Week 12 Prompt: Nonfiction Matrix

I performed the Readers’ Advisory Matrix on the most recent non-fiction book I’ve read, The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter:

1. Where is the book on the narrative continuum? A mix (combines highly narrative moments with periods of fact-based prose).
2. What is the subject of the book? How the concept of the white “race” has been historically and culturally constructed, particularly in the United States of America but beginning in the ancient Western world.
3. What type of book is it? A mix of cultural criticism and kind of “popular ethnography.”
4. Articulate appeal
1. What is the pacing of the book? Thorough, detailed, steady.
2. Describe the characters of the book? Painter focuses on many characters forgotten by history; often offbeat, sometimes foolish or downright misguided folks. Characters are written of in a humanizing but not uncritical manner.
3. How does the story feel? Critical, amusing, investigative, quirky.
4. What is the intent of the author? To deconstruct and analyze the concept of whiteness and to demonstrate that “the white race” should be subject to analysis just as surely as any other “race.”
5. What is the focus of the story? The evolution of one idea (i.e. “whiteness”) throughout history.
6. Does the language matter? Yes! Painter not only writes humorously, in a style rich with word-play and puns, but also uses carefully chosen language to dissect the concepts around race without replicating the historical racist attitudes she investigates.
7. Is the setting important and well described? Setting (both geographical and temporal) is important as background information contextualizing the concepts which Painter describes, but is not described in depth.
8. Are there details and, if so, of what? The book is filled with details. Painter takes pleasure in sharing the odd anecdotal facts and figures encountered during the course of her research.
9. Are there sufficient charts and other graphic materials? Are they useful and clear? Yes. Well-placed figures punctuate the work and are both fascinating and informative.
10. Does the book stress moments of learning, understanding, or experience? Moments of learning and understanding are at the center of this book. Moments of learning are stressed as Painter shares little-known historical information, and moments of understanding are provided as she breaks down the complicated concept of race.

5. Why would a reader enjoy this book (rank appeal)?

Learning/understanding 2. Writing Style 3. Detail

Week 11 Prompt: Ebooks and Audiobooks

The landscapes of e- and audiobooks absolutely represent my growing edge in terms of librarianship and reader’s advisory. My experience with ebooks is limited: I turn to ebooks only out of necessity (the book isn’t available in a print version) or convenience (the print version is huge, and I can’t practically carry it with me throughout my day). I don’t have a portable e-reader, which has further curtailed my use of ebooks.

Audiobooks are somewhat more familiar to me. I have had a lot of fun exploring the audiobooks available through the Hoopla platform at my local library, and will often try out multiple different narrators, when available, before settling on the one I’d most like to listen to--the impact of narrator as appeal factor is real! I’ve found that the audiobook format encourages me to read more international novels and classics than I naturally gravitate towards. The liveliness of a good narrator brings more stodgy classics to life, and I appreciate hearing the correct pronunciation of names in international novels.

But while I have some experience with both of these formats, I’ve thought little about how they affect reader’s advisory practices. Dunneback (326) points out that, just as it is important to be aware of the books in one’s print collections, it is equally important to develop an awareness of the e-books in one’s collections. The challenging nature of developing such an awareness had never occurred to me, and I was grateful for Dunneback’s suggested resources for learning more about e-books of various genres and eras.

The ability to serve as not just an advisor in terms of content but also technology and access is another matter Dunneback raised which I’d never before considered. She brings up the great point that “ Library patrons come to us for help in figuring out the best possible reading experience” (327), and that this necessarily includes the format of the book as well as its genre, pacing, tone--placing format squarely in the “appeal factor” category. I’ve had a subconscious awareness of format-as-appeal-factor ever since I listened to the incredible audiobook version of The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis, narrated by James Avery. When I was recommending the book to a friend one day, I found myself specifically recommending the audiobook as narrated by James Avery: my reading experience had been so completely influenced by his rendering of Curtis’ moving, hysterical text.

I feel motivated now to increase my exposure to e-books and audiobooks, and familiarize myself more thoroughly with the pros and cons of the two formats. It was interesting to read, for instance, that many e-book readers gravitate towards the format because it saves them from having to look at an ugly book cover! While I’m not sure how to incorporate this tidbit of knowledge into my reader’s advisory practices--yet!--it effectively demonstrates one of the appeal factors of e-books, and reminds me to bear the unique qualities of these formats more centrally in mind.

