Wk 5 Prompt

Ebook-only books, which are increasingly popular (especially in the romance genre) see little to no reviews in professional publications unless they have a big-name author. How does this affect collection development?:

The lack of ebook reviews makes a selector’s job harder. They are left more to word-of-mouth in selecting upcoming ebook titles to include in their collection, or might even have to go by author name only. However, I am aware that in most vendor contracts, the ebooks that are included in a library’s ebook collection are selected by the vendor themselves. However, I am sure that this still skews the collection to hold more big-name author titles.

I have posted two more documents in the week five files. One is two reviews of an ebook-only romantic suspense novel, one from a blog and one from amazon. Look over the reviews - do you feel they are both reliable? How likely would you be to buy this book for your library?:

As much as the run-on sentences and errors in the Amazon review make it seem unreliable, this is a reliable review. Whoever left this review left it only because they enjoyed the book, and after reading through the review, I thought about one or two patrons I know that enjoy this type of book. They would love this book, too. Also, “Deborah” included things she did not love as well, so the review is not biased, it is just her true feelings on the book. Deborah is the average patron in my mind, so I trust her thoughts to reflect how I think my patrons might feel about the book as well. Thus, I would buy this book. Romances like this one are quite popular at my branch.

The second review reads as reliable as well. This person reminds me of my patrons that are more critical of what they read. She was honest about what made this book not so great and did not beef up her reaction to anything. 

You really need to take into account both reviews in this situation, and take both with a grain of salt. I find any review to be reliable (it is just how someone feels!), except for those that are obviously trying to pander to the publisher or author (usually spotted with a “Thanks for sending me this ARC! This book changed my life and is the greatest thing ever!”).

The other document contains some reviews of Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt, an incredibly popular memoir. How do these reviews make you feel about the possibility of adding Angela's Ashes to your collection?:

The Booklist review made me feel most confident in selecting this book for the collection; it was honest: “and it is love one remembers as the dominant flavor in this Irish stew. Many a lesser book gets the kind of publicity push that McCourt's memoir is happily slated to receive. Expect demand, not only from those seduced by blurbs and interviews, but from word-of-mouth thereafter.” This review made me feel that this title would be popular with patrons (from receiving so much press coverage) thus making it worthwhile to add to the collection – the demand will be there, and the book will get checked out.

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?:

I do not think it is fair that one type of book is reviewed to death while others get no coverage, thus making it harder for library selectors to hear about them and/or see the demand for them. With no coverage, selectors will have a hard time finding that these titles will be in demand by patrons because the patrons likely won’t hear about them. Again, the collection runs the risk of becoming top-heavy, with a ton of big authors only. 

Review sources that will not print negative content are cowards! It is not appropriate; it does not include the full scope of opinions on a title and thus is not reliable in my opinion. If you are too afraid to say something negative I do not think you are trustworthy – you are going to lie in your review in order to be positive. There’s no way they have never had a negative thought about a book they were reviewing. 

I do not use reviews to decide if I want to pick up a book (for personal use). I feel that a connection with a book is a deeply personal and individual experience, and very rarely do I find myself resonating with a review. Even if a book is highly reviewed by a top-tier professional as the best thing since sliced bread, there is a chance I won’t like the book, so why let the opinion of an individual sway me? For example, I once read through the reviews on Goodreads for Stephen King's Dreamcatcher shortly after checking it out from the library. Every reviewer said it was the worst King novel ever. I ended up loving it and consider it possibly Top 10 of my favorite King books!

However – and I want to stress this – I find reviews extremely handy in my professional life. This might sound like an oxymoron, but let me explain. If I need to know if a book is worth ordering to have at my branch, I will skim through a few reviews. If I want to make sure that a book or movie I have not seen or read and I am putting on my display is worthwhile, I will maybe read through Goodreads or Rotten Tomatoes. Goodreads is my go-to for books because you can see the good and the bad reviews there. When I read a review for work, I am reading that review with my patrons in mind, trying to see if what the review says matches what I know my patrons enjoy!