Week 5 Response

Libraries rely heavily on publication book reviews for collection development. Some libraries will not purchase materials unless they have a good review. A a result, how publications decide what they will review, will have a direct effect on what libraries will purchase. Why should some books get reviewed and others are left out. Readers do not care which publisher released a book or if it is only available as an ebook. Readers and librarians just want to find good books. The fact that Booklist will not print a negative review is not as big of an issue because most librarians should realize this and know to check multiple reviews. To truly provide library users with a wide collection of materials librarians should rely on book reviews and purchase suggestions from patrons. The wide reader's taste of materials should help balance the collection.

The two review examples “The Billionaire's First Christmas” and “Angela's Ashes” were of different quality. The romance "The Billionaire's First Christmas” had unprofessional reviews from the readers. Although incite-full they were lacking because with a professional review like Kirkus you know what to expect from the review. These reviews were from random readers so the person reading the review does not know what to expect. As for it being a romantic suspense, it most definitely sounds like it is not. It may be suspenseful in the romance but what romance novel is not.

The reviews for “Angela's Ashes” were all from professional review sources. The readers know exactly what to expect from the review. They were also much more detailed, the Kirkus review said it was a powerful book and the description of the poverty expressed the power of the book. Where as the woman on Amazon for the other book said it brought her to tears but there was nothing there to make you really feel the sadness not like “Angela's Ashes”. The reviews for “Angela's Ashes” were definitely more reliable and it would be a book I would purchase for the library where as the other title I would not. The romance novel, I would only purchase if a patron submitted a purchase request.

Is it fair that one book gets more reviews than another? The answer may be that life is not fair and if one book inspires many publications and readers to review a book then so be it. If publications choose not to review a book because it is from a smaller publisher or the format it is available in then that starts to be unfair to the readers. The libraries may not purchase them and the readers may have to purchase them without any ideal if they will enjoy it. At the library I do not do ordering yet but the librarians that do rely heavily on reviews from professional publications. Personally I like having a mix of reviews from professional publications and from sites like Goodreads because I can see what other readers have said. In the end with the Internet authors do not have to rely on professional reviews there are lots of websites that are dedicated to providing reviews such as Goodreads, Amazon and others. If a book is really good then the word will get out.