If you vote in the Goodreads Choice Awards or you check the New York Times Best Seller list, then you’re probably a very dedicated reader. If you know about the Kirkus Star or you tune into the ALA Mid-Winter Conference award announcements, then you’re probably a librarian (or an extremely dedicated reader). There are so many ways we as readers and library professionals show our appreciation for the creativity and wonder authors bring to us through books. Some are chosen by a professional committee after months of consideration, others are chosen by voting on an online poll or purchasing our favorite books at Barnes & Noble. All of them are beneficial ways to highlight which titles should be put on our library shelves. In this paper, I have chosen to highlight two professional book awards and two I’ve dubbed “social awards.” I will also explain the benefits these have for libraries and readers alike.
Librarians consult a combination of professional and social awards to learn several different things. Considering their limited budgets, librarians need to know which books being published will appeal to their patrons, and give them the most bang for their buck. If a book has a good won an award or made the New York Times Best Seller list, librarians know they will most likely need to buy multiple copies of that title. Some of the professional awards, such as the Newbery, are often presented after the book has already been published and purchased by libraries, so they serve a different purpose. The awards give books clout, and provide an easy road for librarians to promote well written books to patrons.
Readers can benefit from these awards as well. I consult the Goodreads Choice Award lists, the Kirkus Starred books, and the Newbery honor and winners lists when I am looking for new books to read. I feel as an avid reader and a library employee, I need to read, or at least be aware of, the books that are receiving these accolades. I often get asked for book recommendations from patrons, as well as friends and family. I feel more comfortable providing advice when I’ve done my own research.
For these reasons, and many more, book awards provide readers and librarians with professional advice concerning collection development and reader opinions that allow us insight into what our library patrons might enjoy.
Love this! Awards are underappreciated, and casual readers don't seem to care, at least in my experience. I have RA conversations with patrons that when I drop information in about an award or even book club picking the book, the person seems like they couldn't care any more, but then the patron who seems in a hurry, when realizing there's an award, wants that book even more. My biggest surprise was a man who came in to put a book on hold for his disabled partner. She is homebound but he wanted to get the book for her. He didn't care that much about what the book was, but was kind of upset that we had to place an ILL request because we didn't have it. The book had won two awards when it came out in 2011, and when he saw that, he knew it must be good. He was wanting to know more before he left, and I ended up giving him a printout about the two awards.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great topic. I've often wondered how reliable book awards are. I hear many people think that the Goodreads awards is essentially a popularity contest. Seeing some of the results, I can understand why that is. However, Goodreads is extremely popular so it's important for libraries to pay attention to it. I've also read Pulitzer Prize winning novels that I thought were incredibly dull. But a lot of other people liked them! In the end, it seems that they all have some level of importance so it's good to keep up with them.
ReplyDeleteFantastic discussion! I think your wording of professional vs. social awards was spot-on. I did some brief research about New York Times bestselling lists and figured out they are based on the editors' choice rather than an objective look at the numbers; however, all the books on there are still popular. And I think you're right that one shouldn't totally disregard a certain reviewer, since professional and social book reviews are good to use as sources. Although I find that most readers’ advisory I’ve done, patrons are looking for a book to just enjoy rather than finding something with exceptional literary merit, so maybe social awards are mainly a better fit for most readers’ advisory after all.
ReplyDeleteBook awards can be such a controversial topic because everyone thinks the book they love should get an award. For me, it's always fun to see where awards and lists converge and diverge. I agree that the Goodreads awards are a popularity contest, but sometimes the editor's choice type of awards are books that just don't resonate with the general public. I appreciate that you seem to be pointing out the merits of each of the types of awards and how each award might be interpreted by library staff. Fun topic!
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