This had me thinking that perhaps it was time to compile a list of tools staff could use to find audiobook reviews, audio award lists, or learn a technique which enables them to quickly to evaluate audio titles. Some useful review sources for finding good suggestions are:

• Audio File Magazine which is the only print and electronic resource which reviews audiobooks for professionals and consumers.  They also provide a means to note excellence in audio titles by assigning the Earphone Awards for exceptional productions and giving the Golden Voice Award to outstanding narrators.
• Booklist produces ‘Audio Book Previews’ twice a year, usually in the February 1 and June 1 issues. Mary Burkey writes about audio on the Booklist Online Audiobooker blog usually posting multiple times a week. The journal also hosts free Audiobook webinars in June and October of each year which can be useful for learning about trends, forthcoming releases, and hot titles.
• Library Journal provides reviews of audio books in each issue. The reviews can be accessed online under the ‘Media’ reviews category for Audiobooks. LJ also hosts occasional Twitter chats about audiobooks and libraries using the #ljaudio hashtag.

One way to find the best audiobooks is to check audio awards lists which can provide even more title suggestions for customers. The top audiobook awards are:

• The Audie Awards®, given for excellence in audiobook and spoken word productions, are sponsored by the Audio Publishers Association (APA)
• The Grammys which give awards not only for music but also in the Spoken Word and Comedy categories.
• The Listen List: Outstanding Audiobook Narration, established in 2011 by the Collection Development and Evaluation Services section of the Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association. A committee evaluates audio title throughout the year and compiles an list which seeks to highlight outstanding audiobook titles that merit special attention by general adult listeners and the librarians who work with them
• The Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobooks Production is jointly given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), to the best audiobook produced for children or young adults, available in England and the United States.
• ALSC and YALSA also produce annual audio recording lists.
  • ALSC identifies the best in children’s audio with the annual Notable Children’s Recordings list.
  • YALSA compiles the Amazing Audiobooks List, an annotated, annual list of notable audio recordings significant to young adults.

As with books, no one has time to listen to every audio title. Staff can quickly learn about an audiobook by following the guidelines provided in Chapter 3 of The Readers’ Advisory Handbook (ALA Editions, 2010). Kaite Mediatore Stover explains “How to Listen to a Book in Thirty Minutes” which is an expansion on Chapter 1 which details “How to Read a Book in Ten Minutes” by Jessica E. Moyer.  If practiced regularly staff can take audio titles right off the shelves and evaluate them on the spot. Using this technique should also help staff learn more about their audiobook collection in a very short time.

Other ways to develop skills with audiobooks is to make use of print resources or by taking advantage of any learning opportunities. Joyce Saricks’ Read On…Audiobooks: Reading Lists for Every Taste (Libraries Unlimited, 2011) provides annotations for more than 300 titles which could be useful in creating audio ‘reading’ lists, shelf talkers, or displays. Audiobooks for Youth: a Practical Guide to Sound Literature (ALA Editions, 2013) by Mary Burkey includes chapters on how to develop and maintain an audiobook collection, learning to listen with a critical ear as well as a history of children’s audiobooks.

Attending workshops or conference programs dealing with audio readers’ advisory can provide wonderful learning opportunities. For example, in October 2013 the Mid-America Library Alliance (MALA) sponsored a workshop titled: Listen Up!: What Are Your Ears Reading Next? Audiobook Readers Advisory. Kelly Fann, Director of Tanagnoxie Public Library (Kansas), delivered a great program and generously posted her presentation handout online. National library conferences offer programs on a variety of topics and the 2014 Public Library Association (PLA) conference  is hosting a session aimed specifically at listening advisory. The forthcoming program is titled All About Audiobooks: Improving Readers’ Advisory for Listeners to be presented by Renee Young, Robin Whitten, Michele Cobb, and Kaite Stover.

To wrap this up I will refer to a February 2013 post from fellow Public Libraries Online blogger, Tanya Davidson. She mentioned in In the World of Audiobooks, the Narrator Rules Supreme that she wished there was a better way to find audiobooks. She suggested fellow listeners should band together to create a tool which allows users to search for audiobooks by appeal.

