Prompt Response - E-books and Such

Helping patrons with e-books and audio books is part of my job. Along with helping with computers and printing I also help with tablets and laptops. In part, that is helping with the Wi-Fi connection, and in part that is helping patrons load apps to use library services. This includes the Overdrive app, the Zinio app and the Kindle app. Part of the process with Overdrive is to pick a book to check out.

Screenshot of results from a search for "philosophy" in Overdrive

For me this has become almost a ritualized part of the process. As the patron enters their information into the Adobe site (a process that takes a few minutes), I ask who their favorite author is. Generally I get an answer. Occasionally I get a response that indicates a particular kind of book or a title. I search for that type of book in the downloadable catalog. If it something unusual – I had a patron say that he likes to read books on philosophy – I also try to determine how to find that kind of book for their device easily.

If they still dodge, I choose James Patterson. Partly this is out of convenience. There are several titles; he has e-books and audio books; and he has titles in fiction, mystery, teen, science and juvenile fiction sections of our library. For middle school age kids who doge, I normally use Rick Riordan (who wrote The Lightning Thief). For younger kids, I look for The Magic Treehouse (Mary Pope Osborne).  

When the device is authorized, I help them search for their kind of book on their device. Particularly for phones, I demonstrate on my screen as they search. I have them pick a book to check out. (This may actually take time, depending on the patron. Some take this choice rather seriously for what is essentially a system test.) Note that some kinds of requests may require training on how to find that kind of book. (Philosophy, for example, might require some special searching, and searching for Kindle books available now requires special searching also.)

Generally I hear from them again only when they have a problem. For some this is when they have with the second (or third) download. Occasionally it is a conversation on how to return books to get more. So far, the help that I have been given in picking books has been when installing the app. In fact the majority of help that I have given in reader’s advisory at the library has been while helping to install the app because in my role as the computer lab assistant “normal” reader’s advisory questions (ones not involving a tablet or laptop) would be referred to the librarian.  

There have been a few special cases with tablets. Some patrons have used downloadable materials to serve a particular purpose – one that a print version would not serve.

• A family member went to Europe. She quite happily told me that when she ran out of reading materials, she checked out more books in Europe. For her, that was timely and convenient.
• I have had one or two patrons that I have helped with setting the font size on an e-reader to be large type. Currently, many of the patrons who read large type books do not have tablets, and they like books. At some point, the folks who read large type will discover that all e-books can be large type. Some have. I know that I generally kick the font up a couple of notches when I read a book. For my library system this means that the selection of downloadable large type books (nearly the entire collection of e-books) is huge.
• I have a different family member who was a route driver. She talked about downloading audio books to listen to while driving her delivery route. While I never quite figured out where her route took her, she was driving back and forth across Indy for most of the day. She listened to the audiobooks while she drove. For her, the format – downloadable audio on a phone – was what made it possible to listen to the book. She really enjoyed the books.
• Several truckers (or trucker’s spouses) have come in to check out books on CD. One asked me to put a few items on hold. While doing that, I mentioned downloadable audio books. I demoed the site. The titles he was interested in were available. Something I said must have been compelling. He told me to cancel the holds, and put the items in his hand back on the shelf. He then said that he would be back. Later that day he returned with a brand new tablet. He loaded the apps onto it, and I helped him pick out an audio book. He was back a couple days later with a couple of questions while downloading his second audio book. He was happy with books on CD, but he was excited (and willing to spend money) on downloadable audio from the library.
• I have a family member who is younger than me and who is technically able. When chatting with her about library books and formats she explained her opinion: when she checks out a print version of a book it is because she couldn’t check out the e-book version. That either means that the number of holds was ridiculously long or that the copy didn’t exist in an e-book version. In any case, for her, each print book she brings home from the library is providing good but second-best service. She prefers the e-book. A print library book requires a trip to the library, and that isn’t always easy to work in.
• I regularly download audio books. I started listening to books on CD when I lived on the opposite side of town from my workplace. It was almost exactly one CD from my garage to work and back. Over time I decided that listening to an audio book while working on dishes and laundry was more productive than reading a book while not working on dishes and laundry.

