Thinking about different reviews this week was really interesting to me. I think reviews do make a big difference. I know personally with my collection development, if I'm trying to decide between a book with reviews and a book with no reviews, often times the reviewed book is what I'm going to pick. However, learning that ebook only books and certain genres aren't often reviewed seems extremely unfair to those authors and definitely would have a big effect on the collection development of those titles.
Looking at the reviews for the ebook only book, "The Billionaire's First Christmas", I am instantly thrown off by the casual nature of the reviews, and it automatically makes me question the credibility of the reviews. Based on that I would be wary of purchasing the books for my library. Comparing these reviews to the ones for "Angela's Ashes" makes the differences much more obvious. I would be very likely to order "Angela's Ashes" for my library, especially since review sites such as Kirkus that are able to post negative reviews are calling it "an extraordinary work".
I definitely don't think it's fair that some types of books are reviewed more than others. It does make a difference in a library's collection. For example, at my library, one of the collection areas that I purchase for is juvenile and tween graphic novels. Both of these collection areas come out of the same budget amount, and I have noticed that the tween graphic novels are getting reviewed much more often. Because of this, I was unintentionally purchasing more of those and the budget wasn't being split as fairly between the two collections. It has taken a conscious effort for me to look at the reviews but also to trust my instinct on what my community wants or needs and not just what reviewers say we need.
I was unaware before this discussion that there were review sources that won't print negative reviews and it definitely changes my opinions of that publication. I don't think this is appropriate and it takes away some of the credibility of that source. The review sources I use most often are Publishers' Weekly, School Library Journal/Library Journal and Booklist because these are the magazines that my library subscribes to. However I now plan to look into Kirkus Reviews a lot more because their ability to print negative reviews makes them more trustworthy to me.
Hi Liz,
ReplyDeleteI like how you mention that in addition to using credible review sources to help make purchasing decisions, instinct also plays a role. I'd like to think that the majority of information professionals are in the career because of our passion for libraries, collections, and patron service, and the longer we get to practice our craft, the better our instincts become, including those for collection development.
I'm curious, for an eBook only/self-published title that may not have suitable (or any) credible, professional reviews, but caught your interest enough - do you think you would personally take the time and effort to read, review, and then consider it through a professional lens, as a potential purchase for your collection?
Hi Maryanne, I would like to think that if something caught my interest enough, more of that instinct would kick in and determine whether or not to purchase it. I would love to read and review those types of books in particular in the future to help give them more attention and chance for purchase, but I am not sure I would have the time to do it on a professional level. Definitely on Goodreads at the very least!
DeleteLiz, I totally agree that the casual nature of those reviews made me less likely to think the books were good. But that really isn't fair - it might be a good book. And there could be looks of good books that are not reviewed well and we overlook them.
ReplyDeleteI love your point about the graphic novels - it's great that you noticed that and are acting on it. I think that it's one of the ways that the more popular and famous authors will continue to get read more. So I think we have to be pretty vigilant to keep our collections good and get new books in front of our patrons.
Hi Liz! Do you think that children's books don't get reviewed as often because the children themselves (probably) cannot do reviews themselves? Or do you think that the adults reading to their children don't think to write the reviews? There definitely seems to be a blind spot in reviewing there!
ReplyDeleteHi Haley, I honestly don't know why. I think children are picking books based on interest, regardless of quality, so maybe the reviews don't seem as worth the time to write? But I will say that now that I am noticing the gap, I am making an effort to review more of the children's books I read on Goodreads, and it would be great to do more reviews of children's books in the future as well!
DeleteGreat prompt response and wonderful discussion in the comments!
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