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Monday, April 12, 2010

National Library Week - What's Hot in the Library!


Today I have with me an awesome librarian blogger. Kelly from Stacked. She's a teen reference librarian in Illinois! Gotta love those Illinois librarians... :) She's here to talk a bit more about how she selects books for her teen readers!


As a teen librarian, one of my biggest jobs is selecting materials for our teen department -- that includes fiction, non-fiction, and audiobooks. I'm a big believer in buying what the kids want, so when I'm asked to buy something, I almost always do. Once in a while I like to see what is and isn't moving, too, to make sure I'm buying enough of what readers want. Here's a little insight into the last couple of years -- I'm purposely excluding Stephenie Meyer's series.

With books that have a 2010 copyright, the highest circulating title so far as been Rachel Vincent's My Soul to Save. Her series has been doing so well at our library that I've already got her third book in my cart for my next purchase. The paranormal-without-being-vampires-or-werewolves theme seems to be the draw here, along with a fast-moving plot and the well-known publisher Harlequin. Other titles with the 2010 copyright circulating very high so far are The Naughty List by Suzanne Young and The Iron King by Julie Kagawa -- another Harlequin!


Looking at the last two years, our biggest movers have been the Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard, Chronicles of Vlad Todd by Heather Brewer, and Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber, Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, and Debbie Vigiue's Sweet Seasons series. Darren Shan's Demonata series moves a heck of a lot, as well.

One of my favorite things to do is book talk. I'm in the schools book talking regularly, and I'm always surprised what books are huge hits post-talk. This year, I've talked a lot of wonderful books, including How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiord, Some Girls Are and Cracked up to Be by Courtney Summers (a HUGE hit with not only the girls but the BOYS - something I cannot commend her enough on), Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland, Someone Named Eva by Sally Walker, among others. But take one guess the most popular book I've talked?

Charles and Emma: The Darwin's Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman.

This surprises me, as it is a book that languished on the shelf for a long time and even left me, the open-minded reader, not wanting to touch it. I feared too much science and not enough story. But that's just how I sold the book to the group of eager 9th graders -- this is a book about being human and making decisions that impact one's beliefs in science and in religion. It's a story about what happens when your wife dies and asks what happens in the afterlife. It's a story that is entirely non-fiction but paints Darwin as any famous person in today's world. The kids were drawn to the science and the religion, but they were drawn into the story about choices and how one can balance what one believes and what one discovers about the contrary.

One of the things I think keeps me successful and motivated is that I am a reader. I read the books my teens are reading and I blog about them tirelessly. It keeps my mind fresh and makes me think about what it is my teens will connect to, and it gives me an opportunity to connect with a wide variety of not only librarians but READERS. There are some fantastic bloggers out there who get a lot of slack -- and in particular, I cite Kristi at the Story Siren here -- for posting "only positive reviews." You know what? Those are my readers, too. My readers know what they like and thus will like about anything they read. Me? I'm a critical reader and DON'T like everything I read. I love making the connections with those who are opposite of me. It keeps me grounded and makes me a much more critical collection developer. Just because I thought it stunk doesn't mean my teens won't LOVE it.

I love my job. I could not ask for a better way to combine what I am passionate about -- reading and treating teenagers like real people -- than being a teen librarian. Sure there are endless challenges, but that's what makes the job exciting and working with teens exciting. I never know when a program will have 1 boy show up or when it will pack a room with 30 kids. But each time, I know it goes back to talking about reading and what we love to read about. Despite how much we hear about the changing library, it really boils down to a passion for the written word. That in itself comes through in a million forms and formats.

As we speak, I'm blazing through Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien, as it has been sitting on the shelf until today. It's one I know my kids will eat up, but it takes me to read it and sell it to them sometimes to get it going. I do it for me, but I do it for the teens who are always looking for the next book to make them fall in love again with reading.

Thank you Kelly for stopping by today! I really love my job at an elementary school library but I do envy those teen librarians... they have a better reason to read YA fiction than I do! :-D

16 comments:

  1. I love libraries...being a librarian....reading...sigh.

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  2. Great post - I love to book talk too - all the time :)

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  3. It's interesting to see what's popular at other libraries. I hadn't looked at Stacked, so thanks for the introduction to the site!

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  4. I'm glad you are featuring librarian bloggers this week. I look forward to finding great new blogs.

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  5. I would like to be a librarian :D (better journalist xD)

    kisses!

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  6. Very interesting & cool to see what people check out in the libraries! Thanks for posting.

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  7. Libraries. I love libraries. Im gonna have my own one day! lol, i wouldnt mind being a librarian. Though my librarian takes her job way to seriously as in shes always really angry and fesity...i would be too if someone was recking a book or being too loud or something but she gets feisty if you come in the wrong door...hmm. :)

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  8. I've always wanted to talk about books that are "hot" at a library, but in my dental hygiene library, the textbooks are the hottest and they aren't that thrilling :)

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  9. This is such a great post! It's interesting to find out which YA books are the most popular at the library. Never would have guessed that Charles and Emma is popular, or that boys enjoy Courtney's books.

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  10. I always like hearing what moves in other neighboring libraries -- my teens aren't touching the paranormal romances unless they have vampire and werewolves. I'm looking at "Hush Hush" on the shelf right now!

    Book talks are key to moving books though -- I'm really surprised about "Charles and Emma!"

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  11. This was amazing and so fascinating, definitely interesting to learn about what is most popular!

    Two thumbs up :-)

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  12. Great interview! It sounds like such an awesome job and I hope to one day be able to get a similar position. I love it that you actually read all these YA books and can make recommendations based off of really knowing the book instead of just the best seller lists or something else.

    Thanks for a great post!

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  13. I think the ordering would be such a fun part of being a librarian!

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  14. This is a great post. I love that you "sell" the books. I'm one of those bloggers who loves just about everything. I'm trying to be critical, but I find myself saying when I am critical that this is just my opinion, because like you I know there are others out there who will love something I don't. Great job on motivating teen readers!

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  15. I think unpacking the new books for the kids is the most fun if I were a librarian. I love that you love ordering books for the kids. It shows how much you love them.

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  16. It's interesting to read which books are more popular in your library! There's a lot of great books mentioned (I'm a huge Vampire Academy fan!) and I agree with you, some unexpected ones. I think I'm going to have to check out the Charles and Emma one.

    I hope you're enjoying Birthmarked - I can safely say I'm jealous your nose in buried in that and mine's not LOL.

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