Westerns Annotation: Blood Meridian

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

A young Tennesseean known only as the Kid finds himself wandering the vast reaches of the barren landscape of the Western U.S. in the 1850s. After some brief stints in jail, in a ragtag, volunteer army corps, and eventually roughing it across the desert on his own, the Kid joins up with the brutal Glanton gang, a crew of violent adventurers actually drawn from history. The Glanton gang not only journeys boldly from the US and into Mexico, they leave a bloodstained trail in their wake as they seek plunder, conquest, and, most chillingly of all, human scalps in exchange for a bounty.

Appeal Terms

-Western: This historical novel details the early days of US expansion into the “wild West,” and is complete with shootouts, Indians, cowboys, and ghost towns.  

-Gritty: Vivid to the point of being brutal, McCarthy’s descriptions of the tough life led by those brave enough to settle or journey through the deserts of present-day Texas will leave readers gritting their teeth!

-Literary: While McCarthy’s poetic prose is complex and beautiful, it also displays a hardness and raw edge that could appeal to a broad range of readers.

-Atmospheric: The bleak Western setting is as much a player in Blood Meridian as any other character--one can almost see the tumbleweeds rolling across the plains and feel the deadly heat striking upon one’s skin.  

> Extra! Extra! < Featured on Time’s list of 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.

Read-Alikes

The Winter Family by Clifford Jackson

Follows the adventures of a group of outlaws from their formation during the American Civil War to 1900. (NoveList)

Fallen Land by Taylor Brown

A couple races through the destroyed South, relying on the kindness of strangers and foraging from abandoned farms, as they flee a slave hunter, tracking dogs and ex-partisan rangers during the final year of the Civil War. (NoveList)

The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles

Three Americans drifting through postwar North Africa encounter the limits of human existence in the form of a land and a people utterly alien to them. (NoveList)

Book Club Observation

I attended the February meeting of the Monroe County Library’s Ellettsville Branch book club. The book club met in a meeting room at the library, where the set-up was cozy and hospitable: a circular ring of tables and chairs was set up promoting an intimate and equitable air. A table full of snacks was also provided, including chocolate, cookies, popcorn, chips, and salsa. From group members’ discussion before the club started, it sounded like some of the snacks were provided by the library and some provided by group members themselves. There was also hot water and tea bags.

The atmosphere of the discussion was friendly and lively. Members welcomed me and characterized their group to me, letting me know--after the discussion-- that “They don’t like everything they read, and their discussions aren’t always so agreeable.” There was a good degree of camaraderie present amongst members of the club who have been attending regularly, but three new members were also present at this meeting, and they were warmly welcomed. While the group was vastly made up of white women over the age of 60, this homogeneity didn’t seem to prevent any obstacle to folks who didn’t fit this profile: despite being about forty years younger than everyone else in the room, I was never condescended to and was instead treated with welcome and respect. Additionally, another new group member was a man, friends with one of the regular attendees. While he definitely got some gentle ribbing from the crowd of women, he was also encouraged to participate and return for future meetings.

            This club usually discusses current literary fiction. Books are selected by the group from a list of options presented by the facilitator. The group selects books for 6 months in advance in one decision-making process, combined with a regular meeting, in order that the upcoming book list can be published to the website and library program booklets. Most of the members had read the book upon arriving at the meeting--those who had not were all attending the club for the first time--and one member was even famous for reading all the books twice; other members deferred to her meticulous notes when there was a question of what exactly had occurred in the text, or when. Having been held monthly for a year now, the book club had definitely established some such regulars, each of whom seemed to have reputations to uphold: two attendees certainly spoke more than all of the others combined. Group members seemed habituated to this dynamic and almost seemed to have reached an unspoken agreement of allowing these two more talkative members to have all of the spotlight at first and then, once they’d aired their views significantly, stepping in and taking up some space of their own. Most attendees spoke three or four times during the course of the book club, with a few breaking in almost non-stop and others just listening. Those who just listened, again, were those who were new to the group--so it seems likely that they will participate if they continue attending the group in the future, due to the group’s friendly and welcoming culture.

