Social Media Week 5

hmmm.....

This past summer I discovered book trailers.  And since then I've been  hooked.  Usually they are like bad movie trailers but sometimes you get a good one or two.  You would think I would stop watching them...

but it's like the previews at the movies: they just keep going and going. 

Some of my favorite books I have found through 

book trailers

 

Like Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

or 

one of my favorite books of the YEAR 

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

and 

Rick Yancey's Fifth Wave 

yes, I am a little obsessed. 

Social Media Week 4

I recently read The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

It wasn't what I expected.  It had gotten some good pre-release buzz but from the cover I thought it was more a romance novel.  

turns out covers can be deceiving. 

It is the story of a woman who stumbles upon a letter her husband  written years before and addressed: " To my wife: to be opened in the event of my death".  

Now there's a hook.  

Then I found out there were different covers,  it seems the Aussies got the 

cool cover

Definitely more intriguing than the American version but then there was also this 

the coolest cover

so i wondered.....

judging this book solely by it's cover

I would probably never read this book

and that would have been a real shame.

Because then I would never have found out that Liane Moriarty has written several other books including 

"Hypnotist: a Love Story"  and "What Alice Forgot" 

and she is now my new favorite author.

Social Media Week 3

Today, schools were opened two hours late, lots of icy streets, so I was surprised when I walked into the children's area and found a mom with three small children.  I know from my own experience with small kids, I was happy to stay home those extra hours until school was opened.  Then I found out why they were there so early:  the preschool had sent out an email to alert parents of the delay.  Wow, the mom and I were both floored.  Who checks their email first thing in the morning?  Why not a text, or a facebook or twitter post?  It seem email is already going the way of the dinosaur, akin to sending out a letter to make an announcement.


                                        

But this got me thinking....in terms of keeping library customers informed about library services, programs and materials WHAT is the best way to reach our customers?   Are web sites going the way of apps?  Are social media formats the best way to communicate with our customers?  Could be.  As the web connects more and more people together it seems people want to find ways to stay connected to the smaller parts of their lives; their schools, churches, libraries.  These are all things in the immediate community that garner attention, could it be that social media while it allows for folks from all over the world to stay connected but also allows the closer, important parts of life to remain close and connected as well.

Social Media week 2

This week has been crazy!  Trying to read for school work and get everything ready for Christmas has made me a little cuckoo!
For work, I am trying to figure out how best to use social media for our programming effort.  Especially for the Blackeyed Susan Celebration we are planning for the Spring.  It is a program where we have area school read all the Blackeyed Susan books (which are books selected by school media specialists and their students) then have sort of a Jeopardy contest between the schools.  I'd like to create a Facebook page for the event but social media is limited to the system and not really encouraged for the individual branches.  Sooo, what are the alternatives that could offer similar results? https://www.facebook.com/BlackEyedSusanAwardCelebration
but for some reason, I can't get the link to work :(
I'll keep working on it...and keep you posted!
Maybe the website will work!  http://blackeyedsusan.weebly.com/

Clarion Winter session 2013!

I began this blog last summer as work blog....all full time librarians were require to  create a blog, follow a reading agenda of a variety of materials and genres, and then comment on the content in the blog.  It was very interesting, and there was a lot of different genres covered, and along the way we discovered lots of cool things to go along with genres. Like book trailers...who would have thought it but there are some really cool book trailers for new, upcoming titles.  Additionally, we had to join Goodreads which is also a social media but just keeps track of what folks are reading, and what they are recommending.  I have been using Goodreads for about 4 years now and it's a great tool to keep track of what you've read.  I use it often at work when trying to remember what I've read and in offering readers advisory.  Check it out at Goodreads.com!

Week 9!

Assignment 1

So I read the articles and poked around youtube under the search terms "Best Book Trailers"  and found a few videos. I watched "Before I Fall" by Jessica Brody, "Fault in our Stars" by John Green, and Best Book Trailers by Lindsay Mead.  All teen reads. I decided to check out a couple of books I am currently reading, "Life After Life" by Kate Atkinson and "Shine, Shine, Shine" by Lydia Netzer.

Assignment 2

Book Trailers, who woulda thunk it?!  The first time I saw one I thought, hmm...I'm not so sure about these things.  But I have to say the ones I watched for this assignment have me rethinking my position. And  I can honestly say I put a couple of books on hold after watching a couple of the trailers but then some were real duds and didn't inspire me at all.  But all in all if it got me check out or buy even one, I guess it did it's job. 
As for reader's advisory, I'm not sure it would help in my world...would I have to time to stop, and find the video, and then show it to a customer. Nah, don't think so, but it could be something I mention to a customer looking for a title.  Something like, check out this authors youtube videos of their books?  hmmm, maybe. 

Week 8!

Assignment 3

This was a hard assignment, and I also thought, a little confusing. I don't often read nonfiction but when I do, I sometimes like it to be narrative nonfiction, but sometimes I read it because the subject matter interests me.  Even so, it doesn't have to be only in narrative form for me to enjoy it, and
I do find that customers approach nonfiction the same way. 
For example, I often recommend Malcolm Gladwell's books on audio for folks who are taking a trip who like something a little different but also like nonfiction.  He's got a great reading voice and has a great way of telling a story.  His books, The Tipping Point and Outliers,  are part narrative nonfiction and traditional nonfiction wrapped up in a single package. 
So with that in mind, it was a little hard for me just to pick only pick narrative nonfiction for this part of the assignment...so I picked what I liked to recommend.
Here goes.

Crime: Columbine by David Cullen 371.58C

Memoir (but could also go under Overcoming Adversity):  A Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion  Biography

History: In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson  943.086L

Travel:  Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World by Rita Gelman  910.4G

Assignment 4

Columbine reads as well as any crime novel.  Cullen draws the reader in with an in depth history of the two boys who masterminded the Columbine High School tragedy.  Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were seeming two average teenagers when the planned to blow up their school and kill their classmates.  There is suspense and drama as Cullen weaves a tale escalates to the final day where although you know the tragic end, you hope you are wrong. Cullen uses the suburban setting to emphasize the ordinariness of the crime: it could happen in any town USA.  Cullen draws his characters carefully, so much so that the reader wants to scream to all the adults in this community to wake up and pay attention! 


A Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion  is a heartbreaking story of love and perseverance. Told in diary format Didion relays her journey through heart ache in the year after her husband passed away suddenly and her daughter fell into a coma.  Through the tone, pacing and language, she conveys the slowness and the sadness that prevail after her husbands death.  Didion has led a somewhat glamorous life, writing movies and plays, traveling and living in exotic, lovely places bu this has not exempt her from the harsh realities of life; death and tragedy, as her husband succinctly explained, all evens out, everyone gets there turn.  A love story, to be sure, but also a story of grace and resilience in the face of great sadness.