Assignment 1
Articles read. The YouTube trailers I watched were for My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody, Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi., and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. All the trailers had at least 75,000 hits.
Assignment 2
Just like the writer from the Chicago Tribune said, I didn't even know book trailers even existed before working on this assignment. Out of the three I watched the only one that really peaked my interest was the one for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. The other two I watched weren't very well done and didn't really do anything for me. I did notice that there were a lot of people commenting in the comments section though, both good and bad reviews, so I guess these things are important to someone.
Assignment 3
I guess what I got out of this program is that readers advisory is still one of my weaker skills, but this has helped me get better at them. I think being forced to read websites and blogs on specific genres was a help. Especially since I was following genres that I don't read. Week eight was enlightening as I read non-fiction but never thought to offer read-alikes to those who read fiction in the same genre. And then there is writing blog post, or reviews, about a book. This was difficult but after getting a few pointers from another librarian who is really good writing them, I think I got better composing them. At least I feel more confident when I go to write one. While this assignment was tough at times it was definitely worth doing.
Monday, September 1, 2014
Week 8
Assignment 1
Done. I've always read both Fiction and Non-Fiction. Seems weird to only read one or the other. That being said, I've never made an effort to use both in my readers advisory with customers. Now I will.
Assignment 2
Done.
Assignment 3
Out of the 16 types of Narrative Non-Fiction I picked Adventure, Disaster/Survival, Travel, and Science.
Adventure: Dewey areas I found were 700's (Mountaineering and Hiking) and 900's (Travel and Exploration). An example would be A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.
Disaster/Survival: Dewey areas I found were 300's and the 700's. An example would be Flight 232: A Story of Disaster and Survival by Laurence Gonzalez.
Travel: Most examples of the genre were in the 900s (Travel) . An example would be Frances Mayes’ Under the Tuscan Sun.
Science: Dewey areas I found were the 500s (General Science) and the 600s (Environment). An example would be Silent Spring by Rachel Carlson.
Assignment 4
Book Talks:
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson is a humorous look at one man's attempt to walk the Appalacian Trail. From his preparing to walk the trail, getting his best friend to accompany him, and his eventual attempt at walking the trail, this engaging book will appeal to adults and young-adults alike. Those who have walked or are thinking of walking the trail would also enjoy this book.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Rachel Carson shows the reader the horrifying effects of the use of pesticides on the enviroment in her book, Silent Spring. With a lyrical writing style, Carson makes the science easy to digest for the lay person even though the topic can be a bit doom and gloom. The book looks at the past when the natural ballence of the earth became disrupted by the acts of humans, and how each thing brings about another ripple in the destruction of our planet. But there is hope, as the last chapters show us what can be done to reverse our destructive course. This book will appeal to adults who are interested in our environment.
Done. I've always read both Fiction and Non-Fiction. Seems weird to only read one or the other. That being said, I've never made an effort to use both in my readers advisory with customers. Now I will.
Assignment 2
Done.
Assignment 3
Out of the 16 types of Narrative Non-Fiction I picked Adventure, Disaster/Survival, Travel, and Science.
Adventure: Dewey areas I found were 700's (Mountaineering and Hiking) and 900's (Travel and Exploration). An example would be A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.
Disaster/Survival: Dewey areas I found were 300's and the 700's. An example would be Flight 232: A Story of Disaster and Survival by Laurence Gonzalez.
Travel: Most examples of the genre were in the 900s (Travel) . An example would be Frances Mayes’ Under the Tuscan Sun.
Science: Dewey areas I found were the 500s (General Science) and the 600s (Environment). An example would be Silent Spring by Rachel Carlson.
