Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Dan Brown's Lost Symbol

Prepare your battle kilts!


Under the Radar: Getting Ready for Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol
via The Reader's Advisor Online Blog by Cindy Orr on 7/12/09
Robert L. D. Cooper - Cracking the Freemasons Code: The Truth About Solomon’s Key and the Brotherhood

DK Publishing - Signs and Symbols

Ian Gittins - The Secrets of the Lost Symbol: Unlocking the Masonic Code
Manly P. Hall - The Lost Keys of Freemasonry

Christopher Hodapp - Solomon’s Builders: Freemasons, Founding Fathers and the Secrets of Washington D.C.

Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas - The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasonry, and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus

Forrest McDonald - Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution

Daniel Meyerson - In the Valley of the Kings: Howard Carter and the Mystery of King Tutankhamun’s Tomb

David Ovason - The Secret Architecture of Our Nation’s Capital: The Masons and the Building of Washington, D.C.

Simon Singh - The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography

Yes, What DO You Do After They Outgrow YA Programming?

We here at Libraryland Roundup have pondered this. We have tons of funding and interest in YA services. Then we drop them like rocks. Food for thought here:

Serving Gen X and Gen Y via PLA Blog by Ericka Dow on 7/13/09


“What does adult services mean in your library? Are you reaching 20- and 30-somethings who don’t have children? What happens to well-served teen patrons when they become adults? They have created a connection with us and we need to work on keeping that connection”

Outreach ideas include moving book discussions to a more grown-up venue, old-school board game nights, home-buying seminars, and more.

Trendwatching

This month they are looking back at the first 2 quarters of 2009. And they are also predicting a turbulent 3rd and 4th quarter. The title for this month’s briefing says it all:

August 2009 Catching-up is the new looking ahead via trendwatching.com by newsletter@trendwatching.com on 7/14/09

Paranormal Fiction - In Depth

The ALA conference had a great session on paranormal fiction this year. Many bloggers wrote it up. For definitions and stuff, this one is great.

ALA Report: Things That Go Bump in the Stacks Part 1- The Appeal of Paranormal Fiction
via RA for All by Becky on 7/14/09

A summary of the summary:

"Things That Go Bump in the Stacks: Whole Collection Readers' Advisory for Paranormal Fiction." Here is the link describing the program as well as all of the resources and handouts...This was a panel discussion with three popular paranormal authors, Charlie Huston, Charlaine Harris, and Marjorie Liu.

Paranormal fiction...blends contemporary fiction with an alternate paranormal world. It can appear in any genre, not just horror...In horror, traditionally, the paranormal characters are less sympathetic; they are the "bad guys," the biggest threat to the heroes. In today's paranormal fiction, the paranormal characters are not only sympathetic, they are quite often the heroes of the story themselves.

Before opening up the discussion to the authors, Hollands summed up the appeal of paranormal fiction very nicely with 11 key appeal points:

  • Paranormal fiction puts magic in the real world, and, as a result, it is an easy entry point to fantasy
  • There is a lot of genre crossover
  • Specific or all paranormal creatures themselves are appealing to certain readers
  • Many of these novels have strong female leads
  • They tend to appeal to women and men
  • They also appeal young adults
  • They all have a contemporary setting and style
  • These books have a lot of humor (even amidst some violence)
  • There is a great deal of sexuality here
  • Lots of fast paced action
  • And most importantly, although these books have fantasy elements, they are all grounded in real world issues. The most common of which is the idea of diversity and tolerance of those who are different.

Paranormal Fiction

Yes, even Christian authors are getting into the act!

From Amish fiction to vampire lit, Christian fiction branches out in ways both tame and edgy
via PewForum.org All News Feeds on 7/14/09

ALA Report: Things That Go Bump in the Stacks Part 1- The Appeal of Paranormal Fiction
via RA for All by Becky on 7/14/09

You Sexy Beast: Our Fascination With Werewolves
via NPR Topics: Arts & Entertainment on 7/17/09



And the projected new blockbuster:
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
via RA for All by Becky on 7/18/09

The runaway success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (which I have written about here and here) has inspired the publishers to try again, this time with sea monsters.


