific sub-genre of Urban fiction. Described as stories where the characters are driven by the desire to succeed in the music industry as a performer, producer or by playing the video vixen. Titles include the Ritz Harper chronicles series "Is the Bitch Dead or What?" by Wendy Williams, "Love, Fame and Betrayal" by Stephanie Newell and Platinum by Aliya King.
High Seas Adventure: The Prezi chart describes this sub-genre as "nautical adventures usually set during the Napoleonic wars. Readers experience the rich detail of a sailor's life." A popular author squarely in this sub-genre is Patrick O'Brien who wrote the 'Aubrey-Maturin' series which includes Master and Commander as well as C.S, Forester, author of the 12-book Horatio Hornblower series, depicting a Royal Naval officer during the Napoleonic wars. Another title would be Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh.
Assignment 2: Wow, this is impressive! This is a lot of information packed into a real cool flowchart! I wish that it was available to print out.
Assignment 3: Three sub-genres that I am unfamiliar with are:
Cyberpunk Science Fiction. Cyberpunk is been described as "all about dystopian, networked, future earth type societies with a focus on information technologies: networks, computers, being able to plug oneself directly into virtual environments by whatever means." Cyberpunk novels will appeal to fans of the 'Tron' movies as well as the 'Matrix' series of movies. Authors who write in this subgenre are William Gibson, Neal Stephenson and Bruce Sterling.
Hip Hop Urban Fiction: I was not aware that this was a specific sub-genre of Urban fiction. Described as stories where the characters are driven by the desire to succeed in the music industry as a performer, producer or by playing the video vixen. Titles include the Ritz Harper chronicles series "Is the Bitch Dead or What?" by Wendy Williams, "Love, Fame and Betrayal" by Stephanie Newell and Platinum by Aliya King.
High Seas Adventure: The Prezi chart describes this sub-genre as "nautical adventures usually set during the Napoleonic wars. Readers experience the rich detail of a sailor's life." A popular author squarely in this sub-genre is Patrick O'Brien who wrote the 'Aubrey-Maturin' series which includes Master and Commander as well as C.S, Forester, author of the 12-book Horatio Hornblower series, depicting a Royal Naval officer during the Napoleonic wars. Another title would be Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh.
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Week 5: Building Base Knowledge (Part II)
Assignment #1 & 2: I chose to follow Early Word and I am finding it to be very useful! I especially enjoy receiving the weekly newsletter in my email. I can quickly scan the featured articles and choose what to look at in more detail as well as stay up to date on what's new and interesting. Just this week, I learned of chef Eric Ripert's recently released memoir, "32 Yolks" and quickly placed a hold!
I have really enjoyed checking out all of the links on EarlyWord, it is an astonishing amount of information, sometimes it feels a little busy with all of the embedded advertisements but I'm finding my way around. I especially like the features on New and upcoming film and TV adaptations as well as the NEW movie releases feature, as DVD's are very popular at Woodlawn.
Assignment 3: I selected Amazon’s June Spotlight pick of the month, “Before the Fall” by award-winning screenwriter and author Noah Hawley. I think that this book will generate interest due to the fan base that Hawley has attracted through the hit FX series “Fargo” as well as the overwhelming positive reviews and attention that the book has received from nearly every popular book review source. This novel tells the story of the influential passengers on board a private plane that crashes after take off from Martha's Vineyard en route to NYC. There are two survivors. The background stories and connections of the passengers revealed by the zealous media coverage of the incident lead to the compelling question "What caused the crash?" This leads to an intensifying and suspenseful plot to find the answer.
I have really enjoyed checking out all of the links on EarlyWord, it is an astonishing amount of information, sometimes it feels a little busy with all of the embedded advertisements but I'm finding my way around. I especially like the features on New and upcoming film and TV adaptations as well as the NEW movie releases feature, as DVD's are very popular at Woodlawn.