Assignment 4
Book Talks:
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson is a humorous look at one man's attempt to walk the Appalacian Trail. From his preparing to walk the trail, getting his best friend to accompany him, and his eventual attempt at walking the trail, this engaging book will appeal to adults and young-adults alike. Those who have walked or are thinking of walking the trail would also enjoy this book.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Rachel Carson shows the reader the horrifying effects of the use of pesticides on the enviroment in her book, Silent Spring. With a lyrical writing style, Carson makes the science easy to digest for the lay person even though the topic can be a bit doom and gloom. The book looks at the past when the natural ballence of the earth became disrupted by the acts of humans, and how each thing brings about another ripple in the destruction of our planet. But there is hope, as the last chapters show us what can be done to reverse our destructive course. This book will appeal to adults who are interested in our environment.
Week 7
Assignment 1
Interesting flowchart, although I'd call it multiple flowcharts. I now have a few more books to read.
Assignment 2
Article #1: New Adult: Needless Marketing Speak or Valued Subgenre.
I could see how the term "New Adult" could be useful from a marketing standpoint but I think would be confusing in a library setting. All of our sections (Adult, Teen, Childrens) are pretty much self explanatory. To me that just sounds like new adult fiction. The article mentions the term reading down, which I don't really like. Sometimes you just want to read a book that's in another age range about a theme or subject matter you might like. To me that's just putting the reader down. There is a part of the article that states "Another thing the new adult tag does, insiders noted, is signal content that some will consider too mature for teen readers". There has been sex and adult situations in YA for years. I just don't think we need another label for a subsection of readers.
Article #2: The Next Big Thing: Adults Reading Teen Literature
Personally I think this is great. I've been reading Young Adult books now for years and I'm glad to see a new group of readers discovering them. I do think a lot of it has to do with the movies, where adults see the movie in the theater and want to read the book. TV (Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and The Secret Circle) is also another big reason for the crossover. At least when adults are finished with the TV and movie titles they want the read-alikes, then we've got them.
Assignment 3
I chose to follow Stacked and Squeetus Blog. Stacked is a well written blog that is geared toward those who like Young Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction. It is written by a librarian and a former librarian who both have a good grasp of what's going on in the world of Young Adult literature. Squeetus Blog is written by the author Shannon Hale. When picking this blog I should have look at the amount of post that were done as the week I followed it only had one post.
Assignment 4
Harper Teen: So far the most of the books at Harper Teen run the gamut as far as genres go. Fantasy Fiction, Gothic, Suspense among others are here. The only real trend I can see is that the majority of the titles have a female main character.
Teens @ Random: Same as Harper Teen. Many different genres with a female main character.
Interesting flowchart, although I'd call it multiple flowcharts. I now have a few more books to read.
Assignment 2
Article #1: New Adult: Needless Marketing Speak or Valued Subgenre.
I could see how the term "New Adult" could be useful from a marketing standpoint but I think would be confusing in a library setting. All of our sections (Adult, Teen, Childrens) are pretty much self explanatory. To me that just sounds like new adult fiction. The article mentions the term reading down, which I don't really like. Sometimes you just want to read a book that's in another age range about a theme or subject matter you might like. To me that's just putting the reader down. There is a part of the article that states "Another thing the new adult tag does, insiders noted, is signal content that some will consider too mature for teen readers". There has been sex and adult situations in YA for years. I just don't think we need another label for a subsection of readers.
Article #2: The Next Big Thing: Adults Reading Teen Literature
Personally I think this is great. I've been reading Young Adult books now for years and I'm glad to see a new group of readers discovering them. I do think a lot of it has to do with the movies, where adults see the movie in the theater and want to read the book. TV (Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and The Secret Circle) is also another big reason for the crossover. At least when adults are finished with the TV and movie titles they want the read-alikes, then we've got them.
Assignment 3
I chose to follow Stacked and Squeetus Blog. Stacked is a well written blog that is geared toward those who like Young Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction. It is written by a librarian and a former librarian who both have a good grasp of what's going on in the world of Young Adult literature. Squeetus Blog is written by the author Shannon Hale. When picking this blog I should have look at the amount of post that were done as the week I followed it only had one post.
