Media coverage of the decline of book-review sections has focused on the effect of the trend on authors, readers, and publishers. Jane Ciabattari, president of the National Book Critics Circle www.bookcritics.org, raises a frequently overlooked issue in the Winter 2008 issue of the Authors Guild Bulletin (“Book Reviews: In Print, Online, and In Decline?”) when she says that “librarians need two reviews to justify book purchases for libraries.”
© 2008 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.
One-Minute Book Reviews 
Really? I’m a librarian, and that’s news to me.
Comment by speedytexaslibrarian — May 8, 2008 @ 6:00 pm |
I hadn’t heard that before, either. Would love to know where the quote might be true . I have heard many librarians say that they buy on the basis of reviews but had never heard a number requirement, which is why this quote interested me …
Comment by 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — May 8, 2008 @ 6:32 pm |
Do librarians really purchase books based only on one book review??? I can’t even imagine that being the case. We often purchase books because several people have recommended it, or we’ve read a myriad of reviews about a particular book.
Of course, sometimes I’m sure that we choose books simply because we, as librarians and readers ourselves, find a topic interesting, or a particular book “speaks” to us. Should there be a requirement for choosing books? I’m not so sure that someone else should regulate how books are chosen by librarians.
Comment by Carleton Place Public Library — May 9, 2008 @ 1:06 pm |
Absolutely no one should regulate how books are chosen by libraries. That’s just scary! What concerns me is that there are so many wonderful books that, these days, don’t get a lot of reviews.
If librarians typically read myriad reviews before buying a book, what if a great book gets only one or two? This seems especially likely to happen with regional books or those from smaller presses.
Will libraries become as market-driven as the publishing industry as a whole? Are they there already? I don’t know the answers, but I think about these questions a lot and am grateful for the responses from librarians.
Comment by 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — May 9, 2008 @ 1:34 pm |
Will libraries become as market-driven as the publishing industry as a whole? Are they there already?
I think that’s becoming more true of public libraries, especially in urban areas. I know in the large two-county suburban system I used to work for (in another state), items that had not circulated in the past three years were considered for weeding/withdrawal. Space is at a premium.
I think it is less true of academic libraries, since we’re supposed to support research and therefore have to hang on to stuff a bit longer! We have offsite storage for some of our oldest, least requested stuff.
Comment by speedytexaslibrarian — May 14, 2008 @ 9:38 pm |
Thanks for making the distinction between public and academic libraries, which is useful. They do serve somewhat different purposes.
I often find that when I request a book on Inter Library Loan, my library has to get it from an academic library — even if the book I need is a trade or mass-market book that is intended for a general audience and no more than a few years old. I never quite understood this, because many nearby public libraries should have some of these books. Your comment suggests why this might be happening: The public libraries may have had the books but have already weeded them out.
Comment by 1minutebookreviewswordpresscom — May 14, 2008 @ 11:05 pm |