Assignment 3: I selected Amazon’s June Spotlight pick of the month, “Before the Fall” by award-winning screenwriter and author Noah Hawley. I think that this book will generate interest due to the fan base that Hawley has attracted through the hit FX series “Fargo” as well as the overwhelming positive reviews and attention that the book has received from nearly every popular book review source. This novel tells the story of the influential passengers on board a private plane that crashes after take off from Martha's Vineyard en route to NYC. There are two survivors. The background stories and connections of the passengers revealed by the zealous media coverage of the incident lead to the compelling question "What caused the crash?" This leads to an intensifying and suspenseful plot to find the answer.
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Week 4: Building Base Knowledge
I joined Goodreads in February of this year, but then just let it sit idle. This training has reintroduced me to Goodreads and challenged me to make it a part of my life with books! I now have the app on my phone, and just this past weekend I was out of town with friends and when the conversation came around to talking about what we were reading and book recommendations, I was able to just add titles to my “Want to read” bookshelf from my phone during the conversation. Love this feature, and so easy!
For this assignment I added and rated a few past reads to my account, not in any particular order, and then started to add bookshelves. I like the fact that you can select any category for your bookshelves and do not have to choose from a pre-selected list. As I was looking around in other friends accounts, I noticed that one of my colleagues created the bookshelf categories of “read in childhood”, “read in high school”, “read in college” etc., I thought that was a cool and interesting way to categorize titles.
For my friend Beth, who is currently reading and enjoying “The Cartel”, I am going to go out on a limb and recommend the nonfiction book “American Pain: how a young felon and his ring of doctors unleashed America's deadliest drug epidemic” by John Temple. This is a compelling story that chronicles the rise and fall of a Florida pill mill and how it helped tip the nation into its current opioid crisis, the deadliest drug epidemic in American history.
For my friend Kelsey, I see from her bookshelves that she enjoys reading memoirs and nonfiction. Since she enjoyed the book “The Impossible Rescue”, I am recommending, “The finest hours: the true story of the U.S. Coast Guard’s most daring sea rescue” by Mike Tougias and Casey Sherman. It is the story of a dramatic and heroic sea rescue by the U.S. Coast Guard of the crew of two oil tankers ripped in half by a violent nor’easter off the coast of Cape Cod in the winter of 1952.
For this assignment I added and rated a few past reads to my account, not in any particular order, and then started to add bookshelves. I like the fact that you can select any category for your bookshelves and do not have to choose from a pre-selected list. As I was looking around in other friends accounts, I noticed that one of my colleagues created the bookshelf categories of “read in childhood”, “read in high school”, “read in college” etc., I thought that was a cool and interesting way to categorize titles.
For my friend Beth, who is currently reading and enjoying “The Cartel”, I am going to go out on a limb and recommend the nonfiction book “American Pain: how a young felon and his ring of doctors unleashed America's deadliest drug epidemic” by John Temple. This is a compelling story that chronicles the rise and fall of a Florida pill mill and how it helped tip the nation into its current opioid crisis, the deadliest drug epidemic in American history.
For my friend Kelsey, I see from her bookshelves that she enjoys reading memoirs and nonfiction. Since she enjoyed the book “The Impossible Rescue”, I am recommending, “The finest hours: the true story of the U.S. Coast Guard’s most daring sea rescue” by Mike Tougias and Casey Sherman. It is the story of a dramatic and heroic sea rescue by the U.S. Coast Guard of the crew of two oil tankers ripped in half by a violent nor’easter off the coast of Cape Cod in the winter of 1952.
Friday, May 20, 2016
Week 3: The Readers' Services Conversation
Customer #1
Customer: I’m looking for a good story, you know, something that draws me in. But I don’t know where to start looking.
Librarian: What was the last book you read? Could you share something you liked about it?
Customer: The last book I read was Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Everyone is reading it so I had to pick it up. It was lovely. She is such an interesting woman and so brave. I enjoyed the descriptions of the countries she went to and what she did while she was there, of course, but I think what I liked most was how she shared her inner thoughts — so reflective but funny too. I thought it might be just light fluff or all me, me, me, me, but it was so much more than that. I read all the Oprah books and just love them. Anyway I wanted to ask you for a few suggestions for my book group. It’s my turn to pick the title.
