Book Club Experience

            My experience for this assignment was wonderful! I’ll tell a deep dark secret and say I’ve never been part of a book club, but this one definitely turned me on to them. I’m not sure if I’ve never been to one because I received my fill with my undergrad classes (all English majors do is read and talk about what they read) but after being away for two years this experience was like a breath of fresh air. What I think I realized most was the great opportunity book clubs really are; giving a safe space to discuss books. I know that seems really obvious but like I said, I’d never been a part of one before. The meeting seemed to go along normal lines from our reading and from what I’d expected but just having the experience go so well made it seem amazing.

            The format of the time seemed to follow the outline we saw on ilovelibraries.org, although the timing was different. As people filled in the group did the socializing part and caught up with those they may not have seen. The group was small and I found out later that the members hadn’t changed much so I was a bit of a magnet for their attention. After the majority had arrived, the leader went into some issues the club had to discuss. This mostly included the fact that their next book was late and they needed to decide whether to wait or skip it and go to the next selection. Considering I was brand new, I was a bit surprised that my opinion was asked on this but it defiantly made me feel even more welcome and included. This altogether took about 45 minutes and the rest of the 3 hour time was spent on discussion of the book.

            The leader was a librarian of the library that housed the book club and gave out the discussion questions. The questions were not necessarily deep but were involved enough to get people talking back and forth about what they thought about the book. The participants all talked and I wouldn’t say that anyone dominated. There were those that talked at every question but they allowed others to speak their mind. All in all the discussion was very spread out among the people and even the leader added their opinion but she often held it to last or only showed agreement to someone else’s statement. It was also very open and didn’t have any a set way or order people had to talk. However, people were very polite and didn’t try to talk over each other, one of the ways I could tell they’d been together for a while.

            I’d come a little early and had the opportunity to see the leader and another librarian that was part of the club discussing their next book choices. I already knew they’d chosen the books for the year as they have fliers out and a link to the book list on the library’s main website, so I could guess that they were discussing options for the next year. This goes against the advice of ilovelibraries.org as it said to not choose for the whole year. I think, however, that as it was a library they may have to in order to give out advertisement but I already mentioned a bit of an issue such a choice can cause. From the listing, they do have a good range of different genres and themes going on through the year.

            While the club was small it was obvious that it was a group that loved talking about books and being with people that wanted some good discussion. It wasn’t necessarily very formal, as they allowed anyone to join, but it was structured and the leader read off questions she had listed so it wasn’t as free as possible. It was a fun experience and one I look forward to repeating.

Special Topic: Graphic Novels in the Library

In recent years the medium of graphic novels has risen in recognition not only in the public arena but also in libraries of all kinds. With this recognition, we are also seeing graphic novels granted awards and being used by educators and other professionals. One hurdle that graphic novels had to jump was the image of being the same as comics. While these two mediums share similarities, they are in fact different altogether. Comics contain a story, but graphic novels have a plot that reads much more like regular text novels (Pinkley 1-2). Donald Cunningham’s 2012 study showed that even with library’s current lack of holdings, they do not necessarily reflect the views of the librarians or their patrons through a public survey and librarian interviews. The study also looked into the public’s opinion of graphic novels as well as those of librarians. One question was if the participants thought graphic novels “constituted proper/serious literature” and  60% disagreed that they “are not proper/serious books” showing their agreement that graphic novels should be housed in a library (Cunningham 43).

Along with a call for more graphic novels, Cummingham’s study showed that librarians also wished to see their graphic novel collections shelved in their own collection. The librarians that participated in the study all showed favoritism to a separate graphic novel collection opposed to shelving the medium within other materials. However, even though the librarians all share the same idea, there was no consistency shown in the placement of these collections (Cummingham 30-34). In Trauli’s chapter over cataloging in Graphic Novels and Comics In Libraries and Archives suggest that troubles with cataloging can start with the lack of communication and need for new cataloging policies. The old ways that catalogers may have adapted in order to fit graphic novels into the mold have shown not to work for the long haul. Taruli states that these practices “are no longer satisfactory” and now librarians have “to re-think current cataloging and shelving practices” (214).  

No matter how a library catalogs graphic novels, getting the word that they are available is the best way to get them off the shelves. Advising the patrons deals with showing that the library supports graphic novels and they are just as much as an option as any other resource. Past advising may only have brought up graphic novels when a patron came to ask for them, but do librarians always do this with the other collections? Reader’s advisory should cover a good area when giving books in the interview, adding graphic novels into the mix is a great way to spread the word that not only does the library have graphic novels but they are in fact for everyone. Another step for librarians to take to push graphic novels is to have experience with the medium and find out for themselves what graphic novels are. Librarians don’t have to read all the graphic novels but have a good understanding of the styles and what is available to readers (Goldsmith 11-13). Whether it’s by inclusion in an advisory interview or in a book display, librarians need to show their understanding and that they are once again the experts to look for when asking about books. No matter the medium.

Works Cited

Cunningham, Donald Philip. “The Cataloguing and shelving of graphic novels: A comparison of public librarian and patron perceptions”. School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington. New Zealand. June 2012. Web.

Goldsmith, Francisca. “Pushing Graphic Novel Advice to Readers”. The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Graphic Novels. American Library Association. 2010. 10-18. Print.

MacDonald, Heidi. “Graphic Novels in Libraries: How Graphic Novels Became the Hottest Section in the Library”. Publishers Weekly. 2013, May 6. 20-25. Web.

