Week #5 Prompt Response

There are SO MANY BOOKS out there!  It’s hard to think about the sheer abundance of books and written materials without getting completely overwhelmed.  Your library can’t stock everything.  So, what is a selector to do?  Is it an astounding book or a piece of crap?  But, you know, the answer to that question is different to each person.  Like Ranganthan said “Every book its reader”.  Thinking about that, I can see why Booklist doesn’t print negative reviews.  While there can be books that are so bad that most people can’t get through them without giving up in frustration, but there will always be at least one person who likes or finds value in the book.  Reviews are only opinions.  They can make or break a book commercially, but they don’t determine the total value of the book.  So even if the New York Times pans a book as silly and a waste of space, that doesn’t mean there isn’t anyone on this earth who will enjoy it.  I think that’s why there are so many different outlets for different types of books and conversations.  Kirkus didn’t review a little independent book that I found at the garage sale, but if I were to Google the book, there would more than likely be SOMETHING on the internet about it, somewhere.  There are lots of sources for independent book reviews and small-time publishers.  A librarian should not only have the big-name resources like the New York Times, Kirkus, NPR, and Publishers Weekly, they should have a list of small and independent publishers and book reviews that they can consult so that their collection is rounded out with not only bestsellers, but little gems and diverse topics.  Collection development shouldn’t be affected by the fact that some books are reviewed more than others.

Angela’s Ashes was so big when it came out, not adding it to your library would have been seen as highly incompetent.  And I don’t think it was just the reviews that made it so big.  It was a really, really good book, and word of mouth is huge in the library business.  I imagine that I would have added Angela’s Ashes to my collection whether I had these reviews or not.  The e-book reviews, while not quite on the professional level of the New Yorker book review, make the silly little romance sound like a fun and happy read, so I would definitely add it to my collection because I know there are patrons who would enjoy that silly book.  Although if both the reviews had said, “Yuck, this book sucks”, I might think twice.  But if someone asked for it, I would buy it. 

I consult Goodreads for all my review needs.  Although the reviews are not professional, real readers tell you if they liked the book and why.  Or if they hated the book and why.  There are usually more than enough reviews of one book that you can piece together what the book is like just from reading the varied opinions.  I don’t need the New York Times to tell me if they liked a book or not.