Monday, April 5, 2021

Week 12 Prompt

 I think I work in an odd library. Most of the staff really values YA and loves promoting it to any age and at least half of us often read YA, graphic novels, and children's books. We actually just started putting staff recommendations at our desk and part of them are YA choices or YA movies. I also just got one of my fellow librarians to try out a YA series and she is loving it! I also know that many of our YA books get checked out by adults. It is a reason why we have made a point of keeping them separated from the children's area. It creates less of a stigma that they are only for kids and teens. As for NA I think that is a little harder to promote for patrons who have not thought about reading it before. I think YA, graphic novels, and NA are viewed as a niche and that many people do not want to be categorized as "those kind of readers." Doing passive readers' advisory, having conversations with patrons about these genres, and educating people about how diverse these genres are can help adults be more on board with reading YA, graphic novels, and NA. They are worth the money and time that is spent curating the collections or marketing the materials. 

Graphic novels are great. They can get readers interested in art, different genres, and authors. Many YA authors are starting to continue their stories with a couple graphic novels and I think it is a great way to get new readers. For adults I think it is important that graphic novels get displayed more and are not just shoved in a far away area. One thing I have noticed about our library is that we put almost all of our graphic novels over in the YA section. So, unless you already know they are there you may never come across them. I also have noticed that people assume they are only about superheroes. I just read a nonfiction one and have read many nonfiction graphic novels that are better suited for this format because the pictures enhance the character's emotions and set the tone of the book without any words in some panels. I think if we start to put them in highly trafficked areas and start conversations about them then patrons would give them a go. I also am really confused as to why people don't consider them real books or good reads. They are fine with watching film adaptations so what is so bad about reading them.

I think YA is a valuable set of books that should be in libraries. It shows us what is trending among teens and some adults as well as allows us to have a little bit more fantasy and bizarre elements to the story. Many YA books I see have magic, vampires, or the typical teen romance. I ate these up as a teen and love being able to recommend books that I found fun or that I have read recently. I see both New Adult and YA as the transition periods for readers. I am not saying that only certain people should read them but I know it is usually people who are in that age range that these stories appeal to. I also know many moms and grandmas who are excited that our library is getting more New Adult books because they used to have to interlibrary loan them all. They really appreciate that their library is taking the interests of all patrons into account. Both these writing styles have something different in my eyes than the other books readers view, they have a part of a story that the reader can relate to more. Yes, in YA and NA there tends to be more of another world or magical elements but readers can relate to the awkwardness of a first love or reading about someone who is going through a divorce or getting bullied. The topics are ones that readers want to see from another perspective besides their own.

A big way these "genres" can gain more appeal in libraries is by actually displaying them, making those genre bookmarks that you see at many libraries, and doing some passive readers' advisory with them. Free bookmarks are a great way to get patrons to get interested in a new author or series. Librarians could have eye turning bookmarks for YA, graphic novels, and NA books that get people interested. They could put 3 words that describe the book beside the title or 3 words that describe the author's works. At my library we have always shied away from putting the New Adult books on display shelves because we have a lot of kids come into the adult areas with their parents. I think if we started displaying them in our new book section that we could get a more diverse group checking them out. If a library is not comfortable displaying them maybe try putting small placards* by NA suggestions within the new books section. The YA books have never had an issue because we display on top of shelves and no one has ever complained. I think one thing that could be beneficial is starting a book club at a library that is purely YA and NA. Right now it could be virtual but I think librarians could serve a new group of people by doing this.

Another way I think libraries could really promote YA, graphic novels, and NA is by putting them as suggestions on their apps, social media and newsletters. Our library has a new book newsletter that gets sent out once a month that has an array of different genres. One could be set up for these three styles to get people intrigued. If the library has social media then do staff recommendations or books that appeal to different readers a couple times a week. During the pandemic many libraries started doing YA pick of the day and that would be great to promote books at anytime. I also think if there are staff recommendations or curated collections on Overdrive and Libby then people who like to read ebooks and eaudiobooks would try them out. When we are giving our new patron spiel we like telling them how to access graphic novel books through our apps and even tell them a few titles if they show interest.

Our library has been trying to think of ways to promote books with the summer reading program. I had suggested going into the children, YA, and adult areas and doing displays or posters that say things like, "If you liked these books or authors as a kid try these YA or adult authors" or "Is your kid reading this right now, try this series out and have a conversation." This could easily be adapted to promoting YA, graphic novels, and NA books and authors. There could even be displays around the library that have the poster in the middle or a flow chart that asks different questions and ends with a different genre in these formats. Librarians could also take this poster idea into the DVD area to make suggestions of books that readers would enjoy if they liked a movie adaptation with that style of book.