There are two other appeal factors worth mentioning, both involve kids. First, on one of the visits to a Pike High School freshmen library, the librarians mentioned that they buy non-fiction for curriculum support in always available unlimited e-books whenever possible. They bought that format because it suited their particular need: they needed books that could be checked out and used by several classrooms of kids simultaneously. (If eight classes of kids are doing a Black History Month report, how many kids will be able to actually use even 100 print books? Would the kids in the last class to visit the library even have single book on topic to share among them? Books with the correct license would serve all the kids in all the classes.)

The second appeal factor is probably something appealing, but I’m actually not sure. There are a few e-books on the library’s site that have some additional features. They are kids’ books. I’ve demoed them to parents and teachers, and I’ve received some interesting reactions, but I’m not really sure what they think of them. Again, if everything goes well, I don’t hear anything. However, I regularly have Bueno Nacho (a Kim Possible story) and one of the Cars books in my bookshelf to demo some of the features of the books. Personally, I think they would make an excellent station in an elementary classroom or a nice way to include some reading time when kids are otherwise playing on the computer. However, I honestly don’t know. I’m intrigued, but I honestly don’t know if it is useful at all.

That’s what I’m seeing.

PS: Also, one of the most interesting searches I’ve done was the one for philosophy. I’ve included a screenshot of one of the results. I will freely admit that Dr. Who, Dr. Seuss, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Downton Abby and Mad Men all in the same set of results was a bit of a shock. I had to stifle a grin (and a chuckle) while asking the patron to choose a title.

Fantasy Annotation - Blood of Tyrants

Blood of Tyrants by Naomi Novik

Fantasy. Published by Del Rey in 2013.

Blood of Tyrants is the eighth and most recent addition to the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. As in the other books in the series, the book is a mix of alternate history and fantasy. By this point in the series, the battle between Britain and Napoleon’s France is a global conflict. The battles take place on land, on the seas and in the skies. Dragons and a core of aviators add air support to battles fought with cavalry and muskets or tall ships and long guns.

The story begins with Laurence washing up on the coast of Japan without any memory of his time as an aviator and with no memory of Temeraire – his dragon. Temeraire is on the wrecked transport and desperate to find Laurence.  Their mission is not one to Japan, but to China. The need is to get the Chinese empire to align China with Britain against Napoleon’s aggression. Throughout most of the book Laurence is re-discovering himself and his role within the corp. This includes his previous experiences in China and his unusual and infamous reputation.

The language sounds or feels like something out of the 1800’s.  It sounded similar to The Time Machine or Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea. There are probably better comparisons among nautical adventures involving tall ships and battles on the high seas.

The novel is divided into three books. The first is set in Japan, the second in China and the third in Russia. The action picks up significantly with the second and third books. Also, as with the other books, there is a glimpse of the dragons unique to those areas along with the dragons’ cultures and customs.

Many of the characters return from previous books. There are some new characters added, and the dragons are the most varied and most interesting.

Novelist has several read-alikes for this book, among them are

• Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C. S. Forester
• Son of Avonar by Carol Berg
• Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn

One title that I would add is Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber.

Book Talk

Book Talks

Picking a Topic

 My topic for the book talks as science fiction and fantasy novels that are in part something else. I had been thinking of some of these books as I had posted various topics. However, there were a few other topics that I had considered first. I considered doing book talks on superhero books. For this reason, my practice book talk was a superhero book. I own several, and some would be interesting to book talk. However, as a reasonableness check, I looked at whether the library owned any of them. They owned very, very few. I had considered doing book talks on three new science fiction books. This was in part to give me a reasonable excuse to read Like a Mighty Army by David Weber. This would fit with a couple of other books that I had read recently as well. I held the book in my hands, briefly, but one of the patrons in the branch got his name on the hold list first. At that point, the books that I had been thinking about for other reasons seemed a good idea. So, I shifted the topic to books that were a little harder to categorize.

Aside from the normal process of gathering information, this particular project needed an actual copy of the books. This was actually a limitation, as some books that I considered were only available as electronic copies from the library. This is a small thing, but it is something that will make book talks more challenging in the future. I actually had considered some a work-around for this, but I decided to stick with something where the physical books were available.