Assignment 4
Harper Teen: So far the most of the books at Harper Teen run the gamut as far as genres go. Fantasy Fiction, Gothic, Suspense among others are here. The only real trend I can see is that the majority of the titles have a female main character.
Teens @ Random: Same as Harper Teen. Many different genres with a female main character.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Week 6
Assignment 1
Stop, You're Killing Me is the blog that I've been following. I picked this blog because Mysteries are a genre that I don't read, at all, so I figured this would at least get me familiar with the authors and any new books that were coming out. The links I use most on the blog are the New Additions, Book Reviews, and Read-Alikes. The New Additions and Book review links have kept me in the loop with new mysteries and I've used the Read-Alikes link (instead of Novelist) to help a customer with readers advisory. The only negative thing I could say about the site is the way it looks, it's kind of drab and boring.
Assignment 2
This chart turned out to be very informative once I figured out how how to use Prezi. It would be helpful if there was a way to see this in one chart without having to use a magnifying glass. I was familiar with most of the genres but the real eye opener was the amount of subgenres in Urban Fiction and Romance. These are two genres I'm not that familiar with so seeing the different subgenres was extremely informative.
Assignment 3
So the three subgenres that I picked were Urban Fiction: Literary, Romance: Military, and Thriller: Cypher.
Literary Urban Fiction authors include Sapphire, Walter Dean Myers, and Walter Mosley. Appeal characteristics of this African American subgenre are character driven plots, gritty story telling, and an atmospheric tone.
When searching for Military Romances I seemed to find most of the titles in the series romances (Harlequin, Silhouette, Love Inspired, etc). Authors like Merline Lovelace, Rogenna Brewer, and Catherine Mann all write in this genre. Most of these titles are contemporary fiction with modern day knights in shining armor.
Authors in the Thriller / Cypher subgenre include Dan Brown, Brad Meltzer, and Steve Berry. These fast-paced, suspenseful, titles usually has a main character who must figure out the cypher or puzzle to save the day.
Mashups:
The first book I found was Havoc after dark: tales of terror. You could consider this title as Urban Fiction / Horror. This is a book of short horror stories that are set in urban areas. One of the stories is about an African American woman in New Orleans who is turned into a werewolf.
The second book I found was My Beautiful Enemy by Sherry Thomas. While it is considered a Romance I could make the case for a Romance / Spy / Espionage mashup. The main character is a spy, who on one of her missions, falls in love with a strange man she only knows as "the Persian".
Stop, You're Killing Me is the blog that I've been following. I picked this blog because Mysteries are a genre that I don't read, at all, so I figured this would at least get me familiar with the authors and any new books that were coming out. The links I use most on the blog are the New Additions, Book Reviews, and Read-Alikes. The New Additions and Book review links have kept me in the loop with new mysteries and I've used the Read-Alikes link (instead of Novelist) to help a customer with readers advisory. The only negative thing I could say about the site is the way it looks, it's kind of drab and boring.
Assignment 2
This chart turned out to be very informative once I figured out how how to use Prezi. It would be helpful if there was a way to see this in one chart without having to use a magnifying glass. I was familiar with most of the genres but the real eye opener was the amount of subgenres in Urban Fiction and Romance. These are two genres I'm not that familiar with so seeing the different subgenres was extremely informative.
Assignment 3
So the three subgenres that I picked were Urban Fiction: Literary, Romance: Military, and Thriller: Cypher.
Literary Urban Fiction authors include Sapphire, Walter Dean Myers, and Walter Mosley. Appeal characteristics of this African American subgenre are character driven plots, gritty story telling, and an atmospheric tone.
When searching for Military Romances I seemed to find most of the titles in the series romances (Harlequin, Silhouette, Love Inspired, etc). Authors like Merline Lovelace, Rogenna Brewer, and Catherine Mann all write in this genre. Most of these titles are contemporary fiction with modern day knights in shining armor.