Well, I think found an answer to her wish! At ALA Annual 2013 in Chicago, I learned that NoveList is loading audiobook titles into the database to be searchable with appeal factors. In early November 2013, I emailed Duncan Smith, co-creator and Vice President of Novelist, to get an update on this project. He put me in contact with Renee Young, who with Della Coulter, is heading up NoveList’s audio-book efforts. In an email Renee explained their progress so far.

“We will be adding approximately 30,000 audiobook titles to NoveList Plus in the Spring of 2014 and are planning to debut the product update at PLA in March.  We will feature Audiofile text and sound reviews as well as reviews from LJ, SLJ, and Publishers Weekly. The records will be searchable by the usual access points of title and author and also by narrator, abridgement, format, and appeal factors. You are probably familiarwith our NoveList appeal vocabulary that covers Storyline, Pace, Tone, Writing style, and Illustration. In addition to these terms, we created a new appeal vocabulary to describe qualities of audiobook narration and production. Some of our terms include: Distinctly voiced, Comedic, Deadpan, Detached, Folksy. Each audiobook title in NoveList will have audiobook recommendations based on appeal factors and other title metadata. We will not be doing a Beta testing. Instead we will be conducting an intensive in-house QA process prior to the launch.”

Library staff have a number of tools, techniques, and learning opportunities to use in developing their listening advisory skills and plenty to look forward to at the 2014 Public Library Association conference! Look for me at the EBSCO booth for the debut of NoveList’s exciting, new audiobook feature or at the All About Audiobooks program scheduled for Thursday afternoon, March 13, 2014!

The post Listening Advisory? What’s That? first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

During Valentine’s Day week I noticed two movies which were being broadcast on cable television; The Time Traveler’s Wife and Tuck Everlasting. Each was romantic but interestingly they both also dealt with a relation to time, either time travel or love over a long period of time, i.e. immortality. This had me thinking of other films which included both of these aspects. I quickly came up with a list of film titles and most of which are based on a novel or short story.

The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009) stars Eric Bana as Henry and Rachel McAdams as Clare and is based on the novel by Audrey Niffenegger.  Clare falls passionately in love with Henry who is inflicted with the uncontrollable ability to travel through time. This is a love story about two people dealing with an almost impossible situation, who marry and eventually have a child. It explores not only romantic, paternal, and filial love but also the enduring love between friends. Tuck Everlasting (2002) is based on the 1975 classic children’s fantasy novel by Natalie Babbitt. The film stars Jonathan Jackson as Jesse Tuck and Alexis Bledel as Winnie Foster. The story revolves around the romance between the two young people and Winnie’s discovery of the Tuck family secret. Many years ago the family members drank from a spring which made them immortal but immortality can have a terrible cost when it comes to love. Themes of romantic, paternal, filial, and sibling love are all explored.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) deals with maternal and romantic love and concerns an abandoned new-born baby adopted and raised by a kind-hearted black woman. The child ages backwards, meeting the love of his life when she is a child and he is an old man. The story follows Benjamin throughout his life and how he eventually reconnects with Daisy when they are approximately the same age. Brad Pitt stars as Benjamin Button with Cate Blanchett portraying Daisy and the plot is taken from a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The Lake House (2006) stars Keanu Reeves as Alex Wyler and Sandra Bullock as Kate Forster and is not based on a book or short story. The story deals with the unlikely romance over time between individuals living in the same house but occupying it two years apart. Alex and Kate communicate through letters posted in their shared mailbox, develop a friendship, and then fall in love. They soon realize the problem with their relationship but still hope they can find a way to be together at the same time.

Somewhere in Time (1980) is based on a novel by Richard Matheson, originally titled Bid Time Return.  This very romantic film stars Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour as the time-displaced lovers Richard Collier and Elise McKenna. It relates the story of 1980s playwright, Richard, trying to ‘come back to …” the love of his life, Elise, a famous young, stage actress from the early 1900’s. He falls in love with her picture while staying at a turn-of-the-century hotel and is determined to travel back in time to meet her.

There are two other films which may meet the timely romance criteria: Time After Time (1979) and Highlander (1986). Although both are more action adventure movies, each also has at its heart a romance between two main characters.  Neither movie is based on a book but a novelization of Highlander from the original screenplay by Gregory Widen was released later.