The Practice Book Talk

My practice book talk was enlightening. I had written it out fully and attempted several times to record myself using that talk. It really did not work well. There were several long dead spots, and the prepared talk just did not seem to work. For this reason I did the talks extemporaneously. However, I did do some of the talks in multiple takes.

The other problem I had was trying to write the way that I would actually talk. A spoken book talk should be fluid, but a written book talk can be edited and corrected extensively. Something recorded live is a different matter entirely.

The other odd problem I had with the practice was holding the book facing the camera; the result looked (and felt) somewhat silly. I contrived a stand to hold the book. It was cheating, but the result was better than the practice book talk.

The Technical Aspects

As part of this project I installed “Movie Maker” (a free program). Also, I set up a YouTube account. The process for editing the video was not hard to make out, but the options seemed somewhat limited with the capture settings. The built in camera seemed to have several assumptions, and many of them appeared to be wrong. Movie Maker did not seem to have any way of correcting those false assumptions.

There were a couple of interesting aspects to the filming. Owing to my lack of coordination with attempting to hold the book while talking, I set up a stand to show the book with me in the frame. It was more visible than my prior attempts.

While giving the book talks, I know that I add far too many “ums” and restarted my train of thought several times. I would happily switch both of those habits off if I only knew where to find the toggle.

Book Talks at Garfield Park

I thought about how books talks would work for me in the library. It would be possible (unlikely, but possible) for me to do a book talk in the computer lab. In that case, if I follow how I prep for other things, I would prepare a Power Point presentation with the information. While there are some extemporaneous events during the class, I tend to use Power Point even with relatively small classes to make sure that I don’t miss any relevant point. Further, its use might tend to make a small class feel more real (to the participants). For a book talk, it would like focus attention away from the book (or me) onto the screen, but I would probably do it that way anyway.

Outside of the computer room, that would be a different matter. In that case, the likeliest forum in our branch would be sitting around the table where patrons use laptops. In that case, the setting would be small and informal, and I would likely go through the books off the cuff there as well.

If I were to attempt a video book talk at Garfield Park, there are a few things I would do to try to make the attempt successful. First, I would choose a time when patrons are not in the branch. That would likely be a Saturday morning before opening. Second, I would use the branch iPad. I believe it has a better camera. (I suspect it has a better set of starting assumptions, also.)

Of all the ways I might do a book talk at the branch, a video book talk is the likeliest. I am presently a social media admin. My role has normally been to assist in resizing photos or converting files into pictures so that they can be posted.  Prepping video for posting would be a natural extension of what I have done before. However, performing for a video book talk on a regular basis would be stretching.

Science Fiction Annotation - The Lost Stars: Perilous Shield

The Lost Stars: Perilous Shield by Jack Campbell

Science Fiction. Published by Ace Books in 2013.

The Lost Stars: Perilous Shield is the second book in the Lost Stars series. The series is a follow-on series to the Lost Fleet series which began with Lost Fleet: Dauntless. Also, some parts of this novel show a different side of the action from the book Guardian in the Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier series. All three series are by Jack Campbell.  

Perilous Shield continues the story of the Midway star system. Midway sits at the edge of human controlled space and at the periphery of what was Syndicate space. Midway was a breakaway system that rebelled, and it is now under its own control. The leaders in the revolt now have given themselves new titles to reflect their new positions: General Drakon and President Iceni. The revolt happened after the Alliance legend, Admiral Black Jack Geary, lead his fleet into the Midway system and then beyond into space controlled by the aliens known as enigmas. As former Syndicate CEOs, their preparation for leadership was ruthless corruption. The Syndicate loyalists and the enigma both are poised and ready for attack.

The setting of the story is in deep space. In some cases the story is on remote planets or in spaceships travelling through the dark.

The tone is purposeful. There is always a mission, always something to guard, to attack or to flee. The language is descriptive.

The characterizations are interesting. The earlier series, Lost Fleet, had Black Jack Geary as a central figure. He was heroic, so much so that he was idolized by his own crews. In this case the majority of the central figures are Syndics, raised to their ranks by assassination, treachery and corruption.

