Information and Collections: How does your collection fare?

Hello Friends!

On this fine Sunday, I find myself flipping through VOYA and alternately looking in our card catalog to see if we have anything that I would want to read. So far, it's about 50/50 hit to miss. This leads me to the question I've proposed in the subject line: How does your collection fare? If you could have $500 more dollars for books, what subject areas or places would you bulk up your offerings to teens?

I would add more LGBT fiction and nonfiction to our collection. I think that though we have a good representation of GLBT materials, but I know the public high school has more. That's all well and good for them, but we also have a rural high school and a Catholic high school. Can I bet those libraries will have the same offerings? I can't, so I would like the Public Library to be able to provide.

What would you add? Why?

Information and Collections: the END of the the Ebook REVOLUTION!

If you haven't been keeping track of what's big in libraryland this week, I am right there with you. It wasn't until today that I found out about the changes coming to Overdrive in the coming months regarding ebook uses and the power of the publisher to exact dirty capitalist revenge on libraries.

The situation: HarperCollins has decided it is going to renegotiate the terms of its agreement with all ebook lenders (Overdrive and others) so that after so many checkout by patrons, an ebook may no longer be lent out. It will have to be repurchased. Essentially, libraries won't be in control of the conten they purchase.

[Insert angry tirade of your choice]

Now, while this is something is happening in the upcoming, I dont' think anyone can really be sure if it will last. With the ebook market getting bigger every day, it might be smart for some publishers to keep the old agreement, and thus get some business from libraries and econtent lenders.

What do you think YARTigans? where do we stand? Post your thoughts in the comments.

Information and Collections: Robot Jim

If you haven't been lost in the librarian blogs this weeekend you will have missed the news that a new print edition of The Advenutres of Huck Finn is being published. Unlike every other edition thought, the publisher has taken steps to get the book back into the mainstream. In the new edition, every instance of the "N-word" is replaced with the word "slave."

In an effort to remove all of the controvesial moments from the book, there is a fundraising goal on Kickstarter to publish a version where the "N-word" is replaced with "robot."

You can watch the video they made and learn more here

Jake

News: Spring Meeting and blog forums!

Hello, YARTers! This is Gordon, letting you know about a few things coming up.

We sent the registration/flier sheets out to the email list. If you didn't receive and email, please let us know. If you received the email and your mail server didn't pass on the attachment, you can download it here. The event will be held at the La Vista Public Library on Saturday, April 2nd. We are hoping the spring meeting will be enlightening, exciting, and a lot of fun for everyone. Take a look at the flier to see what we are planning! Registrations are going to be needed by March 28th but, if you need more time, just let us know and we'll do what ever we can to make your attendance possible.

Astute observers of the blog will notice that there is a new link on the sidebar. We are in the process of adding forums to this blog. We are currently running into a few issues, but the forums are kind-of up and ready to take your posts. I will be fiddling with this in the weeks to come in order to make it more attractive and usable. Please have patience with the blog during this change, it won't take long. :)

Thanks all!

Gordon Wyant
YART Chair

Information and Collections: Book List fiasco

I'm not sure if many of you have been keeping up with things lately, but B*tch Media put out their list of 100 YA books with a feminist bend. Then, over the weekend and after protests from some readers, the writers of the list removed some books and replaced them with others. This then inscenced other readers and a few authors who were named on the list. More than one author asked that her name and book be removed from the list. It's nuts!

What I think we should remember is that a book list is always made with a bias. Even in trying to keep bias out, you're still making a list based on your judgement. Thankfully, your judgement is not mine. Unfortunately, this leads to disagreements, suggestions and sometimes hurt feelings.

This does not mean we should stop making lists for our patrons. Just remember, if you choose a title, you might have to stick by it and stick up for it. For some, this might mean having conversations with administrators, other teachers, other libarians, or parents. Always have your reviews in hand and your rationale firm.

Go well, Librarians!

Jake

P.S. Here's the link to the list and the SNAFU that followed in the comments. Some of the posts are really thoughtful. You can also follow the conversation on Twitter if you search for #bitchplease. BE WARNED: The librarians didn't see if it was a trending topic before they started posting, so you will have to weed through some NSFW stuff to get to the good tweets.