Chase Talks About Then, Now, & Later: Reading & Books

Earlier today, I had lunch with a friend, and we talked about our mutual love for 80s music. I almost exclusively listen to 80s music and artists, even their current stuff. My friend asked me when my cutoff year was from when I stopped following newer music artists. (Somewhere in the early 90s.) Anyway, my follow-up reply was that if you knew me back then, then you know me now and vice versa.

Before I began this post, I looked back at my original post that described my reading profile. In that post, I discuss Smurfs, Scooby Doo, the Muppets, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13^th movies, and TV’s The Facts of Life. When it comes to reading, the previous statement about knowing me then versus now still holds true. Nonfiction books based on pop culture will always be my go-to reading because I’d rather know 50 things I didn’t know about The Brady Bunch than to be 50 Shades Freed.

Still, I will say that I have opened up myself to more fiction in the last couple of years, but I suspect that might have something to do with completing my master’s degree. In the last couple of years, I have read several fiction books that I normally would not have read because they didn’t approach subjects that I was not already interested in such as a Haitian teenager trapped beneath rubble from the 2010 earthquake (In Darkness by Nick Lake,) a teenage girl who was victim of a sexual assault and further victimized by her community (Asking for It by Louise O’Neill,) and several other books. (I will exclude the New Adult genre because I’m just going to.) Essentially, I have since found myself reading more fiction than I have in most of my adult life, so I see my reading habits and choice evolving more now than ever before.

What about the future for reading and books in general? First of all, print books are never going away. I think that a lot of the hype about eBooks taking over relates more to reference materials and information gathering than it does reading for pleasure. Books have been and will always be a status symbol of sorts. I have always loved the quote by filmmaker John Waters, “If you go home with somebody, and they don't have books, don't f*¢k 'em!” Books are a sign of intelligence, curiosity, adventure, diversity, and many other good things. Seeing someone’s book collection is a great way to see who they are.

The big changes for books is in the coming years is that we’re going to see more independent books coming back. Real independent books. Not vanity publishers that were bought up by big name publishers. Self-publishing is going to grow, and the digital format makes it easier than ever for anyone to put out a book who wants to. We might not see the big advertising campaigns that have more to do with making money than the love of reading. We’re going to see word-of-mouth campaigns that will let art and connections be at the forefront of reading again. The future of reading is going to cove more ground and voices than ever before, but the big mystery will be how those voices will be discovered.

Chase Talks About Three Ways to Market a Library's Collection

Shelf Talkers

One of my biggest pet peeves at the circulation desk has always been signs, signs, signs. The little of ladies who made up most of my staff often taped signs advertising books, programs, etc. to the desk. If not, we’d have signs in the acrylic sign holders all over the place. A point that I often tried to make was that no one read signs especially when there was an abundance of them. A great illustration of this was when the library sold engraved brick pavers for the sidewalk outside the library. We put up a sign along with purchase forms next to a small pile of bricks as well as our other plethora of signs, but every day multiple people would come in and asked for information about the bricks while the sign for the bricks was literally right in front of them. My response was always, “Yeah, it’s next to this pile of bricks I’m touching.”

However, signage in unexpected places is more noticeable. An example of that is shelf talkers, which are small signs that are affixed to the shelves in strategic place. Shelf talkers are very versatile in marketing a library’s collection. The image of above shows a shelf talker whose purpose would be to draw attention to a collection of Smurf graphic novels. Shelf talkers can be placed under popular authors with suggested read-alikes and where to find them on the shelves. Staff can connect with patrons this way by recommending their own personal favorite books using shelf talkers similar to Barnes & Noble. I have seen this done two ways in libraries before: either in the stacks or on a special display. Patrons enjoy trying to connect staff members to the books, and it also gives them a chance to seek out staff members who have similar tastes for more recommendations.

A takeaway from this though is that signage in libraries needs to be dynamic and unexpected to get noticed in a library.