Some read-alikes suggested by Novelist are

• Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
• Valor’s Choice by Tonya Duff
• One Day on Mars by Travis Taylor
• Starstrike by Kevin Dockery

Prompt Response - James Patterson

The James Patterson Controversy

There are several aspects to the James Patterson controversy. First, he has the audacity to write books that people enjoy reading. It seems that to some that is an affront. When he admitted that the sentences in his more recent books weren’t as pretty as previous ones because the better sentences get in the way of the story (Zaleski), one must admit that his writing is intentional. He did not set out to write thought-provoking books, or witty books, but he wants fast-paced entertaining books. Further, he stated in the article that the audience for fiction is important: it seems that he his writing is not about expressing something deep within himself, but rather his writing is designed to entertain his readers. For me, I suppose, this does not seem like a controversial thing. James Patterson is trying to write books that sell well, and he is succeeding.

The second part of the controversy is that he has co-authors. He does give the authors credit on the covers, so he is not hiding the fact that there are co-authors. However, he is not solely responsible for the books with his name on them. That is very true. He is not. There is an artist for the cover, the photographer for the back cover, and the accountants, and the shippers, and the people at Amazon and UPS who have handled his books. There are editors and publishers, and in his case there are other authors who assist. I suppose that may be somewhat unusual, but if one judges by results, his books are wildly successful.

I suspect that the authors would have had a difficult time selling as many books on their own. First, Patterson is supplying an outline (Zaleski). That might make a huge difference. The collaboration may have a huge affect on the mood of the other authors. The coauthored works may be substantially different from works written singly by either author. In any case, both authors know how the names will appear on the cover of Patterson’s books. Readers can (by squinting just right) make out both names on the cover. The coauthors my not get the same level of recognition, but they do get paid to write a book – and a best seller at that.

I can think of other coauthored books or series. David Weber and Anne McCaffrey have both co-authored books. Some of those collaborations were probably for different reasons. Perhaps there was an attempt to give a new author a chance. Perhaps there was a time crunch. Perhaps there was a personal crisis. Perhaps a series needed an infusion of new life. Some of those may apply to James Patterson. He seems to coauthor some books to focus his time on others. If Patterson has more ideas for books than he has time to write, what should he do? Should he simply forget the ideas for instant best sellers?

Again, I don’t see the problem. I will admit that after reading one of the later Daniel X books, the feel was different from the one before. After some examination, the later book had a co-author. So, in the future, I’ll avoid that particular combination of co-authors. I don’t blame James Patterson for trying.

James Patterson is also openly branding his books – the ones he authors and the ones he coauthors. He has given them a style and feel. They are full of action. They are easy to read. The chapters are short. I suppose that if there is a controversy here, it is that he is openly stating his books are not slow, are not weighty, and are not flowery. They do not require effort. So, consider two types of books. The first is the James Patterson style novel: fast, action-packed, and sells well. The second is a literary masterpiece, it has vivid imagery, it is thought provoking, the language is amazing, and nothing particular happens in the story. If the first type of book garners sales and the second sort of book wins awards, I would choose to write an action story – I’d write the one that sells.

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Zaleski, J. (2002). The James Patterson Business. Publishers Weekly, 249(44), 43. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Prompt Response - Book Talk - Batman: No Man's Land

Batman: No Man’s Land by Greg Rucka

Hi,

I’m Keith with Garfield Park Branch library, and I’m here to talk about Batman: No Man’s Land by Greg Rucka. Since Comic-Con is coming up, I thought I’d talk about a superhero book, and Batman is one of the long-time favorites.

This Batman story begins right after an earthquake that hits and destroys Gotham City. While some buildings are left standing, the repairs were going to be difficult, and the politicians were not interested. The result is that the US government orders the city of Gotham abandoned. After evacuating as many as they can, the government opens the doors to Arkham – the asylum for the criminally insane, mines the harbor and blows the bridges. The city is cut off from supply and handed over to gangs and criminals.

No Man’s Land begins at that point in Gotham’s history.

