Posts on collection development

Wednesday my local SCBWI group had the pleasure of hearing Robert McDonald, children’s book buyer for The Book Stall, talk about his selection practices. This was particularly interesting for me as a librarian. I’ve posted previously about how I choose library materials, and I was curious to compare and contrast methodology.

As I’ve said, my department purchases new trade books based almost exclusively on reviews. Our information is second-hand. We depend on fellow librarians to review books fairly and accurately so we can judge their worth to our patrons. We don’t see the books for ourselves until they arrive at our library.

In contrast, Robert told us publishers send him folded and gathered proofs (F & Gs) of picture books and advance reading copies (ARCs) of middle grade and YA fiction. The former he generally reads in their entirety, but he doesn’t have time to read the ARCs. Instead he depends on catalog copy and the opinions of sales reps, with whom he meets several times a year, depending on the publisher. He told us that even though sales reps’ job is to sell books, they will be honest if they think a particular book is weak; that’s how they build trust with their clients.

Now, occasionally my library’s selection method results in a purchase I regret once the book is hand—if, for instance, I realize it won’t circulate well, or if I’ve ordered an expensive, easily damaged pop-up book by mistake! Since we’re a public library, though, we go with the idea that there’s a place for just about everything on our shelves, as long as space and budget permits. In most cases, someone will want it someday, though it may be months or even years from now.

In contrast, of course, a book seller wants stock that will sell. Robert reminded us adults are the primary buyer of children’s books, though children do start choosing their own books around the time they start to read. He emphasized that he is not always looking for “the best books” for the store; there is plenty of room for popular topics such as vampires and dinosaurs, which are often good choices for reluctant readers.

These are some of the other issues Robert considers when deciding what to buy / what will sell.

• Does the book belong to a marketable category—e.g., board book, easy reader, YA fantasy? Books that are harder to categorize tend to be harder sells, with occasional exceptions such as Shaun Tan’s popular The Arrival (AALB, 2007).

Picture Books

• Picture books are purchased mainly for bedtime reading.
• Is the book a “parent book” (lighter on text, for adults who will be reading a lot) or a “grandma book” (more text-heavy, for adults giving the books as gifts or have more leisure time)?
• Are the illustrations interesting, beautiful, quirky, “non-Walmarty”? Do the illustrations add content rather than simply backing up the text?
• Would the book make a good read-aloud? If it rhymes, are the rhymes well-executed?
• Will it appeal to adults, too (e.g., two levels of humor), so they can stand to read it repeatedly? Is the message understated instead of didactic?
• Can readers immediately enter the world of the story?

Middle Grade and YA Fiction

• Is the story plot-driven, and does it begin quickly?
• Is it following, setting, or subverting a trend? Can it be recommended to fans of X? If it’s following a trend, does it put a new spin on it?
• Is it an “issue novel,” dealing with, for example, anorexia, homelessness, AIDS? If so, do enough people care about the issue? Will it appeal even to readers who can’t personally relate to the issue? Is there a believable story, character, and world beyond the issue?
• If it’s a YA novel, how much adult content—sex, drugs, etc.—does it contain? Parents will ask.
• Has it been dubbed YA only because it has young characters?

Nonfiction

• Almost any topic can be sold if the book is well-executed.
• Does it focus on something new—e.g., a biography of a lesser-known person?
• “Can I sell this to a teacher?”

Robert closed with some tips for authors interested in approaching their independent book stores. He told us not to send promotional post cards; most likely, they will be recycled. Instead, find out the name and email address of the store’s book buyer, and contact them directly. Introduce yourself and inquire whether the buyer has seen your new book. Provide a web link to more information about your book.

This month, School Library Journal has a fascinating, if disturbing, article called "A Dirty Little Secret: Self-Censorship."

When parents file formal book challenges in schools and libraries, and grandmas encourage their children not to return library books with "inappropriate content", we hear about it. Not always—but often enough the story hits the press and, thanks to the Internet (yay, Internet!), a local issue becomes a matter of national discussion about censorship and First Amendment rights.

What we don't hear about is the silent censorship that may take place at the collection development level—when librarians choose not to buy certain books based not on concerns about age-appropriateness, literary quality, or budget, but rather on personal hang-ups and/or fears that the books may be challenged by Concerned Citizens. The same goes for booksellers and teachers. And because book challenges are so common, and because they pose such a threat to the parties involved (at the least, stress; at the most, job loss and death threats), the urge to stop something before it starts can be strong.

The article is full of anecdotes and author and librarian viewpoints about self-censorship as it affects books for youth dealing with issues such as sex, sexual orientation, race, and even seemingly (to my mind) innocuous topics such as dead turtles and night terrors.