What stands out to me in the customer’s responses are the phrases ...“She is such an interesting woman and so brave” and “what I liked most was how she shared her inner thoughts”. Based on these comments and the fact that she is looking for a book club title, I would recommend “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed, another book adapted to the big screen. Like “Eat, Pray, Love” it is an inspiring and descriptive memoir of a brave and independent woman seeking clarity and direction after a difficult period in her personal life. Her quest leads her to the decision to hike the entire length of the Pacific Crest trail, solo. It is written in an engaging and reflective style that will draw you into her journey.
Customer #2
Customer: Can you recommend any vampire books that are nothing like the Twilight series?
Librarian: Let me see how I can help you. What don’t you like about Twilight?
Customer: Everything, but especially that teen love story – way too much angst! And way too slow. Have you read any good vampire stories lately?
This is a great example of a circumstance when a customer is asking for a recommendation in a genre that you may completely unfamiliar with. I have not read the Twilight series, although I have seen a couple of the films in the series. In this situation, I would tell the customer that I don’t personally know of any vampire books to recommend of off the top my head, but that there is a great tool that we can use to generate some recommended titles. Together with the customer, I would demonstrate how to utilize the Novelist Plus database through our website, the subject search features of our catalog and maybe Goodreads if they show interest. I would plug in “Adult” fiction books with a subject of vampires, that are fast-paced and engaging. I would sort based on popularity as a start.
Scrolling through the generated list I would ask the customer if they have read any of the popular Sookie Stackhouse series books by Charlaine Harris. Other possibilities are Anne Rice’s series, “The Vampire Chronicles” and the “All Souls Trilogy” by Deborah Harkness. Customers are usually thrilled to find out how to use search features that they can then take advantage of from home or on their smartphone.
Customer #3
Librarian: Hi, are you looking for anything in particular?
Customer: I just read this great book The River of Doubt. It was about Teddy Roosevelt and this ill fated expedition to chart an uncharted river in the Amazon. They lost almost all their provisions, the president was injured, and it turns out one of their crew was a murderer since there was a murder. And the most amazing thing was that it true. It was fascinating and really fast paced. Do you have anything to recommend that is like that?
I also really enjoyed “The River of Doubt”. I would suggest “The Perfect Storm” by Sebastian Junger, another fast-paced adventure story that tells the dramatic account of a commercial fishing vessel that gets caught in the “Storm of the Century” off of the coast of Nova Scotia. Other non-fiction books that may interest the reader due to thier richly detailed and compelling tales are “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer and “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand.
If the customer was open to a fast-paced, character driven book of fiction that takes place in the Amazon, I would suggest “State of Wonder” by Ann Patchett for it’s sense of place and adventure.
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Week 2: Appeal Factors
I have a lot of catching up to do!
This assignment was a real struggle for me. I found the article to be very informative, and I learned a lot. However, I feel this assignment would be better suited for later in the training, especially for those of us who are just learning about how to describe books using appeal factors. With that said, this is my best shot...
I love to cook, driven by my love of enjoying good food! It is pure bliss to me to browse the pages of a cookbook. The good ones take you on a journey and aim to educate and inspire the reader, without being complicated. Lucie L. Snodgrass does just that in the book "Dishing Up Maryland: 150 recipes from the Alleghenies to the Chesapeake Bay".
Snodgrass celebrates the diversity of Maryland food with 150 recipes organized by season, each chapter contains not only delicious recipes featuring local ingredients, but include stories, told in rich detail, of local farmers, waterman, chefs and restaurants throughout the state. The book includes the expected crab and rockfish recipes, but Snodgrass wants the reader to know that there is much more to Maryland cuisine than seafood-such as bison, cheeses, grapes, figs, vinegars and wines, to name a few. And she wants you to get out and explore and taste all that Maryland has to offer! Full of beautiful photos and a helpful list of resources, Dishing Up Maryland will surely inspire you to search out and support local farmers and waterman, cook seasonally and to prepare delicious, fresh food!
