Prompt #9

First, how have reading and books changed since you were a child, for you specifically? Second, talk a little about what you see in the future for reading, books, or publishing - say 20 years from now. Will we read more or less, will our reading become more interactive? What will happen to traditional publishing?

For me, I am not sure the actual books have changed so much as the acceptance of talking about the books I read has. When I was younger I got into fantasy novels and was reading out of the young adult and adult section by middle school. I does seem like many novels are now more openly discussing controversial content, and people are more open to discussion about them. I read a lot of controversial books in my younger years, and my parents always supported my love for literature. Maybe this is why the only major difference I have noticed in my reading habits since I was a child is more mature content and that I now own a Kindle.

I feel like the future of reading will change in twenty years from now, but maybe not as drastically as we may think. I seriously doubt that books in print are going anywhere, but I definitely see an increase in the number of eBook publications in the future. I think that books will probably get more interactive as well. I have noticed in my app stores an increase of text based story games becoming available for free in a variety of genres. The story for several of them changes based on decisions you make in the text, which is really cool. Choose your own adventure stories aren’t exactly new, but the eBook and app game formats are. I recently played a horror text-based game on my kindle and it allowed me to choose my name, gender, solve riddles, and really insert myself into the story. The way I wanted the storyline to go based on my decisions helped decide how the protagonist approached problems, if I wanted to try and form relationships with other characters, and who lived and died. I think that this style of choose your own adventure publishing will take off more in a few years. Again, I doubt that traditional publication will see too much change, apart from more digital content. However, it is hard to know exactly what the future will hold and what advances in technology will come along and shake everything up.

Prompt #8

What do you think are the best ways to market your library's fiction collection? Name and describe three ways you do or would like to market your library or your future library's fiction. These can be tools, programs, services, displays - anything that you see as getting the word out.

Marketing is all about bringing something into the light and really making it shine. To effectively market our library’s fiction section, we must make sure that everyone is aware of it and all its potential.

The first marketing plan I have is to do a series of programs called ‘The World of Fiction’. This event would be held monthly and feature a different fiction genre each month. The themes could run from historical fiction to urban fiction, and other genres like mystery and fantasy as well. Librarians can dress according to that month’s theme, and bring a selection of novels that fit the genre to the meeting. The group will discuss the attributes of novels in the featured fiction genre that are universal.

My second marketing plan is to have a staff picks fiction display. Staff will pick a fiction book of their choosing to be put on display, and post a short blurb underneath it along with its genre. The blurb will include some of the highlights the librarian saw in the book and a little background information.

My third marketing strategy is to set up a display that changes periodically to feature fiction books that align in plot or major attributes with up-coming major motion picture releases. If a new major zombie movie comes out, the display will feature fiction books revolving around zombies. If a major comic book movie is coming out, the display may feature comic books from the same franchise. This way the library can use the movie marketing as a way to promote their own fiction collection!

Prompt #7

Consider yourself part of the collection management committee of your local library, or a library at which you would like to work. You must decide whether or not to separate GBLTQ fiction and African American Fiction from the general collection to its own special place. Some patrons have requested this, yet many staff are uncomfortable with the idea - saying it promotes segregation and disrupts serendipitous discovery of an author who might be different from the reader. Do you separate them? Do you separate one and not the other? Why or why not? You must provide at least 3 reasons for or against your decision. Feel free to use outside sources - this is a weighty question that is answered differently in a lot of different libraries.

I don’t feel that GBLTQ fiction and African American fiction should be separated from the general collection in the library. I am not opposed to setting up feature displays for these categories, but I don’t feel like they need their own sections. They are very important pieces of literature, and are part of the collection of the whole. Listed below are some of my reasoning behind this decision.

1.   If as a library we start segregating books by author’s race or sexual preference, where do we draw the line. If we separate out these groups of fiction, we must also consider separating out Asian American fiction and women’s literature as well. Once we begin separating out groups of books in this manner, the line where we stop is hard to find. 
2.  The subgenres that can fall under GBLTQ fiction and African American fiction are very vast may not have anything in common with the book next to it besides author’s ethnicity or characters’ sexual preference. Would you shelf a mystery book next to a romance book just because both authors are African American? Would you put a young adult slice-of-life drama next to a fantasy adventure just because the main protagonists are homosexual? 
3.   Separating these categories from the main collection may alienate groups of readers from enjoying them. If the African American fiction books are all in one section, groups like whites and Hispanics may be hesitant to venture over to them. Heterosexual individuals may feel uncomfortable browsing through the GBLTQ sections for similar reasons. We do not want to potentially exclude anyone from enjoying these books. This is not an issue if all the books are sorted in the general collection.