Darla's Readers' Advisory Blog

Reading has drastically changed over the course of my life, but it has always been a part of it. In my childhood I grew up with my parents, grandma, aunts, and uncles reading picture books to me. Not only reading them to me, but reading their favorite titles with  me, which to me, is an important distinction. As I got older and was able to start reading chapter books, I didn't really get too involved with books on my level, I wanted more details, more adventures. I still remember trying to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone  when I was in first grade and feeling frustrated that I had to rely on my mom to read me only a couple chapters a night (pure torture!). This began my determination to read on my own which makes me laugh that my love of reading now can surely be linked to my 7 year old self's determination to have reading independence. I didn't have the greatest childhood (but who did, really) and I have always used books as a form of escape. This evolved into a ...

Depending on the library layout, demographics, etc. there can be multiple ways to market a library's fiction collection. When you are in a library, there are subtle and loud displays that catch your attention in different ways. Maybe it is an end cap display with only five books on the Royal Family. Maybe it is a huge table display of this past year's New York Times bestselling titles and authors. Perhaps it is even an RA booth with a librarian ready to give you some fantastic fiction recommendations. The possibilities are endless. Personally, I love doing book displays. Some of my favorite displays that I have seen and helped create are ones with a specific and narrow focus. However, there is a right way to go about filling a display. According to Saricks (2005), "we do not display just any book that happens to fall within the theme; we try to be more discriminating. Readers grow to trust the quality of the books we put on display, so we make a point of selecting them car...

To separate or not to separate? For LGBTQ fiction, it is a hard no. For Urban fiction, I would also say no. My reason to not separate LGBTQ fiction is because it can be interpreted as a theme and not as a completely separate genre. LGBTQ themes can fit within the genres of romance, fantasy, mystery, and more. If you were to pull out and separate titles by this theme, you would have a huge mix of books that are really quite different,  just all containing an LGBTQ theme. My example of this would be to compare two books I recently read.  The Priory of the Orange Tree, which is an epic fantasy, and Red, White & Royal Blue , which is romantic comedy. The only thing similar about these books is that there is an LGBTQ theme present, and that is where the similarities end. This in no way benefits browsability within the library and would only serve to alienate these titles from the rest of the collection. If a patron runs across these titles and disagrees with the content, they m...

As an adult that highly enjoys Young Adult, New Adult, and Graphic Novels it is shocking to me that people could be so critical of what others choose to pick up to read. Reflecting on this prompt, I can't help but think of the digital content that I have created since the beginning of COVID-19 and want to share how I have been promoting these titles for adults and teens. I have made several videos on New Adult and Young Adult titles that I have recommended through short book recommendation videos. In these, I talked about what I liked about the book, the topics that are discussed, and why I, as an adult, thought it was worth it. I have also assisted with creating book lists that include a mix of Adult, New Adult, and Young Adult titles that fit within the same genre or theme. Additionally, we have a staff picks display at my work and on there I try to include picks of mine that include these formats.  I also may have created some really fun Tik Tok book recommendation videos that i...