Time After Time follows H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) as he uses his time machine to travel from 1893 London to 1979 San Francisco in order to stop Jack the Ripper from killing, among others, a young woman name Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen). Highlander centers on a Scottish highlander named Connor MacLeod (Christopher Lambert) who lost the love of his life shortly after becoming immortal in 1518. He  spends the next 465 years fighting other immortals for an unknown ‘prize’ and looking for someone to replace his beloved, bonnie Heather.

For your readers or viewers who enjoy romance with a timely twist you may want to consider these suggestions which cross between media formats. Are there other movie titles which might be included on this list?

The post Time-Traveling Romance first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The conference is over but I wanted to share a few of my favorite things about ALA Midwinter 2013:

The city of Seattle – Lovely! I enjoyed a great dinner at Schuckers Oyster Bar and a fantastic three-course lunch at Blueacre Seafood.

The Random House Opening Night Reception at Pike Place Market – Gene Ambaum, Bill Barnes, and their Unshelved players offered a hilarious skit of ‘things heard from librarians in the Exhibit Hall.’ The audience gleefully participated with the “Bookbag?” chicken cluck, the bovine “Boooooze” call, or the almost orgasmic but breathy “I heard you have chocolate. Where’s the chocolate?” booth query!

Advance Reader Copies – galleys, lots and lots of galleys! I managed to acquire galleys for Chevy Stevens’ next thriller, Always Watching, which is due out in June and one for The Runaway King (Book 2 of ‘The Ascendance Trilogy’) by Jennifer A. Nielsen. When I went looking for a galley of Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, the sequel to last year’s Cinder, I was very excited to receive a hardback copy of the book instead!

The Pop Top Stage on Saturday afternoon for the YA Romance: Breaking the Rules session with Barbara Caridad Ferrer, Heather Davis, and Serena Robar – each author was funny and entertaining talking about writing series romance for teens. Plus they all autographed FREE copies of their books: When the Stars Go Blue, Wherever You Go, and Giving Up the V.

Seattle Public Library – Awesome!

The Recorded Books Reception on Saturday evening at the Chihuly Garden and Glass – beautiful, colorful works of art, a marvelous reading by Theresa Plummer who narrates the ‘Virgin River Series’ by Robyn Carr, and delicious food!

Author signings at the publisher booths – plenty of treasures to bring back home for myself and my library! For myself, I brought back an autographed copy of Pike Place Market Recipes by Jess Thomson. For my young nieces, I got a signed copy of the adorable children’s picture book The Princess and … the Peas and Carrots by Harriet Ziefert, with illustrations by Travis Foster.

The Networking Commons area in the Convention Center – stopping by on Sunday afternoon to meet the PLA Online blog editors, Kathleen Hughes and Lian Sze!

The people of Seattle – for being so gracious while dealing with an invasion of librarians!

The RUSA Book and Media Awards Reception – Sunday evening at Midwinter is not complete without the excitement of hearing the winners announced for Notable Books, the Zora Neale Hurston Award, the Louis Shores Award, the Sophie Brody Award, the Listen List, the Dartmouth Medal, the list of Outstanding Reference Sources, and the Reading List!

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Seattle, especially all the events and opportunities offered at the conference, and am looking forward to attending ALA Annual in Chicago this summer.

The post Dispatches from Midwinter – I ♥ Seattle first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

For your customers who like biographies and narrative nonfiction, are curious about historical celebrities, or who simply wish to read something a bit different, I offer four titles. They cover one woman and three men and include two biographies and two narrative nonfiction titles that emphasize the historical figures and their accomplishments.

Long before Al Gore’s “inconvenient truth” and Rachel Carson’s “silent spring,” there was Rosalie Edge and her “unpleasant facts.” Dyana Z. Furmansky’s biography, Rosalie Edge, Hawk of Mercy: the Activist Who Saved Nature from the Conservationists, is a vivid portrait of a woman who, during her time, was a power-house in the field of conservation. Rosalie Edge took on the National Audubon Society, which was a different type of organization in the early 1900s. Furmansky follows Edge from her privileged childhood and marriage through her highly successful pamphlet campaigns that helped to uncover many cases of corruption. Edge is best known for founding the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary (PA) in 1934 but she continued her environmental efforts into the 1950s and early 1960s and deserves to be remembered for her contributions.