I have one patron who I adore and for the first 3 years of me working at the library I was petrified of her. She is super sarcastic (I did not realize this. She is great with her deadpan delivery), in her mid-70s, and loves New Adult. At one point she decided to make some of the employees and patrons blush by pronouncing, "Don't suggest anything unless it has sex and someone I can get all hot and bothered about." She said a lot more but I think she has the right mindset with books. She will try about anything even though she tells us to make sure it has sex. She loves reading and NA is her favorite because she can read so many different genres. It can be fantasy, general fiction, romance, and more. She likes expanding her horizons and she sees NA as the way to do that. It leads to her reading new genres. She is also getting her teenage granddaughter to read some of the same style of books in the YA section. I say all this because it is a great story about how patrons can influence other patrons to read things. Get some patrons talking if they are both checking out and you think they'd like to give each other suggestions. Let others join in on suggesting books if a patron is asking you for book suggestions. It could get more patrons to try these "forbidden" books.

*I cannot think of the word for the little sign that hangs off shelves that gives suggestions or book limits. If anyone knows the word feel free to put it in the comments section. :)

14 comments:

  1. Abby,
    I love this about your library! We are the same at ours! Our staff has so many conversations about so many different books and it is the best!

    I have to ask - what YA series did you recommend to your co-worker? Do you mind sharing? I want to make sure I know about it. :)

    We just made avatar bookmarks for each of our staff members to do a display at the desk that has our recommendations. I think it's a great way to get a variety of books recommended.

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  2. Hi Bobbi,

    I get so many recommendations from my coworkers. It's great!

    I recommended the Renegades series by Marissa Meyer and told her that there are also graphic novels that continue the story. I flew through them and my coworker is listening to the audiobooks. She said the narrator is amazing.

    That is so cool! I might pass that on to my husband. He created the display and might be interested in adding bookmarks to it! Thank you for the comment. :)

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    1. The Renegades series is on my list! Thanks for sharing! I loved her Lunar Chronicles series! Have you tried that one?

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    2. Yes! I loved it. Did you know that she continued the story with a couple graphic novels called Wire and Nerves? It has Iko as the main character.

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    3. I did not! Thank you for sharing!!

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  3. You give so many great examples and ways to incorporate these different genres into programming and readers' advisory! I really like the idea about starting a book club for NA or YA fiction. I think it would be interesting to see what kinds of readers enjoy NA fiction and how many people are actually familiar with this genre. To be honest, I had never heard about it before this class. I'm planning to do some more research on it and try to incorporate more NA titles at my library. I also thought it would be a fun idea to start a graphic novel book club and include both fiction and nonfiction titles. Since so many people think graphic novels are only about superheroes, this would be a great way to expose people to the variety of graphic novels in the libary's collection. Thanks for sharing your ideas!

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    1. I hadn't heard of the genre but I knew about the books. Before I posted anything I looked around my library to see if had any popular authors for NA. Thanks for the comment and I hope the graphic novel book club gets a good turnout!

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  4. Lots of our librarians read YA, too (me included).

    Also, I was interested that you said you tend not to display NA novels. NA is a new genre for me (I also didn't really know about it before this class). So I may be asking this question out of ignorance, but why are these different than other adult novels? Would you also not display regular romance novels in the adult section?

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    1. Hi,

      I should correct my wording. We don't display the books that have photos with people who don't have shirts or are dressed skimpier. We have gotten far too many complaints that we tend to showcase those in our newsletters instead of displays. Other NA and romance books go up and get checked out pretty quickly. I work in a smaller town so we pick our battles and this one was not worth it for us. We still promote them, just in a different way.

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  5. Hi Abby,
    I love that your library made a point of keeping the young adult books separate from the children’s area to create less of a stigma. I think you’re completely right that some people don’t want to be “that kind of reader” and shy away from YA. Helping people understand the genre better can help with that. You brought up a lot of great ideas for promoting them. I really like the idea of having library staff promote them on social media. If patrons see their librarians loving YA, that might help take away some of the stigma and make them want to try them out.

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    1. Thanks for the comment! I've noticed an uptick at my library of adults reading YA but we have always had a pretty steady group of patrons who will read all ages. I thought social media would be a good way of promoting the collection and even get some holds on new YA books.

      Abby

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  6. Hi Abby!

    I love your idea of including graphic novel and young adult suggestions for readers on their apps, social media and newsletters. I always appreciate a “you may like” list. I also liked that you mentioned that readers can get interested in the artwork of graphic novels. I know that I have become so interested in the illustrator of a graphic novel that I have gone out of my way to find other works by that same illustrator. I never thought I would care about the illustrations that much, but it turns out that I do!

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    1. I love artwork for graphic novels. It can make or break the story for many patrons. I love that you have looked at the illustrator's other works! That makes me think of how I will look up narrators for audiobooks because they are so good at what they do. Thank you for the comment!

      Abby

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  7. You have SO MANY great examples of how to promote both YA and NA. We call the shelf things - "shelf readers" but I don't know if that's the correct term. Great job looking at the prompt through multiple lenses. Full points!

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