            The book club was facilitated by a librarian, though she took a reserved route to facilitation. After calling the group to order and providing a brief introduction to the group’s history and methods, she mostly sat back and allowed the group to follow it’s own course of interest. The ilovelibraries web page on facilitating book group discussion provides various suggestions for how a facilitator might initiate or encourage discussion, including picking a specific character or passage to analyze in depth, or bringing in a prop or artifact related to the story and asking club members to discuss the way in which this object played into the novel (2015). While these are useful suggestions, I believe the facilitator of the Ellettsville club was wise to give this group more free rein, as they were enthusiastic and highly participatory. It was group members themselves who posed most of the questions that the club considered, with the facilitator pitching in her thoughts, guiding questions, or opinions every so often. With thirteen people in attendance at the bookclub, this method sometimes became rather clamorous, as side discussions broke off simultaneous to the group conversation. The librarian did have a book guide to the book being discussed--The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry--and consulted this when asked to do so by the group, typically for insight into some of the book’s symbolism and literary allusions. When the leader did raise points or pose questions, she always allowed group members to respond first. She would, however, chime in when group members raised a query but, again, after waiting for group members time to answer first.

Special Topics Summary: Reader's Advisory to the Incarcerated

I've been interested in library services to incarcerated populations for a while now, so this special topics paper seemed a great opportunity to learn about reader's advisory services to this underserved population. The first thing to note in this area is that there are very few resources on the topic: Pickett and Sullivan's Reader's Advisory Handbook has a very short chapter on the matter, and books on library services to the incarcerated only cover the topic obliquely in the course of investigating other matters. Nevertheless, the resources I did find helped me to gain a better understanding of limitations and special considerations in this area, summarized below:

1. Prisoners are protected by the ALA's Library Bill of Rights just as surely as any other library patron. However, prison administrators may restrict or censor the type or content of books (i.e. hardback books, books with any gang-related subject matter, etc) allowed into the prison library. Prison librarians have to understand these limitations as they provide reader's advisory, as these restrictions can result in small collections, or limited numbers of popular books.

2. Prisoners are often completely restricted from information resources those of us on the outside take for granted, such as the internet. To that end, reader's advisory for prisoners could realistically be expanded to the concept of "information advisory," as librarians might be called upon to recommend resources to prisoners seeking information about law and legal issues, reentry, or any number of leisure interests.

3. Many, though by no means all, people who are incarcerated are disadvantaged by extremely low literacy and information literacy. Librarians should be particularly conscious to dignify all patron interests with thoughtful responses, and meet patrons where they are at in terms of reading ability; an extensive knowledge of popular and classic fiction and non-fiction, as well as high-lo reading material (high interest, low difficulty) is essential.

4. Librarians are as likely as anyone else to fall prey to stereotypes about prisoners and what kind of books they may want or "need," but should take pains to avoid acting on these stereotypes. Reader's advisory to prisoners is not an opportunity to "reform" prisoners, but rather a chance to respond thoughtfully to prisoners' requests for reading material in which they are interested.


In case you are interested in reading more about this area, I've attached a truncated works cited list below:



Collis, Roy and Liz Boden. (1997). Guidelines for Prison Libraries.

Clark, Sheila, and Erica MacCreaigh. (2006). Library Services to the Incarcerated.

Guerra, Stephanie. (2010) "Reaching Out To At-Risk Teens: Building Literacy With Incarcerated Youth." PNLA Quarterly 75.1: 50-60.

Lehmann, V. (2011). Challenges and Accomplishments in U.S. Prison Libraries. Library Trends, 59 (3), 490-508.

Lilienthal, S. M. (2013). Prison and Public Libraries. Library Journal, 138(2), 26-32.

Pickett, Kate and CJ Sullivan. (2010). Readers’ Advisory Handbook.

Prisoners Right to Read. (2010, June 29). Retrieved February 23, 2017, from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/prisonersrightoread.

Vogel, B. (2009). The Prison Library Primer.

Wagner, P., & Rabuy, B. (2016, March 14). Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie. Retrieved February 23, 2017, from https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2016.html.