Week 5 Prompt

Both of these reviews assigned to us are reliable in their own way. Kirkus-style reviews, like the one for Angela's Ashes are more reliable for professional collection development. It's these types of reviews and websites like the New York Times Bestsellers lists that help librarians make a lot of their decisions in terms of collection development. On the flip side, les formal means of reviews, like the ones for The Billionaire's First Christmas are more trustworthy for personal use. 

Unfortunately, I think there is still a huge stigma surrounding eBook only publications. It's not intentional, but it's been so ingrained into our thought process that we sometimes can't help it. It's common to see eBook only publications as inferior, but I have several co-workers who really enjoy eBook publications for several reasons. When looking through the reviews for The Billionaire's First Christmas, the amazon review was completely trustworthy. I've used amazon a lot in the past to determine if I would like a book, or if I should even fork out the money for it. 

If I felt there was a need or a desire for either book, then I would look into purchasing it. However, there are so many other things that go into purchasing. In addition to that, The Billionaire's First Christmas unfortunately sounds a little like a stereotypical Christmas/holiday book, which are a dime a dozen. Unless there was a huge demand for this particular title, it is unlikely that I would purchase this title for a library collection. Angela's Ashes on the other hand, I know if the topic of many book clubs and various literary groups. Despite the fact that I don't particularly care for Frank McCourt's writing, the chances of me purchasing this particular title for a library collection are pretty high. 

Personally, despite the fact that I am encouraged to use Publisher's Weekly and New York Times Bestsellers lists for my part of collection curation, I really try not to rely on those publications, because I tend to not like the mainstream titles. I look for new releases, and I like consulting book blogs and curated lists on GoodReads to make my decisions. Many of the books I read are not featured on best sellers lists or on Kirkus reviews, so I have to rely on other things. 

Books that are reviewed to death like Angela's Ashes tend to outshine other titles that deserve just as much time and attention, but don't get it. As a result, librarians aren't as likely to purchase books that deserve the attention. For example, at my library, I put in a purchase request for The Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley, because it sounded interesting and was a story about Indigenous women written by an indigenous woman. However, no one even looked sideways at it, because it hadn't been officially reviewed by the Times, Publisher's Weekly, or Kirkus, which is unfortunate, because it turned out to be a really good book. 

In terms of resources that won't print negative reviews, that unfortunately creates a bit of bias. In order to be able to make informed decision about material allocations, people need to necessary information. If multiple people think that a title is not worth the paper it's printed on, then why would I waste my time? This is kind of the whole point of book review websites and resources. Someone else did the work so we don't have to.