Many of the super villains from Batman’s rogues’ gallery are in the book as are several of the heroes who have strong ties to Gotham. For example, sections of the book are introduced with journal entries written by Barbara Gordon (a former Batgirl) to her father, Jim Gordon, the police commissioner, to be read in the event of her death. Jim Gordon and other members of the GCPD play a big role in the book as well.

It is a dark story of determination and a desperate and savage struggle to survive to just live and go on living in the continuing aftermath of a natural disaster.

No Man’s Land is a novelization of a story arc in the Batman comics and graphic novels that spanned several books. It is also available as an audiobook from Graphic Audio the “movie in your mind” people.

Thanks for your time!

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Also about the statement about only giving book talks on books I love and enjoy: I suspect that would be impractical. It would be ideal, I suppose, for me to have read the books I talk about. However, I know that I won't have enjoyed all the books that patrons ask about. While there is some little variety in what I read, for some audiences there would be little overlap with their tastes in books and mine. One of those audiences would be the typical "book club" that reads literary fiction books. I have read several kids books, fantasy books and science fiction books. I also read computer books. While I might have really enjoyed the fairies with the blasters in Artemis Fowl, and the battle against the vicious, hungry aliens in John Ringo's books, I don't think the ladies in the book club would be convinced in either case. (Their loss.) 

I suspect that some of them would secretly enjoy some fantasy, but it might turn the book club into a ten-step program: "Hi, I'm Nancy, and I enjoyed a fantasy novel this week. I didn't mean to, it just sort of happened. It seemed like a nice little story about times gone by, and then the dragon came, and I liked it. I don't know why." It would be interesting to see, but no. 

My intent is to find a way to describe what I know of the books, and what people have liked about books. I expect this knowing full well that the patrons and I will frequently disagree on nearly every point as to what makes a book a nice read. Strangely the one thing that the book club ladies and I would agree on would be to prefer novels over graphic novels. (I still have no idea why I don't like comic books more.)

I find myself more able to do reader's advisory for middle school kids in some cases.

As for the book club, my branch is unusual. When the branch was remodeled the community room was remade into the computer room. The number of public PCs grew, and the remodel included a projector and other equipment for computer programs. (This was good, as it was part of the reason they hired a computer lab assistant -- me.) However, the side-effect was that many kinds of programs either meet at one of the tables in the middle of the library or they don't meet in our physical building. This includes book clubs. I know there is one, but I'm not sure where they meet. If I do end up doing reader's advisory or a book club it might be virtual and geared for a different audience than the traditional book club crowd.

Prompt Response - Reviews

Ebook only books, which are increasingly popular especially in the romance genre, see little to no reviews in professional publications unless they have a big name author, and then still it's usually only RT Reviews (formally Romantic Times) or other genre heavy publications. How does this affect collection development?

If a book truly is e-book only, that would effectively eliminate several audiences for a book. When I think of some of the patrons at my branch, there are a couple of regular readers of romance novels who come to mind. They are older and do not have (or wish to have) an e-book reader of any kind. Likewise, I would ask about whether audiobook versions of the books would ever be created for these works. The other side of e-book only works is a technical one. There would need to be a mechanism for distributing the e-book along with the library’s other e-books. It is likely this would not be a problem, but if the publisher is a smaller one, that might not be the case.  Curiously, in an e-book environment, the books that are e-book only won’t be distinguishable from the other books. In online ordering sites noticing the format of a book takes effort, and over time the distinction in the book review sites may become minimal.

A similar distinction already exists in the library: some series are published directly to paperback. This would include Executioner, Star Wars, and Harlequin books, for example. For any of these a big name review for book #27 in a particular series would be surprising. Frequently in my system, these books are purchased as unprocessed paperbacks. Then (since the computer doesn’t know they exist) they disappear into the stacks.  Partly this is due to their status as a paperback-only series, and the lack of reviews may contribute to their being unprocessed paperbacks.

One is two reviews of an ebook only romantic suspense novel, one from a blog and one from amazon. Look over the reviews - do you feel they are both reliable? Do they follow the guidelines Erin talked about in her presentation? How likely would you be to buy this book for your library?

