The CNF Librarian

When I was a kid, we made fairly regular trips to the library. These trips consisted of us heading out to the Warren Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library, where I would find the phonics books (?), these little blue books with really simple stories, and I learned to read. We had books at home, too, tons of Little Golden Books and some favorite picture books and a bunch of books my mom got from a subscription with Parents magazine. I graduated up to Goosebumps while we were still visiting the library regularly, but I remember our visits growing more and more infrequent as I got older and my mom got a full-time job. I was still reading, but it was more books we were buying or I was finding on my siblings' bookshelves, ones they'd read already and were free for the taking. I still have my brother's super-battered copy of Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl  and my sister's hand-me-down copy of Kathryn Reiss's Pale Phoenix . Books were special at my house. We wou

Marketing the fiction collection can be done in many different ways, but I think if you really want to make a splash and get those items circulating, here are some ideas to get it done: Host an Author Fair Do you have any local authors in your area? Chances are, you probably do. They might be self-publishing or not well-known, but they still exist! Host an author fair and invite these people to talk about their work. Most authors will bring copies of their work for people to buy, but have the titles available for checkout as well. By visiting other author fairs or big library book events, you can find more authors who might be willing to come to your event as well. It never hurts to send a letter or an email to different writing agents, either! Contact publishers, contact agents, contact authors-- all of these are viable options to get these fiction writers into the library promoting their work--and, in turn, promoting your collection (that contains their work!). Maybe they'll s

My library is in a very conservative community, so I would recommend that we keep our GLBTQ and African American genre books integrated into the whole of the fiction collection. Currently, the only adult genres that are separate in my library are Mysteries, Westerns, Romance, and Graphic Novels. These are sections that have grown (Graphic Novels) or dwindled (Westerns) over the years, based on the community's interest. The interest in African American literature has grown, but the only reason I'm able to say this is that I've seen more holds placed on items in recent years than when I started. I don't see these particular authors browsed as much, though, so that is one reason I wouldn't separate them out. There are prolific authors whose books we purchase for the collection, and they tend to remain the popular choice (Terry McMillan, Eric Jerome Dickey). Other authors (aside from the classics) we don't tend to have as they haven't been in high demand in our

I'm a firm believer that we should provide access to these genres as well as the more "legitimate" genres. There are so many people that, even into adulthood, don't enjoy reading because of some reason or another---we shouldn't be limiting these people just based on what others deem appropriate. Ranganthan's 2nd law even says, "Every reader his (or her) book." If there's a reader who wants to read these genres, why on Earth would we stop them? The YA book club that I went to last month is held with this express purpose--Adults who read YA. No matter the reason, there is a demographic that needs to be served. There are award-winning titles in these genres that we only need take one look at and we can understand the literary merit of their titles. Look at Maus by Art Spiegelman in the graphic novels, or The Book Thief  by Marcus Zusak in YA. Two very different books dealing with historical subject matter that is able to introduce the Holocaust an