Pinkley, Janet & Kaele Casey. “Graphic Novels: A Brief History and Overview for Library Managers”. Library Leadership & Management. 27:3. 2013, May. Web.

Tarulli, Laurel. “Cataloging and Problems with Dewey: Creativity, Collaboration, and Compromise”. Graphic Novels and Comics In Libraries and Archives: Essays On Readers, Research, History, and Cataloging. Weiner, Robert G. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2010. 213-221.Web.

Celebrity Inspired Book Clubs

https://goo.gl/K0C493

 “From Obscurity to Bestseller: Examining the Impact of Oprah's Book Club Selections”

Butler, R., Cowan, B., & Nilsson, S.

Reading the article over Oprah’s influence reminded me of an episode of the television show, Parks and Recreation . In the episode Leslie Knop is trying to get her book added into a tv host’s book club, “Joan’s Book Club”, so that it can gain popularity. Leslie demonstrates the boost the club gives to books by describing a book that had no popularity before being added and then that it becomes “best seller, four years in a row” after Joan makes it her pick. While the exaggeration is used for humor, the idea is very similar in the case Bulter, et. al. make in their article over Oprah. 

The research that the authors did revealed that the books chosen for Oprah’s book club

 not only experienced popularity directly after their selection but also had popularity after this initial surge. While in later years Oprah’s influence was shown to wane, her books still had a better than average bestseller life then the “average bestseller”. It’s interesting to think that a celebrity could have such an effect on a book even if its quality wasn’t up to being a bestseller. Going back to my mention of the tv episode, it’s almost like the person who has picked the book gives more influence to the reader’s opinion then an actual review. I can understand someone taking the opinion of a close friend over a stranger’s review, but what is it about celebrities that make us trust their word? Is it the fact that they are a celebrity, and somehow their word carries more weight, or does it have something to do with us not considering them strangers?

The article brings up an interesting idea of how much a celebrity could influence a book’s sales. When you think about it, what more authority does Oprah have to say a book is good than anyone else? What I found most interesting in the article was the decline in popularity of the book club and what reasons could be behind the fall. The authors speculate but no strong evidence is given for a true reason, however, one idea was the decline of quality of the books chosen. This may be due to the rather narrow area Oprah picks from, but it’s interesting to think that perhaps people no longer choose her picks because they’ve found they aren’t to their taste. It shows that reading a book simply for the person who’s suggested it doesn’t guarantee you will enjoy it as well.

Promoting Romance

My idea would be for a display and event for over a weekend. It would be a display of shelves that have books in plain brown wrapping paper with either one word or one sentence descriptions of reasons to pick this book written on the outside. For example, “Do you like adventure? Then I’m the one for you!”, but it can be more descriptive. The display would be labeled “Blind Date with a Book” and the patron could pick one that grabs their attention from the short description. The shelves could be either displayed much like Valentine’s or made to look similar to some popular dating app or site to help grab attention.

The event would be some tables set up with one or two chairs where patrons could sit. This would probably take place on the second day, so that they can pick up a book and then come back to participate. The tables could have some small sandwiches or cookies and if the library has a coffee station perhaps a coupon to a free drink. The tables could also have a “Review Your Date” card where the patron could put the title and author and then give a number or star rating and “Describe your date” section. The reviews could be posted on a bulletin board or in a similar way that the books were at first. The patron doesn’t have to finish the book to make a review, just describe how their readings went on the “date”. There can also be a designated hashtag for patrons to use when posting to social media for before and after the event. This hashtag can also be used when the library promotes the even on their own accounts. I think this would be a fun event to have and also a good way to get some patron reviews on romance books.

Horror: The Elementals

Author:  Michael McDowell

Title: The Elementals

Genre: Horror

Publication Date: 1981

Number of Pages: 218

Geographical Setting: Alabama, USA

Plot Summary:

The Savage and McCray families have been coming to Beldame for years and, after a rather disturbing funeral, such a vacation is much needed. The three Victorian houses are the sole structures of the split off Alabama’s Coast and the easy going atmosphere will help get their minds off their troubles. The third house has been void of humans for years, and has been slowly taken over by an eroding sand dune. But the third house isn’t vacant. Something is there, something they don't like to think about, and it’s lurking in the shadows of the sand. It’s killed in the past and it’s looking to kill again.

Appeal:

Foreboding tone- Throughout the book every mention of “the third house” causes the tone of the story to change. Compared to the easy going feel of the rest of Beldame, the parts mentioning the eerie third house feel menacing and the reader continuously feels the climax rising.

Monsters- These monsters are some of the worst kind- unknown. Mystery surrounds them and not much is ever reviled. The reader begins to wonder what lurks in their own shadowed corners.

Storyline- If you’re looking for a story that ends happily, don’t pick up this one up. With nothing being resolved, The Elementals leaves the reader with unease and unsure what will happen to the characters.

Similar Authors and Works:

The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson: A haunted house based on real events. George and Kathleen Lutz have just bought a house for a bargain, but they didn’t account for the previous owners sticking around.

This House is Haunted by John Boyne: This house has an ominous presence. Eliza Caine has come to be a governess, but she may have to deal with more than children.

Enter, Night by Michael Rowe: A small town with a secret. Not a haunted house, but follow the characters as they search out the towns mystery, and discover a monster.