by Sarah Statz Cords

Recently a discussion on Fiction-L centered on a poster’s desire to create a display of “readable nonfiction” titles. It made my heart glad to see that numerous people responded to the question with a number of great nonfiction title suggestions. But I’d be lying if the chosen title of the display didn’t rankle me just a bit.

Now, it is no secret to anyone who knows me that I am a diehard nonfiction reader. I read novels too, but they’re a much tougher sell; if, on the other hand, you start a sentence with something like “Hey, I read a great biography the other day…” or “Have you seen this new science book…” you can be sure I’m listening and will most likely add that book to my TBR pile, regardless of subject.

So every time I see the words “readable” or “narrative” in discussions of nonfiction, I feel a bit sad about all of the nuances of nonfiction types and genres that are being missed. To some extent I understand the use of the terms; when dealing with nonfiction, library staff often feel compelled to make distinctions between NF titles that are used almost exclusively for informational purposes and those that can be read more recreationally or, arguably, more as a “story.” But I would submit that most of the “informational” types of NF have their own names: cookbooks. Baby name books. Car repair manuals. Decorating books. Self-Help.

The problem I have with “readable” and “narrative” is not that they are inaccurate labels. Rather, it is that they are so broad as to be useless, and they obscure the glory and variety of nonfiction titles. The Fiction-L list of readable nonfiction titles will be an interesting one–but it may not be a very unified list (I don’t know, for example, that I would suggest Erik Larson’s true-crime history Devil in the White City to the same reader who might enjoy Elizabeth Gilbert’s self-discovery memoir Eat, Pray, Love–and they were both on the list).

As previously noted: I’m completely biased (as only a person who has written two nonfiction reader’s guides can be). I also take my nonfiction way too seriously. As Albert Brooks once said in the wonderful movie Broadcast News, “I grant you everything.” But these are my questions: How can we become more comfortable thinking about NF in terms of both subject areas AND genres (or interest categories, which is what bookstores use)? How can we learn about and promote more specific types of nonfiction? What tools do you currently use to learn about nonfiction titles and their peculiarities? These are the things I want to know–because I think there’s a world of biographies, memoirs, women’s nonfiction, true crime, adventure, science, “big think” (like Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point), “year in the life,” and foodie titles out there–they’re all readable, and they all deserve displays of their own.

Bookmark to:

By Katie Dunneback

Yesterday I covered, in a greatly abbreviated manner, some of the technical issues of offering e-books in the library. Today we’ll cover the questions beyond the technical that need to be considered.

Beyond being savvy about the technical issues surrounding e-books, we need to be savvy about the books themselves. Librarians have long been looked to for suggestions on what to read next. With the explosion of all titles published (the projected number for 2009 was nearly double that of 2008 according to Bowker, and the sales growth rate during the same period was 176.6% according to the Association of American Publishers, our skills to cull out what it is our patrons want are essential.

Why is it I think we need to talk about how to perform RA services in a digital environment when electronic collections of popular materials, and sales of the same in the greater market place, are still a very small fraction of the whole? First, they’re already here and they’re not leaving. Second, I do believe we will see a shift in publishing to a digital-first/-only model well within my lifetime, and I’m in my early-30’s. There are a number of well-established digital-first/-only model publishers of popular materials, especially in the romance genre, which command significant portions of the market. The world’s largest romance publisher, Harlequin, opened the sales doors of its new multi-genre, digital-only (for the time being) division, Carina Press, at the beginning of June. I think we will see more and more publishers moving in this route. This means we will not only need to be aware of when a print title is also available in digital format, but we will also need to be aware of books that only exist in the digital realm.

The amount of print-alone books we need to be aware of is mind-boggling by itself. How do we incorporate this new format…especially as other book formats are typically titles that first appeared in regular print. We need to incorporate new methods of book awareness to our workflows. A young service called NetGalley is making advanced reader copies available in electronic formats for review by librarians, reviewers and book bloggers. You will be able to review titles in these formats, though most of the participating publishers are print publishers. However, you will be able to get an idea as to how they process their digital editions. I should note that NetGalley does not do sales of books. You will have to use your regular vendor for purchasing titles.

Every smart author with a website these days also includes an excerpt of their book. And, if not the author, the publisher typically does. The Los Angeles Times ran a story dated June 27, 2010 (but online as of the 25th), about the emergence of book bloggers and their influence in the culture of reading. An overlapping group not mentioned in the article consists of people who use social networking sites like Facebook and, especially, Twitter, to talk about books. These people are another source of book information to whom we need to pay attention—especially since the publishers are. The way television and radio shows were, and still are, tastemakers, so too is this new breed of book critic.

With so much being said, there is also a multitude that has been left unsaid here—such as the question of availability of e-books for libraries in the first place, but that’s a treatise in and of itself.

Bookmark to: