Week Nine

June 17, 2013
Book trailers have become very popular over the past few years and are often a signal of how committed the publisher is in marketing a title.  They can vary greatly in how they approach the subject, e.g. author interview, collage, or short films.  In addition, some enthusiastic fans make their own trailers.

I watched the trailer for Packing for Mars.  C+ or B-.  I still don't want to read the book but it did project accurately what I know about the book.

Week 9: Assignment 1
Read these two articles on book trailers and watch the embedded videos from the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times.  Go to You Tube and find some other book trailers and watch a few of the popular ones.

The articles were interesting and reinforced my thought that, for me, book trailers ("bailers" or whatever) don't really work.  They MAY capture the tone but I'm not even sure about that.  I want to see the physical book, hear a short summary, and get a few words of wisdom and intent from the author.  I do not think that a trailers as either "mini-movies" nor as "works of art" necessarily succeed for me.  The trailer for "Super Sad True Love Story" may have been clever but it did nothing to connect me to the book (other than highlight that the author was zany) and I know and love that book.  The trailer for Glass Castle DID highlight the material in a way that worked for me but simply went on for too long.  I also prefer NOT to see actors visualize the characters any more than necessary since that is my prerogative.

Week 9: Assignment 2
Post to your blog your opinion about book trailers – do they succeed in marketing the books they are trying to promote?  Are they useful for readers’ advisory?

 Personally:  I would use them with caution.   I think that they are trying to BE something when they are a means to an end:  the book.  I think that the ones that I've seen want to be little films and contain very little information about the book.  They focus almost exclusively on the tone.  Ironically:  I feel the opposite about trailers as I do about in person reader's advisory.  I want to know about the theme and style when talking with a human.  I want a plot summary when I'm watching a trailer.  I wonder why that is?  Perhaps because the human conversation can be more complex and bi-directional and a video is:  sit and watch this and I'll make it worth your time.  Unless, it clearly tells me to pick up or put down the book:  the book trailer has failed and I just haven't been hooked for a book by a trailer yet.

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Week 9 Assignment 3
Summarize your thoughts about this program in a blog post.  What have you learned that was helpful?  

Great training program and it took more work than I expected.  Grading the assignments seems to be a weakness in the program.  My biggest concern with this training was that we be able to build on what we started during the inbranch Readers' Services training and it feels like this was accomplished.  I also would have liked to have seen more bilaterial conversations and chatter via the blogs but, to be fair, that would take more time and I'm not sure that I could have given this more time.  All in all:  a very good effort.

Week Eight

Why do people read narrative nonfiction? Reasons are many and varied, not unlike reasons for reading fiction.  Both have various appeal characteristics and genres and can work well together in readers’ advisory.


Week 8: Assignment 1
Read the following two articles for an introduction to nonfiction readers’ advisory.

• Borderlands: Crossing between Nonfiction in Readers’ Advisory
  No rocket science here but the increased awareness to "think outside the fiction box" is welcome.
• Reading Nonfiction for Pleasure: What Motivates Readers?
  Both articles mentioned:  "An interest in a particular subject can trump the distinction between fiction and nonfiction." Frankly, the idea that "narrative" nonfiction has been isolated for readers services attention is a bit off putting to me.  Critical biographies, coffee table decorating books, cookbooks, etc. are all examples of nonfiction that is NOT narrative and with which customers may appreciate be connected. We should not isolate our genres so strongly.

Week 8: Assignment 2
View this E-Learning video produced by the Maryland State Library Resource Center.

Watched it.  Nice.  

Week 8: Assignment 3
Choose any four of the 16 nonfiction genres presented in the video. In what Dewey area(s) did you find narrative nonfiction in these genres? List each of the four genres and their Dewey areas on your blog. Choose one book from each of these four genres that you could recommend to someone who normally reads only fiction. List these titles and their authors.

Essays:  Matching call number is mostly 814s (literary essays) but essays can be found in multiple areas if they are thematic (nature, travel, cooking, etc.)  Any David Sedaris (Someday Me Talk Pretty.)

Adventure:Matching call numbers include:  796.522 (Survival, etc.); Biographies, 327 (Espionage).  Into Thin Air.

Biography:  Matching call number is "Biography."

• Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jennifer Lawson
  As funny as Sedaris at his peak but more authentic. Lawson has a great voice for describing herself from outside so that the loony behavior has a context for seeming rational. Funny essays for pick up and put down reading (such as at the beach.)
  
  Family, marriage, and taxidermy all come under attack and she has a true talent for narrating how insane ideas may actually seem like a good idea at the time.  The language and adult topics make it a better read for more mature readers but the youthful perspective means, not TOO mature.

Contemporary Social Issues:  Depends on the issues but 306s for sexuality, 324s for politics, 333 for environmental, etc.

•  Place for Us: Essay on the Broadway Musical.  Ok, this is probably more appropriate in the essay category but I didn't want to have two titles reviewed in the same classification so I'm calling it "social issues" because of it's focus on why gay men have such an apparent affinity for Broadway musicals.  D.A. Miller's voice is a bit more academic that a work profiling a popular culture medium should be but touches on valid points about repressed desires, drama, glamor, subtle tribal rituals, and other quiet attributes that have made the cliche about gay men and Broadway musicals valid.  Short and succinct, it is a must read for show queens.

Week 8: Assignment 4
Using appeal factors, write a 1-2 paragraph book talk for two of the four titles you would recommend, noting who you would recommend them to and why. Post these on your blog.

See two blurbs above.

Week Seven

 Week 7: Assignment 1Take a look at the “What to Read Next” flowchart from the Lawrence Public Library (also available in PDF format.)

Cool.  OK:  honesty check.  These flowcharts are conceptually cool but not so much in reality.  A lot of work to lead a potential reader to one book based on one book that he liked.

 Week 7: Assignment 2
Read any two of the following short articles. Post comments on your blog, and make comments on two colleagues’ blogs.

• The Next Big Thing YALSA; The Hub, Oct 2012
• Not Just for Teens [PDF] Library Journal, Jun 15, 2011

I could barely read through these articles without a touch of misplaced anger.  As a librarian, I read and love across genres and age levels.  But Young Adult literature is developmentally aimed at teens and most adults that I know would balk at suggestions that they routine read these titles.  Are there crossover readers?  Certainly and I'm occasionally one of them but these articles seem to celebrate the trend to a level that would suggest making them a mainstay of adult reading.  There is no way that this won't sound judgemental but Adults dumbing routinely down to teen fiction should be as alarming to a literary profession as teens routinely dumbing down to graphic novels.  There are places for all of these niches but adults reading too heavily in teen works are the equivalent of having a diet of only chocolate cake.  It is good periodically but is not good for sustenance at an extended clip.

Week 7: Assignment 3
Choose any two of the following blogs/websites. Follow them for a week. Post comments to your blog regarding who is writing it, who is the intended audience, is it successful, etc.

• Stacked
I can't say that I can distinguish an audience BEYOND teens unless the writing style that I'm admiring is different because it is also aimed at teen librarians. In tone, I like that they compare the works to other noted titles, don't mind making critical (aka: negative) remarks, and their voices are in the first person (which I wish that our blog would incorporate.)

• School Library Journal: Someday My Printz Will Come (Seasonal)
  This blog is VERY both seasonal and librarian focused.  I reviewed the older posts (since it is currently "dark") but the emphasis  at this time of the award season was WAY more on the process of finding/accessing titles than what they may have loved about an individual book.  This voice is way more casual than I like and the comments can be very glib and without much in depth analysis.  It is strongly librarian slanted with jargon and considerations that the average patron (Oops!  Sorry (not really): "customer.")) won't care about.  Good for librarians doing selection on extensive advisory.

 Week 7: Assignment 4Choose any two of the following teen imprints and spend some time on their websites. Blog about any trends you find in either current or forthcoming teen fiction.

• Teens at Random
 This doesn't feel like a recent trend but OMG can we NOT have any more dragons or supernatural for a while.  Seems like a good 75% is sci fi, fantasy,, whatever.  I guess Game of Thrones may be still making an impact.


• Tor Teen (Macmillan)
  Sorry:  looks like I forgot to mention "armageddon" as a theme.  Ugh!  Gotta talk to a sociologist and understand.