Library Reads

Librarians and selectors regularly read reviews to determine appropriate additions for their library collections.  These reviews are written by professional writers, some academics and some librarians and consider the item on its merit and may consider the relatively value that the item will have for library users.

There is a resource for forthcoming reviews which employs only librarians and library staff as reviewers.  Library Reads is a partnership project with prominent librarians and major publishing firms to provide reviews of new publications.  The books are reviewed in advance of publishing to allow time for selectors to assess and add them to the upcoming orders.  The project is two years old and it is well-know stateside by librarians and fiction selectors.  The top 10 adult titles are displayed monthly with a majority of fiction titles and a few non-fiction titles.  

The reviews are timely and can easily aid library staff in developing readers' advisory intelligence from the reviews.  They help to set up staff for success with readers by providing good forthcoming coverage, predicting the possible books of interest which your users will be clamouring for.  The website has a number of print templates which could be used to promote the program and the books selected.

Library staff are encouraged to participate by reading and reviewing books provided by the publishers.  At present, this is an American initiative but there will be exciting news of the Canadian front in a few more months.  If library staff want to get access to forthcoming publications, subscribing to NetGalley is another way to get free access to new books.