Ever planted a garden with seeds from a packet and wondered who developed the strains of those plants? From 1873 to 1925, horticulturist Luther Burbank developed more than 800 new varieties of vegetables, flowers, fruits, grains, and nuts through his experiments in plant breeding. An early breeding success was the large, white-fleshed potato which is now grown all over the world. In the process of inventing new plants, Burbank changed the face of agriculture and the business of food marketing. His name and inventions were considered to be on par with Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. The Garden of Invention: Luther Burbank and the Business of Breeding Plants by Jane S. Smith brings his name back from obscurity and offers insight in the early efforts to modify the foods we eat.

The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo tells the life of General Alexandre (Alex) Dumas, father of the famous French novelist, Alexandre Dumas. Tom Reiss provides a detailed biography beginning with Alex’s life on Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) as the son of a black slave and a rather disreputable white French nobleman. Reiss traces Alexandre’s career as he makes his way to Paris, rises to the rank of General in Napoleon’s republican army, and is thrown into prison to languish for a number of years despite being a hero of the republic. Alex’s son is well-known for his classic adventure novels such as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, but few probably realize that the inspiration for the latter was the life, exploits, and tragic fate of his father.

Journalist David Grann wrote The Lost City of Z: a Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon after becoming fascinated with the mystery surrounding the 1925 disappearance of renowned British explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett. Fawcett was a ‘rock star’ in the field of world exploration, considered to be on the same level as the African explorers Richard Burton and David Livingstone. In an effort to find Fawcett or his remains, 13 search expeditions were launched from 1925 through the mid-1950s and resulted in the loss of more than 100 lives. As part of his research, Grann travelled to the Amazon and the recollections of his search experiences enhance the story even more. The Lost City of Z is a popular book discussion title and has been optioned to be made into a movie.

Each of these titles tells the story of a former celebrity and the impact they had on their times. Thanks to the intrepid authors who wrote these books, readers have the chance to re-discover these ‘famous’ individuals lost to history.

The post Rediscover the Formerly Famous first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

At the beginning of each month, I send an ‘ARCs Around the Library’ email to our internal staff listserv listing all of the ARC titles to be published in the following month. Staff members are instructed to reply directly to the posting with their name and work location along with their first, second, and third choice of ARC titles. If the first choice has been selected by someone else, then I check for the second choice. If that title has also already been chosen, then I look for the third choice. If all of their selections have been taken by other staff, then a return email is sent letting them know and asking if they would like to try again.

When one of the titles chosen is available, it is sent out to the individual’s branch for their reading pleasure. The staff member is also asked to follow the rules for ARCs.

These are:

1)      Do not send the ARC in to be cataloged (An ARC is not the finished version of a book.)

2)      Do not send the ARC to the Friends of the Library for their annual book fair (ARC’s should not be sold, again because they are not the finished product.)

3)      When finished reading, give the ARC to a co-worker, friend, or family member (Share the wealth!)

4)      Do not put the ARC in the trash – recycle it instead.

5)      Talk about the book with co-workers and promote it to our customers.

6)      Bloggers are encouraged to write about the title (Share the wealth!)

Providing staff access to ARCs helps them to stay up-to-date on new titles and gives them a way to pass knowledge along to other staff and customers. By sharing their reading experience with others, ARCs can also be useful for developing and practicing readers’ advisory skills. An ARC title may introduce staff to new authors, genres, or subjects and broaden their reading experience into areas they might never have considered before. Talking about the title gives staff the opportunity to discuss appeal factors and practice book talking skills. Knowing about forthcoming titles is a great way to be prepared for when customers come in asking for that next good book to read.

The December ARCs Around the Library email generated fast and furious responses from the staff. The first title claimed was The Blood Gospel by James Rollins, followed quickly by Mary Jane Clarks’ Footprints in the Sand, and the nonfiction title, Jungleland: A Mysterious Lost City, a WWII Spy, and a True Story of Deadly Adventure by Christopher S. Stewart. There were multiple requests for the Rollins and Clark titles as well as for The Winter Witch by Paula Brackston and Jennifer McMahon’s The One I Left Behind. Staff reaction can be a good judge as to which forthcoming titles to monitor for increased reserves and to determine if more copies need to be purchased for the library’s collection. I will be keeping an eye on these five books and all of the other December ARC titles.