I've written before about my personal concerns about self-censorship in collection development. In my public library department, one of the biggest concerns is whether a book is too mature for the junior high section, at which point we can usually punt it to the high school section. But I'm relieved to say that, to the best of my knowledge, our purchasing decisions are based almost exclusively on literary quality and age-appropriateness, not personal or societal bugaboos. May we keep it up.

(Via The Longstockings)

I'm often asked by non-librarians how my library decides what materials to buy. Great question. Here's a brief overview on how that works for me in my current position.

My personal collection development areas are children's and junior high music, picture books, and children's and junior high paperbacks. I like the variety because I just plain like variety, plus it gives me a pretty good overview of what's new/hot in various areas, so I can sound more intelligent when patrons ask for reading suggestions, books they can't remember the name of, etc. How I decide what to purchase varies for those three areas.

Music is the hardest area for me. Children's music doesn't get the widespread professional review coverage that "adult" music does. I browse new music on Amazon, look for award winners, and keep my ears open, but it's not a very, um, methodical method.

Junior high music gives me even more grief, because most of the kids are listening to "adult" music they hear on the radio. These albums may get professionally reviewed, but they aren't reviewed with the "Are these 'appropriate' for 11-13 year old kids?" question in mind. Common Sense Media is a helpful source of age-sensitive reviews by kids and parents, but, given its volunteer-reviewer nature, it's not nearly exhaustive. We have a suggestion box which gives me an idea of what's popular, but I still have to study the song titles and user comments to try and gauge whether they're PG. I've gotten dozens of requests for 50 Cent and Kanye West, but it ain't gonna happen. Fortunately, I can pass those request on to our adult department.

With paperbacks, I keep an eye on upcoming releases of trade books that weren't necessarily fly-off-the-shelf popular but got good reviews and could use some more exposure in our face-out paperback carrels. I buy trades of popular and classic hardcovers and popular series. Our school liaison also buys multiple copies of books on school reading lists and Illinois' Caudill Award nominees.

The toughest part of ordering paperbacks is trying to gauge the popularity of new series fiction. A few months back, I went to Borders and jotted down the titles of dozens of series. Back at the library I ordered a bunch. Some fly off the shelves, others barely circulate. Series books are an area where it's imperative to keep your ears open to kids' suggestions. If they heard about a new series from a friend, you can guarantee there's a whole crowd of kids who'll be demanding it in no time.

The most straightforward ordering I do is picture books. I read several children's book review journals: Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, The Horn Book, Booklist, and The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. If it gets a positive review, chances are that I'll order it. (I'm lucky, in all areas, to have a generous budget.) If it isn't reviewed in a professional journal, chances are I won't order it. We might have the money but we don't have the space—or, let's face it, desire—to expand/dilute our collection with less-than-good books.

We do welcome patron requests, but a request doesn't obligate us to make the purchase. In fact, what initially got me on this train of thought was the following email I had to write this morning:

Dear [Patron],

I am the librarian who does most of the library's picture book purchasing. Thanks for your suggestion that we purchase [ABC], by [DEF]. We do welcome such suggestions from our patrons; there are a whole lot of books out there, and sometimes a good one will slip through the cracks.

In the case of [ABC], I feel I must decline at this time. Due to space and budget restrictions, our library generally limits purchases of new books to those published by reputable houses that receive good reviews in professional book review journals such as Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and School Library Journal. We also avoid purchasing books that must be ordered directly from the publisher and not through a vendor such as Barnes & Noble or Amazon. [We actually do most ordering through Baker & Taylor, but that means nothing to most non-book-industry types.] Because [ABC] has not, so far, received any professional reviews and is available only through [publisher XYZ's] website, and because [XYZ] does not have a strong reputation as a publisher, I am hesitant to order it specially.

However, our library does own dozens of fiction and nonfiction picture books about dinosaurs, which we hope you and your daughter will continue to enjoy. Dinosaurs show no signs of going out of style, so our collection of dinosaur stories will only continue to grow as your daughter does!

I then sent her the link to my library's list of recommended dinosaur picture books, thanked her again for her suggestion, and signed off.

The two biggest red flags were the book's lack of professional reviews and lack of distribution. I Googled the publisher and found that while it isn't a vanity or POD (print on demand) press, it has a pretty dodgy reputation among both writers and readers.

Notice that I was able to rationalize not purchasing the book without making a judgment on its content. For all I knew, the patron was [DEF's] cousin, or even [DEF] him/herself!

A friend of a friend has until Monday to spend a $50,000 gift on books for a brand-new elementary school library in New York City. She's not a librarian, so she's even more overwhelmed than the average librarian would be. What would you buy to build a core collection? I've put my list of initial ideas here:

How to Spend $50,000 on an Elementary School Library

Obviously these are just my opinions, and kind of slap-dash at that. Also, all my collection development experience is in fiction and AV, not nonfiction. I'd love to add your suggestions to the list, if you leave your comments on either this page or the list itself!