Authors in the Thriller / Cypher subgenre include Dan Brown, Brad Meltzer, and Steve Berry. These fast-paced, suspenseful, titles usually has a main character who must figure out the cypher or puzzle to save the day.
Mashups:
The first book I found was Havoc after dark: tales of terror. You could consider this title as Urban Fiction / Horror. This is a book of short horror stories that are set in urban areas. One of the stories is about an African American woman in New Orleans who is turned into a werewolf.
The second book I found was My Beautiful Enemy by Sherry Thomas. While it is considered a Romance I could make the case for a Romance / Spy / Espionage mashup. The main character is a spy, who on one of her missions, falls in love with a strange man she only knows as "the Persian".
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Week 5
Assignment 1& 2
I'm combining assignment 1 and 2 because Early Word was one of the resources that I chose.
So, things I like about Early Word:
Assignment 3
The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman
The Magician's Land is Lev Grossman's third book in the magicians trilogy. This fast paced fantasy fiction will appeal to adults and young adults who enjoy a gritty fantasy set in a magical world. Fans of Gaiman's Neverwhere and Raymond Feist's Shards of a Broken Crown are sure to enjoy this book. Those who read the first two books in this series will be anxiously awaiting this trilogy's conclusion.
This book is scheduled to be released on August 5th, 2014.
I'm combining assignment 1 and 2 because Early Word was one of the resources that I chose.
So, things I like about Early Word:
- The "Titles To Know" posts. These post will give you the books Early Word thinks will be popular that week.
- Best Books categories links on the left side of the page.
- Live author chats. I'm just waiting for an author I really like.
- Movie Trailers! While it's good to know what movies are coming out so you can keep the book in mind for customers, I've seen a few trailers for movies that I was waiting for that I didn't know were out.
- Best Seller / Award Winner links. Nice to have them in one place.
- The Best Books spreadsheets. They are way too busy to use. I get a headache just trying to look at them.
Assignment 3
The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman
The Magician's Land is Lev Grossman's third book in the magicians trilogy. This fast paced fantasy fiction will appeal to adults and young adults who enjoy a gritty fantasy set in a magical world. Fans of Gaiman's Neverwhere and Raymond Feist's Shards of a Broken Crown are sure to enjoy this book. Those who read the first two books in this series will be anxiously awaiting this trilogy's conclusion.
This book is scheduled to be released on August 5th, 2014.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Week 4
Assignment 1
Goodreads. I was already a member of Goodreads before this assignment so I had most of it already finished. At this time I only have 65 books in my list but I don't list everything I read. I have a tendency to use Goodreads in spurts, listing the books I read for a while then I forget about it for a few months, then I come back. The recommendations I get from Goodreads are usually in the same genres as I have something of a narrow reading focus (Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Classics, Teen, or Childrens). I've tried to read out of my comfort zone but it never seems to go well. Just for fun I did make a new bookshelf and I added a few coworkers to my friends list.
I suggested a book, Feed by M.T. Anderson, to one of my coworkers that liked Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. Both books are set in a dystopian future where the government uses technology to control or spy on the public. In Little Brother they use modern tech, but in Feed it is actually a chip implanted in the brain. Also, the main characters in the books are a group of young teens who go through tough times together.
I am a fan of Goodreads. It has given me many good recommendations for books and I like seeing what my friends are reading. I didn't really use the bookshelves until this assignment. Now I have multiple bookshelves and titles are getting organized. I do like Goodreads, I just need to remember to use it more often.
Goodreads. I was already a member of Goodreads before this assignment so I had most of it already finished. At this time I only have 65 books in my list but I don't list everything I read. I have a tendency to use Goodreads in spurts, listing the books I read for a while then I forget about it for a few months, then I come back. The recommendations I get from Goodreads are usually in the same genres as I have something of a narrow reading focus (Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Classics, Teen, or Childrens). I've tried to read out of my comfort zone but it never seems to go well. Just for fun I did make a new bookshelf and I added a few coworkers to my friends list.