Adult Summer Reading Program

My previous library always had an adult summer reading program in tangent with the children’s department. Summer reading programs typically involve children reading a designated number of books to achieve prizes throughout the summer with a free book to those who reach the final goal. The adult version at my library was set up like a bingo card that required adult patrons to explore the materials in the adult section. The card had to be completely covered by the end of summer. For instance, patrons were asked to read different genres that fulfilled different squares on the grid. They were also asked to read something from the nonfiction collection and a biography. Other materials were on the sheet as well such as a magazine and newspaper that the library subscribed to. It was a program that asked patrons to step outside of their comfort zone to try different genres and types of books while secretly getting them to explore other services of the library.

Sadly, the library changed the program where for every five books an adult would read would get them entered into a prize drawing at the end of summer. I always thought that was a wasted chance of marketing the library’s collection and having an active relationship with adult patrons.

NoveList

Speaking of a waste, that library also had NoveList, but it was never actively used or promoted. I once visited a library that did not have a reference desk. Instead they had a small table where a reference librarian and the patron would sit next to each other looking at the same screen as they found information together. I can see this format being used with readers’ advisory and tools such as NoveList. This practice is an opportunity to not only provide marketing for the collection but also some of the digital services the library offers. Often times a staff member would come to me describing a patron interaction after the fact. I would ask them if they used the databases including NoveList. The answer would always be a no. NoveList is a service that should be heavily promoted to staff and patrons. Readers’ advisory was something that always made the part-time staff uncomfortable, but familiarity with this tool had the potential to move them past that. Their enthusiasm for it could have sparked an interest in patrons using it on their own and possibly recommending books that could benefit the library. I really like the notion that staff and patrons can work together on readers’ advisory using NoveList, which only benefits the library’s collection.

Chase Talks About the LGBTQ Novel "Less" by Andrew Sean Greer

Less: A Novel by Andrew Sean Greer

Synopsis:

In Andrew Sean Greer’s novel, Less: A Novel, Arthur Less pulls together a trip around the world to avoid the wedding of his former lover of nine years as well as his own 50^th birthday. As a writer with varying degrees of success overseas, Less accepts invitations to either host, teach, or be a part of literary events in various places. After he RSVP’s to Freddy’s wedding as “out of the country,” Arthur finds himself in New York as an interviewer of a Science Fiction author and then Mexico for a conference as a panelist discussing his former partner and famed poet, Robert. In Italy, he attends an awards ceremony where he is nominated for his first novel before he goes to Germany for five weeks to teach a class on writing. An unplanned evening in Paris puts him at a gathering for literary aficionados. His next destination is Morocco where he joins a group traveling by camel across the desert for the 50^th birthday of a friend of a friend that transitions into his own birthday. Afterwards, he mistakenly books himself into a Christian community in hopes of finishing his third novel but ends up at a resort with his longest-known frenemy and adopted father of Freddy, Carlos. His final destination before heading home to San Francisco is Japan where he is writing an article about Japanese cuisine.

At each of his stops, Less reflects back on his 50 years. He marvels at his life at 21 with the older Robert and his adjacency to Robert’s literary circle. He mourns the youth and beauty he once possessed as he tries to figure what a gay man of 50 is supposed to be like. During his journey, he encounters potential love interests, but his thoughts always return to the young Freddy and how he let him slip away only for Freddy to find someone else. Moments of self-discovery dot his path through each foreign country, but they are not as foreign as he is to himself and the loves of his life. Who will Arthur Less be when he finds himself back home?

LGBTQ/Romance Elements in Less: A Novel

·      Middle aged gay man reflecting on life and love.

·      Character driven story where the protagonist must come to understand himself and his relationships.

·      Settings involve traveling to different countries who are described in detail.

·      Language used in detailed and creative ways.

Read-Alikes:

·      A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood

o   Middle aged gay men/relationships

o   Bittersweet tone

o   Engaging

·      What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwll

o   Gay fiction

o   Relationships - older/younger

o   Complex characters

·      Remembrance of Things I Forgot by Bob Smith

o   Gay fiction/ breakups

o   Sardonic

o   Witty