Week Five Prompt Response: A conversation about different types of book reviews

Various publications, like Kirkus and Booklist, specialize in reviewing different types of books, allowing for diverse and tailored discussions within their bounds. To decide on a collection purchase, librarians rely on learning about a book in various ways. For e-books, when there just are not a lot of reviews, or any, it can cause librarians and patrons not to seek to purchase the e-book titles for the collection. A book budget is a limited resource, and it could be a gamble to purchase a title that has not been reviewed.

I know that at my library, our collection development policy says that we will not purchase e-books or books that have not been professionally reviewed. It has to do with fiscal responsibility, though independent, self-published authors do reach out to donate copies of their books. We do not take those book donations. I am not saying that this practice is right. I am just saying that this is how the library I work for handles these related situations.

One Wrapped Up in Books (2015) article said “It’s simply not efficient or cost-effective to acquire self-published books. They don’t often have existing records ready to add to the library’s catalog; these records have to be created” (para. 10).

Kirkus (2016) says the reader of Blood Crime will be “bored and nauseous” (para. 1). Technically, according to my library’s collection development policy, we could buy this book, because it is professionally reviewed.

Looking over the two reviews for the e-book, The Billionaire’s First Christmas, I do feel they are reliable, but I would not just take a recommendation from a single book review. I would compare book reviews to triangulate an answer to the question of whether the book is worth purchasing. I would not be likely to purchase this book for my library’s collection, because there are so many 4 and 5 star choices for holiday romance novels. I would purchase it if an active patron requested it though. We do host a patron-driven collection.   

Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt, looks like a homerun. I would purchase this for the library’s collection. Not only is it professionally reviewed by Kirkus, Library Journal, Booklist, and School Library Journal; another article in Maclean’s (1997) magazine listed Angela’s Ashes as number two of best nonfiction books (p. 11). This book has a Pulitzer Prize and was even made into a film.

I do not think it is fair that one type of book is reviewed to death and other types of books get little to no coverage, however I think this is a professional gap that librarians are aware of, especially when it comes to romance e-books. I think that BookTok is somewhat helping make up for this.

I discussed above how the library I work at will only purchase professionally reviewed books. I think it is fair that certain review sources will not print negative content. As there are many diverse viewpoints and tastes in this world, a book reviewer may read a book that was not intended for them. Just like different people being attracted to different appeals, different readers will appreciate different books.

I am not part of collection development for my library, but we consistently purchase based on book reviews and patron requests. Some of my favorite review sources are GoodReads and TikTok. I get most of my recommendations from listening to my colleagues talk about books.

 

References

Kirkus. (2016). Blood crime. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/sebastia-alzamora/blood-crime/

Wickens, B. (1997). She’s back in orbit. Maclean’s, 110(35), 11.

Wrapped Up in Books. (2015). Why librarians don’t want to buy your self-published book. https://wrappedupinbooks.org/2015/08/17/why-librarians-dont-want-to-buy-your-self-published-book/ 

(Kirkus, 2016).