Week 5 Prompt

Ebook only books could be quite tricky for collection development.  Are these books published the same way that print books are?  Or are they books that might appeal to a smaller audience, but due to the ebook format, are able to more easily be self-published.  An increase in self-publications would be problematic as it is likely that as quantity increases, quality will decrease.  Additionally, there is no universal way for libraries to lend e-books.  Because of this, many libraries would not even take the time to read reviews for e-books.

 Buying a book like this would depend on a couple of different factors. First, what is your library’s collection development policy? Some libraries do not purchase self-published (or small independent publisher’s) work that is not professionally reviewed. Second, if this is an e-book only work, can a library even purchase it for lending? Ebooks platforms are still limited and due to licensing issues, it’s not as easy as just clicking on the buy now option through amazon.

 Personally, I put little stock into Amazon reviews. Not all reviews need to be professional, but I do want reviews that are unbiased, and you cannot assume that with Amazon reviews. I’ve seen many blog posts from self-published authors asking friends and family to go and give positive reviews on Amazon. Based on the above reasons, I would probably pass on this title in a collection development role. However, if the book was requested by a patron, I would take another look at the reviews and try to add it to the collection if reviews and price are agreeable.

 Blog reviews can also be hit or miss. There are some blogs written by professionals that I would trust as much as I would a review from a print journal. There are others that aren’t written by professionals that are well-researched, smart, and extremely useful. But, everyone can start a blog and review books, even people with an agenda to support their books or books of their friends. Before purchasing a book based on a blog post, I would have to familiarize myself with the blog and the writer and decide if this fit with my library’s collection development policy.

The other document contains some reviews of Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt, an incredibly popular memoir. These reviews are all from professional publications, feel free to find more on your own I just nabbed a few from the Book Review Digest database for you. How do these reviews make you feel about the possibility of adding Angela's Ashes to your collection?

 Based on reviews, Angela’s Ashes is a book most libraries would quickly purchase. While they aren’t all 100% positive, most agree that McCourt is a master storyteller with an interesting story to tell. These are professional reviewers giving their unbiased opinion.

 Additionally, the reviews make it clear that there’s a lot of buzz about this book. When that’s the case, it will draw patron interest. In this case, they’ll turn to their library for copies of the book, and we’ll want to have it on our shelf. When books are reviewed by more popular sources, including People or Newsweek, there’s more chance the public will see them. The first review also states that Angela’s Ashes is a best seller and a Pulitzer Prize winner. If a librarian hadn’t yet bought the book, those two descriptors should result in an automatic purchase.

I don’t believe it is necessarily “fair” for a certain type of book to be reviewed all the time while other types are left out, but I suppose it is what it is.  However, certainly if a librarian purchasing books selected books based only on the reviews, then that library might have a bias toward a certain type of book.  It is far from ideal.  A good collection should choose from any number of book types.

I’d feel fine purchasing books using a review source that won’t print negative reviews, but would likely use it in conjunction with or as a supplement to other review sources.  I think it is appropriate enough to have a review source for those books that have only positive reviews, and this could allow purchasing librarians a decent way to see what books have been receiving positive publicity.  While I don’t purchase for a library, I think the use of review sources is a definite plus and that the majority of my selections would be based on these journals.  However, there are books from authors who have a large following that likely would be purchased regardless of review.  After all, if a Stephen King or James Patterson book receives a poor review, there will still be patrons in wanting the book.  It would not be entirely fair to omit this book from a collection based on bad reviews.  I think a negative review would be more likely to sway me if I were on the fence about a book from the beginning.