Lucy is currently reading The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards by Kristopher Jansma.

The post ARCs Around the Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Some think this is a poor choice. It certainly seems to be stirring up yet again the controversy surrounding the erotic subject matter of James’ trilogy. Her books also had an impact on libraries and librarians although that is not addressed in the articles posted by Publishers Weekly. They are only interested in the impression she had on the publishing industry.

But if you read the comments from readers of either post, you will see that opinion among people in the field of literature, including librarians, is contentious. Some appear downright outraged at PW’s choice of James as the Publishing Person of the Year.

But it doesn’t matter if you read Fifty Shades of Grey or the entire trilogy. It doesn’t matter if you liked the books or not. It also doesn’t matter what opinion you have on the literary merits of her writing. E. L. James did have a significant impact on publishing in 2012. She followed an untraditional path to get her work published and became, according to Publishers Weekly, “the author of the fastest-selling adult series of all time…” and garnered Random House more than $200 million in revenue.

James took a Twilight fan fiction title, originally posted online, and had it released digitally and as a Print On Demand (POD) title by a small company called the Writer’s Coffee Shop. Due to strong online word-of-mouth, interest in her book jumped quickly and reached beyond the capability of the Writer’s Coffee Shop. Then Vintage Books, an imprint of Random House, stepped forward, taking what many in the publishing industry considered a huge chance, and offered James a seven-figure deal. For a trilogy of erotic literature!

But the impact of her books just keeps going. The readers of the Fifty Shades titles are a diverse group and do not fit the stereotype expected for fans of erotic literature.  “Fifty Shades Illuminated: Who Is Actually Reading the Book in the U.S. and UK?,” Digital Book World, accessed December 7, 2012, http://bit.ly/QsquaK.

Some libraries went so far as to pull Fifty Shades of Grey off their shelves but customer demand quickly changed their minds. Lisa Orkin Emmanual, “Brevard County Bans “Fifty Shades of Grey” Trilogy from Library Shelves,” NBC Miami, accessed December 7, 2012, http://bit.ly/KfYGRI.

Britt Kennerly and Dave Berman, Florida Today ““Fifty Shades of Grey” To Return to Florida Library Shelves,” USA Today, accessed December 7, 2012, http://usat.ly/UKmink.

Her books have proven to be so popular that parents are  naming their newborns after the main characters! Tara Fowler, “Meet Babies Grey and Anastasia” ‘Fifty Shades of Grey” Inspires Baby Names,” Entertainment Weekly, accessed December 7, 2012, http://bit.ly/TytuC6

And last, but far from least, the employees of Random House will receive a nice Christmas bonus this year. Leslie Kaufman, “At Random House, Employees Will Enjoy 5,000 Shades of Green,” The New York Times, accessed December 7, 2012, http://nyti.ms/UhjaLa

Say what you will about the writing or the money, E. L. James has made an impression on the publishing trade and beyond.

The post An Erotic Publishing Person of the Year!?! first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Each year, World Book Night is celebrated around the world on April 23, which is the UNESCO International Day of the Book and also William Shakespeare’s birthday. The idea was a result of discussions during a London Book Industry Conference in May, 2010. The originators of the idea had been brainstorming ways to spread the love of reading, when they hit upon this idea – having people who love books distribute books for free in their communities.  Here’s how it works:

Each year, 30 books are chosen by an independent panel of librarians and booksellers. The authors of the books waive their royalties and the publishers agree to pay the costs of producing the specially-printed World Book Night U.S. editions. Bookstores and libraries sign up to be community host locations for the volunteer book givers. After the book titles are announced, members of the public apply to personally hand out 20 copies of a particular title in their community. World Book Night U.S. vets the applications, and the givers are chosen based on their ability to reach light and non-readers. The selected givers choose a local participating bookstore or library from which to pick up the 20 copies of their book, and World Book Night U.S. delivers the books to these host locations. Givers pick up their books in the week before World Book Night.

On April 23rd, they give their books to those who don’t regularly read and/or people who don’t normally have access to printed books, for reasons of means or access.

Our library had three staff members participate in World Book Night on April 23, 2012 and all reported great success. Each book-giver was provided with 20 copies of a title they had selected themselves. When they submitted their applications back in 2011, they listed a first, second, and third choice from a list of twenty-five books selected for the 2012 event by a WBN committee. The application form also asks for a description of the location where the giver intends to hand out their book and why the applicant wishes to participate in World Book Night.