I suggested a book, Feed by M.T. Anderson, to one of my coworkers that liked Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. Both books are set in a dystopian future where the government uses technology to control or spy on the public. In Little Brother they use modern tech, but in Feed it is actually a chip implanted in the brain. Also, the main characters in the books are a group of young teens who go through tough times together.
I am a fan of Goodreads. It has given me many good recommendations for books and I like seeing what my friends are reading. I didn't really use the bookshelves until this assignment. Now I have multiple bookshelves and titles are getting organized. I do like Goodreads, I just need to remember to use it more often.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Week 3
Assignment 1
After reading the The RA Conversation I noticed I was even more hesitant about going into the stacks and doing readers advisory. I guess it all comes down to the fact I'm the kind of person that doesn't like being bothered when I'm in a public place. If I need help I will go look for it. So, it's difficult for me to go up to customers in the library and ask them if they need help.
That being said the article did give me a few pointers on what to do. The opening questions will probably help me get over approaching customers. And I liked the statement that even the best librarian can't list four or five titles off the top of their head for every customer. I have to realize I will probably have to go look something up in Goodreads or Novelist to find materials to suggest. It's just going to take time for me to get better and/or more comfortable with readers advisory.
Assignment 2
After listening to the Nancy Pearl podcast I noticed her book talks were somewhat short, about 1 to 2 minutes tops (a skill some librarians I know need to learn.) She uses a lot of the appeal factors when describing the books not to mention her enthusiasm is contagious. I'm not a big popular fiction reader and her descriptions of the books made me at least want to go look at them. As far as the plots go, she reveals just enough to get you interested but not so much that she reveals the whole book.
Assignment 3
Conversation 1: What I got out of this conversation was a customer that likes autobiographies and maybe some travel writing. Based on that I came up with A Year in the World: Journeys of a Passionate Traveler by Frances Mayes.
Conversation 2: So obviously this person wants a fast paced book with vampires without the teen angst. To meet that request I would give her any of the Brian Lumley books that we have in the system. While the main character is a vampire hunter the vampires in these books are the real deal. None of this sparkling stuff.
Conversation 3: It seems this customer is looking for a fast paced historical fiction. Based on this I came up with The lost city of Z: a tale of deadly obsession in the Amazon by David Grann.
After reading the The RA Conversation I noticed I was even more hesitant about going into the stacks and doing readers advisory. I guess it all comes down to the fact I'm the kind of person that doesn't like being bothered when I'm in a public place. If I need help I will go look for it. So, it's difficult for me to go up to customers in the library and ask them if they need help.
That being said the article did give me a few pointers on what to do. The opening questions will probably help me get over approaching customers. And I liked the statement that even the best librarian can't list four or five titles off the top of their head for every customer. I have to realize I will probably have to go look something up in Goodreads or Novelist to find materials to suggest. It's just going to take time for me to get better and/or more comfortable with readers advisory.
Assignment 2
After listening to the Nancy Pearl podcast I noticed her book talks were somewhat short, about 1 to 2 minutes tops (a skill some librarians I know need to learn.) She uses a lot of the appeal factors when describing the books not to mention her enthusiasm is contagious. I'm not a big popular fiction reader and her descriptions of the books made me at least want to go look at them. As far as the plots go, she reveals just enough to get you interested but not so much that she reveals the whole book.
Assignment 3
Conversation 1: What I got out of this conversation was a customer that likes autobiographies and maybe some travel writing. Based on that I came up with A Year in the World: Journeys of a Passionate Traveler by Frances Mayes.
Conversation 2: So obviously this person wants a fast paced book with vampires without the teen angst. To meet that request I would give her any of the Brian Lumley books that we have in the system. While the main character is a vampire hunter the vampires in these books are the real deal. None of this sparkling stuff.
Conversation 3: It seems this customer is looking for a fast paced historical fiction. Based on this I came up with The lost city of Z: a tale of deadly obsession in the Amazon by David Grann.
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