I'm sure everyone has seen the cover of the BC Reads Young Adult novel "All American Boys", co-authored by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. The story revolves around Rashad and Quinn, two typical 16-year old high school students, one black and one white, whose lives are forever changed in the moment when Rashad becomes an innocent victim of police brutality and Quinn witnesses the brutal beating, which comes at the hands of a cop who happens to be the brother of his best friend as well as a close family friend.
This character-driven, fast paced story unfolds in a time span of one week. Alternating chapters present the unique perspectives of each boy, told in a compelling and authentic first-person narrative, which highlights the struggles and emotions of each teen as they try to understand what happened and why. Which leads them to question who they are, what they believer in and what they are willing to stand up for. This story will stay with you long after the last page.
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Week 1: What You Already Know
Assignment 1:
Well this looked like fun initially, but I got a little tripped up and as the timer counted down to zero I was left with 13/20 for the Children's titles and 16/24 for the Adult titles. I was a little disappointed!
For the children's titles, apparently I don't know how to spell "Corduroy", so I missed that one, even though I knew what it was! And the graphic for "Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom", geez, not much to work with there!
Basically, what it boiled down to was I missed the titles that I haven't read, or I recognized the cover art, but just couldn't come up with the title in my head.
Assignment 2:
I fared better on this, I got 10/12, so I guess the cover illustrators are successful at what they do. I missed the "Techo thriller" cover and the "Urban fantasy" cover.
Assignment 3:
I've seen this list of Golden Rules of RA before, but it was worthwhile to read it again. Especially Rule #2 - keep a reading log. I have been meaning to do this for a while now, so this is a good time to begin this practice.
Assignment 4:
I am already familiar with Goodreads and NPR, so after looking at the others, I am choosing "Early Word" to follow. The layout and design of the site immediately appealed to me. Lots of great content to explore and quick links to useful resources.
I really went back and forth in deciding which genre to follow. I wanted to follow the Urban Reviews since I don't normally read in that genre and it is very popular here at Woodlawn, but the site hasn't been updated since January and it looked a little limited in content. Street fiction readers here seem to know what titles they want or they are happy to browse the collection. So I ultimately chose, "Stop You're killing me". I don't read a lot of mysteries, with the exception of Louise Penny, so I'm looking forward to getting into this site. And again, it seems well organized and easy to navigate with tons of useful content.
Assignment 5:
The child's comment that the cover art on "Jane Eyre" suggested that the book was about "a girl that goes mining, mining for gold" just cracked me up! All in all, I think the comments seemed pretty spot on!
Well this looked like fun initially, but I got a little tripped up and as the timer counted down to zero I was left with 13/20 for the Children's titles and 16/24 for the Adult titles. I was a little disappointed!
For the children's titles, apparently I don't know how to spell "Corduroy", so I missed that one, even though I knew what it was! And the graphic for "Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom", geez, not much to work with there!
Basically, what it boiled down to was I missed the titles that I haven't read, or I recognized the cover art, but just couldn't come up with the title in my head.
Assignment 2:
I fared better on this, I got 10/12, so I guess the cover illustrators are successful at what they do. I missed the "Techo thriller" cover and the "Urban fantasy" cover.
Assignment 3:
I've seen this list of Golden Rules of RA before, but it was worthwhile to read it again. Especially Rule #2 - keep a reading log. I have been meaning to do this for a while now, so this is a good time to begin this practice.
Assignment 4:
I am already familiar with Goodreads and NPR, so after looking at the others, I am choosing "Early Word" to follow. The layout and design of the site immediately appealed to me. Lots of great content to explore and quick links to useful resources.
I really went back and forth in deciding which genre to follow. I wanted to follow the Urban Reviews since I don't normally read in that genre and it is very popular here at Woodlawn, but the site hasn't been updated since January and it looked a little limited in content. Street fiction readers here seem to know what titles they want or they are happy to browse the collection. So I ultimately chose, "Stop You're killing me". I don't read a lot of mysteries, with the exception of Louise Penny, so I'm looking forward to getting into this site. And again, it seems well organized and easy to navigate with tons of useful content.
Assignment 5:
The child's comment that the cover art on "Jane Eyre" suggested that the book was about "a girl that goes mining, mining for gold" just cracked me up! All in all, I think the comments seemed pretty spot on!
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