As reported in Early Word, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is taking Jane Austen's text into a world where terrible monsters lurk in every lake and pond. Our heroes must find love and stop the monsters.


Not convinced that sea monsters are as compelling as zombies? Watch this video clip the publishers made and then try not to rush out and pre-order the book. I dare you.”

Books to film

Stephen King’s Dome Headed to TV?
Third Bridget Jones Movie in the Works—Zellweger to Reprise Role
Summer Sizzlers: See the Movie, Read the Book
A Woman in Berlin Gets Rave Reviews. Do You Have the Book?
Film of David Foster Wallace’s Hideous Men Coming in September
Nicole Kidman to Do Film Based On Chris Cleave’s Little Bee
Sarandon, Pacino, Goodman to Do HBO Special on Jack Kevorkian, Based on Book Between the Dying and the Dead
Is Harry Potter Losing His Fans to Twilight?


RA Run Down via The Reader's Advisor Online Blog by Cindy Orr on 7/19/09

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Don't Let this Happen To Your Collection!

Click on the link to see this super-awesome book found in a real library!

Cops and Robbers! via Awful Library Books by marykelly48 on 6/29/09
Careers in the Protective Service
Chamberlin
1963

This book was a fun browse. I found it accidentally and cracked up as this super cool detective guy in his super cool white socks collects evidence from the safe cracking crime. Question: when was the last time you heard about a safe cracker? I think this looks like the set of an Edward G. Robinson film.

I am going to make a wild guess that maybe this book is a bit dated for a teen career section!

Bulwer-Lytton Award Winner Announced

Bad Writing Leads To Literary Award via NPR Topics: Authors on 6/30/09

San Jose State University's Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest honors bad writing. This year's winner is 55-year-old David McKenzie of Federal Way, Wash., who beat out hundreds of entries from around the world for crafting the worst-written beginning to an imaginary novel.

Congratulations Mr. McKenzie!

Customer to Customer Outreach

While many of our customers may engage in what we consider inappropriate outreach to each other, here's one with a really good ending. Bravo!

RA Run Down via The Reader's Advisor Online Blog by Cindy Orr on 7/5/09

High Powered Lawyer and Homeless Men Forge a Bond Through Book ClubThis is a heartwarming story of a lawyer who stopped to chat with a homeless man every day until they came up with the idea of forming a book group.

And speaking of social networking...

If you haven't picked up on the basics of facebook yet, there is a link to a presentation here:
Facebook Pages basics – a Screencast via David Lee King by davidleeking on 7/8/09

Women and Grown-Ups Rock Social Networking Sites

This may look sexist, but it is actually data-driven. Our conclusion? Have your library reach out to these women in some way!

Women's Online Behavior and Social Media Habits via Stephen's Lighthouse by stephen on 7/10/09

Yes, some of this looks sexist but data is alleged to be accurate.
  • The top activity for women online is shopping.
  • The third most popular activity is social networking
  • Half of all women log into social networks everyday. Two-thirds of under 30’s log-in daily, and 41% of 40+ log-in daily.
  • When you get a bunch of women together, who most enjoy shopping online and talking, what exactly do they talk about? 62% of all women talk about products, and 71% of those with children ages 13 to 17 talk about products.

Facebook Variations via Stephen's Lighthouse by stephen on 7/10/09

College students Facebook use declines over the summer as many students are in diaspora. However, their parents' usage increases.

The number of Facebook users over 35 are gorwing a lot in the past 30 days.

The number of women over 55 on Facebook grew by 39% in the last month to over 2.5 million.

From iLibrarian:

Stan Schroeder at Mashable reports on the iStrategyLabs study of Facebook’s demographics in Facebook Users Are Getting Older. Much Older. According to their analysis, the social network’s userbase is shifting older, with growth in the 35-54 age range growing 190.2% between January and July of this year and users older than 55 years a whopping 513.7%.