Both are short, and without reading the books it is difficult to judge if they give anything away. However, the blog mentions “Elise and Noel find passion in each others [sic] arms.” That might be giving too much away. Neither gives a sample from the book. While the Amazon review is clearer, both seem to say about the same things when boiled down to basics. As to whether or not to buy it – I have no earthly idea. These two reviews represent about my entire connection to the romantic suspense genre. However, I did learn that I would be unlikely to buy it for myself. After readings these reviews, I would be looking for “Large library romantic suspense package #1” when doing my ordering of romantic suspense novels. (I’m not looking for a position in purchasing any time soon.)

The other document contains some reviews of Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt, an incredibly popular memoir…. How do these reviews make you feel about the possibility of adding Angela's Ashes to your collection?

The first review did little. It was the combined review, and it was too long and for some reason the three books which were reviewed kept getting jumbled in my mind. That particular review was unhelpful.

I suspect that the book is already there. If I were in a purchasing position, I’d probably feel like the library would be obligated to buy a copy or five (for our twenty-three branches). I would further suspect that the book would see little circulation at my particular branch unless it was chosen for the book club.

Further, this another category of book that I do not read. The closest thing I have had read would be The Grapes of Wrath during US History in high school -- and that is not even a memoir. I would have little background to judge the contents of the reviews, other than that they say nice things about the book.

Do you think it's fair that one type of book is reviewed to death and other types of books get little to no coverage? How does this affect a library's collection?  

It is perhaps something that collection developers should keep well in mind. The review magazines are a business and will include reviews that their readership likes to read. That may or may not include the totality of what their readership may need to read to be fully informed collection developers. The other side to this is that it appears that some books are reviewed in comparison to some narrow ideal of a quality book. So, books like science fiction books seem to be picked and described in terms of their broader appeal and adherence to the standard of that ideal book. My preference would be that genre fiction like science fiction be reviewed as a work in that genre.

In a related note, there are only certain types of books that win awards. I tend to avoid books that receive certain awards, and I am suspicious of books that are universally well reviewed.

And how do you feel about review sources that won't print negative content? Do you think that's appropriate?

After thinking about this, it occurred to me that librarians do actually need to be able to say nice things about books that they know they would never willingly read. In that context, reviews which bring out the positive points of books (while perhaps leaving out some of the negative aspects) would line up with how books would sometimes need to be described to patrons. Also, the reviews may give some sort of advance warning of what is coming. However, it seems that the simpler way to create a magazine of positive reviews would be to ask publishers to submit the descriptions they provide. The service the magazine would provide would be nearly identical. It would be biased information, but if the reviews are uniformly positive, then the reviews are biased at present. Further, if the purpose is to inform readers on the content of the books, bias may play little part in the use of the material. To the extent that the reviews will be used to make determinations involving the quality of a work, a warning label should probably be put on the front cover noting that the reviews are all positive. Moreover, I suspect that while the reviews of some magazines may only say positive things, the silences may speak volumes to regular readers of the reviews.

If you buy for your library, how often do you use reviews to make your decisions?

I do not buy for the library other than toner and staples and such. At my branch the librarians do have an opportunity to buy books; however, the librarians at the branches are limited to selecting unprocessed paperbacks. They do look through reviews when making their selections. I suspect that I will look first to metrics of how popular the hardback versions of books were in the previous year, but that is just a guess. (If a math teacher and computer professional is put in a purchasing position, one would expect that computer reports full of numbers would be an important purchasing guide.)

If not, how do you feel about reviews for personal reading, and what are some of your favorite review sources?

Only recently have I started looking at GoodReads or LibaryThing. Other than that I generally do not read reviews. My branch receives Kirkus, Library Journal and School Library Journal, but they are held at the librarian’s desk. This week was the first time that I had really looked at Kirkus, and I have only flipped through the other journals on occasion. I do not seeing myself using the reviews in the magazines, but I will occasionally read the reviews (professional and otherwise) on Amazon when looking at items. I tend to see professional reviews as another form of advertising and treat them as such.  When looking at online sites, I frequently look the number of ratings, the rating and the popularity of an item along with other factors.