One staffer handed out copies of Hunger Games at multiple locations (two grocery stores, two fast food restaurants, a pet store, and a Starbucks) along a commercial parkway district in the Western part of the county.  She said she was ‘stalked’ by a lady in a minivan with her 8^th grade son who was so excited when he received a copy of Hunger Games. He just kept saying “Sweeeet THIS is so Sweet.” She wore her World Book Night pin above her library name tag and also fielded questions about the library. She said she would definitely volunteer again.

Another reported that World Book Night was fun and her free copies went quickly. She went to a local restaurant and her daughter came with her to take pictures.The workers at the restaurant were as excited as the customers to receive a copy of Enders Game. She wore a library shirt and her name tag and it only took her an hour to get to the restaurant and then back home.

The third staffer’s book was Peace Like a River, so she targeted adults or older teens at the YMCA and during after school pickup. She said that a group of early 20-somethings was suspicious of her until she pointed out her library name tag.They found it hard to believe she was giving them something for nothing. She reported that when kids who were accompanying adults saw her give away a book, they asked if she had one for them too. She told them they could get just about any book from the library. She thought it would be interesting to have a Children’s World Book Night some time and felt she could have easily given away another 20 books.

A number of news articles and videos posted about World Book Night 2012 relate similar experiences from across the United States:

• Q&A: How to Give Away One Million Books in One Night [Time News Feed, accessed November 27, 2012]
• World Book Night: Millions of Free Books Donated [The Huffington Post, accessed November 27, 2012]
• World Book Night Returns to the US [The Christian Science Monitor, accessed November 27, 2012]
• ABC News: World Book Night USA – April 23, 2012 [Youtube video, accessed November 27, 2012]
• World Book Night 2012 – Phoenix Area, Arizona, USA [Youtube video, accessed November 27, 2012]
• Midwest Book Giving – World Book Night 2012 [Youtube video, accessed November 27, 2012]

The third annual World Book Night will be held April 23, 2013. I have already submitted my application to be a part of this great event and encourage you to do so as well.

The post World Book Night – What Better Way to Spread the Love of Reading? first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

A few years ago a Management Book Club was started in my library district. We were in a period of transition with a new Director coming on board. The idea for a book discussion on management titles was to help out during the transition by bringing new ideas to the fore. It also provides the opportunity for staff to meet socially outside of the library.

The group meets once a month after work at a local restaurant. This arrangement worked for everyone and at first, the group followed the regular book discussion format. Each member read the same title and discussed it at the next meeting.

Some titles we read:

• Switch: How To Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (Broadway Books: 2010)
•  Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler (McGraw Hill: 2002)
•  How To Talk To Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships by Leil Lowndes (McGraw Hill: 2003)
• Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath (Gallup Press: 2007)
• Bossypants by Tina Fey (Little, Brown and Co.: 2011);
• WHO: The A Method for Hiring by Geoff Smart and Randy Street (Ballantine Books: 2008).

And there was an interesting exchange of ideas for a while but in recent months, the discussions seemed to wane. The group still meets each month because everyone enjoys the social gathering but few, if any, of the participants had finished or even read the current title. There was discussion about this lack of enthusiasm and the group decided to take a page from one of our branch discussion leaders who had switched up the format of her discussions. The leader instituted a ‘Let’s Talk About It!: A News and Current Events Discussion Group” which has a general news theme each meeting but the participants can bring in articles about anything currently in the news to discuss.

This program has been quite successful so for last month’s staff book discussion, each member was to bring an article related to management. Participants brought in recent news articles which addressed various aspects of the topic. They included: “Olympic Lessons for Corporate Managers,” “8 Work Habits That Will Kill Your Career,” and “Are You Sure You’re Not a Bad Boss?.”

There was some overlap in the points made by the authors which had also occurred when the group read the assigned books. But it was the different forms of presentation in each article which made discussing them so interesting. The members felt re-energized by the book discussion mash-up and have decided to continue exploring new ideas about leadership and management using this format. Try it, you might like it!

The post Book Discussion Mash-Ups first appeared on Public Libraries Online.